We started this week a book club or better said discussion group on the Bhagavad Gita. We took the time to cover the story that leads to the Bhagavad Gita - from the epic Mahabharata. The name Mahabharata means "great (story of) Bharatas" which are the early ancestors of the Pandavas and Kauravas. However, the word is also used for the Indian race, so the Mahabharata is sometimes referred to as "the great story of India".
The story begins with King Shantanu, the youngest son of King Pratipa of Hastinupara. One day he went to the forest on a hunting trip and met a beautiful woman on the banks of the river Ganga. He fell in love with her without realizing that she is no ordinary woman but the incarnation of the great Mother-Goddess, River Ganga herself. He wanted to marry her and she said she would, only if he doesn't inquire about her and would not stop her from anything she wanted to do. If he breaks the promise she would leave him forever. King Shantanu agreed and they married. For seven years they had a child each year and every time a child was born Ganga would drown the child into the river. When she tried to put the eight child into the river, the devastated King Shantanu tried to stop her. She told him that she was mother Ganga and was cursed by Lord Shiva because she fell in love with him. She was sent to Earth to marry him but the eight children they had were Eight Vasus (gods) who were cursed to be born on Earth. She would drown them in the water in order to release them from the curse. She said that now that he, King Shantanu, had broken his promise to her, she had to leave and take the child with him. However, she said that her son will come back to him when the time is right. The king became very sad for losing his child and wife and stopped caring for his kingdom.
When King Shantanu's son - Devavratha - had grown up he was reunited with his father. Together they ruled the kingdom. One day the king went to the jungle and met a beautiful woman. He was captivated by her fragrance and beauty and he asked her to marry him. Satyiavati was the adopted daughter of a fisherman and her job was to take people across the river. (In reality, she was the daughter of the Chedi King Vasu and a cursed aspara and was brought up as a commoner. Initially, the smell emanating from her body was that of a fish. When she was a young woman she met the wandering rishi Parashars, who fathered her son Vyasa out of wedlock. In return, he gave her a musky fragrance which captivated King Shantanu). Satyiavati said that he had to ask her father. The ferryman refused to give his daughter's hand to Shantanu on the grounds that his daughter belong to the low cast and since the king already had an older son his grandchildren would be slaves to the king's son.
The King went back to the palace but his son saw that his father was very unhappy. The priest told him the story of Satyiavati and Devavratha sought out the girl's father. He promised him that he would never take a claim on the throne, implying that the child born to Shantanu and Satyavati would become the ruler after Shantanu’s death. At this, Satyavati's father retorted that even if Devavratha gave up his claim to the throne, his (Devavratha's) children would still claim the throne. Devavratha then took the vow of lifelong celibacy, thus sacrificing his 'crown-prince' title and denying himself the pleasures of conjugal love.
At that moment was a big storm and the gods blessed him and he became Bishma (Bhishma means "he of the terrible oath"). He was also granted the boon of having control over the time of his death - he could choose when to die. So Bhishma took Satyavati to the palace and she married his father. They had two sons - Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. Chitrangada died childless in a war. When it was time for Vichitravirya to get married Bhishma heard that the king in the next kingdom had three daughters that were on the look for a husband. Bhishma went and abducted the Princesses Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika to marry Vichitravirya. The oldest princess Amba said she already has chosen a husband and Bhishma allowed her to go back. The man she had chosen however rejected her as he considered her spoiled (he was also defeated by Bhishma in a fight so he was ashamed of the defeat). Amba is later on the cause of Bhishma's death.
Vichitravirya married the other two sisters but died shortly after so the throne was left with no heir. Vichitravirya's half brother Vyasa was summoned to father the children for the throne. When Ambika came to him, because of shyness and fear, she closed her eyes and she bore a blind son - king Dhritarashtra. When Ambalika came to Vyasa because of fear she became pale and she bore a sickly child - king Pandu. Vyasa told Satyavati to send the girls again so that a healthy child can be born but out of fear the two sisters sent a maid and she bore a healthy child named Vidura. Even though Dhritarashtra was the first born, because he was blind Pandu was chosen to rule the kingdom.
Pandu married Madri and Kunti. One day, while hunting in the forest he mistook a rishi for a deer and shot arrows at him. The dying rishi cursed him that whenever he approached a woman with the intent of love making, he would die. Pandu renounced the kingdom and went to live in the jungle, where his two wives followed him. Kunti was blessed to have kids and prayed to the god Sun to be granted her blessing. First she prayed to Lord Yama (god of Death) and had her first son Yudhishtira. Then she prayed to the Wind god (Vayu) and the son born was Bhima. Then she prayed to Lord Indra (the god of all gods) and she got Arjuna. Kunti initiated Madri into the mantra, so Madri had twins - two sons Nakula and Sahadeva (they were celestial beings - Aswini kumara). One day, king Pandu felt strongly attracted to his wife Madri and when he tried to be intimate with her he died. Madri, out of repentance and grief, committed sati, burning herself alive on her husband's funeral pyre. Kunti, took the five children and returned to the palace.
In the meantime, Pandu's brother Dhritarashtra had taken over the kingdom. He had married his first wife Gandhari who had blinded herself determined to see the world as her husband saw it. They had 100 children - the first born was Duryodhana. Dhitarastra had also another son Yuyutsu from his second wife Vaishya. So when the Pandavas returned to the palace, a crisis arose as to the succession of the throne. The Kauravas kingdom was separated in two, with the Kauravas keeping the better half. The Pandavas accepted the arid and fallow region that was offered to them and build a prosperous kingdom. Duryodhana's jealousy and anger was stirred and he tricked the Pandavas in a game of dice. They lost their kingdom and were forced to live for 12 years in the jungle plus one year in hiding. If they survive they could come back and reclaim their kingdom. The Pandavas survived the thirteen years of exile and returned to claim their kingdom back. However, the Kauravas refused to give them even the smallest portion of the kingdom and this is the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita.
