A common plot element that carried over from the Ramayana was exile. In this story, the Pandava princes and Draupadi (who follows them) are exiled into a forest for 12 years. They suffer through bad conditions, but also see really beautiful parts of the land. At one point, Draupadi has a little breakdown because she realizes that she was living so well back in the city being royalty, and now has nothing except grass to sleep on and rags to wear. She brings up a common complaint among us non-storybook people: Why do bad people prosper and good people suffer? This part really captured my attention because anyone could relate to having it really well and then having it all taken away. She ends up getting really angry about the exile, ad has to be calmed by Yudhishthira. He explains how anger makes it worse, and that she needs to embrace forgiveness instead. I liked their dynamic conversation because it sounded like any friends comforting another when something does not seem fair.
Image: Wikipedia
The other part of the exile that I liked reading about was Indra's celestial city, Swarga, in the clouds (there were even cloud spirits who took Arjuna there). It was such an interesting and unexpected twist that Arjuna's "punishment" was to stay in Indra's city and live among the street dancers and singers as a nobody. And he goes straight from this weird life of dancing to battling demons. For my story this week, I think it would be fun to explore this time in Arjuna's daily life.
The last part I will talk about is the contrast between Duryodhana and Arjuna. Many times in the story, their actions are compared, and eventually it is revealed that Arjuna usually makes the wiser choice. He's also less self-absorbed, which makes him seem more favorable to the readers. The choice between Krishna and the army was interesting to read about. It is similar to a part in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, in which the main character has to choose which chest to open-- the gold, the bronze, or the lead. If he chooses the correct chest, he is allowed to marry the King's daughter. The obvious choice would be the gold chest, since it is prettiest right? Well, it's actually the lead chest. In reading this part of the Mahabharata, I think that Krishna is the equivalent of the lead chest.
Bibliography: PDE Mahabharata
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