Week 9 Reading A: Mahabharata - The Princes of Elephant City

Draupadi's robes.

The Princess of Elephant City: Long after the rule of Ruler Bharata, there was a lord in Hastinapura called Vichitravirya, who kicked the bucket and left two children: Dhritarashtra, the more established child, who is visually impaired, and his sibling Pandu, who becomes lord. Pandu has five children: Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna by his significant other Kunti, and Nakula and Sahadeva by his better half Madri. These children of Pandu, the Pandavas, are supposed to be the children of divine beings. At the point when Pandu bites the dust, Dhritarashtra becomes lord. Ruler Dhritarashtra and Sovereign Gandhari have 100 children, and they grow up along with the five children of Pandu. Duryodhana is the oldest of those 100 children, called the Kauravas (relatives of Kuru). Together, the Pandavas and the Kauravas are the Bharatas, the relatives of Ruler Bharata. Drona is the young men's educator, and the Pandavas were his best students, stimulating the envy of Duryodhana. Drona at that point drives his understudies in an assault on Lord Drupada of Panchala, his adversary, and Drupada implores the divine beings for an approach to retaliate for himself against the Bharatas. From the conciliatory fire a delightful young lady arises: Draupadi. Duryodhana, then, develops significantly more envious when his dad names Yudhishthira as his beneficiary, thus Duryodhana plots to murder the Pandavas and their mom, Kunti. Duryodhana's representative Purochana organizes their passing in a fire, however Vidura (stepbrother of Pandu and Dhritarashtra) caution the Pandavas, and they get away from the fire by methods for a secret passage. Some intoxicated visitors kick the bucket in the fire, and individuals guess that their cadavers are the remaining parts of the Pandavas. Duryodhana cheers at the news.

Hidimba and Baka: Camouflaged as brahmins, the Pandavas and Kunti escape into the backwoods. As Bhima looks after the individuals from his family dozing, the beast Hidimba and his sister Hidimbi plan to eat them. At the point when Hidimbi sees Bhima, she begins to look all starry eyed. She transforms into an excellent lady and approaches Bhima to caution him about her sibling. Bhima battles with Hidimba and executes him. Bhima and Hidimbi go off together joyfully, yet Bhima in the end chooses to rejoin his family. The Pandavas at that point stay in a town that is tortured by another evil presence, Baka, requests a horrible blood-charge from the town every week. Bhima returns without a moment to spare to execute this evil presence moreover. Then, the Pandavas go to the realm of Panchala for the challenge to win the hand of Drupada's little girl Draupadi. 

The Winning of Draupadi: Every one of the admirers are anxious to win Draupadi (likewise called Krishna, with a long "a" toward the end: Krishnā, signifying "dull") as their lady. Her sibling Dhrishtadyumna clarifies the guidelines of the bows and arrows challenge. Karna, the mysterious offspring of Kunti and the sun-god Surya (accordingly stepbrother to the Pandavas), appears as though he may win, but since he has been brought up as the child of a charioteer (who saved the infant from the waterway where Kunti had set him loose), Draupadi pronounces she won't ever wed him.  Arjuna, actually camouflaged as a brahmin, wins the challenge, maddening the imperial admirers. The five Pandavas persevere, and Arjuna duels with Karna while Bhima duels with Lord Shalya. The regal admirers surrender the battle, and Arjuna drives Draupadi away. At the point when he gets back home, Kunti advises Arjuna to share whatever he has with his siblings, thinking he has gotten some food by asking. She can't reclaim her words, however, so Draupadi turns into the lady of the hour of each of the five siblings. Dhrishtadyumna has furtively followed Draupadi and finds the brahmins' actual character. Drupada is pleased to learn Arjuna won the challenge, yet he is frightened at the possibility of his girl wedding every one of the five siblings, in spite of the fact that he at last concurs thus the five weddings occur, consistently. 

The adventures of Prince Arjuna: In the imperial city of Hastinapura, Duryodhana discovers that the Pandavas are as yet alive and that they are currently aligned with Lord Drupada. Bhishma, the child of Ruler Shantanu and the goddess Ganga, and uncle to Lord Dhritarashtra, desires Duryodhana to try for some degree of reconciliation with the Pandavas, his cousins. Dhritarashtra yields and gives the Pandavas half of his realm where they can construct their own regal city: Indraprastha. Since Arjuna enters unbidden into the Draupadi's room when Yudhishthira is there, he needs to go into self inflicted oust in the woodland. Then, he sees the fire-god Agni in a fantasy who orders him to consume the Khandava woods to obliterate the nagas who live there under the security of the god Indra. Since Arjuna is the child of Indra, Agni figures Arjuna can help him, and he gives him the Gandiva bow and a bunch of bolts from the ocean god Varuna. At the point when Arjuna rises and shines, the bow is close by, and he goes to Khandava woodland as requested by Agni. As the timberland consumes, Indra shows up, pouring down downpour to safeguard the nagas from the fire. 

Arjune and Subhadra: Arjuna fires his bolts to make a rooftop over the woods, permitting Agni's fire to seethe. The nagas escape, and Arjuna kills them all aside from Maya (who is normally viewed as an asura, not a naga), to whom he concedes leniency. Arjuna at that point goes to Dwarka where he sees the lovely Subhadra whom he takes away and weds; she is the sister of Krishna, and the match meets with Krishna's endorsement when he learns Arjuna's personality. Arjuna gets back to Indraprastha with Subhadra. Maya at that point assembles an extraordinary royal residence for the Pandavas, and they fill the castle with treasures. Hence advanced, Yudhishthira chooses to hold a rajasuya penance, proclaiming himself head. Krishna reveals to Yudhishthira that to rule, he should initially slaughter Lord Jarasandha, an evil ruler who has secured numerous different sorts in his prisons, intending to forfeit them. Krishna inclinations Yudhishthira to have Bhima go to Jagasandha masked as a brahmin and challenge him to a wrestling match. As an Aryan lord, Jarasandha won't reject the test. Krishna goes with Bhima, and everything goes as arranged: Bhima murders Jarasandha in the wrestling match by tearing him into equal parts and afterward liberates the hostage lords.

Yudhishthira's Gambling: Lord Yudhishthira's rajasuya is an extraordinary achievement, and Duryodhana is more desirous than any time in recent memory. At the point when Bhima snickers at him since he is tricked by the figments of the castle, Duryodhana gets much more irate. Duryodhana's maternal uncle Shakuni proposes a methods for retribution: Yudhishthira is enamored with betting, yet incompetent, while Shakuni is a gifted speculator. Yudhishthira won't deny a test to play. Duryodhana endorses of the arrangement and welcomes Yudhishthira and the Pandavas to Hastinapura for a round of dice. Yudhishthira understands that he is no counterpart for Shakuni, yet he can't decline. Yudhishthira loses everything, even his siblings, and himself, lastly Draupadi. Duryodhana sends his sibling Dushasana to bring Draupadi, presently their slave. Draupadi fights that if Yudhishthira had effectively lost himself, he was unable to have bet her. Dushasana hauls her by the hair into the gathering lobby and attempts to remove her garments, yet because of heavenly insurance, Draupadi is protected: new garments supplant all the garments that Dushasana pulls off. Bhima, rankled, pledges to drink Dushasana's blood. At the point when Duryodhana insults Draupadi by showing her his bare thigh, Bhima pledges he will break that thigh in retribution. Ruler Dhritarashtra awards Draupadi a help. She asks that he free Yudhishthira. He concedes her another aid, and she requests the opportunity of Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva. Dhritarashtra likewise returns all that Yudhishthira lost in the betting match, which shocks Duryodhana. He convinces his dad to organize another match wherein the failure will go through twelve years in a state of banishment and a thirteenth year in camouflage. Once more, Yudhishthira can't deny, and again he loses, so the Pandavas should go into oust in the woods. 

Bhima and the Serpent: Groups follow the Pandavas into banish, yet Yudhishthira has no way to take care of them. He goes to the sun-god who presents on Yudhishthira an enchanted copper pot that will give perpetual food. Vyasa, granddad to the Pandavas, encourages them to send Arjuna looking for his dad, Indra, to acquire divine weapons. Arjuna climbs the Himalayas, expecting to peruse Amaravati, Indra's wonderful city. A shrewd man, who ends up being Indra in camouflage, discloses to Arjuna he should look for the god Shiva first. At the point when Arjuna slaughters a pig in the mountains, another tracker challenges him for the prize. They battle, and Arjuna understands this is Shiva himself. Shiva disappears, and Indra presents brilliant protection on Arjuna. Arjuna at that point gets back to his siblings. As the siblings meander the woods, Bhima vanishes one day. Yudhishthira follows greetings tracks into a cavern, and there he discovers Bhima in the hold of a snake. The snake discloses to Yudhishthira he will deliver Bhima if Yudhishthira addresses his inquiries. Yudhishthira does as such, and afterward the snake evaporates and a man shows up in his place, Lord Nahusha. Nahusha had struck the sage Agastya, and Agastya reviled him to turn into a snake until a saint addressed every one of his inquiries, as Yudhishthira has now done.

Bibliography: The Indian Heroes: Mahabharata - The Princes of Elephant City, C. A. Kincaid, Story