Hari OM All,
This week we started our class with Introductions. This was followed by prayers and Slokas - the pdf version will be posted to the WhatsApp group. Please ask your children to practice this at home.
This was followed by a continuation of the recap of Mahabharata - we covered from Pāndavās coming to Hastināpura till the Royal tournament for Kuru princes.
- Kunti along with Pāndavās came back to Hastināpura, We discussed each Pandas special attribute/quality such as for Yudhishthira - Righteousness, Bhima - Strength, Arjun - Fame, Conqueror Skill, Nakula & Sahadeva - devotion/bravery/wisdom. Kauravas specially Duryodhana enjoyed special status as Prince and arrival of Pandavas irritated & annoyed him. He got jealous of special attention & love Pandavas got from elders and Bheema being the strongest & fun loving irritated him the most. He even gave Bhima poisoned food and threw him in a river inhabited with snakes. Unfortunately for him, the snakes' poison counteracted with the poison in his system. While there, he was also blessed with the strength of 8000 elephants by the King of the Snakes. This made Duryodhana even jealous & angrier towards his cousins.
- We briefly recapped the story of Drona & Drupada's friendship. Drupada promises Drona half his Kingdom when he grows up to become king. When the time comes Drupada insults Drona instead of giving. Drona comes to Hastinapur with a hope for good living. He helps Kuru princes take the ball out of well with his skills. And tells Arjuna to narrate the incident to Bhishma when he asks his name. Bhishma finds Drona to be the best teacher of weapons and other skills for Kuru princes. Drona is happy to become teacher of the Hastināpura princes' and hopes his trained army to avenge the humiliation he experienced at the hands of Drupada.
- While the Pāndavās trained under the mighty Drona, a young Nishāda boy, Ekalavya, also wished to master the art of archery. Drona refuses being of lower birth and not a prince. Ekalavya goes back to forest and makes an idol of Drona and starts his practice of archery diligently. Within no time he mastered the art. One day, upon witnessing his superior skills, Arjuna complains to Drona that one of his students is a better archer than him. Drona asks the young Ekalavya for his right thumb as Gurudakshina. Without any hesitation, Ekalavya cuts it off and offers it to Drona. With Ekalavya out of the way, Drona felt a little relieved.
- But there was another warrior in the making, about to make his presence known. That young man was Radheya, the son of Atiratha (a royal charioteer) and Radha. He was originally born to Kunti and Surya (as a result of the boon given by Sage Durvasa). But Kunti was too young and decided to send the baby down the river to be adopted by Atiratha the royal charioteer. Born with golden armor and earrings (Kavacha & Kundala). Radheya had the urge to learn weaponry and the art of war. His search brought him to Bhargava, a Sage who had refused to teach Kshatriyas. Posing as a Brahmin, he acquired the knowledge of warfare from Sage Bhargava. Once, Radheya sat through the pain of an insect boring through his thigh while his Guru slept peacefully on his lap. Sage Bhargava woke up feeling the warm blood on his cheek, and accused Radheya for lying to him about his parentage, because a Brahmin could never sit through such pain. He cursed Radheya that all that acquired knowledge would fail him when he needed it.(The insect was Indra's doing, to ensure Radheya did not get more powerful than Indra's son Arjuna). Dejected, Radheya sat by the shores of the sea. When he spotted an animal flash by, his instinct made him raise his weapon and shoot an arrow, killing it instantly. He was shocked to see it was a cow, incurring the wrath of the Brahmin to whom it belonged. He received another curse - that the wheel of his chariot will sink to the ground and that he would be killed by his worst enemy when he was least prepared. Radheya knew that his fate was sealed and accepted it as a consequence of his birth.
- When princes had learnt all that was to be taught, Drona wished to test their prowess. He had a wooden bird placed at a target at the top of the tree and asked one by one starting with Yudhishthira, what all the they see. All of them said they see Drona, tree, Brothers, Bird etc. and were asked to go back and sit. When Arjuna's turn came he replied I see only the Bird that too only the Bird's eye. Drona, pleased with the answer, ordered him to shoot the arrow. With this we also discussed the qualities of a good student - passion for the subject, unwavering practice, resilience under pressure, tuning with teacher & pleasant nature.
- Meanwhile Drona, proud of his students' progress and skill, wished to have a tournament to display their prowess. A magnificent arena was erected, all royal elders and Hastināpura people were invited to watch. The Kuru princes each showed their forte. As it would be a fight to show skills, both Bhima & Duryodhana became very serious and had to be stopped by Ashwatthama. Arjuna displayed his skills by using fire/ water / wind gale missiles etc. As the tournament progressed, Radheya entered, requesting to display his skill. He was refused on account of his birth. After much humiliation from the elders, Duryodhana rushed to his aid and made him King of Anga, thereby making him eligible to participate. The tournament was from sunrise to sundown, and after the coronation there was no time left for Karna. At the end of the day, Kunti was secretly pleased as she recognized the newly crowned king of Anga as her son Karna, Duryodhana was happy that Arjuna was no longer the threat to him & Yudhishthira came away with a firm belief that Karna was an excellent archer.
The list of books/handbooks that will be used this year was also shared in the class. We also reviewed Bhagavad Gita chapter 2 and discussed how to participate in various events during the year to get additional points for our house (Durga's Daredevils). We concluded the class with Arati and Pledge.
Pranaams!
Krishna and Sachin