Reading Diary A: Public Domain Mahabharata

1. The Himalayas

Draupadi and four of her Pandava husbands set out to venture through the Himalayas. Arjuna rejoins them later and they live in Kamyaka. Kamyaka's forest was a place where the six were "cleansed of their sins" and where they achieved great virtues? Many sages visited them here, sharing wisdom with Draupadi and the five Pandavas.

("Kubera, the god of riches" from Wikipedia Commons)

2. Bhima and Hanuman

Hanuman is still one earth from when we last saw him in the Ramayana. He meets his half-brother, Bhima. They are both sons of the wind god, Vayu. Bhima found Hanuman lying in the middle of the road. Hanuman revealed himself to Bhima and then explained the castes of the caste system to Bhima.

3. Riddles at the Lake

As the twelfth year of exile came upon the Pandava brothers, they wanted to leave the forest. Suddenly, they were all very thirsty. When they came upon a pool of water, a voice said that they had to answer a question asked of them before they drank. Nakula ignored this warning and drank anyways. He promptly fell over, dead. Sahadeva, did not drink, but gazed greedily at the pool. He too, fell dead. Arjuna and Bhima followed the others and also fell dead. Yudhishthira was the only one who heeded the voice's warnings and he promptly answered all of the questions (or riddles). The voice revealed himself to be Dharma, the god of wisdom and justice. Yudhishthira wanted his brothers' lives restored and the power to be unrecognized by anyone for a year? Why this wish?

PDE Mahabharata