Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part A

Vyasa is the author of the Mahabharata. Brahama sent a god, Ganesha, to be his scribe and write down Vyasa's words. The story also introduced several characters like Vyasa's disciple, Vaishampayana, Janamejaya, king of Hastinapura. Janamejaya was Arjuna's great grandson. Arjuna was one of the five Pandu brothers, which were all grandsons of Vyasa, the author of the Mahabharata. 

The birth of Vyasa started with the king of Chedi, Uparichara. He was extremely religious and the gods feared him because they thought he was after their power. The gods gifted him a crystal car, a vehicle that flies through the sky. 

During spring season, he was flying through the sky and some of his personal semen fell into a river. A female fish swallowed the semen and gave birth a boy and a girl. The boy was kept by the king of Chedi, Uparichara, and the girl was left to the fisherman's wife. The girl's name is Satyavati. Her foster father was a ferryman on the river of Yamuna. Satyavati was told to remain a virgin and she also decided to lose her fishy smell she had from being born in the river. 

Magically, I suppose since she has to remain a virgin, she gave birth to Vyasa. Vyasa is a island born baby and he is called Vyasa because he arranged the Vedas. 

The next story talks about Bhishma. He is the son of Ganga, goddess of the Ganga river, and King Shantanu. Bhishma has the powers of eight gods known as the Vasus because of his mother. Ganga killed the seven babies she gave birth to before him because they weren't even supposed to be in human form and this was the only way to be able to return to their original being's. 

After being heart broken. King Shantanu smelled Satyavati's strong perfume smell she received after giving birth to Vyasa. King Shantanu pleaded to the fisherman to let her be his bride, but he said only if their son, Vyasa, could be the next king after king Shantanu. Shantanu rejected the offer because of his son Devavrata, whose mother was Ganga. 

Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie. 1913. 

Vyasa Meditating in the Forest by Umberto Assandri from flickr.com. 


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