Hari OM Dear Families,
Opening prayers and Shlokas
Slokas: Class began with 3 OMs followed by
Om Saha Navavatu
Vakratunda, Saraswatyai Namastubhyam, Gurur Brahma, Buddhir Balam
We then continued with the Mahabharata:
The Pandavas and Kunti, along with the Rishis from Satasringa, reach Hastinapur. Dhirtarashtra, Bheeshma, Satyavati, Ambaalika, Ambika , Gandhari and Vidura go to the gates. They are informed by the Rishis of the unfortunate deaths of Pandu and Madri. They introduce the princes and return to the forest. Vyaasa encourages his mother, Satyavati, to proceed to the forest for her last stage of life. She also asks Ambika and Ambaalika to join her. Satyavati summons Bheeshma and asks him to continue looking after the family.
The Kauravas and Pandavas start their education under the watchful eye of Bheeshma. There is lot of jealousy amongst them and Duryodhana especially resents Bheema. His uncle Shakuni and he waste no opportunity to put him into trouble. On one instance, they feed naive Bheema a hearty meal which is mixed with poison. This puts him to sleep and they throw him into the Ganga. He is bitten by snakes under water and this works as an antidote. Bheema wakes up and he starts hurling the snakes around. They rush to their king Vasuki, who learns of Bheema and is overjoyed to meet this young son of Kunti. He is offered a bowl of medicinal potion. Each bowl will give him the strength of a thousand elephants. He eats 8 such bowls. This puts Bheema into sleep for eight days, after which he reunites with his mother and brothers. He informs them of Duryodhana's mischief. Duryodhana is surprised and shocked to see Bheema alive after all. Bheeshma then appoints Kripa to undertake the education of all the princes. Later on, Drona, the husband of Kripa's sister Kripi, becomes their teacher.
Meanwhile, Radheya, the first born of Kunti , impersonating himself as a brahmin, manages to learn all the astras from Bhargava. Before Radheya's departure, his guru understands that he is not a brahmin and curses him to forget the astras when he desperately needs it. The unfortunate Radheya is also cursed by another brahmin that the wheel of his chariot will get stuck when he is in combat with his foremost enemy, and will be attacked when he is the most unprepared.
Drona thinks that the time has come for his pupils to show their prowess to the citizens of the city. All the royal households are in attendance, and it is a moment of pride for Kunti to see her children excel in all fields. Vidura is next to Dhirtarashtra, giving him a detailed commentary on the feats performed. There is a mace fight between Duryodhana and Bheema, which eventually has to be averted to prevent unpleasantness that day. Suddenly, a young man arrives at the gate. This is Radheya, in his Kavacha and Kundala. He matches all the feats performed by Arjuna and challenges him to a combat, not knowing that this is his own brother. Kunti, on seeing this young man, faints as she recognizes him as her first born. As the two get ready for a combat, Kripa encourages Radheya to introduce himself because Arjuna, being a prince, cannot fight with one who is inferior. This is humiliating to Radheya and he puts his head down in defeat. Duryodhana jumps to his rescue and crowns him as the king of Anga. This puts both Radheya and Arjuna of equal rank - this gesture puts Radheya in Duryodhana's debt and he never leaves his side, even knowing that Duryodhana does not always play fair. Bheema, after knowing Radheya is the son of a charioteer, rebukes him by saying that he is not fit to hold a bow and that he should take the whip, which will suit him better. Duryodhana defends his new friend and speaks very highly of him. His words are applauded by one and all. Finally, the day ends in fiasco, as all the attention is now on Radheya . Yudhishtra is a little anxious, realizing that the pact between Duryodhana and Radheya tilts the balance in Duryodhana's favor, as he clearly sees the greatness in Radheya's archery.
As the education of the princes ends, Drona demands his Guru Dakshina. He wants them to go to the kingdom of the Panchalas, defeat Drupada, and bring him alive. The reason for this is that Drupada and Drona were childhood friends. As adults, however, Drona was a poor brahmin and to satisfy his son Aswatthama, he approached his friend- Drupada refused to recognize him, as he did not think they were equals. The thirst for revenge is finally be accomplished, and Drupada is captured and brought to Drona. He takes half of Drupada's kingdom and returns the other half, claiming that they are equal now. Drupada now burns with humiliation and hatred for Drona. He performs a yajna - a penance to get a son who is powerful to kill Drona.
As days go by, Yudhishthira is crowned the Yuvaraja as he is the oldest. Yudhishthira becomes extremely popular with the masses, and they want him to rule them. This news is reported by Duryodhana's spies, and he approaches his father. Dhritarashtra conveys his helplessness. Duryodhana considers it to be his right to rule the kingdom, he being the king's son. Duryodhana decides to hatch a plan, but without the knowledge of Bheeshma as he thinks he is partial to the Pandavas - he hopes to finalize a plot with the help of his evil mentors. Dhritarashtra's jealousy for the unfortunate sons of his dead brother is just as great and violent as his son's. Duryodhana asks his father to send the Pandavas and their mother to Varnavata for a year. During this time, Duryodhana hopes to win the love of his people. Dhritarashtra sends for a man named Kanika, who is a friend of his wife's brother, Shakuni. This man is extremely crooked, suggesting that the only way to get rid of the Pandavas is to kill them. He then goes away.
As planned, Dhirtarashtra tells Yudhishthira to spend a year in the beautiful city of Varanavata along with his brothers. Yudhishthira realizes that the intentions are not kind but is helpless and agrees to go. Bhishma also does not stop the Pandavas. On hearing this news, Duryodhana and his uncle Shakuni send for Purochana, who is a minister in Dhirtarashtra's court, and command him to go to Varanavata and build a palace for the Pandavas. They tell him that the house should be built with highly flammable material, like lac and wax, with pots of oil and ghee stored in several rooms. The people in the city are shocked on hearing the news and try to warn the Pandavas but the brothers and Kunti proceed on. Vidura warns Yudhishthira of a danger in a strange language. The Pandavas reach Varanavata.
The people in Varanavata welcome them. Purochana invites them to live in the newly built palace. It is a beautiful palace with all the comforts. When they are alone, Yudhishthira asks Bheema if he can smell something strange. He tells him that the house is built with a flammable material and that the plan is to set the house on fire when the Pandavas are inside. This is what Vidura was trying to warn Yudhishthira of. Bheema decides to leave the house. Yudhishthira suggests to wait and watch as he is sure his uncle Vidura will save them eventually.
Vidura as predicted, sends a miner who starts building a tunnel for the Pandavas to escape. One night, a nishada woman and her 5 sons spend the night in the palace. Bheema then sets fire to the palace with Purochana also sleeping inside, while they escape. The Pandavas reach the banks of Ganga and they are ferried across, as far as possible from Varanavata. The people of Varanavata and Hastinapur are meanwhile extremely saddened by the death of the Pandavas, having seen the bodies of the woman and her kids, and blame Dhirtarashtra for their deaths. Dhirtarashtra and Bheeshma also mourn. Vidura secretly informs Bheeshma the whole story and tells him that the Pandavas are safe but suggests that it would be better for them to live in disguise for some time. The Pandavas are in Siddhavata now. They are extremely tired, so Bheema offers to carry them to the forest Hidimbavana. Tired, all the Pandavas sleep there under the watchful eye of Bheema. The forest belongs to a Rakshasa named Hidimba. He and his sister Hidimbi live there. On seeing the Pandavas sleep, Hidimba sends Hidimbi to kill them and get him human flesh. But on seeing Bheema she falls in love with him and asks him to marry her. He refuses. Meanwhile, Hidimba comes looking for his sister and the reason for the delay. Bheema and he fight, and Hidimba is finally killed. The noise awakens the others and Hidimbi tells Kunti of her love for Bheema. Kunti asks her son to marry Hidimbi and they have a son named Ghatotkacha. After sometime, the Pandavas leave the forest and Hidimbi, and proceed to Ekachakra as suggested by Vyaasa.
At Ekachakra , they live with a Brahmin and his family. Soon, they hear about the pact the people of Ekachakra have with a Raksasha named Baka. According to the pact, every week one person from each family has to go to Baka with a cart full of food. Baka will eat both and in return, guard the city from intruders. The next turn belongs to this family. Kunti suggests Bheema go instead. Bheema kills the Raksasha and returns. The Brahmin man keeps it a secret that the killer was Bheema.
The Pandavas continue living in the Brahmin's house. One day, a traveler comes with the news of Draupadi's swayamvara. She is the daughter of Drupada, the king of Panchala. Drupada, to take revenge on Drona, conducts a yajna. Out of the fire comes out Dhristadyumna, who is destined to kill Drona. A young woman of priceless beauty also comes out. She is named Draupadi. Drupad yearns for a girl so that she can marry Arjuna, as Drupad is in awe of his skills in archery. Dhristadyumna learns archery from Drona, who teaches him very well knowing that Dhristadyumna has been born to kill him. On hearing about the swayamvara, Kunti suggests they leave Ekachakra and proceed to Kampilya, the capital city of Panchala. The swayamvara is to be a test in archery and Arjuna decides to participate in it.
Gita Chanting -VS 9 & 10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th65Y6VV6iU&list=PLwv-WSJSokEMjzRiL_CQC--igySyIgJqA&index=5
We practiced vs 1 -4 in class. Please continue to practice at home.
Likitha Japa time- Kids continued with likitha japa.
Hari OM
Best regards
Indira and Raji
