Week 13 Story: King Yudhishthira Interview

This is just a small excerpt of the only exclusive interview with King Yudhishthira after the Mahabharata War. If you would like to get access to the full version please subscribe to our reading. Thank you. 

Interviewer: King Yudhishthira it is said that you grew exponentially as a person while going through different tests during your twelve-year exile. Which test do you think you learned the most from?

King Yudhishthira: There were many tests during our exile, but I think the one that helped me see that I was capable of becoming king after my gambling blunder was when I was tested by the Yaksha, Prashna. As you know, Yaksha have the ability to shapeshift into any creature they want. But unless they make themselves known to you, you would have no idea that you are in the presence of a Yaksha.

Interviewer: Thank you for explaining that to our readers, I know I am never clear on the different non-human races. What exactly is the job of a Yaksha?

King Yudhishthira: There job is to protect nature, like the trees, rivers, and lakes. And it just so happened that Prashna had shapeshifted into a crane to safeguard a sacred lake.

Interviewer: And how did you and your brothers stumble upon this sacred lake?

King Yudhishthira: Well, a huge deer had stolen items a brahmin was using for his prayers. I knew it was our duty to help the brahmin, so my brother and I set out to get the brahmins items back. We chased after the deer all over the forest but were never able to catch him. We grew tired and dehydrated. So, one by one, we set out to find water to drink and then planned on returning to let the others know where the water was located. Slowly each of my brothers went off in search of water when one had taken too long and still had not returned. I was the last of my brothers to find the lake, and when I did, I was stunned by the scene. All of my brother lied dead on the banks of the lake.

Interviewer: Did you try and look for someone who might have hurt them or did you come to the conclusion that it was a Yaksha?

King Yudhishthira: I do have to say at first, I thought someone had slain my brother. But after getting over the shock of the situation, I calmed myself down and viewed my surroundings. After looking around I noticed there was no blood or footprints that went away from my brothers’ bodies, then I saw the crane Prashna and asked him if he knew what happened to my brothers.

Interviewer: I am astounded you were able to take a step back from that situation with the bodies of your brothers all laying in front of you, to gather a calm head and assess the situation.

King Yudhishthira: At this moment that is when I learned that as a leader, you must be calm and collected if you want to help others. By stopping myself and assessing the situation, I was able to find that the lake was cursed and if I answered a hundred question, I would be able to drink from the lake and save my brothers. This was an important moment for me when I learned about patients and how best to help others.

Interviewer: That is a valuable lesson and a great attribute in our King. Thank you for telling me that story, our readers can hopefully learn from it and see why you make such a great leader.

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Author's Notes:  This story came from a combination of two separate books but all of the facts are true. I wanted to keep the tale the same but explain it together as a whole story from Yudhishthira point of view. The information about the Yaksha was found in the book 51 Lesser Known Tales from The Mahabharata by Sharath Komarraju, specifically from the tale, The Yaksha Prashna. The tale goes into more detail about what happened when Yudhishthira arrived at the lake in the story The Mahabharata. It also talks about  how this particular tale is important for Yudhishthira character and how this test helps him become a wiser man and the future king. The information that leads up to the brothers looking for the lake was found in the book The Mahabharata by R.K. Narayan. I hope you have enjoyed my story and would love to hear feedback!

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Image: Yudhishthira and the Yaksha, Prashna. Source: Wikipedia by Ramanarayandatta

Reading Notes: Reading D: 51 Lesser Known Tales from The Mahabharata

I finished reading 51 Lesser Known Tales from The Mahabharata by Sharath Komarraju. In the last part of the readings, most of the stories are about the different creatures and individuals that have smaller roles in The Mahabharata. In the stories, The Non-Human Races: Kinnaras and Kimpurushas and More Non-Human Races: Yakshas and Gandharvas, I was able to learn more about some of the different characters in the book. Since The Mahabharata has so much to cover, the book that I read did not go into great detail describing the different types of non-human characters the Pandavas brothers come into contact with. From these stories, I learned that Kinnaras are males that are half-human, half-horse. The Kinnari is the female version, but they are half-human, half-bird. The Kimpurushas were half-men half-lion with no female distinction. The male Yakshas are warriors or stouts like dwarfs and the Yakshinis are the female version is beautiful young women that protect nature. But the Gandharvas are also a nature spirit that shapeshifts and also deliver messages between the heavens and Earth. I wish I would have gotten to read this book before The Mahabharata so I could have known and pictured the different creatures that played roles in the book. The main story I thought had potential to be rewritten was The Unlikely Hero: Yudhishthira. The tale points out that there is not one hero singe hero in The Mahabharata, but this story argues that Yudhishthira should be considered the main hero because he is the brother that goes through the most drastic character change. Once I read through this, I agreed with this statement. He was the one who got his entire family thrown into exile because he could not stop gambling, but as the story progress, he begins to become wiser. This is shown in the tale of The Yaksha Prashna. When the brothers are in exile they all drink from a lake even though a crane warns them not too, Yudhishthira is the only one that listens and then rescues the brothers from the Prashna. I think I could write a story from Yudhishthira point of view on how he feels that he has grown as a person after going into exile and then the war between the families.

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Image: Yudhishthira on the throne with Draupadi surrounded by the other Pandavas brothers. Source: Wikipedia by Raja Ravi Varma

Reading Notes: Reading C: 51 Lesser Known Tales from The Mahabharata

I am still reading 51 Lesser Known Tales from The Mahabharata by Sharath Komarraju. I read thirteen tales for the 3rdpart of the reading. Two of the stories that stuck out to me and could be joined together to create my own unique story was the tale The Three Myths of Ganesha and Kartikeya, the Forgotten Brother. Ganesha is one of the more famous Hindu gods, and it seems that his brother, Kartikeya popularity began to dwindle when Ganesha was brought into the picture. One of the notes in both of the stories is that the brothers often have competitions between each other and Ganesha is usually the brother that wins. A famous story being when the boys raced around the world, and while Kartikeya used a peacock to fly around the world, Ganesha just walked around their parents Shiva and Parvati. Ganesha was claimed the winner because of his intelligence and wisdom. While I understand the importance of Ganesha symbolism of what his "world" is, I still felt bad for Kartikeya. Since I am the second born child in my family, I have some sympathy towards Kartikeya. While I understand the importance of Ganesha being the older, wiser brother for the Hindu culture I would like to create a story where Kartikeya gets the best of Ganesha and can teach Ganesha a lesson. Another story that I enjoyed reading was the Demolition of Arjun’s Vanity: The Chariot. What I enjoyed the most about this story is it told a side of Arjun’s personality that I did not get when I originally read The Mahabharata. Arjun is given everything throughout the story, but at the end, he must lose everything because that is how the world works. The final sentences in the tale were very powerful. They read, “We wonder why everything is being taken away, forgetting, that it had all been given to us on loan and that every loan has to be repaid.” I am not sure what story I could create to go with this lesson, but I really enjoyed this aspect of the story. 

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Image: Shiva and Parvati with their two sons Ganesha and Kartikeya. Source: Wikimedia Commons by Keijona

Week 12 Story: The Question Corner

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

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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!

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Image: Question made from scrabble pieces. Source: The Blue Diamond Gallery by Nick Youngson

Reading Notes: Reading B: 51 Lesser Known Tales from The Mahabharata

For the second part of the reading of Sharath Komarraju book, 51 Lesser Known Tales from The Mahabharata, I read fourteen short stories that deal with characters from The Mahabharata. The first story I enjoyed reading was the tale of The Three Men in Amba’s Life. For those that do not remember Amba was the eldest daughter of the three princesses that Bhishma stole for his brother to marry. The problem was she was already in love and promised to be married to another King when Bhishma releases her to marry the other man he rejects her because she was kidnapped by another man. This causes hatred and revengeful mind in Amba that she passes along to her daughter Shikhandini. Because of the hatred, her mother instilled in her when she was young Shikhandini wants to kill Bhishma and follows through with her mother’s plan. But we do not hear how her mother got her to hate Bhishma so much. Instead of getting to hear bedtime stories was Shikhandini forced to listen to tales of how mean Bhishma was to her mother? I think a story could be created about Shikhandini childhood and how she grew up only hearing about the terrible things Bhishma did which is why she has such a strong desire to kill him. The second story I really enjoyed is The Avatar of Convenience: Mohini. So, Mohini is one of Vishnu’s avatars. She is a beautiful woman that uses her beauty to get some of the “villains” in the India Epics world to end their own lives. She seems like a very intelligent woman and would love to get to read some more of her stories in depth. But I also think I could create a story for Mohini that goes into The Mahabharata. Iravan (Arjun’s son) chooses to be sacrificed to help the Pandava’s win the war but before he is sacrificed he wants to marry a woman, enjoy a night of passion, and then have her mourn the loss of her husband. Accordingly, Krishna assumes the form of Mohini and completes everything so that Iravan can sacrifice himself to help the Pandavas win the war. Does Mohini seduce Iravan? How does there one-day whirl-wind romance go down? I think this could be a fun, quirky story to write about a man finding a wife in a day to then die the next day. I am sure the encounter is all kinds of awkwardness.

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Image: Mohini seducing Bhasmasura. Source: Wikipedia by Raja Ravi Varma

Reading Notes: Reading A: 51 Lesser Known Tales from The Mahabharata

For this week’s reading, I chose to read 51 Lesser Known Tales from The Mahabharata by Sharath Komarraju. **A note if anyone wants to read any of the stories in this book, I was able to download the book for free on my Kindle through Kindle Unlimited. I did the free one-month trial and was happy to find that most of the readings that we have in this course you can download for free. ** The stories are very short so for the first part of the reading and I read through thirteen different stories. Because they are so simple, I think that anything I recreate will be fully in my imagination with little storyline before because the stories do not go into depth in details. One of the stories that were unique was Pandu’s Last Wish. In the story, while Pandu is on his deathbed, he tells his five sons to eat his some of his corpses and then they would become gyanis (people that can see into the future). Rightfully so, none of the boys want to eat their dead dad, but the youngest Sahadeva who they explain is the most impressionable. Thus, a four-year-old boy eats his dead father's finger and is then able to see into the future, but he cannot do anything to change the future. I think a story could be written to go more into depth if Sahadeva tells his brothers that he can see into the future and about the coming war. Or if he never tells anyone in his family and must keep this huge secret from his brothers and mother. The second story that I really enjoyed was the tale of The Other Wives of Arjun. In the version of The Mahabharata that I read, I did not remember Arjun have so many wives, but in this short tales, we learn about three other wives, other than Draupadi. According to the new story, Arjun only truly loved his wife Subhadra, who is the sister of Krishna. Their meeting or his kidnapping of her by Arjun at her brother's wishes is not explained in great detail. Maybe she did not care about Arjun mighty skills in archery which only drew him to her more. I think a story could be created to explain Arjun unwavering attraction to Subhadra.

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Image: Painting of Arjun and his wife Subhadra. Source: Wikipedia by Raja Ravi Varma

Week 11 Story: The Goblin Island

Everyone knows that there are goblins but did you know that there are she-goblins? Well, there are. They are just like other goblins, but they possess the magic to transform into beautiful women so that they can lure human men into falling in love with them so that it would be easier to eat them. On an island, a large group of only she-goblins was able to flourish by luring sailors into the town because of their magical beauty. And since no one ever escaped the island, the she-goblins were able to continue attracting sailors to the island and feast on their flesh. But one she-goblin would change everything.

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It had been about a week since the she-goblins had gotten to eat. They were starving and ready for a ship to sail close enough to the island to lure the men in. Just at that moment, a ship began to sail by close enough to the island. The head of the she-goblins, Vanessa, turned to the others and said, "Ladies let's look our best. This time we must try and ration the sailors better. So, each night we will select only a couple to eat that way we be sustained longer till the next ship comes along."

All of the other she-goblins were excited and very hungry for flesh except, Tracey. She did not seem to like the taste of human flesh and always felt terrible that they killed all of the sailors. But that was the way she was raised. Not wanting to cause trouble or not be like the rest she continued eating the sailors as she was ordered by Vanessa. Tracey did not know that this boat of sailors would change her way of life.

As usual, the she-goblins were paired with the sailors and used their magic to make the men fall in love with them. However, because of Vanessa rationing of the men, Tracey began to get to know her sailor husband. It did not take long for Tracey to realize that she was actually in love with her human husband. But what could she do? Vanessa would never let him live, and there was no way off the island. Not even a she-goblin could leave the island.

In the middle of the night, Tracey snuck out of her house and went down to the sea. That day Vanessa had told her that they would be eating her sailor for dinner in two days. Tracey went to the sea hoping to discover an answer, sitting down on a rock by the ocean she kept going over her options of how to save her husband. She could try to tell him that they were goblins but he would never listen because of the magic. She could try to fight the other she-goblins, but there were so many of them. She would end up dead, and then they would eat him or worst they would eat him in front of her then kill her.

A sea fairy was not far away listening to Tracey go over an impossible puzzle of how to save her husband that she appeared in front of her. At first, the sea fairy was scared; the she-goblin magic did not work on the sea fairy, so she saw Tracey as her true self. Very timidly she told Tracy, "I can help save your sailor. But you will have to stay on the island; I cannot help evil creatures."

With tears in her eyes, Tracey knew that this would be her only hope of saving her sailor's life. So, she agreed to help the sea fairy. That night when Tracey returned home, she made a bunch of noise then called over some of the other she-goblins. When they arrived Tracey let them know that she had missed out on the meal that night and wondered if there were any left-overs?

The others she-goblins crackled telling her of course not, they devoured those sailors within minutes. But not to worry she would get the first bite the next day since they would be eating her sailor soon. Trying to keep the ruse going, Tracey smiled then started to chant their eating verse,

"Man's meat, man's meat,
That's what goblins like to eat!"

The other she-goblins joined in, and after a few minutes, Tracey felt that enough noise had been made. Tracey shushed the she-goblins and let them out so they could get some rest. Then she went off to bed, hoping that the sea fairy had kept her end of the promise and finish the rest of the plan to save her beloved sailor.

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Author's Notes: This story comes from a combination of two tales, one called The Goblin Town by Noor Inayat and the other called, The Goblin City by W. H. D. Rouse. Both of the stories are about a town/city of she-goblins that lure sailors into their town/city so that they can eat them. One night a sailor is woken up after hearing some noise realizes that the women are all she-goblins. In the tale of The Goblin City, the man’s meat chant is what gives it away that they woman are all goblins. Then the stories split the design on how the sailors are rescued. The Goblin City sailors have a fairy that helps them, while The Goblin Town sailors have a mysterious voice that save them. Either way both groups of sailors are saved by a flying horse that takes them home. I wanted to change up who helped the sailors and changed the story to a forbidden love. Even though Tracey cannot save herself from being evil, she can save the man she has fallen in love with from being eaten. I decided to still keep the story morbid which is why Tracey is still stuck on the island and will never be able to leave. I also added the man’s meat chant to make it obvious that she is trying to get her husband to figure out that they are she-goblins and try to get off the island. I hope you have enjoyed my story and would love to hear feedback!

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Image: The picture of the flying horse from The Goblin Town book. Source:  Twenty Jataka Tales by H. Willebeek Le Mair