Welcome readers to the Question Corner,
Where I go over a story from an India Epics and then pose questions about the story and what the reader thinks might be the right or wrong decision. This week I think I might have found the craziest story where we learn about the characters in the tale of “The Mahabharata” trying to make sure the Pandavas win the war at any cost. I try to stay bias but this story is just…
Well here, let me explain.
Everyone knows that Vishnu has many forms but, did you know that he had another form, other than Krishna, that helped the Pandavas win the Mahabharata War. Well he did, and this other form is called Mohini. The avatar of Mohini is actually a woman. And while she has helped in different Indian tales, today we will learn about her eccentric heroics in the tale of “The Mahabharata”.
The day before the great war between the Pandavas (sons of Pandu) and the Kauravas (sons of Dhritarashtra). The Kauravas sacrificed a white elephant for victory. When the Pandavas heard of this, they knew that they needed to sacrifice someone to counter the opposition. Krishna told Yudhisthir that is had to be a worthy human for the sacrifice to help. So, Arjun’s son Iravan volunteered to be sacrificed but before he had to die; he wished to be married, consummate the marriage, and then have his wife mourn his death. The Pandavas and Krishna saw these conditions as reasonable and set out to find a woman for Iravan to marry.
Sadly, the men are unable to find a woman that only wanted to be married a day and then be widowed. Surprise there. So, to fulfill Iravan last wish, Krishna assumes the form of Mohini. Now here is where the story gets a little weird. I am not sure if the other men knew about Krishna turning into Mohini, but I am hoping that if they did they kept it a secret from Iravan. Would you want to know your wife was actually a man moment before you met her? And not just any man, a man you had been friends with? But let’s just hope that no one was aware of this and Krishna just disappears for a couple of days and no one questions his whereabouts during this time.
Sorry I got off track. Back to the story…
Iravan meets Mohini and she of course agrees to marry him. Iravan is super happy he has found someone to marry him. They spend their wedding night together in passion and then the next morning Iravan goes off to be scarified for the war effort. After his death, as promised, Mohini mourns the loss of her husband then turns back into Krishna to help the Pandavas with the war.
Strange story, right? Now I pose the question to the readers, was Iravan sacrifice worth it? Is it weird that he was with Krishna/Mohini and was not aware that the women he married would be gone from existence soon after he died? This story just brought so many questions to mind so please feel free to send in some letters. I need some feedback. Hope you read next time, when I pose questions about an even crazier story that involves a young child eating his father’s dead flesh.
Until next time,
The Question Master
******
Author's Notes: For this story I tried writing in a very new style for me. I made the writer seem like he is posting a blog or maybe has an article in the newspaper that is about making the reader laugh and keeping them entertained. I got this idea for writing in this manner when I was reading the original stories in the book, 51 Lesser Known Tales from The Mahabharata by Sharath Komarraju. The book is filled with short stories that go with The Mahabharata tale but did not make into the main stream version of the story. While I was reading these stories, the short story of The Avatar of Convenience: Mohini really stuck out to me. The facts in my story are accurate to what I read in the book but the book tells the story so straight forward. I wanted to turn the story into something light hearted and give it some comedy. This is why the story is from the prospective of an outside columnist who stumbled upon the tale. Everything out the tale just seemed so bizarre I felt that anyone who read it would be just as awe-shocked as myself. Also the last note about another story is actually information about another short story in the book called, Pandu's Last Wish. I hope you have enjoyed my story and would love to hear feedback!
******
Image: Question made from scrabble pieces. Source: The Blue Diamond Gallery by Nick Youngson
Hey Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading the Question Corner. I think it was interesting and funny when you sort of went off on a tangent and then brought yourself back to the main point of the story. It gave it a feeling to me as though I was there with you as you were telling the story in person, and narration type stories are my favorite. I like the scrabble image you used at the bottom.