Reading Notes: Public Domain Mahabharata, Part A

Vyasa and Ganesha
The story of Vyasa's birth definitely caught my attention.

King Shantanu and Ganga
In this scene, Ganga basically weds Shantanu if he promises not to tell her what to do. She then proceeds to kill all of their children. Shantanu finally gets fed up and breaks the marriage vow. He had no idea that this was all part of a plan to return the Vasus to celestial beings. At the end of the scene, Ganga explains and presents him with a son who had the virtues of all the Vasus. This was an interesting story that I think it would be fun to change up.

King Shantanu and Satyavati 
At the end of this scene, King Shantanu requests to marry Satyavati, but the fisherman declines unless Shantanu will promise to make their son the heir. Shantanu can't do that to Devavrata. This reminded me of when Rama had to complete the challenge to marry Sita, which was one of my favorite scenes of The Ramayana. It is interesting to me all the deals that fathers strike up before they will give their daughters away in marriage.

Devavrata's Vow
In this scene, Devavrata gives up his right to the throne so that Shantanu may marry the love of his life. This is such a selfless act! It would be fun to create a new story out of this.

Bhishma at the Swayamvara
Here we see another contest to win someone's love! This scene was actually more similar to the Rama/Sita scene that I referenced earlier. This reminded me of the story that I created for my Ramayana/Harry Potter mashup. Maybe I could incorporate this somehow in a new story.

Amba
In this scene, Amba deals with a rejection similar to rejection in the modern day. I think this story could easily transformed to be something more modern. I liked all of the emotion and anger. It would be easy to transform.

Kunti and Her Son
Radha finds the baby floating in a basket down the river.

Pandu and His Wives
Pandu shoots the deer which was actually a brahmin. He is then cursed to die in the arms of one of his wives. This would be an interesting scene to make a story out of.

Bhima and the Nagas
Duryodhana poisons Bhima and throws him into the Ganges, where he it attacked by snakes. However, the poisons of the snakes counteracts the original poison...this was an unexpected twist.

Ekalavya

He longed to be taught by Drona, but could not because he was one of the Bhils. So he proved himself and then cut off his thumb for Drona. I thought this was an odd scene.

The Arrival of Karna

This scene is interesting because Karna and Arjuna do not realize that they are brothers. This scene would be really fun to make a story out of. There is a lot of room for creativity!

Duryodhana's Jealousy

This scene is filled with jealousy and evil. I think it would be another fun scene to make a story about.

Source: http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/mahabharata-online-public-domain-edition.html

(Devavrata giving up his right to the throne. Source)