The first thing I realized about the Dharma version of the Mahabharata is how much longer the episodes are than the Public Domain version that I previously read. And by a long shot!
I found 'The Birth of the Kuru Elders' to be an excellent start to this version of the epic. This story gave you great insight on how this epic was going to go. I loved how detailed this story was, as it made you really feel like you knew how the characters looked and their behaviors. Even though I love how long this story is, I think in my retelling I would make it more concise. There is a ton going on in this story, but sometimes I feel as if there is unnecessary length and descriptions going on. It almost makes you lose interest because it is not very focused on the storyline. I would also want to change this story in my retelling by telling the story from the elders perspectives.
The next story I would consider doing a retelling over is 'Duryodhana Begins His Evil Schemes'. I loved the way this story gave so much more personality to the Pandavas that in the public domain version. I have always liked the Pandavas, so getting more insight on them was awesome for me. In my retelling I would really want to bring this newly described personalities of them to life. The story discussed how the Pandavas enjoyed wrestling. I would want to make this story into them all practicing their wrestling and fighting with each other. I would make it a very descriptive battle, which just ends up them wrestling each other. However, within this I would then go into the evil schemes of Duryodhana.
Bibliography: Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time by Krishna Dharma in 2008.
I found 'The Birth of the Kuru Elders' to be an excellent start to this version of the epic. This story gave you great insight on how this epic was going to go. I loved how detailed this story was, as it made you really feel like you knew how the characters looked and their behaviors. Even though I love how long this story is, I think in my retelling I would make it more concise. There is a ton going on in this story, but sometimes I feel as if there is unnecessary length and descriptions going on. It almost makes you lose interest because it is not very focused on the storyline. I would also want to change this story in my retelling by telling the story from the elders perspectives.
The next story I would consider doing a retelling over is 'Duryodhana Begins His Evil Schemes'. I loved the way this story gave so much more personality to the Pandavas that in the public domain version. I have always liked the Pandavas, so getting more insight on them was awesome for me. In my retelling I would really want to bring this newly described personalities of them to life. The story discussed how the Pandavas enjoyed wrestling. I would want to make this story into them all practicing their wrestling and fighting with each other. I would make it a very descriptive battle, which just ends up them wrestling each other. However, within this I would then go into the evil schemes of Duryodhana.
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| Duroydhana Source: Wikimedia |
Bibliography: Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time by Krishna Dharma in 2008.
Kayleigh, I am so glad you chose the Krishna Dharma book. He did a version of the Ramayana also, and they are both available online for free, which I think is amazing. He is a very generous person to share his books this way! I follow him at Twitter. :-)
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