Reading Notes: Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata Part C

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“The Pandavas Go To King Virata”
  • Summary:
    • On their thirteenth year of exile, where they must be in disguise and their identities kept secret, the Pandavas and Draupadi went to king Virata’s court. Their new identities were as follows: Yudhishthira is Kanka, a dice player; Bhima is Vallabha, a cook; Arjuna is Brihannala, a dance instructor; Nakula is Granthika, a horse trainer; Sahadeva is Tantipala, a cattle herder; and Draupadi is Sairandhri, the queen’s maid.
“Draupadi Seeks Protection”
  • Summary:
    • Draupadi asked the queen to protect her from the queen’s brother’s advances, but the Queen did not take her concerns seriously. She then went to the king for help, but he also ignored her. Yudhishthira was playing dice with the king, and he did not say a word to aid her. She felt just as she did in Duryodhana’s court when no one would no one came to her side, but just as those feelings emerged, Bhima stood up for her. He said he would protect her from the queen’s brother. All she had to do was lure him into Bhima’s trap, then he would do the rest.
I chose to write about these 2 tales because of how they parallel earlier tales. Tale 106 contains small details that were touched on earlier in the Mahabharata. Yudhishthira is now skilled at dice when last time he lost every round of dice he played, so that was an interesting turn of events. Bhima is acting as a cook, when comparatively in earlier tales, he “died” from eating poisoned food and fought with and killed Baka over food. So clearly Bhima has a love for food. Additionally, Tale 108 references Tales 81-84 in which Duryodhana tried to take advantage of Draupadi and no one helped her. After the fact, Bhima had threatened Duryodhana, but he did not do anything when she needed help the most. This time around, Bhima took action and promised to protect her before Kichaka could do anything to her. This shows some character growth on Bhima’s part, albeit small. All in all, the references to past tales was really interesting to read and take notice of because it reminded me that even though this is a complicated epic with a lot of subplots, there is still one continuous storyline and everything does relate back to earlier plot points, even the smallest details.

The Pandavas and Draupadi in Virata's Court:
Wikimedia Commons

Bibliography: Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata by Laura Gibbs, Part C
                        Page, Tales 106 and 108

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