The Iliad is a story at the heart of western culture, a sprawling epic filled with goddesses, magic, and epic battles; it throws questions of fate and choice into a battlefield that is life, in all its range and crows and mountains at the edges.

We begin with a Titan chained to a rock at the top of the world; we begin with a joyous wedding between the families of gods and humans. And then the golden apple arrives.​

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In this episode we delve deeper into the story of the Princess Draupadi, discovering how desire can last beyond one life and into the next; along the way we will encounter beings from beyond this world in a mad dance in the heart of the Yellow Palace.ents

Some say that chance is a fire burning at the heart of the universe, and in this episode we learn just how much the wise king Yudishtira is willing to gamble away: perhaps the whole world, perhaps even himself. Step up to the table where the universe is thrown down to be won or lost, where hard words become a music that could drown the whole world. ents

Into the forest we go, where gods, monsters and the natural world all conspire to teach us the beauty of our smallness, and how through failure we may become greater than we once were. In this realm all of the Pandavas--and Draupadi as well--will be humbled by powers greater than any they have encountered before, and will get a glimpse of the great tapestry woven out of the seen and the unseen.
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Deep in the wilderness the Pandavas encounter powers greater than any they have encountered before-- non-human powers who school them in humility and weakness. Along the way they meet the monkey god Hanuman, the sage Parashurama and the ageless seer Markandeya who gives them a glimpse of the end of the world.



Photo: A temple to the sun god Surya in Gujarat, India by Chirag5598. (Courtesy of Wikimedia commons.)

The battle between the Pandavas and the Kurus continues in earnest as Drona, the old teacher of the Pandavas, ruthlessly pummels them with his army of elephants. Soon good and evil themselves become confused as the battle in the world is revealed to be also a battle within our hearts.


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In the aftermath the river Ganges returns as the luminous, magical thread joining every part of this story, healing the survivors and joining the three worlds. Meanwhile Yudishtira wrestles with his doubts and seeks the wisdom of Bhisma, still clinging to life on the battlefield beneath the circling stars. 
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The Kali Yuga arrives, kingdoms fall, and the Pandavas together with Princess Draupadi set out for the otherworld. It's a long journey, and what awaits them at the end is far different than what they expect.

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​Photo: C.W. Swanson

"Everything in the Mahabharata is also found somewhere else.
What is not found in the Mahabharata is nowhere." --Vyasa

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Learning a beautiful story like this is a formidable yet invigorating task. Here's my record of how the process has been for me so far.

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