#characters of mahabharat

[archpoet77]

many of y’all aren’t ready for this conversation yet but there is LITERALLY no one in the Mahabharat who’s completely innocent. Not Draupadi, not Krishna and certainly not Karna.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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

[lovefrombegonia]

*sits up straight* ykw qijiu is kinda similar karna and duryodhana but not really but really REALLY but--

[felinecryptid]

ouhhh needle guy, wont you hug me? come a little closer, make me bleed, make me lose my mind from bloodloss and erase my worries

[fanfictionroxs]

Dhanush-Baan aur Duryodhan

The fact that the bow and arrow represent both great love and great enmity for Duryodhan. The fact that it is a symbol of protection and attack for him. The fact that it brings out both regard/respect and ego/arrogance in his heart. The fact that he both adores and hates the bow and arrow. All because of two men who were enemies yet brothers, one fated to be Duryodhan's protector and the other fated to be his protector's downfall. One's arrow gave him everything and the other's arrow took away his everything.

Ah Niyati. She sure loves her irony.

[blackknight-100]

Going to just say it because I saw a bunch of YouTube videos this is seriously getting out of hand. Every time I see someone saying things like "oh no <insert opinion> is invalid because it's a later addition/interpretation!" I lose faith in humanity because people do realise right, that the Mahabharata and Ramayana at large are and have been passed down by word of mouth, and most people don't read KMG or BORI or Valmiki Ramayana? And these books came much later (BORI, for instance, was published in the 20th century), so it's not like they were accessible to the vast majority of people throughout the ages in the middle, or even now to those who can't read or don't have internet. People told tales about the characters of MB and RMYN, and yes, they added new things, which became a part of folklore and incorporated the struggles of the locals, because most literature and oral traditions are a mirror of the society. So everytime a folkloric opinion is dismissed because it's not "in the original version", we are effectively dismissing the history of those people and the fluid nature of storytelling. And yes, this includes TV and media - they are absolutely influenced by current political situations and mass opinions.

That being said, some people are waaaay too obsessed with whitewashing their MB blorbos or obsessing about Ravana and it's ruining the environment. WHY ARE PEOPLE TRYING TO WHITEWASH RAVANA? In most versions everyone hated him. There is probably NO ONE in all of Lanka who wanted him to win. The only reason Mandodari was supposed to be devoted is because Mandodari was his wife and the only way to represent good women, as we all know, is to make them good wives.

As for MB, any major male character, except the sages maybe and the last generation of Kurus, 90% of the time has something awful in their resume. And you know what? Good for them! LET THEM COMMIT CRIMES IN PEACE GOOD GODS.

[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.

[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

[forevermore05]

Let's say you're one of the writer's way back when Atla was first starting. Bryke has stepped back and let the writers do their thing. What are some things you would keep or remove completely? What are things you would have done differently? What would you have liked to explore more of with the story and the characters?

OOOH good question

I would definitely be giving South Asia, Hinduism, and Buddhism their honour back but making Desi main characters not caricatures. I will pay my respects to those religions by using them properly and not discarding them when you don't truly understand their meaning. And better representation will all the cultures.

Likewise, I would make a 4th (or maybe more) book, so we can see the healing of the 4 nations and flesh out the Gaang and other characters properly. I feel like ending it on book 3 was too sudden, and I hate the comic, so I don't even recognize those, since it is so OOC.

I would make Zuatara canon through some slow burn. I would not pair Aang up with anyone, since he is too young but keep him having a crush on Katara for the Chakra arc (which stays true and respect to Hinduism) but to provide a lesson on heartbreak and moving on. Same with Toph, such a cute little baby.

I will REMOVE those nonconsenual kisses entirely. Basically out with Kataang.

I want to see more of the evil politics of the Fire Nation before Aang defeats Ozai and how Zuko deals with it. In contrast, to how Zuko handles politics being Fire Lord.

I WANT more Suki and her backstory. I also want to see her and Ty Lee fight side by side. It would be so cool.

I would actually have Zuko and Katara speak to Azula after the Agni Kai.

I would keep Sokka's sexism arc.

Not only that, but I would love to explore Yue even more and her take on the NWT

I also want to go in depth with Mai, I want to give her some depth.

Have Aang's character understand the Mahabharat scripture before making a choice. (Maybe kill Ozai)

I want to see a healing arc for Azula

I also want Uncle Iroh to face some repercussion of being an activity member of war. I love Uncle Iroh, and I want to write the consequences and him accepting humbly due to his development.

Book 4 and (leading to adulthood) head canons for the Gaang

Katara: Helps the SWT and NWT, then goes on to become ambassador for the SWT in the Fire Nation

Zuko: Fire lord

Aang: Helping all the Nations to heal

Toph: I think she would totally be the creator of the pro-bender, you cannot change my mind, I think she would also become a teacher

Suki: Girlbossing as a Kyoshi Warriors and being known as one of the best

Sokka: Become Chief of SWT and a skilled engineer

I want Katara and Zuko to find his mother together (so we can get good development)

I feel like I have more, but I will add more if I think of any.

[chahaa-piun-ja]

Also for several times just standing there tits out waiting for the divine armour to materialize as a hail of arrows is coming towards him

Karna was so real for having his entire tits out while everyone else was wearing heavy fucking armor like yeah he's serving the army AND cunt

[stxrrynxghts]

Okay so, recently there was a huge kaand. As y'all know, I usually post incorrect quotes or my rewatching series of Star Plus Mahabharata. Now someone took my posts and blew them out of proportion. I have blocked them, yes, not because I'm afraid, but because I don't want any stress. I get easily affected by this stuff, and I don't wish to fall into depression again.

I'm writing this post to clarify MY opinions, if y'all are willing to listen. Currently, all the quotes and rewatches are deleted. I will post them either publically or privately again, but it depends if you all wish to see them.

I use basic meme templates from the incorrect quote generators, and put the names of the MB characters which I think suite the template. So there was this specific incorrect quote:

Draupadi: I love you guys, you are the best thing that happened to me. The Pandavas: we are the best thing that happened to you? Draupadi: yeah. The pandavas: we are starting to feel a little sorry for you.

Now, this is a very popular incorrect quote. I don't see how this is derogatory towards the Pandavas, or Draupadi for that matter. It's just a joke. And I'm allowed to make jokes. You, however, are not allowed to post screenshots of my posts on social media without my permission/giving credit.

Tell me honestly, did this feel insulting to any of you? If it did, then I will accept my mistake. I did not make it from the intention of hurting anyone. I just thought it would suit them.

Now change the characters. If I had written this for Krishna and Balarama, would it feel insulting? No. IT IS JUST AN INCORRECT QUOTE!

And then this person says that I used "derogatory" language for my favs. WAIT WHAT? Does this person even know who my favs are? Pls tell me where have I used derogatory language for Abhimanyu or Uttaraa. Yes, I have made incorrect quotes. But these quote templates are used by 100s of ppl online, it's not just ME who is making these quotes, srsly. And no one has ever said that "hey I find them insulting".

Then, my rewatch series. First, it is solely, SOLELY based on what SP MB portrays the characters to be like. If I put any references from the OG MB, I MENTION IT explicitly. My rewatch series was inspired from @demonkidpliz's rewatching MB series (yes, I did take permission before starting it.)

Now, Dhrishtadyumna was trying to kill Drona, right after his birth. So I said it was "out of his aukaat". Why? Because he is very weird. He insults Draupadi in a very sexist way, and is downright irritating till this point. So I used this language for him. It is a satire on the show, God.

OG Dhrishtadyumna was a very nice warrior, but are his warrior skills shown in the show ? Are they? No. And if you consider this to be an accurate representation of him, then...you are special.

Then, this person posts stuff about me calling Arjun depressed. THIS was the biggest issue. I saw some of my friends commenting under it, without even clarifying it with me, first, so it did hurt initially.

The show does not show Arjun to be the great warrior he is. Arjun in the OG MB does not hesitate to fight UNTIL the Kurukshetra war, and he has proved his mettle as the best warrior of his time multiple times in the text. In the show...well, all of his gr8 warrior sequences are just removed. Almost all of them.

In the Varnavrat thing, the Pandavas (and Arjun) are eager to kill the Kauravas, which is very uncharacteristic for SP MB Arjun. So I said that "oh, he wants to fight? He won't want to fight after the depression hits in."

IT IS FOR SP MB ARJUN.

NOT FOR THE REAL ARJUN, GOD.

Yes, I know that he was a gr8 warrior. Yes, I know that he did tapasya and pleased all the Gods. Because he was GREAT. And I know that. The title of the post was "Re-watching Mahabharata", and the tags were "starplus mahabharat", "starbharat recap" and "starbharat". Srsly? You will say that I am calling the OG Arjun depressed?! Really?! It's a satire on the show!

Asking me to show even a single verse in the text where he is mentioned to be depressed is kinda weird since I DID NOT CALL HIM TO BE DEPRESSED! And I know how serious depression and suicide is. I suffered from it once. I don't need anyone teaching me about how serious it can be, or how it can affect your life. I am NOT trying to pick fights with anyone, okay? I am not. I am not interested in weird kalesh at all.

I want y'all to tell me if I have done anything wrong, or if any of you ever had similar feelings seeing my incorrect quotes or rewatch series. Since they are currently deleted, I will start posting them again if y'all are interested in seeing them.