Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part A

Archery (Flickr)

Reading through this, I became interested in the apparent rivalry between Arjuna and Karna. Arjuna was born from the god of storms and Karna was born from the sun god, so it's like the rivalry is destined to be. Arjuna and Karna also have completely opposite upbringings. Arjuna was praised all his life and molded into a perfect warrior and prince, whereas Karna was abandoned at birth and lived as a commoner, with his new father being just a regular charioteer. Despite this, Karna could match Arjuna in combat skills, and I think I want to write a kind of underdog story like that. I think it'd be interesting to write about a Karna that's been through hardships all his life, overcame them, and bested Arjuna in an archery competition instead of just keeping up with him. I also like Karna's more casual attitude when he meets Arjuna, and how he showed he was capable of completing the bow challenge then dropped it the second he heard the princess doesn't like him.

Bibliography: The Mahabharata by R. K. Narayan

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