Reading Notes: Epified: Mahabharata videos, Part F

Mahabharata Episode 45 - Draupadi Disrobed

Draupadi is in shock. She feels so betrayed...as she should.

They strip Draupadi down, ready to take any last ounce of dignity

Draupadi prays to Krishna for help

They keep pulling her dress, but it never ends

Bhim jumps up to help (finally)

The Pandavas are furious and essentially declare war between the cousins

Mahabharata Episode 46 - Pandavas Exiled

The cousins make another plan....again about gambling.

They call the Pandavas up again for another game of dice

The Pandavas know that its a trap and they will lose but they go anyways....I don't understand why

The Pandavas have to spend 12 years in exile and the 13th year in hiding

I definitely got confused on this part during the Mahabharata. I understand it a lot better now!

Duryodhan has complete control now

Mahabharata Episode 47 - Pandavas Exile Begins

The Pandavas are ready for revenge but obviously they have to wait at least 13 years...talk about patience!

Krishna urges the Pandavas to start war with their cousins, but Y says not yet

The rakshasa who's brother Bhim killed attacks Bhim. The brothers unite to kill the beast and are reminded of their great combined strength

Mahabharata Episode 48 - Krishna Meets The Pandavas

Krishna feels bad that he couldn't help the Pandavas and blames himself

He pledges his support to the Pandavas in war

Mahabharata Episode 49 - Arjun Receives Shiva's Weapon

The Pandavas struggle to live in exile

They start fighting...inevitable

They welcomes saints and sages and were welcoming to all

Arjun tries to obtain the celestial weapons he needs from Shiva by devoting himself to prayer

Arjun fights the hunter over who killed the boar

Arjun asks Shiva for strength and realizes that the hunter he was fighting was Shiva

Shiva gifts Arjun

This scene has an interesting twist! You never know who you are talking to. I think this would make an interesting story

Mahabharata Episode 50 - Arjun Meets Indra
Other gods visit Arjun
Indra invites Arjun to heaven
The chariot takes Arjun
There is a great feast and entertainment
Arjun feels unfulfilled and wants to go back to his brothers

Mahabharata Episode 51 - Urvashi's Curse

Indra thinks Arjun loves Urvashi...a horrible misunderstanding

She gets excited and visits him late at night

She confesses her love and Arjun is absolutely shocked

Arjun respectfully declines

Urvashi curses him to be unloved by women

The other Pandavas are continuing to travel

Mahabharata episode 52 - Bheem meets Hanuman
Bhim goes to fetch flowers for Draupadi
He finds a monkey that is more powerful than him
He discover that the monkey is Hanuman, his brother

(The Pandavas begin collecting celestial weapons to help them in the upcoming war. Source: Pixabay)

Title: The Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution (Part F)

Author: Epified TV (India)

Story: The Humiliation of Draupadi

“What a beautiful day,” Draupadi thought to herself as she stared out the window and brushed her long, flowing hair. She watched as the sun set on the hills. She loved the beautiful colors that illuminated the sky as the sun disappeared for the day. The sight never failed to make her smile.

Draupadi had a wonderful life. She was always full of cheer and positive energy. She loved her husband, Yudhishthir, more than any other thing on this earth. She waited impatiently for him to return from his gambling match. She secretly hated when Yudhishthir gambled. She thought that gambling was a dirty sport, but she would never tell him that. If he was happy and stayed out of danger, she was happy. She chuckled to herself as she realized that she would much rather wait for him to return from gambling than wait for him to return from battle. She would have to tell him about that thought when he returned…he would laugh.

Just then, Draupadi heard a knock on her large wooden door. Had Yudhishthir returned already?

With a huge smile on her face, she jumped up from her spot by the window to run for the door. Before she made it to the door, it swung open with great force and slammed against the wall. Stunned, Draupadi slowly stepped backward. Large, burly men entered the room demanding that she come with them. Outraged, she refused.

“You have no choice,” the men stated with a smirk. “Your beloved husband rolled the dice and lost his wife.”

Draupadi’s heart fell and her stomach churned. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Her eyes were wide as she tried to comprehend what she was hearing.

“Do you understand what we’re saying?” the men laughed. “You are Duryodhan’s now!” The men were fighting back laughter at this point. They reached for her wrist.

“No!” Draupadi snapped, pulling her hand away from the men and looking up at them with pure disgust. “I refuse! I will not go to Duryodhan and you certainly won’t be taking me!” Tears streamed down her face, hot with anger.

Unsure of what to do, the guards left the room to deliver the news to Duryodhan. When the doors closed behind them, Draupadi’s tough façade crumbled as she collapsed to the floor, crying harder than she had ever cried in her life. How could Yudhishthir do this to her? Didn’t he love her at all? How could he leave their future together to the chance of the dice? Broken, Draupadi stared at the ceiling, reflecting on her life with Yudhishthir. She thought they were perfect. Where had she gone wrong? Why wasn’t she good enough to keep around? How could he leave it to chance?

Then, she heard someone running toward her room. Scared and defensive, she jumped up and wiped the tears from her face. A man whom she knew to be Duryodhan’s brother came crashing through the doors. Without a word, he charged toward her with a grin. Draupadi turned to run, but he was much faster. He grabbed her by her freshly brushed hair and forcefully dragged her out of her room.

“Please, just let me get up and walk!” she screamed. But he didn’t listen. He continued to drag her by her hair all the way into the courtyard, where crowds of people, drunk off of the excitement of the night, pointed and laughed. Draupadi screamed desperately for help. She looked around the room and saw the Pandavas. Excitement filled her heart as she saw familiar faces. Her anxiety began to subside. Certainly the beloved brothers would come and rescue her! Desperately, she screamed for them to come and help her…but each of them stood as still as stone.

Her clothes were ripping off of her body and strands of her gorgeous hair lay around the room. She felt as if her dignity was completely gone. She had never felt so low or so afraid. Across the room, she locked eyes with the man who had given her the happiest life she could have asked for, and then proceeded to rip it away from her. She could see the look of sadness and remorse in his eyes. She only felt one thing: betrayal.

(Draupadi is dragged from her room and humiliated. Source: Wikimedia)

Author’s Note: This story was inspired by Episode 44 of the Epified version of the Mahabharata. In this episode, Yudhishthir is tricked into gambling his wife, Draupadi, and losing her. Seeing the visual depiction of the scene helped me grasp the whole story better. It also added to the emotional aspect. I already found this scene to be very sad, but watching it unfold was heart-wrenching. I couldn’t help but think what this story would be like from Draupadi’s point of view. Draupadi had no idea what was happening when the guard burst through her door to retrieve her. I tried to use the emotions that a betrayed wife would feel. Obviously, I have no idea how it would feel to have your husband lose you in a gambling match (hopefully no one knows what that feels like). However, I knew that it would be shocking, disgusting, and heartbreaking. Using these emotions, I did the best I could to write this scene from Draupadi’s perspective. This was a sadder story than I usually write, but I enjoyed the opportunity to try something new. I sat down, watched the episode a few more times, and tried to focus on the emotions that I thought Draupadi was feeling. Then, I put some sad music on my Spotify and went to work. It was a challenge, but I enjoyed writing a story with a different feel to it. 

Title: The Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution (Part E)

Author: Epified TV (India)

Reading Notes: Epified: Mahabharata videos, Part E

Mahabharata Episode 36 - Subhadra wins over Draupadi

Everyone welcomes Arjun home

He is worried how Draupadi is going to feel about Subhadra

He sends Subhadra as a maid to Draupadi and they become great friends

Draupadi consents to the marriage...yay!

Mahabharata Episode 37 - Birth of Abhimanyu

Arjun and Subhadra get married

Subhadra announces that she's pregnant

Arjun tells Subhadra a story concerning being a warrior...little do they know that the baby is taking in all of this information and is the beginning steps of the warrior he will become

BUT he didn't hear the whole story because Subhadra fell asleep

Mahabharata Episode 38 - The Slaying of Jarasandha

Yudhisthir is supposed to perform the yagya, but he is afraid that there might be horrible consequences

He invites Krishna for advice

Krishna reminds Yud of Jarasandha...he will never approve and needs to be killed

Bhim notes that their combined strengths can take down Jarasandha

They go to his palace and challenge him to fight

Bhim breaks him into two....then the two pieces come back together

He does it again and throws the parts in different directions

Mahabharata Episode 39 - Yudhisthir Becomes King

Yud's coronation

During the yagya, there is some drama

Shishupal disses everyone and offends Krishna and the Pandavas

-more drama-

Krishna has Shisupal's head removed
Yud is crowned king

Mahabharata Episode 40 - Duryodhan's Humiliation

Big party
Yud & Draupadi take the holy bath
Duryodhan is extremely envious and clearly has a lot of hate in his heart
I've noticed that jealousy is a common theme in the Mahabharata.
Duryodhan is embarrassed several times by the pools and crystal floors...poor guy can't catch a break.
This part made a lot more sense to me than it did in the original Mahabharata. Although there are deeper underlying meanings, the surface level of this scene reminds me of myself on a bad day. It could be humorous to create a story based off of this with just an ordinary person having a series of unfortunate events.

Mahabharata Episode 41 - Shakuni's Evil Plan

Duryodhan leaves and continues to think about the embarrassment
He is furious and plans revenge against the Pandavas
It is sad to see how much envy Duyodhan has for the Pandavas. It really made me think!
They create the gambling scheme
"The dice would be deadlier than the sword"
There is an opportunity here to create a story about other types of addiction

Mahabharata Episode 42 - Yudhishthir Gambles

Vidur invites the Pandavas to come gamble and they travel to Hastinapur
They made a huge court especially for this gambling match
Yudhishthir loses everything

Mahabharata Episode 43 - The Gambling Match

Yudishthir wages his brothers and he can't stop
He wagers himself.....and loses again
He has lost everything and continues to spiral downward. Instead of stopping, he continues to bet more things. Again, it would be interesting to create a story about addiction.

Mahabharata Episode 44 -Draupadi at Stake
Yudishthir is fooled to believe that he could get out of his slavery by wagering Draupadi
This scene made me so sad, just as it did when I read it the first time!
It breaks my heart that Yudishthir could wager the love of his life that way. I can't even begin to imagine how she felt when she received the news. I'm tempted to write a story from this perspective!

(The game that turns disastrous for the Pandavas. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Title: The Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution (Part E)

Author: Epified TV (India)