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The Mahabharata is the epic story of an entire people, a vast and mythic universe dreamed out of the land of India and explored by countless storytellers over thousands of years. I have long loved these stories, but have only recently begun to tell them myself. Here are some of the results of my journeys into this wild and ever-unfolding landscape.
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A poet, an elephant-headed god and a king astray in a forest: so begins the Mahabharata, a Hindu epic shot through with the wisdom of ancient sages and the ten thousand sorrows and joys of being alive on this earth. In some ways it is not possible either to begin or to finish hearing this story, for it is the story of the world; nevertheless the spark is struck, the word is spoken, and our journey begins.
Photo: Sunrise on Mount Kalindi in the Himalayas by Sharada Prasad |
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A king is cursed by a deer, flowers fall from the sky, a queen gives birth to a hundred sons at the same time: it's just another impossibly regular day in the world of the Mahabharata epic, a world that looks very much like our own.
Photo: Los Angeles Museum of Art |
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Can there be friendship between different social classes? The story of the wizard-like teacher Drona is a rumination on friendship, revenge, and power set within the larger tapestry of this epic-- and its events will have far-reaching effects on every character in the story.
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Who's that stepping out of the bonfire? It's Draupadi, the princess who will change the world permanently and forever, the queen who will will witness the end of the third age of time and will even get to laugh hysterically on a mountaintop for a few brief and beautiful moments. ments |
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Who's that stepping out of the bonfire? It's Draupadi, the princess who will change the world permanently and forever, the queen who will will witness the end of the third age of time and will even get to laugh hysterically on a mountaintop for a few brief and beautiful moments. ments |
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Who's that stepping out of the bonfire? It's Draupadi, the princess who will change the world permanently and forever, the queen who will will witness the end of the third age of time and will even get to laugh hysterically on a mountaintop for a few brief and beautiful moments. ments |
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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. each of the Pandavas will be challenged and humbled by forces greater |
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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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