Week 6 Storytelling: A Father's Pride

Author's Note:
 My story was inspired by the Pandavas during their period of exile in the forest. It is set just briefly after Arjuna had prayed for a long period to several gods receiving many magnificient weapons, and it is just prior to their interaction with Yama at a small lake. In the lake scene, the Pandavas are told one by one not to drink from the lake before answering some questions, but they are each overcome by their thirst, only to die immediately after drinking. Except for Yudhishthira who resists, answers the questions, and finds that he was being tested by Yama.
This bit of story comes up very unexpectedly in the text I was reading, and I was wondering why Yama felt the need to test the men in the way he did. Since Arjuna had just done some amazing things, I thought it would be interesting if Yama had gotten jealous of Arjuna father, Indra, and decided to test them to prove a point. My story goes through this scene, leading up to Yama's test of the Pandavas.

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Indra walked into the room, a smug look across his face. Yama rolled his eyes, he knew what was coming next. Indra had been bragging to the rest of the gods ever since his earthly son, Arjuna, had learned those mantras and started gathering weapons and boons.

Indra walked over to Yama. "Guess what?!" he exclaimed as he looked on at Yama expectantly.

"What is it?" inquired Yama in a dull, disinterested tone.

"He's done it again! My boy, Arjuna, has done it again," stated Yama. "He has proven once again that he is the most devote and disciplined of the Pandavas."

At this, Yama came to full attention. "He may be devote, but he is by no means the most disciplined," replied Yama. "That title would go to my son Yudhishthira, who has demonstrated time and again his deep understanding of the old ways and, even now, stands by his word, living a life of exile."

"Ha! Of course, Yudhishthira is the epitome of discipline. He would never over-indulge in the vices of man, like drugs or gambling..." Indra trailed off his last sentence with a strong note of sarcasm.

Yama was beginning to become visibly annoyed by Indra's jesting. "One mistake!" He cried, "One mistake, and he's labeled an addict. You know as well as I do that he was tricked into that game by those devilish cousins of his. If I hadn't been busy in the underworld at the time, I would have struck down those buffoons myself, on the spot. By resisting his own urge to do just that, Yudhishthira demonstrated discipline of mind and body far beyond that of a mere mortal."

"Sure, your son held back his hand and agreed to go into exile. But, he dragged his brothers and wife down with him. What has he done since then? Nothing! Meanwhile, my son has been spending days on end meditating in preparation to regain their family's honor. Why now, he just resisted the temptations of one of the finest women in my city because he needed to honor his vow of exile."

"Yudhishthira has simply been biding his time, quietly planning for the future. He need not constantly demonstrate his strong control over both his mind and body. But, if you must continually insist that Arjuna is his better, I shall prove you wrong. Let's test the Pandavas, one at a time, to see who is the most disciplined. I'll even conduct the test personally."

A wry grin came across Indra's face at the thought of another chance to demonstrate Arjuna's greatness, and a contest at that. "Very well," he replied,"However, we must ensure that the trial is fare. Since you are running the test, Yudhishthira would normally have an advantage. You must conduct the test outside of your domain, in an open space, and they must be completely unaware of your presence."

"I agree to your terms. Now watch, as Yudhishthira outshines the others with his extensive control of himself." At that point, Yama stood up and began heading in the direction of the forests of Dwaitavana.

As Yama left, Vayu and Surya looked on from their seats across the hall. They had begun following the conversation as it became more heated. Vayu spent a moment in thought, then stated, "I've got 50 gold pieces on Arjuna going down first."

"You're on," replied Surya.

The Lake Questions Yudhishthira
courtesy of Wikipedia

Bibiliography:
Reading: The Mahabharata by  R. K. Narayan (1978)

Week 6 Reading, Continued: Narayan's Mahabharata

Reading: The Mahabharata by  R. K. Narayan

I like how Duryodhana goes out to embarrass the Pandavas and is immediately shot down by the Gods. Not only do they send someone to stop him, but he is taken captive and embarrassed himself. This is probably my favorite example of karma at work so far.

I think interaction at the lake between Yama and Yudhishthira could be very useful for my story book. It's the most interaction that the two have had up to this point. Why did Yama come to help them? Whey did he do it in this way? This bit of story leaves a lot of questions. I wonder if he felt he needed to interfere to keep up with Indra who had already helped out his son immensely.

The whole situation with Draupadi in Virata's palace just makes me think of video game escort missions. She's running around all over the place while Bhima follows killing everyone else before they can reach her.

To me, Uttara is a hilarious character. He's the class knight in shining armor wannabe. Him jumping from the chariot and running away was a great picture, especially with how Arjuna would've looked at that time.

There are a lot of politics after the Pandava's finish up their exile. Talking back and forth, everyone seems to be determined to avoid the inevitable. Although, I will say that Arjuna was recognized early, and although it was only a couple of days, with the way these characters stick to their words, I'm surprised they're letting slide, especially Krishna the "omniscient."

Ok, I found the character that Uttara reminds me of the most. His name is Whisper, and he's from the new King's Quest game, a real ladies' man. *cough*

Who is this?
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Week 6 Reading: Narayan's Mahabharata

Reading: The Mahabharata by  R. K. Narayan

 Yudhishthira is said to be the most judicial of the brothers, but then, according to this account, he seems to make the poorest decisions. I understand him agreeing to the gambling match in order to avoid the prophecy, but he doesn't need to keep going like he did. He definitely didn't need to go back after that close call either.

The gambling match might be a good point to through this bit of mythos off the rails in my storybook.

Arjuna actually seems to be the best example of a kshatriya so far in the epic. He goes through trials and tribulations after walking in on Yudhishthira and Draupadi. Then, he goes through a period of hard training after being exiled with his brothers, and it sounds like he might be the key to the coming war. He seems to be the hero of the story.

It's interesting that Krishna couldn't interfere in the gambling matches. He's demonstrated the ability to know the future, present, and past at once. So, he must have known that the events would lead to the destruction of an entire race. To me, that seems like something worth preventing, so what was he doing that was so important?

The twins haven't been very important to the story at all up to this point. They've been mentioned on the side every once in a while, and that's the only reason I remember they even exist. I'm wondering if Narayan has skipped anything in the story about them or if they'll become more important later.

Ok, so the story of Arjuna praying to the gods for weapons and boons reminds me of one of my favorite scenes from the Matrix. When Neo and Trinity are about to take on the agents, Neo ask for guns, "lots of guns".

"lots of guns" from the Matrix
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