Week 6 Storytelling: The States vs. Arjuna

Arjuna has returned from his exile and is greeted with a letter from Karma. He was summoned to her Court. However Arjuna also had this feeling in the pit of his stomach that it wasn't just about the deal. While he was arriving to the court, he tried to think back of his time while he was exiled but came up blank. He hadn't done anything evil or to cause anyone sorrow so why else would she want to meet with him? He was confused but figured it had to do with the deal him and his brothers made with her. 

Karma:"Arjuna, I haven't seen you since I made that agreement with you and your brothers. How is my kingdom doing. Still making sure justice is served?"

Arjuna: "It has been awhile your Honor. As for your kingdom, it is running smoothly. I still don't understand why you chose to hide the fact that true ruler of Indraprastha but I'm glad you appointed me and my brothers to run the kingdom for you. Although it's nice catching up with you, I'm assuming that is not why you called me here."

Karma: "You are correct my dear boy. The reason you are here today is because you have committed infidelity, not to mention abandoned all of your children and wives. From my understanding, you were exiled and ended up marrying 3 women and also having children with them."

Arjuna: "I did not mean for this to happen your Honor, they were just so beautiful and I was frustrated and kind of angry that I had to share my first wife Draupadi with my brothers. It's was not fair to me or my brothers. "

Karma: "So what you're saying is that you did all this as some form of revenge because you had to share your wife?"

Arjuna: "Not at all your Honor. As I said, it just happened. I never meant to leave them. I was planning on going back for them but I had to fulfill my dharma as a king first."

Karma: "Well, I am not going to say that what you did was right, but  I do understand were your coming from. Your circumstance was different from the typical marriages of the gods and goddesses. Although I do not entirely agree with what you did, you have also done some good deeds in the world, so what I am going to do is annul your marriage with Draupadi as well as your other wives but as punishment for your infidelities, I am ordering you to pay child support for each and every one of your children. You need to take responsibility for your actions Arjuna."

Arjuna: "Thank you your Honor." 

Karma: " I wasn't done yet." Karma gives Arjuna a stern look. "Furthermore, when you get reincarnated, you will neither get a wife nor children of your own. You will have to redeem yourself in the next life."

Arjuna: "I accept the punishment and take full responsibility for my actions but how will I redeem myself?"

Karma: "That's up to you but I do recommend adopting some kids and taking care of them. Your a smart boy, I'm sure you'll find a way. I might even take away your punishment and allow you to get married if your prove yourself worthy of having a wife."

And with that I banged my gavel and watched as Arjuna left the courtroom. I could tell he was still trying to figure out how he was going to redeem himself. As for the revelation about the kingdom. Yes, I am the real queen of Indraprastha but I decided to keep it a secret from the people. I did not want them all coming to bother me over little things. I'm a judge, I have tons of cases on a daily basis that need to be resolved. I appointed the Pandavas brothers because to the kingdom to make sure the people are safe and to handle anything that is unjust. 

Despite the fact that he is running my kingdom, I still had to do my job and punish him. I tried to go easy on him considering all the good karma he's collected over the years but what he did was still wrong. Those children deserved to have a father figure in their life.

I know the punishment was a little cruel but he needed to face the consequences of his actions. I annulled his marriage to Draupadi because he was unfairly exiled and still kept his word according to the marriage contract between him and his brothers. Although I told him he will not be married in his next life, little does he know that I have something up my sleeve. If he can prove himself faithful to the woman in his next life, I will definitely allow him to be marry her and have children but if he repeats his mistakes, we'll worry about that later.  All I can say is I don't blame the guy. Love is selfish after all. 

(pxhere)

Author's Note: This story is based on the PDE Mahabharata Part B when he wins Draupadi's hand in marriage but ends up having to share his wife with his brothers. He is then exiled for breaking the rules that he and his brothers made in regards to their marriage to their wife. While he was exiled, he met and married three women and had children with them. He then returned with one of his wives back to the kingdom where he was briefly confronted by Draupadi. 

This part of the story does not mention his wives and children after he leaves them so I got creative and came up with this story. I wanted to see where this story would go and ended up with this. 

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part B

The Pandavas and Kunti are believed to be dead but are hiding in the wilderness.

Bhima and Hidimbi

Bhima marries a demon that fell in love with him and they have son and name him Ghatotkacha.  He stays with his wife and son leaving Kunti and the rest of the Pandavas to continue their journey without him.

Bhima and Baka

Baka is the king of Ekachakra and protects the people but takes all of their food and leaves them to starve. If they don't give him the food he eats the whole household of the family that didn't pay him.

Bhima kills Baka.

The king failed his dharma and got his karma. 

Draupadi

Draupadi and the Pandavas
(Raja Ravi Varma)

• Drupada's daughter

• Supernatural birth

• Sacrificial fire

• Avenges her father and destroys Kauravas

• Sister of Dhrishtadyumna

• Reincarnation of a woman who prayed 5 times for a husband

Swayamwara

Overview: Her dad announces that whoever can break the bow will win his daughter's hand in marriage and summons the princes and regents. Krishna makes a guest appearance in this part of the story. 

Karna breaks the bow but is rejected by Draupadi because he is not a king's son.

Karna's story can make a good story for a prince in disguise. 

Arjuna breaks the bow and Krishna declares that the bride had been fairly won. 

Draupadi's marriage to five husbands results in karma from her previous life.  It's revealed that in her previous like she prayed for a husband 5 times. The husbands are all incarnations of Indra.

Kunti makes a mistake and all 5 of the Pandavas end up being married to Draupadi. They tell her they brought a gift and she tells them to share it between the 5 of them. She realizes her mistake and basically tells them to sort it out because she can't take back her words.

Indraprastha

Duryodhana knows the Pandavas are alive and became Drupada's ally. The kingdom is run by the Pandavas and they are all about justice and doing the right thing and listen to their people's concerns.

This is a good example of dharma and good karma. Maybe there can be a revelation that it's actually karma that runs the kingdom but she appointed the Pandavas as representation. 

Arjuna and Ulupi

Arjuna breaks the rules while sharing his wife with his brothers and is exiled. He meets Ulupi and she forces him to marry her and they have a child together. 

Arjuna leaves them behind in Nagaloka and continues exploring.

Rules:

• If one brother is with the wife the others need to leave the room

• If a brother enters the room it is intrusion and the punishment is being exiled for 12 years. 

Arjuna entered the weapons room where Yudhishthira was with their wife. He was chasing a robber and needed the weapon to catch him. Yudhishthira tries to defend him but Arjuna keeps his word and goes into exile.

Maybe Arjuna broke the rule on purpose because he didn't want to share his wife and be married anymore. It is a unique situation. His good deed of catching a robber is good karma. 

Arjuna and Chitra

Arjuna marries the Princess of Manipur and they also have a son together.  Arjuna leaves his son in Manipur.

It looks like Arjuna is a bit of a playboy and needs to take responsibility for his children. 

Arjuna and Subhadra

Arjuna marries Krishna's sister.  Krishna advices him to take her away by force and marry her because it is looked up upon. Krishna's brother, Balarama wanted her  to marry Duryodhana.

After exile Draupadi is angry that he married Subhadra. Subhadra becomes Draupadi's maid. 

Draupadi Lost

Yudhishthira gets into a gamble match Shakuni and loses the whole kingdom. He gambles his own wife and himself.

This is unfair because she wasn't just his wife. He gambles everything without his brothers' and wife's consent.

Draupadi is furious that she is now a slave to the Kauravas.  She questions why the Pandavas aren't protecting if they're all about justice.  The Pandavas are angry and want revenge.  

Karna explains to her that her fate is determined by her husband. Slaves can't be married.  Bhima gets angry at Yudhishthira but Arjuna defends him. Bhima can't kills his brother so he vows to avenge the kingdom and Draupadi against the Kauravas which the elders applaud him for.

The Second Match

Dhritarashtra learns the truth from his brother Vidura and is angry about what his son did. He apologizes to Draupadi who asks that he release the Pandavas and her. They are exiled.

The Pandavas and Draupadi exiled
( Ramanarayanadatta astri )

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part A

Vyasa and Ganesha

Vyasa is the author of the Mahabharata and arranged the Vedas.A god tells him that Ganesha would write the story for him. 

Ganesha agreed on the term that his pen does not stop writing.

Vyasa's birth: 

His father is human and his mother is a fish and he has a twin sister named Satyavati who smelled like fish. They were caught by a fisherman. He told the king (Uparichara) who took his son but left his daughter with the fishermen. 

She is courted by King Shantanu and agrees to love him under some conditions:

• She must remain a virgin
• The smell of fish needs to go away

King Shantanu and Ganga

Painting of King Shantanu, Ganga, and Devavrata
by B.P Banjeree 1923

Image Source: Wikipedia

• First wife

• Ganga agreed to be the mother of 7 boys who are Vasus

• A brahmin named Vasistha cursed them to be human because they interrupted his meditation 

• She made a condition that they give some of their powers to her  eighth son. 

Vasistha  with his wife Arundhati and Kamadhenu cow
Image Source; Wikipedia

Ganga meets her husband and agrees to marry him under the condition:

• He doesn't question her actions
• He doesn't insult her
• She's allowed to do whatever she wants

She will have to go away forever if these conditions are broken .

Ganga drowned her 7 children (the Vasus). Her husband breaks his promise and insults her because he couldn't watch her drown anymore children. She leaves her son with him. 

King Shantanu stops Ganga from drowning Devavtra
Image Source: Wikipedia

Satyavati

• Mother of Chitrangada  and Vichitravirya and Vyasa

• Second wife of King Shantanu

Her father would not allow her to get married until King Shantanu agreed to allow Vyasa to be king. Shantanu refused because the throne is supposed to go to Devavrata (Ganga's son).

Devavrata's Vow

• Ganga and King Shantanu's son 
• Later known as Bhishma

He visits Satyavati's father and vows not to accept the throne, get married, or have kids so that the fisherman will allow her to get married to his father.

A god and apsara called him "Bhishma" which means "Terrible" because of the vow he made but they dropped flowers on his head which can symbolize something good. 

The flowers can be a sign of good karma.

Chitrangada became king but got killed by the king of Gandhari three years later for for waging war.  

Satyavati's other son became king but was too young to rule the kingdom

• Devavrata ran the kingdom for a few years. 

Devavrata technically broke his promise but he also made sure to put make his brother king as soon as he was old enough.  

A story can be made about him breaking his promise but because he gave up his rightful place as king and helped his father marry Satyavati, he can get a pass because of his good karma.

Bhishma at the Swayamvara

• Shantanu dies and his half-brother is king now

• Bhishma was looking for a woman to marry his brother

• A competition between 3 sisters is created. They are princesses of Benares.

1.  Amba

• On the day of the wedding, she reveals to Bhishma that she already likes someone and it would be unfair to marry someone else

This can be considered good karma because she prevented several people from being hurt by admitting  the truth.

• She gets rejected by her lover & blames Bhishma
• She fasts for several days until Shiva appears
• Requests Bhishma be defeated
• Shiva tells her she will be reincarnated as a man and will battle Bhishma 
•  She sets up her own funeral and dies 

She also will get bad karma but her good deed will make karma go easy on her.

2. Ambika
3. Ambalika

Dhritarashtra and Pandu

Bhishma's younger brother is now married but he dies before he has kids. Vyasa is made king.

• Him and Ambika have a blind son because she closed her eyes with horror at Vyasa's appearance

• Dhritarashtra




• Ambalika son is born pale because she was pale at the sight of Vyasa

• Pandu
• Became king 

• He has a son with Ambika's servant

• Vidura
• Dharmas incarnation

Kunti and Her Son

• Pandu's wife

• Krishna's aunt (Vasudeva's sister)

• Mother of Karna

• Father is Surya
• Abandoned in a river 
• Adopted by Radha and Adhiratha

Kunti was granted a wish to have any god's child and out of curiosity she accidently had Karna.

This can be an example of bad karma. The quote "curiosity killed the cat" fits the situation. She failed to take responsibility for her actions and abandoned her son.

Sons of Pandu

Pandu was hunting for deer and accidentally killed a Brahmin and his wife that were disguised as deers  He is cursed to be killed by one of his wives while having intercourse so Pandu becomes celibate.

He didn't have kids of his own but his wives had sons with different gods.  There were 5 sons.

1. Yudhishthira - Dharma's son
2. Bhima - Vayu's son
3. Arjuna - Indra's son 

After he dies the wives argue about who should die with him and Madri wins. She was also Pandu's favorite wife. Kunti was his first wife.

Gandhari and Dhritarashtra

• Husband and wife
• 100 sons
• Duryodhana - oldest
• Evil

Pandavas and Kauravas

Pandu's brother blind brother takes in his family after his death and raises his sons and Pandu's sons who become enemies when they get older.

The Kauravas were jealous of the Pandavas

• Duryodhana kills his cousin Bhima by poisoning his food and throwing his body into the Ganges
• Bhima comes back to life and has super strength

• His father makes Yudhishthira, his cousin, the king because he was the oldest out of all of them.
• He lies to his father about how the Pandavas want to overthrow Dhritarashtra and he believes him 

• He schemes to build the palace out of wood and then burn it all and kill the Pandavas and Kunti.

Vidura learns about the plan and warns the Pandavas. They fake their death by escaping through and underground tunnel and go back to live in the wilderness again.

This story could be turned into a comedy where Duryodhana keeps trying to kill Bhima but fails each time. 

Drona - Example of Bad Karma

• Pandavas and Kauravas guru
• Created by a nymph; doesn't have a mom
• Ex-best friends with Drupada
• Drupada thought he was better than Drona after he became king

Eklayva

• Wanted Drona to be his guru but got rejected because he was a different caste
• Drona asks him to cut his thumb since Arjuna was his favorite 
• Leader 

Karna

• Kunti & Surya's son
• Arjuna's brother
• Duryodhana's friend 
• Adoptive father is a farmer 

• Bhima makes fun of him 

The brothers do not know they are related.

Drona's Revenge

He manipulates the princes into fighting Drupada. The Kauravas go to fight first but lose. The Pandavas defeat the kingdom. 

It looks like Drona was bias between the cousins and trained the Pandavas better since the Kauravas were related to his enemy. 

After Drupada is defeated Drona asks to be his friend and for half of the kingdom which Drupada agrees to. Drupada has a secret agenda and plans to get his kingdom back. 

The Pandavas waged war against neighboring kingdoms and took over those territories.

A great example of karma throughout this part of PDE is how both Satyavi's sons died which ended their royal line. The throne was meant to Bhishma's all along. He had took keep taking over for them. 

Learning Challenge: Follow your Dreams and Be Creative

Health

Data Reveals How Some College Students Sleep 

One thing I knew already was that sleep affects the mood. The article confirmed my thoughts on how light can also affect the mood. I did not really think about how it may be a warning sign of depression however, when I hear people talk about how they did not get any sleep a lot of the times they say it's because they stayed up late working on homework and studying. If they're my friends, I'll sometimes wonder if that's really the case or if there is something else going on and will show my concern for them just in case. I think it's really interesting how light gives the same effect as an antidepressant. It's really interesting how light affects your body and sleep schedule.This article gave me my answer as to why I am always up late working on homework or something (like now) even though I try to sleep early sometimes. I do not plan to actually try this any time soon but I would like to do more research on this and see what I can find.

(imgflip)

Empathy

What Makes Us Feel Good About Our Work?

This video is very relatable just because I've always enjoyed working for the most part. I enjoy it because it makes me feel like I have a purpose. I never really cared about the monetary value as much as I cared about the environment and internal value I can get. I feel like I get learn a lot through working than I do in a classroom and can connect with others better. It is more hands-on and there are more consequences whereas in a classroom the only consequence is your grade. At work, you also get a chance to correct your mistake and learn from it.

The speaker mentions how people get internal joy from doing what they enjoy which explains why I like to work. It's like people who value what they buy with their own money. It means more as opposed to someone else buying it for you. 

Part of the reason I chose my major was because I like to see the result of my hard work. It also very challenging and like a puzzle. Seeing everything fall into place in the end after all the hard work is satisfying in my opinion. I have always liked doing puzzles and knowing that I'll be able to do what I enjoy as a career doesn't even feel like work at all. I will be getting paid to live my dreams.

(9GAG)

Attention

Being Busy Is Killing Our Ability to Think Creatively

I did not know that being busy can affect the ability to think creatively. It does make sense though. A lot of people I know that say they are busy aren't exactly the most creative thinkers. However some of the people I know that make time to relax or just connect with nature really are creative. 

I agree when the article talks about how fear of missing out can increase anxiety since I've had some of those moments as a college student. However, anytime someone wants to play games or be outside I will almost never pass up the opportunity. 

(pq)

Reading

Bibliotherapy: Can You Read Yourself Happy?

I never knew that reading is a therapy or a prescription for that matter. As a person who reads a lot of ebooks I think that reading can make people happy. I know that when I feel down I would read and forget about my problems. I also like paperback novels but sadly I can't read that in the dark before going to bed.  Although you can read yourself happy you can also read yourself into other emotions as well depending on what you read but like everything, reading has its good and bad. 

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Time

Reviewing My Schedule

I feel like my schedule has been working great for me. I am focused and have energy when I work on my stories and readings and am able to squeeze in some extra credit and learn something new. For the most part, I find myself getting a little ahead because this class is so much fun. I have some wiggle room which allows me to fall behind a little bit but still turn things in on time. 

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