Week Six Storytelling: Calming Waters

Draupadi, Arjuna, Bhima, Nakula, and Sahadeva stood around the body of Yudhistira.  He laid peacefully in his royal robe with his arms on the sides of his body, and palms up facing towards the skies.  They checked his breathing regularly, but had not seen him move in over a week. They called upon sage Vyasa, but his only advice was to make sure that Yudhistira was not to be disturbed until he awakes. 

“What do you think he’s dreaming of?”

“I don’t know.  He’s been sleeping for days since we fought the war.”

“Someone nudge him.”

“No! Don’t do it!”

“Why?”

“If he’s meditating and we move his body, his spirit will roam.”

“Yudhistira …wake up…”

Calm waters and breezy winds swiftly touch my skin as I talk to god Yama, about the day that I met him.  I sit with my legs crisscrossed across from Yama as he changes his form from a crane to an old man who looks as if he’s seen the whole world.  Yama has become my guide for many things.  I often call upon him asking for advice.

This place is still as serene as I remembered.  Engulfed by the darken woods that surrounds it.  The waters still look indulging with their blue and purple hues.  I reminisce about seeing my brothers in their death.  Peacefully they laid, next to each other as if they were sleeping side by side like when we were young boys.  Many people have lost their lives to these waters, but to Yama he calls it sacrifice. 

“Yudhistira , do you know why I fill my ponds with tranquil waters that make people think they are the cure to all diseases and famine?”

“You want to test people of their worthiness, and see if they are of subservient character who displays selflessness and courage. Right? ”

“No. I make them this way because it reminds me of women.”

“What?”

“You’re wife Draupadi, wouldn’t you say that she is as beautiful as this landscape? She is breath taking, upstanding, and a woman who is not just defined by her looks right..?”

“Yes of course.”

“So looks can be deceiving?”

“Yes they can, and I feel as if this is child’s play Yama.”

“How so Yudhistira ?”

“You once told me the character of the Brahmins.  I disregarded the information you foretold me after I learned that Arjuna defeated Kripa, Bhishma, and Drona while Uttara drove the chariot.  This is unusual for any of our conversations.  Our conversations are intellectual, not on the basis of women and looks.”

“Yudhistira , your story begins with water, and it will end with water.  Our past does not define us, but it molds us into the people we are today.  Ganga was seen as a woman of beauty and stature by King Santanu, and without her beliefs of curses Bhishma would not have been the only son to survive.  Draupadi ia is a woman with five husbands.  When people look at her, they misjudge her, like these waters.  These waters have replenished you soul of thirst, and have allowed you to continue to live.  Ganga is a river goddess, but her water is lifted into the heavens and brought down to earth when it rains.  She replenishes us all, including the filling of these waters.”

Yudhistira and Yama

Author’s Notes:  I enjoyed the characters Ganga, Yama, and Yudhistira the most from “The Mahabharata”.  I wanted to connect the characters together in my story, noting the tragedies that involved water in the epic.  Although, Ganga had not crossed paths with Yudhistira and Yama in the epic, I did however keep the story close to the epic.  In “The Mahabharata”, Ganga is seen in the beginning of the tale as a river goddess disguised as a woman who marries the king.  She kills seven of her sons after their birth because they are cursed to live as humans, and she wanted to end their misery. 

With the encounter of Yama, Yudhistira and his brothers were roaming the forest and are dying of thirst.  Each brother one by one encounters the water of Yama and are told not to drink the water.  Each brother disobeyed Yama and fell to their death after drinking from the pool.  When Yudhistira encounters a talking crane who is Yama in disguise, Yudhistira listens to the words of the crane acknowledging that the water is what sent his brothers to their death.  Because of his obedience and selflessness,  Yama gives Yudhistira's brother’s lives back to them. 

Bibliography: "The Mahabharata" written by R.K. Narayan (1978)

Week Six Reading Diary Continued: " The Mahabharata" R.K. Narayan

In the last part of “The Mahabharata”, Yudhistira and his brothers are joined by their faithful friends and followers.  The Panava’s would like to continue their lives the way it was before they were exiled by their cousin Duryodhana.  Duryodhana wants to continue to isolate his cousins and start a war with them.  He continues his attitude of wickedness and shows his insolent ways by refusing to acknowledge that they have successfully completed their twelve years and was able to live incognito without being noticed.  His father King Dhritarashtra, as always, wants to play a fickle role between his nephews and his sons.

Yudhistira thinks of a solution that would be favorable to both the Panava’s and the Kaurava’s.  He asks for his half of the kingdom back, and if not half at least be given five villages.  Each village will represent the land that his he and his four brothers will rule.  They will continue to lives their harmony and without interfering in the lives of the Kaurava’s. Krishna leaves to Hastinpura on the behalf of Yudhistira to negotiate.

Yudhistira and Krishna  

King Duryodhana is not sure how he can please Duryodhana without him being upset.  He lets Duryodhana continue his plot against his cousins without interfering.  Seeking help from his faithful friend and adviser Vidura, Dhritarashtra understands that his nephews should be treated fairly but he feels perplexed about the issue.  Duryodhana finds many to back him in the war that he will commence against his cousins.  His jealous brothers too want in on the action and are ready to become the only heirs to the throne. 

Vidura consoling Dhritarashtra

All ends tragically because one human being was not stopped and corrected of his selfish ways.  

Bibliography: "The Mahabharata" written by R.K. Narayan (1978) 

Week Six Reading Diary: The Mahabharata, R.K. Narayan

The Pandava’s have successfully completed their twelve years in exile and last year of masquerade in Virata with the help of god Yama.  Yama disguised himself as a bird who forewarned the brothers not to drink the enchanted waters of his.  By dying thirst, Yudhistira’s brother all had disobeyed Yama’s advice and fell to their deaths. One by one each brother stumbled upon the dead body of another brother but saw the water as a way to regain their strength before killing the bird that placed a curse upon the brother who drank the water from before.  It was not until Yudhistira came near the waters, and listened to the words of god Yama.  Yudhistira completed the task that Yama had set for the brothers before him.  He had to ask a series of questions.  While reading, I pictured Yudhistira fading away because of his thirst, feeling weak and breathing shallowly. 

Yama tested Yudhistira on his character, knowledge of gods, faith, and beliefs.  After granting him a drink from the pool of water, Yama told Yudhistira if he could choose one brother to live who it would be.  Yudhistira showed selflessness in his decision and chose his younger brother Nakula. Nakula was his half brother, given to his by his stepmother.  Yudhistira felt that it would be proper to resurrect a son who did not share the same bloodline as his self, in order to let their lineage continue on.  Yama felt moved by Yudhistira’s decision and granted him the life of all of his brothers.  

Yudhistira and god Yama

Bibliography: "The Mahabharata" written by R.K, Narayan  (1978)