Week 6 Story: A Gambling Man

 Bad habits can start young. 

Before Pandu died, he was an excellent father to his sons and a superb uncle to his nephews. He tried to make sure that they were aware of how the Kingdom was run and aware of all of their subjects in town. He wanted to make sure the boys would know how to act when they would be in charge one day. When Pandu would go out into the town to visit with subjects, he would take his eldest son to learn and would take his eldest nephew to learn too. Yudhistira and Duryodhana enjoyed getting to go out into town with Pandu and looked forward to the outing each week.

On one particular week while the boys, Yudhistira and Duryodhana, were out with Pandu they noticed a group of men playing a game back behind a shop. Since Pandu was busy talking with the shop owner, the boys wanted to get a closer look. Intrigued they went to inquire what the men were playing.

One of the men explained that it was a dice game. They informed the boys that the best part of the game is when you get to yell out "I win!" The men let the boys take turns through the dice and yelling out "I win1" While Duryodhana liked throwing the dice, he noticed how much Yudhistira enjoyed throwing the dice. He would become impatient waiting for his turn. The men laughed and said Yudhistira understood how much fun the game could be.

After Pandu was done talking with the shop owner, he went to find the boys. When he heard them around the back of the shop yelling "I win," he went to investigate what they were playing. When he saw what the boys were playing, he immediately ordered them to quit playing and that they must leave at once.

On their way back to the palace Pandu explained to the boys how dice is a gambling game and it was a great sin to play it. He warned both of them never to play the game again. Pandu told the boys, "A great king can lose everything in a gambling game, there is no skill in playing the game. Promise me you will never play a dice game again."

Both of the boys apologized and promised never to play the game again. Duryodhana knew as they left the town that he would have to keep an eye on Yudhistira. He seemed to be entranced by the dice game.

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Author’s Notes: In the story of The Mahabharata by R.K. Narayan it seems that the Pandavas brothers are blessed by the gods. Even when their cousin attempts to kill them in a fire they are able to escape and then create a grand kingdom of their own in Indraprastha. Yet later in the story Yudhistira loses everything because of his obsession with playing the dice game. Yudhistira even acknowledges that the game is evil and they should not play. But sadly, he agrees to play the game and gets carried away. This story is meant to explain why Yudhistira becomes so obsessed and blinded when playing the dice game against Sakuni on Duryodhana behalf. This story shows that Duryodhana knew that Yudhistira had enjoyed the dice game when they were little and that he could use this game to be the downfall to the Pandavas brothers. I wanted to make it where Duryodhana was the only one aware of how much the young Yudhistira enjoyed the game, this is why Pandu was the one that took both of the boys. 

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Image: Gambling dice. Source: Max Pixel

Reading Notes: Reading B: The Mahabharata p. 30 - 83

Gambling is never a good habit. 

I continued reading The Mahabharata by R.K. Narayan pages 30 to 83. In the reading you really can get a sense of how much hatred Duryodhana has towards his cousins, the Pandavas brothers. When he visits their city of Indraprastha that the Pandavas brothers created he think that simple things in the place were created so that the brothers could laugh at him. Even with his uncle trying to calm him down it just seems that Duryodhana has an immense hatred for them that will never go away. You can already tell that he is going to be the downfall to his blood line. It seems that everyone is the family can see how angry Duryodhana is but nothing seems to help him calm down. We even learn later that Duryodhana mother Gandhari tries to tell the king to stop listening to him or the whole kingdom will be lost but Dhritarashtra does not listen to her. Duryodhana seems to be the spoiled rich kid who just keeps wanting and wanting. A story could be created about Duryodhana when he was little always complaining about how the other Pandavas brothers get something so he goes and whines to his father until he gets the same thing. After how jealous Duryodhana is his father build him a room that is grander to show off to the Pandavas brothers but he also invites then to a game of dice. I was very surprised to read about the gambling in the book. It actually seems to be the major cause for the Pandavas brothers being exiled. Yudhistira got really into the gambling. He had previously said that gambling was a senseless game to play but then he got caught up in playing, maybe because he had a gambling addition in the past. This could explain why Duryodhana wanted to play dice with him, he knew Yudhistira would fall back into his gambling ways. The last part of the reading goes into the Padavas bothers exile and building up their allies so that they will be ready to fight Duryodhana when the time comes.

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Image: Gambling cards, dice, and chips. Source: Max Pixel 

Reading Notes: Reading A: The Mahabharata p. 1 - 30

How many character are there? 

I chose to read the book option for The Mahabharata by R.K. Narayan. Like The Ramayana, The Mahabharata also has a list of all of the different characters that will be used in the book. Just from looking at all of the different names and then the generation tree I knew this family was going to be a confusing one. The Kurus family seems to be in a soap opera in the first pages of the book. Someone is dying so to save the family name a wife must sleep with another family member. I think just the beginning part of the story trying to explain the craziness in the family could be made into multiple stories. Another thought that came to mind for a story was when Karna interrupted the exhibitions for his brothers. The book makes it seem that Karna does not know that he is related to the Pandavas brothers but his mother Kunthi knows it is her son. There could be a storyline where his adopted parents tell Karna that they found him in the river and do not know who his parents our. Karna would then learn though his father who is mother is and where she can be found. Maybe Karna is mad at the Pandavas bothers because their mothers kept them to raise but not him. A third story that came to mind was writing about the taunting and teasing the rakshasa Baka had to endure from Bhima before he was killed. The story would be an inner monologue of how enraged Baka gets with Bhima but then begins to realize that he is about to lose his life to him.  

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Image: Indian Soap Opera Meme. Source: quick meme