Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part A

Figure 1: Drona and Drupada Wikimedia

The Mahabharata is incredibly different from the Ramayana, to the point that they seem to be the products of two entirely different processes. The Ramayana is quite focused on Rama, and feels very much like a superhero story. Rama exhibits almost only positive characteristics, but some of his characteristics feel at times contradictory and almost always generic. In this way, he reminds me of superheroes, written by different authors with input from different audiences, and then edited and retroactively canonized by random editors. Rama specifically reminds me of superman, a mishmash of every value of every subculture that inhabit the larger culture from which he arises.

The Mahabharata on the other hand reads like a recent fictionalization of a political struggle. It barely feels like a story at all. Stories are usually written with the purpose of being a story, the Mahabharata begins with an incomprehensible exposition segment that details the lives of an inordinate number of side characters. These characters are all relevant, but some of the details seem irrelevant, and fewer of them have the auspicious and fantastical exploits seen in Rama. I'm not sure why, but many of the characters remind me of the modern characterization of Erwin Rommel; fundamentally based in reality, but with exaggerated characteristics for our narrative of his life.

If I had to retell a specific story, it would be the start of the feud between Drona and Drupada. It's a mundane event, the fictionalization of which requires very little alteration or character distortion, I'd like to try to retell it very straight, and I would probably project my modern values onto Drano and my personal dislikes onto Drupada.

Mahabharata: Public Domain Edition Various Authors