Same basic story about the booby trap house..
Thought: who were the people they put in the house to make it look like they had died? I mean, that's not very cool. And did no one notice their loved ones's corpses disappeared? Did the Pandavas just walk unnoticed through the streets carting away these corpses?
Bhima fights another evil rakshasa demon king. Are these guys just always running around?
Another weird inanimate object conception story with Draupadi and the butter. There wasn't even any semen involved this time. Reminds me of Dasaratha's thing with the rice. Butter and rice. Yum.
Same story with Draupadi's swayamvara, Arjuna wins, she has to marry all five of the brothers.. Krishna shows up a little more in this version, talks to Arjuna, but isn't really an important character yet.
Dhritarashtra's a good guy. Duryodhana's a jerk.
Ha ha Krishna's like a spoiled lazy bro. A magical bro.
More butter, what's with the butter? Mysterious woodsman. Troubling story about burning down the forest and all its creatures again. Poor Bambi.
Yud. has a gambling problem. Seriously dude, know your limits.
And, that's where the section ends. Stuff's about to go down, though. Wasn't much new material in this section, as compared to Narayan, but the action is also picking up now.
Showing posts with label Week 11. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Week 11. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Monday, October 27, 2014
Week 11 Reading Diary A: Buck's Mahabharata
Well, this one starts with an invocation again. I like how it sets the scene and gives it a real mystical, storytelling feel, but at the same time, Narayan's telling gets into the action much sooner.
I do like the story of Vyasa and Ganesha composing the Mahabharata. Ganesha seems to be one of the more well-known Hindu gods in Western society, and so I've heard this story before. It's nice to see a familiar story in its original context.
Oh, and now the churning of the ocean! I've heard this one too, but I don't think I knew it came from the Mahabharata. I like how these fuller versions of the epics include so many stories about gods and such that aren't directly related to the narrative. Like I said above, it kind of slows down the action of the story, but at the same time it's interesting to see all this mythology gathered together. It's nice that there are new things to learn in this version too.
Oh okay, now it comes back around to the snake sacrifice.. the time frame there is kind of confusing, it's like they start with a frame narrative and then loop around to the past and then back to it.. I don't know.
And here's the Ganga story again. Wait, was this in the Narayan version, or did I read this on my own? I don't remember. I think it was in Narayan. Yeah. Anyway.. that's pretty messed up.
Wtf?? Okay, well, the already strange and messed up story of Satyavati's birth gets even more strange and messed up. Like, who came up with this stuff? There's some new stuff here, but basically the same narrative.
Women are shuffled around... god sex... deer god sex... pretty much the same, but somehow I'd forgotten how much weird stuff there is in the beginning here.
Gandhari giving birth -- W T F??????????????? I just... no. I don't even wanna ... no.
More god sex. It's weird how it's not considered cheating having all kinds of children by gods.
What's with ejaculating into inanimate objects and magically making children? Like, what?
Arjuna the jock. Drona the wildly irresponsible teacher. Ooh, new stuff with Karna. That's interesting.
I do like the story of Vyasa and Ganesha composing the Mahabharata. Ganesha seems to be one of the more well-known Hindu gods in Western society, and so I've heard this story before. It's nice to see a familiar story in its original context.
Oh, and now the churning of the ocean! I've heard this one too, but I don't think I knew it came from the Mahabharata. I like how these fuller versions of the epics include so many stories about gods and such that aren't directly related to the narrative. Like I said above, it kind of slows down the action of the story, but at the same time it's interesting to see all this mythology gathered together. It's nice that there are new things to learn in this version too.
Oh okay, now it comes back around to the snake sacrifice.. the time frame there is kind of confusing, it's like they start with a frame narrative and then loop around to the past and then back to it.. I don't know.
And here's the Ganga story again. Wait, was this in the Narayan version, or did I read this on my own? I don't remember. I think it was in Narayan. Yeah. Anyway.. that's pretty messed up.
Wtf?? Okay, well, the already strange and messed up story of Satyavati's birth gets even more strange and messed up. Like, who came up with this stuff? There's some new stuff here, but basically the same narrative.
Women are shuffled around... god sex... deer god sex... pretty much the same, but somehow I'd forgotten how much weird stuff there is in the beginning here.
Gandhari giving birth -- W T F??????????????? I just... no. I don't even wanna ... no.
More god sex. It's weird how it's not considered cheating having all kinds of children by gods.
What's with ejaculating into inanimate objects and magically making children? Like, what?
Arjuna the jock. Drona the wildly irresponsible teacher. Ooh, new stuff with Karna. That's interesting.
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