Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part D

     This sections has been the most exciting as I continue to read through it.  The battle continues from the previous section, and it's only getting more intense.  One of my favorite stories was where Abhimanyu fights seven warriors by himself.  Though he put up a great fight, he eventually perished.  Upon hearing that his son has died, Arjuna becomes passionate in a way that we haven't seen up until this point.  He was determined to avenge the death of his son.  I think writing a story about Abhimanyu's last moments would be cool.  I could maybe even change up the story so that he survives, or give it some other twist.  The battle scenes from this section have been incredible.  I would love to write a different version of Arjuna on his way through an army to avenge the death of his son.  You know that nothing was going to stop Arjuna from accomplishing this act of vengeance.  As the battle rages on, more and more main characters are slain.  This really is like game of thrones! No one is safe.  I was surprised it took so long in this war for Karna to take command of the Kauravas army; this whole story it's been apparent that he is the only one who can truly match Arjuna in battle.  I was excited to see the battle between Karna and Arjuna, but I must say I was underwhelmed.  The battle was much shorter than I had expected.  I may want to write a different version where they aren't just using arrows from their chariots.  Duryodhana was was more cowardly than I expected throughout the war, and even after Karna was slain.  The violence of the Mahabharata was much more shocking to me than the battles within the Ramayana.  There is so much vengeance, and so many main characters die.  Brothers killed brothers and students killed their masters.  People had to watch their own kids die.  It was a brutal war.  I couldn't believe that the violence was still ongoing even after the war had ended--I would have thought Krishna made it out safe.  The manner in which he died was disheartening as well--an accidental shot to his foot.  The end of the story was surprisingly happy.  All of the main characters ended up together in the afterlife.  It was rather heartwarming!

Arjuna and Krishna together in their chariot on the battlefield.

Source: Commons

Bibliography: The Public Domain Edition of the Mahabharata, used from sources including Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger and Tagore