I stumbled upon this blog few days back..which, from no where increased my curiosity in mythology. I cant help but continue reading, as mythology has much more masala and murder mysteries than any of the Arthur hailey or james patterson, or for that matter, Ekta kapoor serials.
I do know the basics of both the epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, but reading a little more into both of those, sort of changed my opinion on somethings. In fact, if you read in depth, you will actually notice that both the epics (not sure if they actually preach something), but if they do, they preach contradictory things. Let me start off from the 1st post i read about these epics…Ramayana referred to as R, Mahabharata referred to as M. (yes, I am lazy to type)
The forest exile:
In R , Ram goes to forest exile, because his father has given his word to his step-mother Kaikeyi. In M, The Pandavas go to exile, because they lose the kingdom in a gambling match against their cousins, kauravas. But the reactions? Ramji accepts this part of his life as his destiny, expects nothing in return from his father, and believes that no one is responsible or is to be blamed. However, in M, the Pandavas keep blaming that the Kauravas and their uncle Shakuni had tricked them into gambling. Ramji is peaceful, and lives his forest life happily even though there is no mistake of his, the Pandavas never once accepted that it was their mistake in gambling away their fortune, and kept blaming through out!
Rules, why are they?
In R, Ram is God..or rather treated like God, because he is ideal. All the rules if the society are broken by Ravan uncle, his sister Surpanaka (I feel its because of her the entire R happened). And what happened in M? Whatever stories i’ve read till now has Lord Krishna tricking the Kauravas ( that Solar eclipse during Kurukshetra, eloping of Sasirekha with Abhimanyu, for starters), when Duryodhana or any of the kauravas have played fair in the entire series. They gambled fairly, won fairly, and in fact, the way Duryodhana was insulted by Draupadi or Krishna , The pandavas deserved that! Ravan is accused of stealing other man’s wife, But karna or the Pandavas stay silent when Draupadi is disrobed in public! Krishna has bent every law of nature in this epic, but is still considered a hero! not fair!
Legal..or illegal?
When Sita returns from Lanka, Ram refuses to take her back, because queen is apparently not a subject to be gossiped about (according to so-called law) . Duryodhana never broke any rule. Krishna breaks. Not Duryodhana. Well, and he is still the villian!!
The unborn baby..does it listen?!
In M, rather in some versions of M, they say Abhimanyu did not master the art of coming out of chakravyuh , because his mom had slept off when Arjuna was explaining that particular part. When you see the story of Prahallad (the story of Narsimha avatar of Vishnu before R), his mom sleeps off when Narada is explaining the importance of Vishnu, and Prahalad responds to everything of what he says ( and becomes a big devotee of Vishnu). So in one case kiddo listens, in other, kiddo sleeps when mom is sleeping eh?!
Last but very very very prominent – Polygamy!
Ram is believed to be a one woman man. In M, every person marries more than once. Irrespective of gender. Be it Draupadi, or any of the pandavas, or Krishna. Leave alone the fact that Arjuna marries Krishna’s sister Subhadra, and Krishna still helps Arjuna patafy 2-3 more girls 😉 .
Well.. Mythology is interesting..right? But one thing..every story in it teaches us something, in a way on how to be a better person. Though that’s not what is keeping me interested! 😀
PS: I have written the way I understood mythology, and the way I want to interpret it. If you don’t feel it is right, Please create a blog “world through your eyes” and feel free to write there 😉
World..through my eyes! 