Week 9 Reading Diary A: Beginning Narayan's Mahabharata

-Shantanu is the king of Hastinapura. He falls in love with a woman and marries her. The woman tells him to never question her actions. She drowns all of their babies in the river. The king protests when their 8th child is born. The wife says she is the river Ganga and is returning the children to heaven. She takes the eighth child with her and returns to heaven.

-The king then falls in love with Satyavati. They marry and have 2 children. Chitrangada becomes the king, but dies soon after

-A king holds a swayamvara for his daughters to find a husband. His daughters were Amba, Ambika, Ambalika. Bhishma takes all three for Vichitravirya.

-Dhritarashtra marries Gandhari who covers her eyes so she can share her husband's blindness.

-Pandu is married to Kunti and Madri. Pandu can't have children because he is cursed. He shot a deer (who was a celestial being in disguise) and the deer cursed him so he would die if he had sex.

-Pandu's wife, Kunti, has a mantra to obtain sons from the gods. She got this from Durvasa. She previously had a son with Surya (the sun god). Her child was named Karna and she put him in a basket to float down the river. He was rescued.

-Kunti has sons from many gods. They go live in Hastinapura.

-Dhritarashtra wanted Yudhishthira to be his heir. He was jealous that the people liked Yudhishthira more than him. A house was built that could catch on fire easily. The Pandavas are sent there but they are warned by Vidura. They escape the house through a tunnel and live their life in hiding.

-One of Kunti's sons wins Draupadi as their wife. Kunti makes her sons share everything they acquire, so they shared Draupadi as their wife.

Pandu and Kunti