Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Week Nine Reading Diary: The Mahabharata, Peter Brook

When I read The Mahabharata written by R.K. Narayan, I did not like it in comparison to The Ramayana. I thought about giving the Mahabharata another shot, by watching the theatrical version by Peter Brook.  It was very different in a sense, yet I have enjoyed watching the movie so far.  I enjoyed the versatility of the cast, and the dramatics they presented.  Not to mention one of my all time favorite actresses Erika Alexander played the roles of Madri and Hidimbaa. I cannot wait until I watch part two later this week. 


In part one of the movie The Mahabharata, Vyasa the poet, begins the tale of the epic. The movie is told as a narration, and Vyasa  is searching for an individual who able to write, which I thought was rather strange.  In my mind, I portrayed Vyasa as a person of high intellect and who was literate. However, Lord Ganesha appears out of nowhere and begins to record the story as Vyasa narrates Vyasa's character in the movie is true to the character in the written tale in a sense.  His appearance is disheveled and the princesses that he met with carnally treat him with dislike and disgust.


The story of the birth of the Kaurava's was strange.  Dhritarashtra ordered her servant to beat her stomach with an iron rod because she felt movement.  After holding “life” in her stomach for two years she could not wait any longer for the life of her child to be real.  After her servant beats her stomach, a large black ball rolls across the floor symbolizing the “ball of flesh”.  It is cool to the touch.  Similar to the written version by R.K. Narayan, Dhritarashtra wants to throw the ball of flesh out.  Bhisma saves the flesh and tears it into one hundred pieces.  He sprinkles water over the flesh and puts the flesh into multiple jars. 


Omens are then presented.



Bibliography: "The Mahabharata" directed by Peter Brook (1989)
                       "The Mahabharata" written by R.K. Narayan (1978)

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