I have been reading this adaptation on Mahabharata lately... Its Paanchali's Version called the "The Palace of Illusions"...Previously, whenever i tot abt Paanchali, she came across a coy homely wife of 5 men who toiled along with them in forest for 12 + 1 yrs... i had assumed that Paanchali means wife of 5 (paanch)..least did it strike me that she was the Daughter of Paanchal and the name had more meaning than the superficial one... as i read the book, i come to love, hate, pity, envy, wonder,fear,respect her... As Draupadi introspects about herself, i find myself introspecting about my life.. i am tending to identify myself with her... i am becoming more of her day by day..
but this post is not abt her... its not abt her Husbands, the Pandavas either... No its not abt the wrath Paanchali brought either.. this is abt a line i read today morning in the book...
Bheesma while on his bed of arrows says to Karna" ... even then a woman was the cause of my downfall..." ummmm... Dude, slap slap slap , wake up!!!!
First some prelude:
Bheesma, in his previous birth, is one of the 8 brothers,the celestial Vasus... His wife, on a visit to earth along with the brothers fixes her sight on the divine cow Nandhini, which provides everything to her owner... this cow belongs to sage Vashista...Vasu thinks the sage won't let him have Nandhini and steals the cow...
when the sage comes to know of this curses all 8 of them to take birth as human forms on earth... wen they beg and plead to free them of the curse, he says that apart from Prabhasa, all other brothers will be killed just after their birth but Prabhasa will have to bear the curse completley... yet after further pleading and goading he is given the boon of being the greatest warrior on Earth...
well.. accepted... but wen did the wife persuade him to steal the cow??? all she said was she likes the cow and desired to have it as her own... there are better ways to acquire it rather than stealing...
Main story :
King Shantanu takes up a river goddess(Goddess Ganga) as his wife.. she lays a condition that she ll marry him only if he refrains from asking questions about her doings.. fine with Shantanu and all's fine till the kids start taking birth.. the king keeps quite till she drowns 7 of the 8 kids she gives birth to.. while she attempts to drown the 8th kid , the king intervenes and Ganga leaves forsaking the kid and the king... now this kid is the warrior Bheesma/Devavrata...
Then King Shantanu takes a liking for a tribal princess Satyavadhi.. her father refuses saying their kid won't have the right to throne hence he won't accept this marriage.. the ever generous Bheesma takes an oath of celibacy...
now our great Bheesma goes in search of wife for his half-brother and succeeds in kidnapping Amba, Ambika and Ambalika, the 3 princesses of Kasi... now our Princess Amba is in love one king Salya... wen she meets Bheesma 's brother, she conveys this.. Now this half brother of Bheesma says that he can't embrace a lady who has already embraced another person in her heart and sets her free.. wen she returns back to king Salya , he humiliates her and refuses to take her saying she was publicly taken by Bheesma and he is her rightful husband... wen she returns back to Bheesma he points to his celibacy vow and refuses her...
Raged Amba does a penance towards lord Shiva and gets a boon in the form a garland.. according to Lord Shiva whoever wears the garland get the power of killing Bheesma... she goes from king to king to make him wear the garland but everyone refuse fearing Bheesma's wrath... frustrated Amba throws the garland at Drupada's(the king of Panchala) palace and dies...
Enter Shikhandini, Drupada's Daughter... she in her playfulness takes down and wears this garland... now this girl is Amba in her previous birth and she is reminded of her history .. Shikhandini goes to the forest and thru prayers and even greater penance transforms into Shikhandi, a guy, so as to kill Bheesma...
well ultimately at the battle, Shikandhi aids Arjuna for the death of Bheesma...
At his death bed Bheesma gives out this advise to Karna when he confesses his love for Draupadi " In this lifetime , i never trusted a woman. I stayed away from them as much as i could. And even then a woman was the cause of my downfall.. Take an oldman's advice: Put Draupadi out of your mind and concentrate on war"
well wat the @#%$, i say.. Bheesma Kidnapped Amba.. Bheesma Refused to take her hand... Bheesma brought his downfall himself and he blames it on woman... i don't understand really... u go on doing stuff and ultimately blame it on the woman.. very fine..
when Draupadi meets Bheesma for the first time, he welcomes her with open arms and calls her his dearest grand-daughter.. yet when she calls for his help during her cheer-haaran, he turns deaf ears...wat in the world was this??
not just Bheesma each and every character in Mahabharata, or in that case any taken epic of India treats and blames women like objects rather than a being.. even the older woman (more of it to come later) behave in such manner.. i clearly don't understand this... why this oppression of woman...
I am all raged up now...
on a different note., I loved Doctor's Caption for the yday's Doggie Pic.. wat say folks so he wins a gift hamper from the Rat... anyways c ya folks...
Psst : doc.. are u at d same Kannur address or u shifted.. if so Txt me ur new address.. will send u ur gift
37 comments:
Bheeshmar rocks :P
U forgot the guys who lost her in the game of poker or it was blackjack.. or watever!
oh i din win the contest :(
uaaaa uaaaaa
Few Intelligent Questions :P
----------------------------
--- Bheesma's wife took only the 7 brothers or Bheesma also ? (so its either 9 travellers (1 couple and 7 brothers of Bheesma) or just 8 (1 lady and 7 brothers of her hubby)
--- Vasu thinks the sage won't let him have Nandhini and steals the cow.. who is Vasu ?
--- Why is Prabhasa given special attention? Was he "THE ONE" ?
--- The sage curses 8 of them.. so either only 8 travellers or he missed one as the person went to pee ??
--- wife persuade him to steal the cow??? wife again (so it can couple plus 6 brothers too. It was mentioned 7 brothers as Bheesma is a brother too ??)
--- Ganga kills 7 children ?? ok.. let me take it for the curse, why the last child also.. See... See... problem starting from female !!! lol :P
Conclusion - I think Bheesma had a look alike who killed the real Bheesma and took his place..
"well ultimately at the battle, Bheesma aids Arjuna for the death of Bheesma... "
i think you mean Shikh dude aids Arjuna.
And well, sorry to have to shine light on the facts but most Indian writers are/were sexist in their views.. it reflects quite clearly in their depiction of history... just an observation.
Will ask more abt its logic to dadi/nani..!!
Though i agree to u completely..one cannot blindly trust these epics...!!
@ arv..
ponga pa...
@ abhi..
no u didnt :-P
@ Quake boy...
1. Vasus and their respective wives.. so it wud be 8 +8 = 16 travelers..
2.Vasu is the collective name for d 8 brothers.. celestial beings
3.Prabhasa was the ONE
4.only the guys stole.. so only those got the curse..
5. Bheesma's 7 brothers.. that makes them 8 n all..
6.oi dammit.. weren't the first 7 brothers cursed that they ll die just after birth.. they brought their fate upon themselves..
--------------------------------------------------------
now that done with, wr are d few intelligent questions u wr gonna ask?? shoot?
@ Rosh..
sadly thats true, doctor... :(
and yeah changed the typo i meant Shikandhi aided in Bheesma's death
@ anki
ask 'em.. may be they can explain
@Rat
only the guys stole it ? great.. who made them do it..
So how exactly do you get a cow with a built in aladdin's magic lamp from its rightful owner??
Is it like - Knock, Knock.. sob sob.. daddy, mummy.. (Begging with english) we haven't ate in a while.. Can I have some beef ??
When you can get EVERYTHING (you wrote that yourself) from that cow, which owner will give that to someone else ?? How can a person desire to have something like that cow that doesn't belong to them ?? "Desire is the root cause of all Evil" - Lord Gautama Buddha sonnathu ! So it all started with the ladies :) ... Ok.. ppl thnx for the applause !
And as if you don't know what the wives will do after reaching home if the brothers didn't get the cow ??
Ohhh... hold on.. 7 brothers were cursed.. so why did ganga kill them ?? so assuming she knew the curse.. why did she try to kill the last one also ?
I don't think you can mix up the curse and ganga's activities.. can you ?
writings reflect their times...in "those" days, woman were treated as objects.
@ quake boy..
thats my question.. who made them do it.. no body asked them tosteal!! and as far as myth and Mahabharata is concerned ppl had better ways to acquire things.. wen it concerns a Sage , penance and being humble always works wat ever the thing may be... so wr do the ladies come into d picture???
just by asking for a wish fulfilling cow , u don't sow the seed for evil.. guys desired even more lecherous things.period..
Prasan.. we are talking abt Mahabharata age, the swami-Nadha age..have u ever read women running around with belan aka urttu kattai, if doesn't get something.. srsly i didnt..
thats d way it has to be.. ganga-shantanu's story u ll find in the link i provided in the blog.. according to that curse she had to kill her first 7 kids and shantanu had to intervene the 8th Killing process..
EITHER U ARE IGNORANT AND DON'T WANT TO ACCEPT OR U ARE JUST NOT GETTING THE POINT...
@ CN..
sadly, True...
Hey at the end of the day Bheeshma was just an employee of the kauravas and thats where his allegiance lay..so dontcha go accusing grandaddy bheeshma of not intefering on behalf of Draupadi. She had no business humiliating a powerful and vengeful man and getting her hubbies into trouble.
@ T rex..
Oi.. wen did Draupadi humiliate Bheesma.. she said nothing against him... it was she who was humiliated...
OMFG..I wasn't here for some fort night and so many posts i missed?..tsk tsk! I need to update on your blog soon..and oh yes..I am nodding my head in agreement with Arv on the fact that Bheeshma rocks =)
Well... we missed out the crucial element...this is written by a MAN... so, so much for the sexist views... why am I not surprised?
And as for Bheeshma, I think lack of action in his life was his undoing rather than a woman. This also serves as a caution to whoever wants to take a celibacy vow;)
@ aauyushi..
oh baby.. welcome back... how was the exams...
poor u and arv :-P
@ fish curry..
Yup, dear.. was just going thru some Ramayana transcripts.. was shocked by the description of Sita given there.... phew..
@ fish curry..
just talked like u :-P
well... :) u forget tht it s a man who wrote the mahabharatha!
it s the same story... the story of vasu stealing nandhini is adam taking the apple!
bheeshma had this promise made to his step mom tht he would maintain the "brahmacharya" thing.. his blood ll never succeed him on the throne.. he ll never take the throne.. etc. so, obviously, he cant marry amba... i rather think she was stupid enough to get all raged up... bt wht salya did was totally ridiculous.. he s the one who should be blamed!
bt then.. mahabharatha is a beautiful story.. the period in which the story happens, needs to be considered.. tht was hw it was back then!
very well written on the whole!
@ MM..
yeah i was irritated by Salya too... he is translated into the modern day romeos who ditch the girls saying "i saw u going out with that guy".. @$#@% watever,..
yeah.. i am just wondering y this partiality... even then women wr women.. y they wr treated like objects..
and tx MM
dunno the original screenplay...
and wife of five men?
how did the five guys manage?
btw the guy bhesshma looks to be a stud indeed
@ Chriz...
oh.. i didn't know there wr ppl who didn't know the basic script of Mahabharata in India...
anyways.. the story goes like, wen on the 5 brothers wins Paanchali in a swayamvaar and brings her home, his mother without looking says share wat ever u got btw yourselves... so the mom-loving brothers marry her...
regd how they managed? shouldn't the question be how SHE managed?? taking care of 5 husbands and producing children for each one of them etc etc etc..
well the guys managed well as they took other wives too.. :-P
@ Chriz..
yup.. Bheesma was one stud and cool dude of the epic...
wow! you brought to light such an essential fact about are epics. Do you about 'Manu'?
He wrote
"Pashu,... stree, shudra, nari
sab tadan ke adhikari"(something like this)
Dr. Roshan is right-Indian writers particularly religious texts have always had sexiest views..
PS:Congrats to Dr. Roshan
Shouldn't the question be how SHE managed?? Taking care of 5 husbands and producing children for each one of them etc etc etc..
Well the guys managed well as they took other wives too.. :-P
Very well said!!!!!!
@ Mithe..
i am presently reading Manu, dear.. and yeah i did read that line and felt like waking up who ever wrote that and kill him again..
:-(
@ Mann...
ha ha haha.. tx ji
Umm the attitude towards women can be explained considering that there was nothing religious about the 'religious books'. They were just semi biographies of king families, sprinkled with magic stuff, some moral stuff and so on.
Only, people did not have disposable incomes to spend on such 'Harry Potters'. Neither were the logistics in place to publish these all over the world. So in absence of any chance to become JK Rowlings, the intellectuals who wrote these books, thought of an alternative idea and made it into 'religion' to weild power over the masses. And of course it served the winner kings (Pandavas and their descendants, as opposed to the loser Kauravas) well, who probably provided grants to these intellectuals to weave flattering semi fantasies gorifying them.
And another possibily is that the writer intellectuals were geeks and the babes didn't ghas dalo to them. Hence the bias against women!
Or maybe it was the prevelant mentality, because of which either the intellictals also had the same mindset as the society, or at least their works had to conform to that mindset to be really accepted and reverred :P
@ stupidousar...
doing stuff in the name of religion is one trend that hasnt change still, eh??? then these "intellects" wrote biased novels and now ppl restore to terrorism in d name of god!!!
shucks... and dude.. loved ur comment... u r one "intellect" :P
yes the there has been some oppression of women in this epic... however u must not forget that india has been for centuries a male dominated society, however that doesn't mean they didn't respect women, in fact harm towards women are consider the greatest insult for a person or family... Bheesma acted according to the ethics and culture of his time line... which cannot be compared to today's society... but he had the greatest of respect for women and while he didn't helped Draupadi during her cheer haran he did consider that his incapability of not stopping the war and his pain laying on the arrow bed was the penance for that inaction against Draupadi.
As for the Vasus that were cursed... There were 8 brothers and Bheesma incaration was known as Prabhasa in that life... his wife was attracted by the holy cow and desired her... as her husband he wishes to gain the cow for her... and conviced his other 7 brothers to join him in this escapade... they all were cursed and when they reborn all the 7 brothers of Prabhasa were drowned by Ganga to remove their curse... however since Prabhasa's curse was not yet completed he was spared by Shantanu's interference...
Ultimately u cannot just put all the blame on the either Bheesma or his before life wife for the sin was of them both... remember that according to vedic scriptures a person must also learn to control his or her desires and should only ask for what they need and are capable of acuiring... classic example of this is in one of the indian myths related to Narad Sage... who during his journey of entire earth saw a couple sages and desired for a wife... which led to a lot of difficult circumstances for him... this can be seen in the indian serial called 'Om Namah Shivaya'...
Conclusion - Bheesma was a great man, a man as close to being perfect as one could get, however he was just a man not a god or a divine being and thus as being a man had his faults, since there is no such thing as a perfect man... as for him being sexist or oppressing women i think he found himself more into difficult situations that made him look like a sexist, rather than him being sexist in reality...
than again it is only a myth so u can i either like it or hate... but for god sake get over it...
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