Epics of India

Figure 1:  Bhima  Wikimedia "Bhima! Help me please!" Draupadi swooned like a fair maiden, fainting helplessly, falling luxuriously onto a nearby plush coach, tears streamed down her face. It was the image of perfect feminine helplessness that can only be conjured by the mind of a sexist idiot who doesn't know what a comma splice is. Answering her call for help without a moment of hesitation, Bhima tears his shirt in rage and leaps to the door to meet Kichaka; Bhima's hulking steel body standing before with Kichaka's lean ropy one. "Leave Her Alone" Kichaka shifts his weight like a taunting cat, and his face contorts into a smile, a smile that sent a smug challenge. "Oh... I think I won't" Kichaka hooks Bhima with his left fist, and follows with a tight, compact right jab, but Bhima stands his ground, as Kichaka's blows were merely a test, and so Bhima replies in the only language that men like Kichaka understood. Bhima

Figure 1:  Depiction of The Mahabharata   Wikipedia The segment of this reading that has the greatest possibility for rewriting is Drona's death. This conflict is the most morally complex of all the events in the Mahabharata, as Drona is a good man, but is fighting for bad people, and whether or not the deceit used to lure him to his death is questionable. There is also the clear anguish that Arjuna experiences during the issue. All in all, it is the scene that most resembles modern character based conflict. Mahabharata: Public Domain Edition  Various Authors

Figure 1: Bhima vs Kichaka  Wikimedia I've been having fun re-imagining the combat from these stories. So far I have tried to depict skillful fighting, comical exuberance, and some characterization through combat. This time, I think I would like to make the battle a truly godly one, with influence from the fight between Kratos and Baldur in God of War 4. I would particularly like to rework the fight between Bhima and Kichaka. They are both described as strong and ferocious, and I want to have them gradually devastate the landscape around them in unarmed combat. The fact that they are unarmed allows each to land more hits than with the other fights, which all involved deadly weapons. Mahabharata: Public Domain Edition  Various Authors