#characters of mahabharat

[jacobpking]

One of the most important figures in the Mahabharata and Hinduism as a whole finally makes his entrance!

[blackknight-100]

It'll never stop being funny to me how Indra's status and power level changes throughout the different texts because initially, you have this absolute badass God-King who defeats a giant monster and gets together with his wife and holds court in heaven. Next the Ramayana rolls up and he is set as a benchmark for battle-skill: Meghnad, as the warrior who defeated him, is an absolute powerhouse who nearly kills both Rama and Lakshmana (and one of those two is a god). In fact, depending on the version, Rama and Lakshmana only survive by semi-divine intervention (Garuda and Hanumana). It is a story about how Lakshmana, an exiled third prince, kills the man who defeated the King of Gods, thereby proving the victory of good over evil et cetera... et cetera... You know the drill.

And then, you have the Mahabharata. Where Krishna, then a young boy, protects an entire settlement from Indra's rage. Which... you know what, fine, he too is a god.

But then, Arjuna defeats Indra, who is his father. Arjuna, who presumably upset the audience a few moments ago after he just burned a whole forest with everyone (including children) in it to supposedly satisfy Agni.

Then, Indra shows up to Karna's doorstep begging for his armour, and Karna who had previously angered the audience by calling Draupadi a harlot gets to demand things from the king of the gods.

See the pattern?

Also they have that absolute disaster of a ceremony and their city is called Indraprashtha.

Like come on, at this point you're just using Indra as the bonus +500 point in games to get your favourites in the audience's good books after they messed up.

[ocelhiracowboy]

some mahabharata character design. its mostly based on wayang but i also took inspo from the mahabharat (2013) series and fgo........

[theramblergal]

A random thought on accessibility in the Mahabharata fandom. I know a lot of us like to say that the BORI CE is the ultimate version against which all fanfiction/ideas/thoughts measure up to.

But then again, it's a 6000 page document. It's 1.8 million words.

If you can find the time and patience to read through such a long document, kudos to you.

But if you can't, it's okay. Sure, the BORI is the golden standard, but it's not the end-all, be-all. The Mahabharata is more than just itihaasa, it is the culture of us Indians. It is a tale from which we are meant to taken inspiration, interpret it and apply them in our lives.

It's okay if your interpretation doesn't match up with what the original characters are. (And it might be controversial for me to say it, but I feel like it has to be said.) So much time has passed that we are never truly going to know what these characters were originally like.

Besides, one of the main qualities of literature is critical reading. Everyone's viewpoint differs; the way you read one person's actions might not be the same as another's. That's what makes it so appealing.

It's okay if you haven't read the original texts. Just as it's okay if you have, and believe the original interpretations are true to you.

[zeherili-ankhein]

What if we take the morally greyest characters from both the epics

In short

Karn: Omg you're like me except you have like a prefix before my nameee

Kumbhkarn: VIBHISHAN LEMME GO

Vibhishan: *holding him back* CALM. DOWN.

They are darker than the Tumblr grey

Also both would hate eachother vwry much tbh

Why's Kumbh trying to run away lmao 😭

Karna: ...what did I do

Kumbhkarna: LEMME GO I AM SCARED

Vibhishan: what

Karna: what

Kumbhakarna: what

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

Someone who knows more about the Mahabharata than me should psychoanalyze the Pandavs I think

[hindulivesmatter]

The Men of Mahabharat

Who's your favourite?

All of the men (who aren't villains) who played pivotal roles in the Mahabharat. Let's see who Tumblr loves the most!

Reblog to reach a wider audience!

Next poll: The Villains of Mahabharat.

[suklengoesbrrr]

NAKULA THE PANDAV!!!!!

I'M WITH MY MAHABHARATA BRAINROT ERA GUYS, YOU CAN'T SCAPE FROM ME HAHAHHAHAHAHHA‼️‼️‼️

I abolutely LOVE MAHABHARATA, is my fave book and epic history guys. And currently i'm reading it, and something that always bothers me, was that literally all artist draw the 5 pandavas (the main protagobist of the epic) like EXACTLY the same 😭 when in the Mahabharata there is actuall descriptions of them. So I wanted to do my thing bc i'm an artist i'm a vaishnav AND I HAVE THE POWER OF THE PENCIL IN MY HAND🔥🔥🔥 so I will make the character design of the 5 brothers :3

And btw I can give some good representation that Mahabharata and India actually deserve, bc hollywoke is making 💩 (i'm sorry wtf is a indian atheist?? HELL NUH UH, LET'S STAND UP SANATAN DHARMA!!) LETS GOOO MAHABHARATA.

[whimsiquix]

Hilarious tidbit of the day, that time Draupadi called Arjun the best of the Pandavas to the other Pandavas:

‘In particular, Panchali remembered the husband who was in the middle, the brave one who was absent. She told the foremost of the Pandavas, “In the absence of the two-armed Arjuna, the equal of the many-armed Arjuna and the best of the Pandavas, this forest seems cheerless to me. Wherever I look, the earth seems to be empty to me. This forest, with its many marvels and blossoming trees, no longer seems to be attractive in Savyasachi’s absence. This Kamyaka is as blue as monsoon clouds and is frequented by elephants in rut. But without Pundarikaksha, it has no charm. The twang of his bow is like the roar of the thunder. O king! I remember Savyasachi and without him, I cannot find any peace of mind.”

- BORI 376(79)

Side note: Pundarikaksha means: ‘The Lotus-Eyed-One’. 🪷 Something about Draupadi frequently describing how beautiful she finds Arjun absolutely breaks my mind actually.

[heisen-heimer]

Ok hear me out:

A Mahabharat anime would slap so hard

[jacobpking]

Arguably the most important person in the epic, and the Mahabharata’s main character

[stxrrynxghts]

Uttar, an analysis

The ages of Uttar and Uttara are a big plot hole in the Mahabharat. I personally like to imagine Uttara as a 16 year old when she gets married (and Abhimanyu is 19), but Uttar is someone I am very confused for.

Uttar, along with his bro Shankh are mentioned during the Draupadi swamayvar. It is written that Virat arrived with the both of them, when mentioning the kings who had arrived.

Perhaps Uttar was a kid. Let's assume that he was a kid, 3 years old? Now, let's calculate. If we include the 12 year exile that Arjun had, the 13 year exile of the Pandavas, and an extra one year Uttar turns out to be 29 years old.

Even Abhimanyu's age can be calculated to be in the early thirties by some, but I kind of reject that theory. I personally see him being a young adult. But, the Upapandavas are another plot hole.

We know next to nothing confirmed about them, except that they were atirathis, and the manner in which they died. Even their achievements in the War are not specifically highlighted. Their ages are a point of contradiction as well. Their existence is mentioned ONLY after we are given a description of Abhimanyu's birth.

I personally feel that they could have been older. Abhimanyu being the youngest kid of the Pandavas might as well make sense. The Upapandavas were probably in their mid twenties- early thirties by that account.

Back to Uttar:

His actions are mostly termed as being cowardly. He was undoubtedly a decent warrior, as he had defeated Shalya, and COULD have killed him, if he had not boasted and given Shalya time to hurl a spear at him (LOL).

Uttar is someone who mostly spends time with members of the opposite sex. He is also the heir apparent of the Kingdom, and has relatively no experience of war. Doesn't mean that he was not trained enough. The most plausible explanation for his actions are that he panicked after seeing such a big army, that too alone.

Virat was a Maharathi, and Kichaka was one of the most powerful people alive at that time. I don't think that Uttar would have gotten to fight in any wars, when there were so many experienced warriors in the army already?

I came to the conclusion that he FELT that he could fight the whole army himself, and had a somewhat romantic view of the war, but when he saw the army, he panicked.

Uttar is a green boy, doesn't matter what his age is. It was his first war, and seeing the likes of Bhishma and Drona in front of him would cause panic to anyone.

Arjun did not TEACH him warfare (as shown in CERTAIN shows.) He just gave him confidence to fight. I personally feel that Uttar was the only prince of a small kingdom, where life went on peacefully, and he had no reason to prepare for a war, unlike certain princes. Uttar's future was already set.

If you closely observe Uttara's character, she feels like someone who is very naive and innocent. She asks Uttar for clothes for her and her friends' dolls, and he readily agrees. The siblings are not understanding the depth of the situation they are in, and It can be plausible that they are too pampered as children?

My conclusion is that Uttar was a bit arrogant prince who needed a bit of a reality check and a confidence boost. His age, I feel, should be seen as somewhere in mid to late twentie. That makes his and Uttara's bonding interesting, since she is 10+ years junior to him.

[cubitumeamus8]

OOH OOH I'LL TELL YOU THE BIGGEST SIMILARITY??I GREW UP LISTENING BOUT ABHIMANYU AND

THE BIGGEST SIMILARITY IS

HEARING ABOUT BOTH MAKES ME CRY MY HEART OUT IN ABSOLUTE RAW PAIN COZ NEITHER DESRVED IT AND M CRYING NOW FML BUT LIKE ITS SOOOOOO SAD!!

So anyone here who has an idea about the great Indian epic Mahabharata and knows about the battle of Kurukshetra and has also read Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller..... DID YOU ALL ALSO NOTICE THE HUGE HUGE HUGE SIMILARITY BETWEEN THE DEATHS OF ABHIMANYU AND PATROCLUS.... please don't tell me I am the only one.!!

(If you want I can explainnnn) *aggressively puts forward a similarity-comparison chart between the Indian and Greek mythology complete with diagrams and footnotes and highlighted key points*

[taraaladkii]

I love old doordarshan series, they are short, meaningful and definitely worth watching. Here are my top 3 favourites, in case you wanna binge watch them too🩷

1) Trishna

It's the Hindi adaptation of the classic book 'Pride & Prejudice'. The characters are portrayed accurately and it's a 13 episode series.

2) Kashish

This series highlights the slow burn romance portraying an aspiring actress as female lead and a successful director as male lead. The characters are written very well, I actually watched this before Trishna.

3) Chanakya

This series is directed by a renowned director Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi. This used to come in the evenings before Mahabharat during lockdown and dare I say, it was my favourite and still is. I suppose, it's the most accurate representation of Chanakya and the politics during the Nanda and Mauryan era. It's longer compared to the first two, but it'll certainly leave you with lots of useful insights and knowledge.

Do tell me your opinions if you've watched them or have other recommendations 🩷

[incorrectmahabharatquotes]

This is not as coherent as my usual posts and I'm sorry about that in advance. This is tangentially related to our last post about women in Mahabharat. I saw this post by @nushkiespeaks. I have a lot of thoughts about it but what matters the most in the context of our previous post is that I do not like the use of the phrase "her dharma saves her" in this scenario. I will explain.

TW: violence against women, sexual assault. Please proceed with caution.

(I want to clarify that this is not meant as a call out post or anything. These are just my thoughts about what some feminist analysis of the epic lack sometimes. You can feel free to agree or disagree with me but please be kind and respectful about it and not call people names or harass anyone.)

I love Draupadi as a character so I say the following with all the love in my heart for her:

People usually either praise Draupadi for being a perfect victim. Or denigrate her for not being one. To them, she's either the pure hearted goddess who believed in her personal god and fulfilled her dharma of being a perfect wife. Or she's the cunning woman who didn't perform her dharma properly and deserved what she got.

What gets left behind is that the fact no one should have to go through any of that regardless of whether you believe they performed their dharma correctly. What also gets left behind are: all the other women mentioned in the scene, if only in passing. The slaves.

If you're strictly talking about the BORI CE version of the story(as the post clearly is), while reading it, it's almost impossible to miss the repeated mentions of the normalised and legally sanctioned sexual abuse/harrassment and rape of slaves. (Side note: Yes, slavery was a thing back then. It's horrible. People just don't like to acknowledge the instances in the Mahabharat where slavery is mentioned because it's just not a good look for sacred books to be chill with and actively encouraging buying and selling of actual people like objects. Trust me, if you have a favourite character in the epic, they were probably involved in the practice of slavery somehow, even Krishna, I'm very sorry to tell you this.)

To me, it's odious to mention dharma whenever we talk about Draupadi's vastraharan because it leads the obvious conclusion that those other women mentioned in text suffer at the hands of their "masters", in part because maybe they weren't performing their dharma correctly.

Maybe that's not what people mean when they praise Draupadi for her dharmic perfection. But every time those people, I cannot help but think of those women. The ones that are forgotten.

The ones who were not allowed to save themselves.

I guess, I'm ultimately just trying to say that this post is just my humble request to people to not talk about topics such as sexual assault in terms of the moral character of the victim. The people may mean well, but it does unfortunately perpetuate the idea of a perfect victim.

-Mod S

[nushkiespeaks]

KRISHNA IN VYAS MAHABHARAT AND THE POWER OF DUTY AND CHOICE (I)

Krishna in Vyaas Mahabharat

Trust me, I had seen Krishna's representation in TV serials and fictional books, but I always felt that something was missing. I understand the grand scale of Krishna, the all knowing Krishna, the mischief maker Krishna, the Dwarkadheesh Krishna, but I could hardly find nuances in the portrayal or how he exactly intertwines his roles together as one. In many instances, I feel like I am seeing actually different persons rather than entirely one. It should be one man enacting different activities, but somehow I felt fictions and serials cannot capture it well enough.

This is when I started reading Bori Ce, and oh man the way I was completely blown off by his portrayal! This is exactly what I had imagined Krishna to be! The all in one man showing all the nuances with perfect balance, not underdoing or overdoing it!

This man openly shows affection, anger, patience, courage and what not and has a strong command, a personality, a confidence in his stance that he has immensely knowledgeable and knows what is right and wrong.

KRISHNA IN MAHABHARAT IS AN ENTIRE PERSONALITY IN ITSELF.

There isn't a stiffness to his character which I always feel is shown, or the general notion of him being always in a mischievous mood throughout, nor he is the one who would always be ready to throw heavy "gyaan" in your way, everytime someone is upset.

1. Krishna, fitting in Mahabharat as a human and as a God: [ Krishna feels you, he gets you what you feel ] :

Krishna in Mahabharat, actually behaves like a person does as per required in a situation. He actually feels like a separate individual dealing with problems, fighting through it like anyone of us. Him being God, doesn't actually draw him from the fact that he will do a task with his command or Maya. Rather he takes up a situation, understands it and does his best to work upon it.

And you find him in a range of emotions while dealing with a situation.

For example, after the Dyut, he goes to meet Pandavas and Draupadi. The texts actually show how much he was shivering with anger, so much so that the forest seems like being caught in a storm, the sky in tremors and the earth is shaking. At that moment, his anger was disastrous. He was angry, very angry and he shows it. This is when Arjun comes, falls at his feet and recounts Krishna's past and cools him down. And Krishna gets very emotional at this.

Imagine you're very angry, and someone comes and says words of calmness and you melt almost immediately, and reciprocate their affection. That's exactly what Krishna does. He could've shown his superiority, could've destroyed the surroundings around just because he's God and knew that Dyut was unrighteous that happened. But he doesn't. He calms down and shows affection to Arjun by reciprocating how much he loved him and considered him is own. Such a contrasting set of emotions shown so well, unlike how we see Krishna not giving a damn about the Pandavas and running straight towards Draupadi. This was not him. He was angry, but was never so much that would overpower everything. He sees the Pandavas distraught and he actually comforts them.

He goes to Draupadi next and is heartbroken at her condition. Yes, Draupadi openly complains to him about what had happened and weeps. And unlike how we think or had seen Krishna giving a series of speeches of how "world does things to the one who is right, you should be strong Sakhi, rise up" he doesn't do any of it. Because he understood what Draupadi needed was a burst out of her grief, and some comfort. Krishna does the same, he infact goes on to say that fie upon Arjun and Bheem, the strength of Pandavas, and how all the Kauravas will be vanquished. He asks her to stop shedding tears and that the Kaurav women will shed more tears than her.

This is when guys, this is when I felt him. He actually acted like anyone of us who will comfort someone who is distressed, to an extent he/she would go on to support their stance, instead of asking to forget about it or be strong instead. No. Krishna wanted her to lament it fully and not store it up within her or forget about it. Krishna never asks to try to forget whatever happened. He knew what exactly Draupadi wanted that time, and let's her be. The grief stricken Draupadi who only wanted to pour her heart out. He comforts her after listening to her stance and anger completely. He's moved by her grief and reciprocates her anger by saying they'll pay for their sins and he'll make sure of that. And this is actually what a response should be, or we give to someone near and dear one who's been hurt or done unjust. He exactly acts like US.

But he was God. According to our thinking, He could've said to her that why are you crying? Be strong, have faith and all that....but Krishna doesn't. This is where the nuance of him being a human and a God is bridged.

It's not over yet. Krishna openly says, how he should've been during the Dyut physically, but he couldn't because of a war. He feels upset that he couldn't be there.

This again adds up to the emotional range of Krishna, that doesn't generally reduce him to an all knowing God who is detached from the world.

BUT HE ACTUALLY IS. HIM BEING GOD ACTUALLY DETACHES HIM FROM WORLDLY EMOTIONS! HE SHOULD BE DETACHED FROM MATERIALISM AND THAT HE IS!

And that is actually the beauty of his amalgamation of him being Godly and humanly at the same time! He isn't emotionally detached from anyone, he's completely involved in each emotion but to an extent it is required. What you call it as a balance of it. You see both angles together in his character subtly, not overpowering each other but coming together as a whole to make him KRISHNA.

Krishna follows the way how a human should work, he is that's why for a reason is called the ULTIMATE MAN.

It's not for his physical strength or power, but also because of a PERFECT blend of emotions he displays, akin to a man and teaches us how exactly should it be.

This is where Krishna appears like a whole character and doesn't appear subtly flat with a single dimension of a God. You know he knows, he knows you know that he knows, but still....that emotional strike you will get while reading about him from Vyas Mahabharat will give you that feeling in your guts. It will just make you feel closer to him

[ TO BE CONTINUED ]