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Vibs/Vaarali

This content was originally posted by: .Vrish.

Vibs/Vaarali

Have you been watching it?  How is it?

Yes, I've been watching it. I seems pretty good to me. The sets are grand, the actors are good and the music is good too.

Episode 1:

The episode starts with Sage Vyasa talking to Lord Brahma. Vyasa is sad and dejected due to the events of Kurukshetra and is in a dilemma as to what to do. He wanted to tell the world about it but did not want to display all the wrong messages. Brahma instructs Vyasa to write about everything - the good and the bad - so that the world can understand what happened here. Thus. Vyasa writes the Mahabharatha with the help of Lord Ganesha.

The scene shifts to the city of Hastinapur and the people are debating as to why their King is performing another sacrifice. They wonder why the king needs to perform a yaaga when they have all the wealth required. But in Hastinapur, King Janamejaya performs a sacrifice with a vengeance. He had gathered a lot of Brahmans who had dutifully grown the sacrificial fire that pulled all the snakes into its pits. Janamejaya is happy to see the serpents die. A metaphor is used here  - Janamejaya gives a dialogue saying the evils in the society are like snakes on Earth and they should all be destroyed. The citizens panic on seeing the swarms of snakes that slither past the city to fall into the fire.

Somewhere in the forest, an anthill breaks open to reveal a sage with matted locks and a thin frame. He starts walking hurriedly with a flourish. The sage reaches Hastinapur and the King and other Brahmans there welcome him. He is the Sage Astika. Astika praises the king and the king, happy to receive such praise promises the sage anything he wants in spite of the other sages warning him not to agree without knowing the terms. Astika asks for the sacrifice to be stopped. Janamejaya is outraged as Takshaka and his son had not been killed by the power of the sacrifice yet. A battle of words ensues between Janamejaya and Astika on what is right and wrong and the actions of the Kuru's royal descendants are questioned. Astika says that his claims are true and even the Sage Vyasa would agree if he is called here. Janamejaya makes arrangements to have Sage Vyasa fetched to the site. Sage Vyasa is informed of the situation and brought with all respects.

Sage Vyasa comes into Hastinapur's palace and greets both Janamejaya and Astika warmly. Vyasa asks Janamejaya to stop the sacrifice and out of his respect for the sage, Janamejaya agrees. The verbal battle picks up again and Vyasa listens to it calmly, chuckling to himself and states that both the king and the sage are correct. Janamejaya is confused and Vyasa lets his tale unfold. He says that this is the story of a majestic race, the story of his brothers and the story of man and fate/destiny.

King Shantanu, the ruler of Hastinapur reigns his kingdom in all splendour and glory. He is pacing up and down awaiting an important news. Maids run up to him to reveal that he is blessed with a son. Shantanu is happy and gives the maids jewels and runs to his wife's chambers. He finds it empty. Panic rising, he starts searching the chambers. As he passes by the huge balcony, he sees his wife walk dangerously close to the river bank. She bends down and gently lets their new born sink in the water. Shantanu, aghast, is stunned with his hand raised as if to stop her and mouth open in a wordless scream.

The episode ends here. Will update asap. Sorry for the delay 😳

Vibs

This content was originally posted by: .Vrish.

Vibs

Is it okay to comment on the episode here?

I always thought that Janamejaya was right, and Astika was wrong.  I recall first reading about this in the ACK Parikshit.  Janamejaya did this yagna to bring justice to his father, but Astika really had no rationale for asking for Takshaka to be spared.  Particularly when thousands of innocent nagas were massacred in that yagna fire, while Takshaka - the only guilty one here - ended up scot free.  Looks like the concept of justice was alien to rishis then - be it Vyasa, Astika, Drona or Parashurama.

I once read in Dr RC Majumdar's 'The Vedic Age', which is about the history during that time.  He conjectured that all this was probably allegorical, and that what probably happened was that Parikshit was involved in a war w/ the Nagas in which he got killed, and that Janamejaya continued the war and really had them on the mat.  That's the only explanation that makes sense, otherwise, massacring thousands of Nagas, while letting the guilty one go free just b'cos he was a buddy of Indra made no sense whatsoever.

By all means, its alright with me. As long as the mods allow, we can discuss here.

I'll try to include the translation for the full dialogue. It will probably be better to give detailed updates. After listening to both sides, I do agree with Vyasa - both of them are right. When asked by Janamejaya as to why Takshaka should be spared when he had killed Parikshit, Astika replies that he was a victim of fate drawn to do his duty by Shringi's curse. He further says that Arjuna destroyed an entire forest with all the creatures just to feed Agni who asked him for the favour - which (as per Astika's explanation) was much worse than what Takshaka did.

Dr. R. C. Majumdar's view is interesting. Is there an online link to his work?

This content was originally posted by: Vibhishna

By all means, its alright with me. As long as the mods allow, we can discuss here. 

I'll try to include the translation for the full dialogue. It will probably be better to give detailed updates. After listening to both sides, I do agree with Vyasa - both of them are right. When asked by Janamejaya as to why Takshaka should be spared when he had killed Parikshit, Astika replies that he was a victim of fate drawn to do his duty by Shringi's curse. He further says that Arjuna destroyed an entire forest with all the creatures just to feed Agni who asked him for the favour - which (as per Astika's explanation) was much worse than what Takshaka did. 

Dr. R. C. Majumdar's view is interesting. Is there an online link to his work? 

Edited by .Vrish. - 11 years ago

This content was originally posted by: .Vrish.

Did Arjun burn the Khandava forest to feed Agni, or clear the way to build the capital of the Pandavas?  I always thought it was the latter.

I thought Agni approached Krishna and Arjuna for the cure to his indigestion after the Pandavas had acquired Indraprastha. I had also read that Arjuna and Krishna did not allow any creature from the forest to escape except 6 - Awasena (Takashaka's son - I hope I got the name right), Mayaa (the Asura architect), and 4 saranga birds. In gratitude for sparing his life, Mayaa built the grand palace (some versions say he did so along with Vishwakarma) which came to be known as Khandavaprastha.

Vibs, when is the next episode?

This content was originally posted by: .Vrish.

Vibs, when is the next episode?

The serial is telecast every Sunday 10 am on Sun TV. The next episode will be on Easter (30th March) if there are no special programs occupying the slot. The latest episode showed Amba starting the journey to meet Parasuram.

Can you quickly summarize what they showed in b/w in each episode?