#not like. mahabharata canon

[babyloniastreasure]

Fujimaru voice: Hey Karna isn't this exactly how you died?

[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.

[stuffedeggplants]

So I started drawing this for the Havan 2022 event but forgot to actually finish it!  

This is when Arjuna briefly serves as a charioteer for the prince of Matsya to go get the kingdom’s cattle back after Duryodhana steals them, but Arjuna has been living as a woman (Brihannala) for the past year so I think he still goes to battle dressed in women’s clothing...? Anyway, Arjuna has never driven a chariot before, so he is not the best at it, but I like think he enjoyed himself. 😄

[krsnaradhika]

can I ask about what the drama around "palace of illusions" is about and why it's bad?

Hey! Sure thing. Lemme list my problems with the book :-

1) The author presents Karna as some tragic hero compelled to be in the company of Duryodhana who clearly committed multiple murder attempts, went on to sexually harrass his sister-in-law and troubled another woman during the Ghosha yatra. Karna was NOT an outcaste. He was a Suta— meaning one with a Brahmin mother and a Kshatriya father. Adhiratha, Karna's adoptive father, was a wealthy man as he was Bhishma's charioteer. Keep in mind that charioteers used to play important roles in warriors' lives - as advisers, close friends and well-wishers. Krishna was the charioteer of Arjuna. Karna had all the opportunities the Pandavas didnt. He had parents who loved him, while the Pandavas were left halfly orphaned with the death of Pandu and Madri. Veda Vyasa describes Karna as "the trunk of the tree of adharma".

2) The Karna Draupadi ship is bullshit because Karna called the latter a whore during the disrobing sequence as well as presented the idea of "there should be no clothes on servants." Yes, Karna was the one who suggested her public sexual assault. She had blood stains on her garment and was dragged into the court of nefarious men by her hair. People who blame her for the assault inflicted on her are sick and need serious psychological help. You cannot defend attempted rape as one with working braincells.

3) So, shipping a victim with her abuser is not fun y'all. This is not some mentally unstable wattpad dark romance. It's itihāsa. The true history of Bhāratavarsha. Let's draw the line. She was an ekavastraa (meaning a woman in a single cloth, as she was menstruating) during the attempt at disrobing, and the man who called for it shouldn't be hailed. Karna also lied to Parashurama of his caste due to which he got cursed, had an unhealthy obsession with Arjuna and because he wanted to kill him for competition, Drona did not provide him with the knowledge of celestial weapons.

4) It is an ignominy against Lady Draupadi to ship her with anyone apart from her husbands because clearly, the Mahabharata says that she's Indra's wife Shachi while the Pandavas are the cursed five Indras of different kalpas. It is . . . not nice to ship one's wife with another man. It is creepy. Draupadi is one of the panchakanya, one of the five pious women whose names if chanted with sincerity wash off one's sins. She expresses her pride over her husbands multiple times in the text because all of them cherish her to no end. Yudhishthira does not hesitate on the fact that Draupadi is the five brothers' fortune, calls her ‘Kalyani’. Bhima kills Keechaka for her, threatening the revealing of their identities. Arjuna becomes Brihannala and spends most of the time near her during the incognito. In the book, however, the Pandavas do not give a damn about her. Yikes.

5) The book says that Draupadi faced prejudice because of her dark skin. I call bullshit again because Madreya Nakula, Partha Arjuna, Krishnatmika Devi Rukmini according to the Harivamsha, Devi Shri Jambavati (who is said to have a blue lotus like complexion), and lastly Shri Rama and Shri Krishna themselves are dark according to our scriptures. And, none of them faced discrimination because of it. Kanha is in fact called "Bhuvansundar" - the most beautiful one on the earth while Draupadi herself is hailed as one of the most beautiful women canonically.

6) Draupadi was never attracted to Karna. Neither did she pine for him, as the author portrays. Sheesh. Please please, we do whatever with human characters. But with divine ones, you have to be careful with the message you get across. This book is saying that ancient india was casteist and colorist, literally the times when the son of a fisherwoman, Veda Vyasa became a Brahmin and the said fisherwoman went on to become a queen mother of one of the most influential dynasties back then. Krishna was raised a cowherd, though a prince. He went on to become the most erudite diplomat and established Dvaraka, which was en engineering marvel as it was constructed on reclaimed land.

7) According to the author . . . Draupadi felt something more than just friendship for Krishna too. Heavens, I can't do this. Let's normalise a man and a woman being just friends now, shall we? Krishna is Mahavishnu, he's not supposed to invoke romantic feelings in Draupadi who is Shachi, Indra's wife. Indra and Upendra (Vishnu) are brothers, since Vāmanadeva was born of Mata Aditi's womb, who is Indra's mother and of all the Adityas' too.

[theramblergal]

Just a random tag game I wanna do because I feel like we need to talk about our fics more and encourage each other more.

What are your fic ideas? Ongoing, something you plan on writing in the future, just a thought/half-formed concept, multifandom, anything! Let's list them out and hype up our lovely mutuals <3

Here's mine:

Prayana: an Abhimanyu x Uttaraa fic that spans the year between the Pandavas' exile and the war. Deals with their burgeoning relationship under increasingly adverse circumstances as the war builds up in the background. (Mahabharata)

matrdayahara: a one-shot on Nakula struggling with his mother's legacy of beauty and his position in the family. (Mahabharata)

pashyati: a fix it fic! Gandhari chooses not to blindfold herself. I have massive plans for this work, it spans literal generations xD (Mahabharata)

an iyashikei/slice-of-life (+Irondad!) work where Peter Parker deals with the woes of senior year in high school. College apps, being Spider-Man, maintaining a relationship with fiesty MJ - all at once! (MCU)

a coffee shop + Cold War AU of the Avengers. I really just wanted a lot of ballerina!Natasha, so it spawned from there. (MCU)

a canon-compliant longfic of Sherlock pining after John when they're making the wedding preparations for John and Mary. (BBC Sherlock)

a post-S4 take on John and Sherlock's issues with a healthy dose of Parentlock and admitting their love for each other. There's a bazillion fics out there already with this exact premise but I want more. (BBC Sherlock)

Okay, I think that's it.

No-pressure tags: @krsnaradhika, @krishna-priyatama (talk about your stuff Sakhi I really wanna know!), @desigurlie, @vishnavishivaa, @stxrrynxghts, @friend-shaped-but, and anyone else interested in sharing their fics!

[dream--interrupted]

Warning: looooooong post with many old art ahead! A small break from Greek mythology, have some Hindu mythology instead! (Almost) all of my Mahabharata fanservants. It's time for Pand(ava)emonium!! .......... That sounded funnier in my head.

Berserker, Bhima (I made him before Bhima became canon and I'm keeping him because my Bhima isn't a Lancer!

Madreyas.

Lancer Yudhi.

Ruler Yudhi/Yudhi alter (Dharmaraja)

Caster Yudhi/Indonesian Yudhi (Puntadewa)

Caster Ghatotkacha (I will get around giving you a proper design one day!!!)

Archer Abhimanyu

Bonus: Ruler Krishna.

Miscellaneous:

The jewel on Dharmaraja's forehead is the very same jewel on Ashwatthama's forehead. It was ripped from Ashwatthama as punishment at the end of the Kurukshetra war and was given to Draupadi. Draupadi then gave it to Yudhi to wear.

Nakula's sword(s), Asi, was created by the Gods and has gone through many, many owners but it eventually ended up with Drona and then Ashwatthama after Drona's death. Buttttt then Ash was punished/banished and the sword was given to his maternal uncle, Kripacharya, for safekeeping. Kripa gave the sword to Nakula, who would eventually return it to Kripa when the Pandavas died. It's said Kripa still is caring for the sword (which is apparently sentient!!) until the day Ashwatthama comes back for it.

(Ash is very sick of the Pandavas taking his things...!)

The name of this file is literally "yama why" (alternate name: Yudhi is very tired)

There is probably some drawbacks being the son of the God of the dead and underworld... (Yudhi is my fav and that is why I like bullying him)

Mafia AU.

Yudhi is the boss (and he still hates his life). Dharmaraja is having fun though!

Bhima still the MVP

Nakula utilizes his reputation of being vain - people think he's just admiring himself with his pocket mirror but the truth is he's secretly using it as a way to check on the surroundings behind him.

Sahadeva is always ready to throw hands. Or stab someone. Or shoot someone. Whichever he deems necessary at the moment.

[mxtxfanatic]

Heyy ✨ hope you're having a good day. I wanted to ask:

What are your views on lan qiren and the so called "righteous" lan sect?

Their hypocrisy baffles me SO MUCH especially if we see the parallel drawn between the situations of madam lan and wwx. Without even knowing the full story or giving them a chance to explain their actions they just serve their judgement upon them. They spend their whole lives conforming to a set of strict rules but then go on and break those same rules (which they punish and berate others for) when it suits them .They go on about rules to not be prideful, to not be arrogant but ARE prideful borderline arrogant about the fact that they are righteous, that they are elegant, that they are the LAN sect . Again, They have rules for forbidding gossip and to not make assumptions but all the judgements they laid about wwx were based upon rumors. The RUMOURS they didn't even bother to check. Moreover, after the siege when they were all proved wrong, they (and all of the jianghu) just kept silent. They didn't even acknowledge their mistakes and wrongdoings. They didn't correct the false assumptions about the wen remnants. They kept on willfully being blind. They fucking portrayed the history with THEM being the beacons of justice and then have the AUDACITY, the NERVE to call themselves righteous, moral and good. I recently read a post comparing wwx and the lan righteous and I couldn't agree more with it.

I'm sorry I'm new to Tumblr idk how to attach it here (I think I was successful at adding a link). Basically it was drawing a parallel between Hindu religious texts like Bhagwadgeeta and Mahabharata with MDZS pertaining to morality and righteousness, and the parallel drawn between Lord Krishna and Wwx's character.

""  The lesson is - don’t do good deeds out of pride or with the desire to win God’s favor. Do it because being righteous is its own reward. That is the distinct difference between the Lan righteousness, which has become performative - done to preserve reputation and save face, and WWX’s righteousness, which is done simply because it is the right thing to do. The former is a slippery slope that can lead to mistakes and an unrighteous path. The latter is a difficult but ultimately the superior path."

Pheww... I'm sorry.😭 I got carried away and started ranting 😅 but it just makes me so MAD. it was so unfair what happened and the jianghu didn't got any punishment neither did they repent. I bet, post canon, even after the whole truth is out, they wouldn't treat my boy wwx as he deserves.

So coming back to the question what is your take about the lan sect and lan qiren?

Btw I love your blog 🥰especially your takes on MDZS. Your arguments and opinions are very concise and factual it leaves less to be desired.

This is a very long and engaging exchange I once had with @/ladyqueth on the topic, and with a few small changes to my view on Lan Xichen (I said he "isn't shown to have learned" by the end of the novel when I should have said he's still processing; the former makes it sound like he pulls a jc or lqr) and a caveat that there is validity to wangxian choosing to leave the Cloud Recesses to enter seclusion elsewhere and I just couldn't find it during that convo, this is pretty much how I still feel.

Idk who said it or if this would even apply to a translation of mdzs since I do not know the language breakdown, but someone once said that it was a mistake that cultivation sects/clans got translated as "righteous" instead of "orthodox," because "righteous" holds a connotation in English that doesn't necessarily carry through to what is meant when used to describe the clans/sect in cultivation cnovels. Can't say that you are a "righteous" cultivator in a world where it is perfectly acceptable and expected of you to kill someone on the street and steal their stuff just because they're weaker than you. That's like the opposite of righteousness as English speakers use the word lmao!

[dailydemonspotlight]

As the biggest fan of Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse on this big blue and green planet, may I ask you to cover my boy Krishna?

Krishna - Day 42 (Request)

Race: Deity

Alignment: Neutral

May 20th, 2024 (Shooting for, at least)

Throughout the course of this series, Hinduism has quickly risen the ranks of my favorite mythologies to look through. I've always had a passing interest in the third largest religion to date, but as time has gone on and I've continued on with this series, being forced to engage with it more has given me so much more insight into what it consists of, and given me a new respect for the followers of Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma. Among the countless figures of Hinduism, one of the most popular and prominent, however, has to be today's Demon of the Day, the ever-popular avatar of Vishnu, Krishna.

Lovingly described as "Indian Michael Jackson" by the SMT community, Krishna is an important figure both in SMT IV:A, as well as Hindu mythology as a whole. In the metaphorical melting pot of world religions, folklore, and myth this series consists of, the interactions of Krishna with the cast of the series feel oddly in character for the role this Hindu prettyboy plays. And no, that isn't a joke. Krishna is popular both in and out of Hindu circles, canonically getting bitches left and right through his sheer charisma. As the eighth avatar of Vishnu, Krishna represents all that is worth preserving in the world- love, protection, kindness, compassion, all that jazz.

Throughout the central Hindu text, the Mahabharata, Krishna serves as a central character whose accomplishments are a bit too long and varied to recant here, but he could almost be seen as the main character of the text, and for good reason. He appears as a hero, a folkloric god-child, a prankster, a lover, and so much more, as his epithets are only beaten out by his achievements in how long and varied they are. It all begins with his birth, actually, one as strange as he is himself. In the Krishna Charitra, Krishna was born as the child of Devaki and Vasudeva, but the brother of his mother, Kamsa, forbids this, hearing of a prophecy that his nephew will take his life.

When Krishna is born, in classic mythological fashion, Vasudeva ends up trading away the just-born Krishna into the hands of his future foster mother, in exchange for her daughter. Turns out, oops, the Hindu goddess Yogamaya was residing within that child, and she delivers a message of imminent death to Kamsa regarding Krishna's successful birth. Throughout Krishna's childhood, he was famous for being a prankster who loved, and I mean LOVED butter. For some reason. I don't get it, personally. However, in spite of his troublemaking ways, he also grew to love and protect the people of his home village, working to save them from disaster time and time again. Throughout his time as a child, he played for fun and laughs beyond all else, messing with people often just for his own amusement.

When he grew older, he soon fulfilled his oracle-given right, defeating his uncle Kamsa and then proceeding to reinstate Kamsa's father, Ugrasena. After this, many myths differ- some say he went on to rule his own kingdom, others say he picked up a lot of chicks, but all eventually reconnect in the great winding tale of the Mahabharata. Unfortunately, rather famously, the Mahabharata is an insanely long and complex story, and I'd rather not get into it here in the scope of a bite-sized blog post. TL;DR, shit happens.

Krishna is portrayed... strangely in SMT. For a character famous for having blue skin, as his name can roughly translate to 'All-Blue,' his portrayal is odd, but I quite like the twist on design. The focus on teal and orange make a neat color contrast, and he maintains a youthful prettyboy appearance that I think fits very well. I wish I could get into this more, but I may need to start wrapping this up. Past that, he also has two other designs in the same game, being the spoilerific Vishnu-Flynn.

Vinny don't look.

...My only real comment here is, why did they give him lightsabers?

Overall, though, there is a lot more to Krishna that I could have gotten into. The winding tales of Hinduism are fascinating rabbit holes, but I won't recant them all here. I love how unique and interesting his design is, and apparently his role in IV:A is very important... though, admittedly, I haven't played it yet. Krishna is very deserving of being today's Demon of the Day.

[theboogierat]

blaire is peak and why rusty can't write truly evil women

If you've found this post, I don't need to introduce Leasebound to you.

Instead, we're going to talk about the fandom.

Leasebound's fandom has a sort of Lemony-Snicket-esque schism, with Rusty's intended audience and (hilariously) the exact opposite. I've seen both sides of the Leasebound audience, and I've noticed something interesting.

...nobody hates Blaire.

Okay, that's a HELL of a sentence to make, and very exaggerated. I've seen 'Blaire unenjoyers' and other people treating Blaire like the Eric Cartman of Leasebound, it's an eye-catching statement that makes people read more of the text post.

But I wouldn't call it wrong, I'd give it a 'hyperbolic.'

Even on the side of Rusty's intended audience, Blaire isn't loathed. I've seen many enjoyers of Blaire who either talk about how much they went her to talk gender to them, so to say. On the flipside, the worst interpretation of Blaire is a misogynist who pushes her activism on other people, which is more or less her canon intent.

But if Blaire was as bad as Rusty Hearts portrayed her, I don't think we'd see so much art of Blaire. In fact, I put down a poll, and Blaire pretty much took the #1 spot for the 'character with the most fanart' almost instantly, beating out characters such as Jaden (who took silver), Riley, and Violet. And it pretty much sticks!

I've seen a lot of Blaire fanart from the Leasebound tag on both sides! I've seen a lot of Blaire discussion and discourse on both sides, either about the possibility of a redemption arc, a rewrite, thirsting over her, etc.

So...we can pretty much say Blaire is a bad strawman.

Strawmen are supposed to be one-note characters the main cast is supposed to be more interesting than and can fight with no pushback. Blaire is massively popular across the board in the Leasebound fandom, has discussions about her that are multi-layered, and has wonderful fanart from people that really like her.

Done. That's all.

But we're not done. We need to keep talking.

Rusty Leasebound is very good at some things. Her chapter focusing on Shez had emotional, gut-wrenching art, and there is a definite appealing quality to the way she draws things.

Some things, atleast.

But Rusty is not a great writer. There's tons of other essays and an entire discord server that can point all the flaws in her story out enough to write an epic worthy of the Mahabharata. Leasebound has largely forgotten what it is to be a mouthpiece for her political opinions, its characters are one-note and one-dimensional, she focuses on the wrong things at the wrong time, and many more that will make my fingers cry as I type this. But I want to focus of Rusty's tendencies to tell, not show.

Blaire is not evil. She's not even Maleficent or Ursula or Cruella evil. And she's no Makima either. Blaire is just a woman passionate about her beliefs, and makes the mistake of pushing them on other people. That's not evil, that's a flaw. Women cannot be perfect all the time.

But we're meant to believe she is evil. In this panel of the Actor!AU, we are TOLD by Rusty that Blaire is meant to be evil.

Blaire isn't evil! Come back to me when she puts a living creature in a blender, or something!

While the statement is understandable, you're using it in the wrong way! Because there is no reason for the casual Leasebound reader to ever believe Blaire is evil, the way you portray her!

(Yes, casual Leasebound readers exist. Quinty's one.)

And there's multiple occasions of this 'tell, don't show' narrative Rusty keeps pushing.

For example: Meriam.

Meriam is told to be the protective, strong mother, but I'm not sure that's entirely the case.

Meriam has serious flaws in her parenting that is never acknowledged. Shez was made to basically worry for her siblings at a young age, which sounds horrible for a young girl.

(side note: criticism of the comic has often lead to more interesting, and realistic plotlines for leasebound to include.)

She's obviously traumatised, and it shows in her parenting. When she shuns out Rissa and her boyfriend; that's not good! If Rissa wants her family by her side, she won't get it because she's marrying a man. Meriam always keeps Shez on the pedestal like she's Luisa from Encanto.

Nobody asks how's Shez. Someone help Shez.

And there's so much more!

We get snippets of Riley, a MAIN CHARACTER'S backstory from one-off panels and dialouges, but we heard the majority of it from Rusty in the comment section, Rusty confirming fan speculation, the cast page, non-canon panels, etc. Nothing in the main story!

And that just makes Riley...really boring. The most interesting part of Riley is Blaire right now, and that's REALLY bad, considering we're supposed to dislike Blaire.

Here are some more examples of Rusty telling, not showing:

Muddles:

Riley:

Various statuses of offscreen characters:

Blaire and many others of Rusty's characters have fallen into one of her biggest writing flaws' clutches, but it's interesting as to how fan perception and works have essentially made one of the most three-dimensional characters of the comic, aside from Jaden. And that's one of the main problems with Leasebound.

I want to end this with an open letter. I don't know if she'll read it, but if you do:

Listen to criticism, and find out what's wrong with your comic. Tune in to different parts of the fandom, even when you don't agree with them. At the heart of the war, we all share one thing: reading your comic. Don't take that for granted; many amazing, better written comics would love to have the attention you have. Your art is good. I enjoy reading Leasebound when it's about the characters, not how we're supposed to percieve them. You have something; harness it before it goes away! And at the rate Leasebound is going- it might go away really fast.

Thank you for reading. I don't have anything else to say.

...

Hey, remember when a radfem accidentally reblogged a post by a non-radfem-

[sivavakkiyar]

Wait how did you come to the conclusion that Vedanta is Brahmin appropriation of Buddhist philosophy?

Can we get a reading list?

So the idea that Vedantic philosophy is largely appropriated Buddhist material is only recently a controversial take; if I was at home, I could post easily something like at least a hundred old Ramakrishna magazines that directly state that Shankaracharya ‘drove Buddhism out of India’ by ‘learning from Nalanda and properly recorrecting it’. You don’t actually need even the historical context to notice this tho if you look at the texts and have read the Pali canon: not only does the Mahabharata contain pretty much the entirety of the Dhammapada, Krishna’s list of the signs of a wise man in the Gita are verbatim from older Indian Buddhist lit. Those are just clear examples, the better one would be to observe the complete dearth of Brahminical philosophy post Upanishads and to compare it to the Buddhist work done in the intervening time.

There’s a lot of books on this, it’s actually broadly accepted. As usual I will mention as a foundational text Dr. Ambedkar’s writings on the Gita and Brahminical philosophy, but also recommend Gombrich’s ‘What The Buddha Thought’ as an account of the early Buddhist engagement with Upanishadic and Brahminical thought.

[stxrrynxghts]

Do you think the events of the Mahabharata post Abhimanyu's death would have changed had he not died on the 13th day? If so... how?

Hmm, well, for one, Parikshit would have a real father to raise him up-

Ahem, anyways.

So, it depends, actually. I think if he were close to death, then it might help in riling Arjun up the way he got riled up. Abhimanyu's death is so major because of a) the sheer amount of cruelty shown in that incident and b) to rile Arjun up.

Abhimanyu finished 1 akshauhini on his own that day. In revenge, Arjun finished 7 akshauhinis without divine weapons between sunrise to sunset.

That was a HUGE blow to the Kaurava side. In one day, 75% of their forces were crushed. Would Arjun have the same reaction if Abhimanyu had lived?

Maybe, maybe not.

I think seeing his precious son in an injured state would be pretty jarring. Now add the guilt he felt, the tears Uttaraa and Subhadra shed, plus tons of riling up from Krishna's side, and you get almost the same reaction as the one that happened in canon.

Abhimanyu's death also helps up in riling Arjun to kill Karna. Arjun was hesitating to kill Karna when he was trying to pul his chariot wheel out of the mud, but Krishna kept on reminding him about all the things Karna had done. In the end, he reminded Arjun of how Abhimanyu had been killed, and of Karna's role in it, and bam, there goes Karna's head, flying.

Conclusion: it mostly depends on the amount of riling up Krishna does, ngl.

Now, this is about the war.

If you see the events otherwise, well, some characters would have a relatively happier life than they did in canon. Also, very happy for Uttaraa and Parikshit. They finally get a somewhat normal life. That is, IF Abhimanyu is not killed on the night of day 18.

Now, that means, Abhimanyu will most likely be pushed as the heir apparent, even if in canon, it was Bhima who had that title till the very end. Another happy point for Parikshit, because he won't have to deal with the pressure of being the much awaited heir of a destroyed clan.

The in-general events might stay the same. Either Abhimanyu dies the way Parikshit did, or he dies in another different way, keeping Parikshit's fate the same. This just pushes the rest of the events surrounding Parikshit and Janmeyjaya down by some years.

Also, a not depressed Uttaraa? YES.

[eremin0109]

mahabharata fix it headcanon (kind of??)

Man, sometimes I wish to read a funny, crack-y retelling of the Mahabharat. Of Pandavas and Kauravas having more or less a friendly, playful rivalry than the blood feud they have in the canon. Of Karna being the mediator between the cousins if things got a little too heated. Of Abhimanyu, Ghatotkach and other Upapandavas being spoilt rotten by their 100 uncles and Lakshman Kumar and other Kaurava children having study sessions with Yudhishthir and Sahadev, going on adventures with Bheem and Arjun.

Yudhisthir would be the King of Indraprastha and Duryodhan, the King of Hastinapur and the Kuru empire stretches from Gandhar in the north-west to Anga in the north-east, with two stronghold capitals to keep it secure instead of just one. Karna, despite being offered to be crowned the King of either kingdom, chooses to let his younger sibling and cousin take over, being content in his small, prosperous territory of Anga.

Kunti and Gandhari would both be mother figures for both sets of cousins, acting as advisors in the family. Bhishma, ever the guardian of his large family and Vidur, the maverick politician, retain their roles but have relaxed responsibilities as the kingdom (and the household) is at peace.

Dhritarashtra and Shakuni would have some skirmishes between them, classic brother-in-law tussle but for the most part would be harmless. The former king sits at the advisory board of Hastinapur while Shakuni is properly coronated the king of Gandhar, to keep him from meddling in the internal matters of the crown.

The Queens, Draupadi and Bhanumati would be great friends with respect and affection for each other. Being in charge of not just the palace but also crucial departments (finance for Draupadi, public welfare for Bhanumati) of their respective kingdoms. Draupadi acting more or less as an older sister to all of her fellow co-queens, but she has very special affection for Subhadra. It's no wonder Panchali loves her, as she's Krishna and Arjun's darling too.

The Rakshabhandhan at the Hastinapur palace is nothing short of an annual grandiose event. There are friendly bets amongst all the brothers on who can get their dearest sister/cousin the best gift. Of course, Dusshala loves her brothers and cousins too much (though Duryodhan and Nakul-Sahadev are secretly her favourites) to actually give a ranking of the gifts, so the contest remains at a draw for year after year.

Karna chooses to stay at Hastinapur, when Indraprastha should've been a rather obvious choice. Not that he doesn't like spending time with his siblings, but he just has a closer bond with his cousins. Not to mention there's a whole other reason he spends more of his free time at Hastinapur. The Pandavas are well aware of his affection for Duryodhan and tease him endlessly about it, just as the Kauravas tease their eldest for being so enamored by the Pandav-jesth.

Arjun is Karna's favourite sibling (ha, I did say this was a crack-y au) just because of the sheer similarities they have. They help each other to hone their archery skills, with Karna teaching Arjun secret techniques he learnt from his time with Parshuram. Arjun admires Karna and the way he is the amalgamation of all the qualities that the rest of the pandavas possess individually. They also bond closer due to the both of them being gay and Karna acting as a support system for Arjun as he comes to terms with his feelings for men, and Krishna in particular.

Krishna is the Kurus' biggest ally obviously. His relationship with Kauravas is more understated, but there is a mutual respect and admiration there. The Pandavas are his dearest obviously, some of them a LOT dearer than others AHEM but yeah, you get what I mean.

Obviously, they would still have family drama, what Indian household doesn't? But at the end of the day, they all apologise and make up and live happily ever after.

@fanfictionroxs

[incorrectmahabharatquotes]

i’ve like, watched bits and pieces of mahabharata adaptations, heard a gazillion people talk about what happens in it, and also one random netflix show where they’re judging the characters in heaven?? anyway. my thing was that i’ve never consistently watched/read it, and since it’s such a big corpus of work…. is there like a summary? a list of events? like a wiki?? it’d help a lot

I'm always hesitant to give out singular recommendations for anything, honestly, because I feel like no singular piece of work could ever properly capture every nuance and discourse. A lot of said pieces of work also have stuff that I find objectionable so I cannot endorse them without adding essays worth of caveats.

I wish I had a personalised summary for you that I could tell you to read/watch/listen to for a start. (maybe I should make one? No. That'd be insane of me. That'll take YEARS. It'd be a Project. I couldn't do that. Could I?)

If you're just starting out, maybe some of the compiled and heavily summarised versions would help. Children's book versions of the epic can be helpful to start with, they sanitise and flatten things but as a summary, they work. If you're grown up, it might feel a little odd to be reading children's books but I think they serve their purpose of being little cliffnotes version of events. Baby me had this book called Puffin's The Mahabharata by Namita Gokhale that I liked. I haven't read that book in years so I cannot give you an updated opinion on it.

Jaya by Devdutt Pattanaik also has quick summaries of events, often in bullet point formats which one could find helpful. However, Devdutt Pattanaik has a Thing™ where he's the gateway drug to Hindu supremacist nonsense so you have to watch out for that. Be So Careful, my dude. (My issue of being unable to recommend something without caveats and warnings in action, ladies, gentlemen and theyloveds.)

There's also stuff like Wikipedia, various websites with summaries etc. I would recommend checking citations on those as much as possible. You can peruse through those too.

Once you get a basic level of familiarity, you'll soon realise that everybody disagrees with everybody on events and characterization and there's millions of different versions and there's no "canon". It's chaos out here and that's the beauty of it all. Happy reading!

-Mod S

[nutcasewithaknife]

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better

Thank you @bbcphile @deepbluewithyellow @kingsandbastardz @potahun @seventh-fantasy @redemption-revenge and @heyyo-heyyo for tagging me! Sorry for y'all waiting for days, the procrastination demons got to me ;-;

3 ships you like: Oh dear. How do I pick only three!! Okay, here are some that have been on my mind the most these past few weeks.

Liansanjiao from Mysterious Lotus Casebook. Kinda obvious but I adore every side and the whole of this triangle.

Moshang from SVSSS. Ice Demon Lord and his pathetic hamster man. God and his most beloved blorbo. Fucking clowns. They have the range.

Chengqing from The Untamed !!! They are both so very alike and understand each other better than anyone else possibly could. They could have chosen each other, but never begrudge the other for not doing so either. I'm obsessed with how doomed they are in canon and how perfect they would've been if they'd ever gotten a chance.

First ship ever: Solangelo! I was a gay teen and this was my first gay ship and I went insane about them for a solid year.

Last song you heard: 天下 by Zhang Jie!! Been slightly obsessed with it since I heard it being performed at the MLC concert.

Favorite childhood book(s): Oh, there are so many. The first Percy Jackson series my beloved. The Ajaya dulogy, which is a retelling of the epic Mahabharata from the perspective of the Kauravas (conventionally the bad guys) and rewired my entire brain. ANNE OF GREEN GABLES!! Also was in love with the James Herriot books so much.

Currently reading: Finishing my Good Omens re-read! I also started Geetanjali Shree's रेत समाधि (Tomb of Sand), reading the original Hindi and the English Translation simultaneously! (Kind of an experiment. It has very short chapters, so I read each in Hindi and then in English before moving on to the next.)

Currently watching:

Dead Friend Forever - Thai slasher/murder mystery/psychological thriller/BL (airing weekly, one episode left!)

House MD - Medical Malpractice Georg my beloved (rewatching after a long, long time. Save me unhinged autistic man. save me.)

Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Season 2 - JAPANESE LESBIANS FALLING IN LOVE OVER FOOD!!! I AM THRIVING

Currently consuming: Tea :)

Currently craving: The inspiration to write something absolutely devastating or utterly silly. Also a donut.

Tagging @fangdoubing @mx-myth @difeisheng @linacies @toppingjeffsatur @t4tadrienette @tejoxys @salamander89 @wuxia-vanlifer (no pressure ofc) and really anyone who wants to give it a go! Especially if you've spotted me lurking in your notes!!

[krsnaradhika]

Fanfictions and Hinduism.

Those who are active on Wattpad, might know that there are many many writers (including myself) who tend to write fiction over itihāsa or historical epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, purely for fun and our love for them. It seems very odd, yes, and we do get to see blasphemy there too. People love some characters, hate the others with a burning passion and there are hour long debates over human nature, characterisations, myths involved, folklores and the many versions both of them have.

We have OCs, we make graphics and video edits, we pair the said OCs with CCs and sometimes with other OCs. The comment sections are the most fun things because writers and their audience interact there. Some works are much more impressive than published paperbacks while some are simply atrocious. You know it, shades are everywhere.

Now, very recently did I come to know that in Tamil literature, a fictional tale that is weaved around a couple or more incidents or points coming from the purānas or itihāsas is called a prabandha. Fun, right?

We do get to see fanfictions in Hinduism by the name of Pancharātram by Bhāsa (the one who also penned Svapna Vāsavadattā) and Kalidāsa's Abhigyāna Shākuntalam. While the latter romanticises and adds non canon events to the canon event of Lady Shakuntala and King Dushyanta's love story, the former is about a "what-if" scenario based on the Mahabharata.

So, do we promote fiction writings on such stuff? Definitely. I got much into the Sanatana culture solely via such fictions. They promote higher thinking skills, brainstorming, even fun facts many a times if the author is literate enough. And is that different from disrespecting scriptures and our very own ancestors? Also yes. Because neither of these authors claim to strictly follow the canon events. You do not like something you see, click away. As easy as that.

Do I support all of them, tho? For sure not. There are some which whitewash the bad guys and blackwash even the divine figures. Some straight up induce cringe. But that's just my opinion. A debate is always based on facts, not personal opinions. So yes, you do you.

But are they also dangerous? Umhm. Look at the Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. One word : atrocious. Some modern day prabandha style novel which sat a little above average in my reading experience? Abhaya by Saiswaroopa Iyer is the one (she's also written Mauri, Avishi, Draupadi and a few more if I'm not wrong.) (Abhaya is an OC paired opposite Kanha and tbh their chemistry was chef's kiss jsjshdjsjd-)

Should you write such, if that is what you want? Yes! I'd love to read-

But do you have to be careful with the message you deliver via your work? Swayam vichar kijiye *wink wink*

Some fanfictions which I may recommend. Note : not all of them involve OCs. All of these are from Wattpad. The authors' usernames are in bold.

��� To Love A Murderer, Hope Embodied, and Samsrishti ; ruhitherambler.

— Satata Haritam ; Ramayana_Lover.

— Hello Mahabharata and My Days In Mahabharata ; thewomanwhobleedsink.

— Sambhavāmi ; indeevara18ls.

— Mathuraraaj ; Shivran86.

— Ehi Murare ; kanakangi.

— The Diary Of A Gopika ; Thoughtshub.

[theramblergal]

Been wanting to make this for awhile.

So I'm sure many have heard of the age estimates for Abhimanyu. Most agree that he's 16, but some put him as 33. Same thing with Krishna, some say he was 89 during the war. And of course, by our standards, that's wild.

But maybe by their standards it wasn't wild?

I thought of something: perhaps they aged slower than a current human does. (Now scientifically idk how it'd happen, but it's my headcanon, roll with it please.)

Did some messing around with math and came up with the hypothesis that they aged 1.75x slower than us. Or however it works, I'm not the best at math.

But taking Abhi's age as 33: 33/1.75 = 18.8.

And Kanha: 89/1.75 = 50.86.

Reasonable?

It's not perfect, but it's what I've started to use to make my timelines now. It allows for breathing time between the jam-packed events of the Mahabharata. Because if we take a specific example, that Arjuna returned from his exile then spent years for the Rajasuya conquest - things like that take time. There has to be some happy time for them all together.

Anyways, with this, I figured looking at the four stages of life would be nice:

Brahmacharya: up till 37 years (21 in human age)

Grihasta: up till 90 (51 in human age)

Vanaprastha: up till 125

Sanyasa: idk this and Vanaprastha seem the same ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

125 seems like a reasonable age to die. Kanha did, anyways.

I don't really know why I wanted to share this, but I'm using this system in my stories and I don't want people to be confused, I guess?

None of this is supported by canon btw.