Reading Notes: Mahabharata Epified

For this week's Mahabharata reading, I chose to watch thee "Epified" Mahabharata video parts A and B for Monday and will watch C and D for Tuesday. I personally found it easier to follow the story when it was being illustrated in real time. Details that I might have missed in the public domain edition were much easier to pay attention to in the video. For example, I wrote last week that I was having trouble following why Ganga had to throw her babies into the ocean. The video did a great job of explaining how there were celestial spirits that Ganga had promised to help. The spirits were being punished by being forced to live as mortals for eternity, so she agreed to birth them and kill them to free them from mortality.

Another part that made more sense was Devavrara stealing the three princesses. I was initially confused why he stole them in the first place, but thanks to the clear explanation and illustrations, it made sense that he wanted his brother to have wives and children so that an heir would come about soon.

From Part B, a part that was confusing for me in the PDE version also made better sense. This part was the lump of flesh that they split into a thousand pieces and put into one thousand vats of oil to make children. It seems like the Indian version of Frankenstein, so it wasn't surprising that the first born child was sort of demonic.

Overall, I believe that being able to follow the illustrator as he/she draws the epic is not only a creative idea for a short film series, but also makes it easier for readers to follow the epic. The PDE and the film are very similar, but the easier language of the video and the pictures really add a new dimension to the Mahabharata.


Bibliography: Epified Mahabharata

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