The Greatest Indian Epic - Mahabharath

[Sudhaama]

(1)Karna's Father is Sun God but he was the forsaken child of his Mother Kunthi.... picked and brought up by "Raadhaaeya" ... the Charioter of Duryodana. ... So he was considered as a Non-Kshathriya by the Kings, in those days Only a born Kshathriya was considered qualified to become a King or even play or fight with the Royal-family members... or even the common Kshathriyas... in wars..

(2) Duryodana, an Embodiment of Jealousy... could not win over the Pandavas in any Game or even the playful fights with any one of them....considered INVINCIBLE. ... during their early days of Boyhood.

(3) While Duryodana was waiting for someone...(even a Stranger)... who could challenge the valour of Pandavas... he was very happy to find Karna as the best choice to fit in that place of his demand... He considered him as the possible future support to confront Pandavas.. And so moved his Diplomatic coins to gain the friendship of Karna... out of Selfishness and Wickedness. Hence made Karna his Junior-King to rule over the country called "Anga-desam"

(4) Karna's character is UNPARALLEL with any Epic or Story... even Internationally...so commented by the Global scholars... Because he was such a Great NOBLE Man on one face but coupled with an unusual attitude of Complexity, Perplexity and Paradoxical-principles.... Very difficult for anybody to define him correctly either as Good or Bad... In fact he was a Combination of the Best possible Propensities of a Noble Human... even Divine... along with the opposite qualities of a Beastly Cruel Sadist too. .. on the other face.

(5) Hanuman was the Emblem in the Flag of Arjuna... We can see in the Geethoapadesam pictures.

[Surya]

This always interests me.

Krishna at the end of Shree Krishna's avataram, is sitting below a tree, resting. When a hunter takes aim at Krishna's feet thinking it's a fruit, and shoots the arrow. The arrow kills Shree Krishna. And this is justified because, In Vishnu's last avatar (Shree RAM) Shree Ram kills Valee from behind, shooting valee on his back with an arrow. Which is against the Yudha Dharm. And vaalee is supposed to have taken another life of the Vedan in that time.

PS: Great Topic!!

[viggop]

Surya
Normal people will not die if a toe is cut off.But,Lord Krishna dies!!! That is because his duty is done and he no longer needs to be in the earth.
So,he uses this oppurtunity to leave his mortal body.It also teaches us that bad karma will have bad reaction and even God cannot avoid it.
So,try to accumulate good karma is the message to all of us

[blahblah]

Viggop,no misunderstandings.

I consider Bhishma,Karna and Abhimanyu as the greatest characters in Mahabharatha.I don't agree with the bad friendship aspect of the Karna-Duryodhana relationship expressed by Walrus here.I believe even if there were personal reasons for Karna being allied with the Kauravas,it was just and reasonable for him to do so.

Mahabharatha is a great epic of trust,valour,deceit,greed and dharma.

A particular incident which unfolds great drama is the killing of Drona by making him believe that his son Aswathama is dead and taking advantage of his love for his son.
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Discussing this particular topic reminds me a little incident of religious tolerance.Years back when DD was telecasting this serial,my local parish church postponed the sunday mass by 30 minutes to let us watch it! Consider that our little village has 90%christians in the total population! Those are ways we have forgotten far back!

[Roshan]

Discussing this particular topic reminds me a little incident of religious tolerance.Years back when DD was telecasting this serial,my local parish church postponed the sunday mass by 30 minutes to let us watch it! Consider that our little village has 90%christians in the total population! Those are ways we have forgotten far back!

Oh!! that's really heart warming and great blahblah !! Thanks for sharing it here. But hardly it opens a bigot's eyes. See how the way some 'preachers' are making fun of Pope's health condition

[viggop]

All the deceits in the war is done by Krishna.
He is the master of all the aluguni games.

Dronacharya was the chief commander of Kaurava army.He is impossible to defeat in the war.

When an elephant called Ashwathama dies,Krishna asks Yudishtra to tell a lie.Yudihstra refuses to tell a lie.So,Krishna asks him to tell "Aswathama kapi kunjaraha"
The first two words mean "Ashwathama Died" .This he tells loudly.The last word is "Kunjaraha" meaning elephant.When Yudishtra tells this,Krishna blows his conch so that it is not heard clearly to Drona.Saddened that his son has died,Drona puts down his weapons and starts to meditate.Taking this oppurtunity,Draupada's son(Drishtadyumna?) cuts off his head when Drona was meditating!!!(a courageous act by a prince???)

Because of Yudishtra's adherence to dharma,seems his chariot was always in the air and never touches the ground.
Anyway,for telling that one lie, Yudishtra's chariot falls to the ground and becomes like other chariots.

[viggop]

After Drona's death,Duryodhana appoints Ashwathama as the chief commander of Kaurava army.Ashwathama to avenge the death of his father by foul means,does a foul act in the night.He sneaks into the Pandava army camp in the night and kills five sons of arjuna thinking that they are pandavas themselves.
Arjuna gets mad at this and wows to kill Ashwathama.But ,both are great warriors and both know how to use the brahma astra.(supposed to be the most powerful weapon)
In the war,when ashwathama & Arjuna meet,they both use brahma astra.This will lead to a major catastrophe so Krishna asks both to withdraw that weapon.Arjuna complies but Ashwathama refuses and so Krishna uses his divine powers to stop it.
But,i think it still causes lot of destruction to pandava army.

Angered by Ashwathama's refusal to withdraw his weapon,Krishna curses him thus

"Since you thought your victory depends on death of others,your defeat will depend on your living till eternity!" .

Thus,Ashwathama beccomes a chiranjevi.Krishna then plucks out a jewel which was in Ashwathama's head from the moment he was born and this causes him lot of pain.
Thus Ashwathama has to withstand all the pain and he has no death to relieve him of that pain.Painful lIfe for him

[blahblah]

When an elephant called Ashwathama dies,Krishna asks Yudishtra to tell a lie.Yudhishtira refuses to tell a lie.So,Krishna asks him to tell "Aswathama kapi kunjaraha"

Forgive me if I am wrong.My idea is that as per Krishna's advice the Pandavas named an elephant 'Aswathama'.Then Bheema killed that elephant.The Pandava group cried out that 'Aswathama is dead'! Then Drona asked Yudhishtira whether it is true.He said "Aswathama HRUTHA frumgaya'.He pronounced the word which I have written in caps in a low voice[which means elephant] so as to make Drona believe that his son is dead.

I am so confused about this as I have little knowledge about Sanskrit and I speak from memory.Some one to clear this stuff please?I don't mind acknowledging that I am very weak at other languages!

[Surya]

Surya
Normal people will not die if a toe is cut off.But,Lord Krishna dies!!! That is because his duty is done and he no longer needs to be in the earth.
So,he uses this oppurtunity to leave his mortal body.It also teaches us that bad karma will have bad reaction and even God cannot avoid it.
So,try to accumulate good karma is the message to all of us

Exactly!

Excellent!!!!

[madhu]

Hi !

I dont know whether this posting is relevant here.. But the name "Aswathama" made me recollect about a description from the novel of popular marathi writer V.S.Kandekar.(in his novel Amudhakkodi.....of course I read it only in tamil).

There he describes Aswathama as the sole representative of mankind..

Why ?

He has been devoid of mother's love.. no milk.. only flour mixed in water..
Nothing from his famour father DronA... Though his father loved him.. his best pupil was Arjuna only
No good friends... Duryodhana gave Anga desh to Karna but nothing to Aswathama
No marriage or wife...
No speacial positions in Kurukshetra war also..
Duryodhana made him "Senapathi" after he lost everything in the battlefield.. A senapathi without Sena !
Even then Aswathama killed the upa pAndavAs and took revenge.
With his name even Yudhistra told his only lie ! ( of his lifetime)

He lost even the jewel from his head, which will give him eternal pain and a bloody hole...

There is only one way to escape from all the problems of life.. DEATH..
But he is a Chiranjeevi and fate closed even that door for him..
So, even today he is roaming with a bloody head and pain with no end to his sorrows... searching for something.. which may or may not occur..

Likewise, every human being in this world is having eternal pain inside and searching for a solace..

So.. Ashwathama is the real representative of human being in Mahabaratha..

(I am not a good writer.. I just try to recollect it..If somebody knows more about this may plz post it)

thanks