If you are
familiar with Greek mythology, Iliad and Odyssey from Homer, Mahabharata is an
Indian mythology which is ten times longer than the Iliad and Odyssey combined
into one book. This ancient epic tales was predicted to be written around the
year of 500 BC by a monk called Vyasa. It’s a kind of family saga, the Pandavas
and Kauravas. I read the graphic novel version, re-told by one of the greatest
illustrator in Indonesia: R.A. Kosasih (recently passed away). The most
interesting thing of this graphic novel is that Kosasih put the Indian
mythology into Indonesian folklore nuances, from the clothes and the names they
called each other, that when I first read it as a child, I have always thought
that Mahabharata was an Indonesian tale! Apart from the cultural aspects,
Mahabharata was a beautiful epic about love, brotherhood, sacrifice, greediness
and revenge.
Like Greek
mythology, there were alliances between gods and human. The gods always monitor
and control every thing happened on earth from their place “up there”. When men
were in danger or sorrow, they could meditate and called the gods to help them
with their maneuver. When men hated each other, they could spell a curse
towards another, and when the gods approved, the curse would be affected right at
that moment.
This graphic
novel were divided into two volumes, the first one depicted the ancestors of
Pandavas and Kauravas. Mahabharata was the early setting of one of the greatest
wars in epics between the two families: Pandava and Kaurava; here we learned
about their ancestors and the seeds of hatred that would turn into war. The war
itself was told in Bharatayudha.
It all began
with a kingdom named Hastinapura, which was ruled by King Shantanu. One day,
the lonely king went hunting in a forest and met a very beautiful girl whom he
fell in love with. The girl was actually the Ganga goddess. They were married
and had a son named Devavrata before the Ganga goddess finally returned to
heaven. Devavrata grown up as a courageous, wise, strong, handsome, and smart
young man (he was half god and half man anyway). He loved his father very much,
but noticed that his father was not happy recently and finally got very ill. He
asked him why, and King Shantanu told his son that one day he had met a
beautiful girl named Satyavati—a daughter of a fisherman—whom he has fallen in
love with. He could not marry her because Satyavati had had an oath that she
would only marry a King, and that their son must heir the throne and become the
future king. As Shantanu has made Devavrata his successor, he knew he could
never marry the woman he loved.
Satyavaty was
actually a princess from a kingdom, but has been put into an exile because of a
strange and humiliating illness. She married a monk and had a son who was
called Vyasa. That was how she had that oath. Devavrata, being a devoted son,
promised that he would release his right of the throne so that his father could
marry the woman he loved. But what about his future children, what if they
demand their rights?, asked the dying father. And then Devavrata made an oath
that he would take a lifelong celibacy so that the throne would always be safe.
The gods heard and admired the great sacrifice Devavrata has made for his
father’s sake, and gave him a new name: Bhishma. King Shantanu then married
Satyavati and had two sons: Chitrangada and Vichitravirya.
Chitrangada—the
future king—died suddenly in a very young age, left Vicitravirya who was not as
good as his died brother in swordsmanship. At that time there was a competition
held by a King to find a husband for his three princesses. Satyavati wanted a
wife for King Vicitravirya, but knowing that he was not a good swordsman,
Bhishma volunteered to fight in the name of the King. Shortly, Bhishma won the
three princesses: Amba (the eldest), Ambika and Ambalika. Amba felt she was too
old for Hastinapura’s King, and has fallen in love with Bhishma instead. She
asked Bhishma to marry her, but Bhishma—who has sworn not to marry—refused her.
Amba kept approaching Bhishma, and the later, in order perhaps to fight his own
passion accidentally shot Amba with his arrow. In her last breath, Amba begged
the gods that her soul would transformed in the body of a woman who would take
Bhishma’s life in the future. And the gods approved it.
A sudden
death came to King Vicitravirya, leaving the throne of Hastinapura without a
successor. In desperation, Satyavati called for his son, Vyasa who agreed “to
father children” with Ambika and Ambalika (this was a common practice in India
when a man cannot have child). Vyasa was pictured as a man with terrifying looks,
so when he came to Ambika, the girl kept shutting her eyes. Later on she gave
birth to a blind child (because she kept shutting her eyes during the process).
Ambalika has been warned by Vyasa not to shut her eyes like Ambika, however the
disgust made her face grew pale during the process, and her child born with
pale skin. Unsatisfied with the result, Satyavati asked his son to father one
more child with one of the princesses. However, both Ambika and Ambalika did
not want to have another session with Vyasa, so they arranged a maid to replace
them. From her, born the third child. They were named: Dhritarashtra (the
blind), Pandu (the pale skin), and Vidura.
Pandu—despite
the fact that he was a second son—was made King because a blind man cannot rule
a Kingdom. When they were grown up, Pandu went to a competition to get a wife,
Dhritarashtra and Vidura came with him. Pandu, helped by Dhritarashtra, won the
competition and brought home Princess Kunti. However there are two other
contestants who were not satisfied with the result; they challenged Pandu to do
another fights, and if they were lost, they would give their sisters to Pandu.
In short, instead of one wife, Pandu brought home three princesses: Kunti,
Madri and Gandhari. Satyavati instructed Pandu to share one of them with
Dhritarashtra while Vidura refused to have a wife. Then came the selection day,
and of course the three princesses were terrified they would be chosen by the
blind young man instead of the handsome Pandu. The three secretly prayed to
their gods to help them, however in a strange coincidence, Gandhari was chosen
by Dhritarashtra.
One day
Pandu went hunting to the forest and shot a pair of deer who were making love.
The deer turned out to be a monk who transformed himself and his wife to a pair
of deer to have privacy when they made love. The monk then cursed Pandu that he
won’t be able to have sex for the rest of his life, for whenever he had passion
to his wives, he would soon die. Pandu retired to be a monk together with his
wives, and left the throne to Dhritarashtra while he was away. Now being a
queen, Gandhari was never satisfied because she knew when Pandu returned, she
won’t be queen anymore. She prayed to gods to give her a lot of children to
protect the throne. The gods answered her prayers, Gandhari was soon pregnant.
However,
instead of a baby, Gandhari gave birth to a piece of flesh when she was walking
at the garden one night. She kicked the flesh in disgust, and the flesh divided
itself to many pieces. The god instructed Gandhari to cover the fleshes with
leaves, and went to sleep. In the morning, the fleshes had turned into babies,
one hundred babies! Now Gandhari has her protector for Hastinapura throne, and
the one hundred children were called the Kaurava. The news came to Kunti and
Madri, they too wanted to have their own children, however as Pandu was unable to
give them child, they prayed to their gods. The gods fulfilled their wishes, Kunti was
given three sons, one from Dharma (the god of justice) and born Yudhisthira,
one from Vayu (the god of the wind) and born Bhima, and one from Indra (the
lord of the heaves for sons) and got Arjuna. Madri gave birth to twins: Nakula
and Sahadeva from Ashwini (the twin gods). Te fifth of them were called the
Pandava. However, Pandu could not keep his passion towards Madri, and when they
made love, Pandu died.
Lived in the
same palace, Pandavas and Kauravas grew up as different characters. While
Pandavas became good and polite young men, Kauravas who were being spoiled by
their mother has become villain and greedy. Dhritarashtra made Yudhisthira a
crown prince, but he kept the ambition to made his own son Duryodana (the
eldest of Kauravas) to be the king of Hastinapura (he might have been persuaded
by the greedy Gandhari). Kauravas, helped by their evil uncle Shakuni (brother
of Gandhari) made a plan to get rid of Pandavas in a fire accident. Luckily for
Pandavas and their mother Kunthi, their wise uncle Vidura has made protection
for them by instructing his men to dig a tunnel beneath their palace. Saved
from the fire accident, the Pandavas returned to Hastinapura only to find that
Duryodana has been made King. The elders had a meeting, and decided that the
Pandavas should build their own kingdom which was called Indraprashta. When
they were on pilgrimage to return from fire accident, Arjuna has won Draupadi
as a wife. Here there are ambiguities, in the version I read, Arjuna refused to
marry Draupadi and gave Draupadi for his brother Yudhisthira, who finally
agreed to marry her. However, in the original version, Kunthi asked Arjuna to
share Draupadi with all his brothers. Draupadi finally married all five of
Pandavas (this too, a common practice in India, a woman can have more than
one husband).
 |
| Draupadi & her five husbands-the Pandavas |
One day when
Indraprashta has become a big kingdom, they invited the Kauravas to the palace.
There Duryodana grew envious of the elegant palace of Pandavas. It was added
with a humiliating accident where Duryodana splashed in the water when he
thought it was glossy floor. The Kauravas came home with revenge in their head,
and since then they could not think other than a perfect plot to humiliate the
Pandavas.
It was long,
I know! :) And this is just PART ONE of Mahabharata, there will be part two! I
write the entire plot here to memorize them myself. From the story, I just
realized that the four elements of life: love, hatred, greediness and revenge
are always the plot of most stories of human lives. And those were also the
most causes of wars. I read Mahabharata as I was a child, and I re-read it many
times after that. One thing I just realized as adult reader (and after I can browse
the internet) that Vyasa is believed to be the same person as Krishna Dvaipayana.
It was not mentioned here in the graphic novel I read; Krishna here was the
King of Dwaraka, an advisor to Pandavas, whose main concern was to keep the
whole kingdom in peace. He was invincible in fighting, because he was the
incarnation of Vishnu god. To imagine that Krishna and Vyasa was the same
person would be interesting. I think I should keep reading the Part two (and
perhaps continue on to Bharatayudha) to learn more about this.
