Introduction to the Film

Mahabharata (the film) was made by Parabola Films in 1989, directed by Peter Brooks with an international crew, and distributed by an international group led by Reiner-Moritz Distributors.  The dialogue is spoken in English.   Parabola is also a “Magazine of Myth and Tradition” with a strong interest in reinterpreting this ancient Indian epic as not just an Indian epic story, but as a universal world myth.  Some of the actors are indeed Indian, and the songs are interpreted by a famous Indian singer Sarmila Roy.  However, you will notice immediately that actors from Europe, Africa, and East Asia are also cast in the parts. This was a deliberate decision intended to “universalize” the Mahabharata.  In keeping with the nature of mythic stories, the film dramatization, its settings, and its actions are idealized, its staging is stylized like that of a theatrical performance--so the presentation is not in the realistic historical modes that contemporary U.S. audiences usually expect of Hollywood films.  The historical era is not specified, other than the story takes place in some time early in human history when the world was young.  

Mahabharata ["maha" means "big" or "great" in most Indian languages; "bharat" is what the contemporary nation of India calls itself] can be translated as “Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty, “ a legendary dynasty of northern India in the fabled kingdom of the Kurus, from which Vedic and Hindu rulers and peoples claim their descent; or more generally, the story of all humankind since peoples of the Indian subcontinent consider their ancient ancestors to be the originating people of the Earth.  Mahabharata's main story concerns a great war on the battlefield Kurushetra (“field of the Kurus”) between two ancient clans, the Pandavas (“sons of Pandu”) and the Kauravas (“sons of Kurus”)--actually two branches of the same Kurus family.  The epic embodies salient beliefs of Hinduism, and contains one of its primary religious texts, The Bhagavad-Gita, enunciated in the the battlefield debate between Krishna and Arjuna.  Some of the events recounted in the Mahabharata,  the longest ancient epic poem in the world, can approximately be dated to have occurred between 1400 and 800 B.C.E.  The Mahabharata consists of accumulations of hundreds of interconnected Sanskrit oral stories, sacred and secular, transmitted orally from generation to generation oral tradition until they were finally collected and written down.  This ancient epic is filled with heroic and supernatural marvels that outsiders/non-believers would call “myth.”  Still revered by Hindus the world over, constantly retold, read, and/or performed by contemporary peoples of Southeast Asia, the Mahabharata is a veritable encyclopedia of diverse mythic stories that have shaped Hindu religion and culture; the sometimes conflicting versions of the same stories contained within the Mahabharata can often be traced to the epic's oral beginnings:  first composed and performed orally, the stories were told and retold countless times, dynamically changing or being adapted to changed circumstances over time, even after the epic was written down into more “static” textual forms. 

It would literally take many weeks to read or perform the Mahabharata in its entirety.  There are actually two Parabola film versions of the Mahabharata: one 6 hours long and one, the shorter version we’ll be viewing in class, about 3 hours long.  This 160-minute running time may indeed seem long by modern standards--most Hollywood “feature” fiction films run 2 hours or less.  However, the film is obviously much shorter and severely abridged compared to the original Indian epic. Furthermore, to condense the ancient epic into a fairly short and comprehensible narrative (story-telling) form, much has been left out and arbitrary decisions made about which versions to tell of the various stories feeding into the main plot of the Mahabharata.  And, as you already know, much can be lost in translation--e.g., in the meaning and poetic rhythms.  So too has much been reduced or changed in this film adaptation.  So this viewing experience is no substitute for reading the original, nor should it be approached as an accurate cross-cultural rendering of the complex original Mahabharata.  The ancient epic is preserved in Indian subcontinent today as a living performance tradition, and usually only small portions of the epic are performed at one time. In the last two decades, Indian national television made its own version of the Mahabharata, as a kind of “maxi-series” aired over weeks and months on Indian TV.  Unfortunately, I’ve not yet been unable to lay hands on affordable, transportable, subtitled videotapes of Indian films or performances of the classic. 

Film Notes
Major Film Sequences, Characters, with some Background Notes

1.  OPENING SCENE and the Narrative Frame:  As the credits roll, over the film’s opening images of fire and gemstone, we hear the voiceover explain that there are “three gods” who are yet “also one.”  “BRAHMA, the Creator”; “SHIVA, the destroyer, present when the world ends”; and “VISHNU,” Shiva’s opposite,” who “maintains the world when chaos threatens.”  Then Vishnu “descends among us in human form--as KRISHNA.”

A young Indian boy comes upon Krishna Dvai VYASA, a sage of the Brahmin class who is reputed to have composed the Mahabharata.  A narrative frame is established in this opening scene for unfolding the ancient epic story.  Vyasa will the tell the boy “the story of your race,” also universalized as “the poetical history of mankind.” Vyasa seeks a scribe to write the story down for him, and finds one in the costumed figure of the elephant god Ganesha --a Hindu deity evoked at the beginning of new and difficult undertakings to overcome obstacles and bring good outcomes.  Vyasa is also a common ancestor of the two main warring family groups of the Mahabharata, the Pandavas and the Kauravas.  Vyasa, wise ancestor, witness and storyteller, will appear again the with unnamed Indian boy in the film at key moments in the film and at its close.

2.  BHISHMA in the “golden age” of “no war or misery”
Before we can begin the main story of the Mahabharata, some of its principle characters and background situations must be introduced (the literary term for this introduction is exposition).  So we meet Bhishma, also known as “the Terrible One,” and we are told in voiceover narration that he is the “perfect prince” of an earlier “golden age” but ironically cannot become king of his father’s kingdom.  Bhishma has given up his right to rule and taken a vow of perpetual celibacy (hence he’ll have no descendents)--for which the “gods have applauded” Bhishma and given him “the power to choose the hour of his death.” 

Background:  Bhishma will play key roles, including venerated advisor and terrible warrior, in the epic struggle to come between the warring Kauravas and the Pandavas.  Bhishma, common ancestor to both branches of the family, is fated to fight on the “wrong” side (with the Kaurava brothers).  According to one version of Bhisma’s history, his father wants to remarry Satyavati, but her family’s condition is that Bhisma (eldest son of an earlier marriage) must renounce any claim to his father’s throne for himself or his descendents.  Satyavati is reputed to have granted Bhisma two boons in consequence: that he’ll never be defeated in combat and that he will only dies when he himself wills it.

 3.  BHISHMA and AMBA:
Bhisma is featured in many  stories and legends; one is of relevance to the film.  A young woman comes to Bhishma appealing to him to love and marry her.  Because of his vows, he rejects and, thus, offends Amba, who vows she will one day take her revenge on Bhisma--which, of course, she will eventually do in the film, though it will cost her two of her lives. “Never forget me, Bhishma; I am your death,” Amba curses him.   Background: One version of Amba’s story is that her original suitor has refused to marry her believing that Bhishma, who had carried her  off as potential wives for his half-brothers, had thrown her chastity in doubt.  To make a long story short, Amba is now unmarriageable, a serious fate for a woman, and she blames Bhishma with more reason than is given in the film.

4.  KUNTI, the Mantra, and her son  KARNA
Kunti is introduced in the film as one who “carries the fate of the earth in her belly”--voiceover explains that she is pregnant with a “glorious son,” and she will eventually give birth to the eldest 3 of the 5 righteous Pandava brothers.  Background:  The fuller story of Kunti is that while living in her beloved adopted father’s household, she is extremely courteous and attentive to a visiting learned sage (though humble in appearance) Durvasa.  Though Kunti asks no reward, Durvasa teaches her a mantra (a secret charm), enabling her to summon any god of her choice, who will give her a son and carry out her wishes.  One day shortly after, Kunti, an unmarried virgin,  is dazzled by the Sun--the god Suryadev--and unthinkingly recites her mantra and calls the Sun god to her.  The result is a divine virginal pregnancy, but Kunti “is afraid”--in the background story, she fears the disgrace (being unmarried), hides her pregnancy, and disposes of her newborn son by placing him in a box and floating him down a stream. 

The box eventually makes its way to the sacred Ganges River, where a grateful but low caste “driver”--chariot driver--finds the child, not knowing his true identity, and he and his wife raise the boy.  That illegitimate but divinely-sired son will grow up to be KARNA, who also plays a large role in the epic battle to come.   Karna carries the “bitter shadow in his heart” of this early abandonment, presumed illegitimacy , and uncertainly of his caste and origins.

6.  PANDU and his “sons” the PANDAVAS
Kunti eventually marries PANDU, who also has a second wife.  A transgression while hunting has brought a curse down on Pandu’s head: he will die if he ever makes love to a woman (hence no sons), and in the film version Pandu is forced to give up his throne to his brother DHRATARASHTRA, and Pandu and his wives vanish into the Himalayas.  However; fortunately, Kunti has the mantra which allows her to summon gods to sire sons, and she tells Pandu of her power.  He urges her to do so and thereby “evoke dharma” (the law of righteousness), so she uses the mantra to virginally conceive three more sons--the righteous Pandava brothers. 

The eldest is  YUDHISHTHIRA, “son of dharma” and “born to be king.” 
The second son is BHIMA, “song of the wind, strong as thunder.” 
The third is the epic hero ARJUNA, “perfect warrior” and “born to conquer”; significantly it is the great thundering war god Indra who has been called on to sire him.  

Pandu’s other wife also wishes to bear sons, and she conceives the last two Pandava brothers, the twins NAKULA and SAHADEVA, using Kunti’s mantra.  “Pandava” means “sons of Pandu,” though the five brothers are not physically the sons of Pandu, for all have been sired by various gods.

7.  GANDHARI, DHRATARASHTRA, and their sons the KAURAVAS
Meanwhile, GANDHARI is introduced in the film coming to the Kaurava court of Hastinapura to marry DHRATARASHTRA, the brother of PANDU.  Both film and epic present  Pandu is the rightful ruler of the Kingdom of the Kurus, and the film suggests Dhratarashtra rules in Pandu’s absence. (The fuller story is complex: Dhratarastra, the elder brother, is blind--the suggestion is that this “disability” is spiritual as well as physical,  and has ceded rule of the kingdom to Pandu in consequence.)  Gandhari learns from her woman servant that she has “been betrayed”--that is, her new husband is blind.  He is one who can “only reign over the night.”  In consequence, Gandhari veils her eyes, vowing never to take off her veil, and is led “blind” to her blind husband. “Now,” she says, “I can never reproach him his misfortune.”

Gandhari becomes pregnant, but her belly is “hard” with “no life” and the pregnancy has lasted two years--so long in fact that Kunti gives birth to YUDHISHTHIRA first.  Significantly, then, Yudhishthira is the eldest and rightful heir to the Kurus throne; more importantly, Yudhishthira is the “son of  dharma,” the law of righteousness.  Note that these events are happening at the same time as those described in #6 above, when Pandu, Kunti, and Pandu’s second wife are in exile into the mountains, and Kunti starts using her mantra to summon gods to sire Pandu’s sons.  Gandhari commands her servant to strike her belly hard to bring on the birth.  And a  strange and unnatural  birth is thus forced:  Gandhari, veiled, does not “see” the mysterious black “ball of flesh” she births, “cold and hard like metal” and presumably of demonic character.  Gandhari would have her servant “throw the ball in a well” and leave her be.  Yet here the sage VYASA, our narrator and the story’s composer, intervenes, and instructs the servant to cut the ball into 100 pieces and sprinkle each with water.  Thus, from the pieces 100 sons emerge--the Kauravas.

Blind father to these demonic sons is Dhratarashtra, who hears noisy and ominous signs as the strange birth proceeds.  We meet BHISHMA again here at court, and he interprets the signs for Dhratarashtra: they signal destruction, says Bhishma, and advises Dhratarashtra to destroy these unnatural sons.  

The two eldest of these “sons of Kaurava” are DURYODHARA and DUHSHASANA, who display the discordant demonic characters of their unnatural origins.  And now Gandhari intervenes in her husband’s moment of decision:  even if they cause great “hatred and terror, no one will kill my sons.”

8.  The PANDAVAS and the KAURAVAS come of age
Thus, the stage is set for the main story of the Mahabharata, the epic rivalry and war for control of the legendary northern kingdom of India, land of the Kurus--and in Hindu cosmology for a test between the forces of dharma (righteousness) and of evil for dominance of the earth.  Significantly, that war will be fratricidal--brother against brother, cousin against cousin, family against family.

In the court of Hastinapura, then, the two rival branches of the family grow up together to adulthood: the Pandava brothers and their cousins the Kaurava brothers. Pandu has died, and his blind brother Dhratarashtra, father of the Kauravas, is ruling the kingdom of the Kurus.  After Pandu’s death,  Bhishma, their common ancestor, was brought to court to educate together the unruly, hostile, and constantly fighting cousins--they “think only of war.”  Enter a new master teacher, DRONA, whose celebrated reputation at the martial arts of warfare the equally formidable Bhishma knows well.  No one has summoned Drona; he comes because fate has called him here to play his part..  We learn that ARJUNA has proved himself to have extraordinary martial skills, and his Kaurava cousins watch his developing prowess with jealousy and fear.

9.  KARNA and ARJUNA
Karna, son of KUNTI and the Sun god Suryadev, is reintroduced in the film when he appears at court, a stranger to challenge Arjuna’s mastery in a contest of archery.  “I can do all that you can do even better,” Karna boasts.  (Remember: After Kunti abandoned him as newborn, Karna had been found and raised by a humble charioteer and his wife. In fact, Karna is the half-brother of the Pandavas, with whom he shares a common mother Kunti.)  None is aware of Karna’s true origins, however.   Arjuna questions this powerful stranger, who comes uninvited and speaks before addressed, while Arjuna’s rival Duyodhara welcomes Karna.  Karna is offended and immediately hostile to Arjuna, vowing “Wherever you look, I’ll always be ahead!  Prepare yourself; we are going to fight.” 

At this point Drona intervenes, challenging Karna’s right to fight the upper caste Arjuna.  Arjuna is of the high warrior caste, a Kshatriya, and by the traditions of dharma (rightful duty or law) cannot fight “an inferior person”--that is, a person of an inferior caste.  Drona demands that Karna identify his father or at least his mother--and thus himself and his caste.  Ironically, Kunti chimes in here, “Are you ashamed of your mother?” not realizing she is Karna’s mother.  Humbled, insecure, and angry, Karna must identify himself as a “Driver’s son,” of unknown caste origins, and not therefore entitled to challenge and fight a Kshatriya.  Bhishma and the others scorn Karna, despite his evident godly demeanor and warrior because of his obscure and humble origins.  Karna is deeply offended and the object of his deep hatred centers on  Arjuna in particular.  After being told to withdraw, however, Karna is championed by Duryodhara, of the rival Kauravas who also hates Arjuna and the Pandavas;  Duryodhara immediately gives Karna a kingdom and asks Karna’s friendship, thus winning Karna’s enduring gratitude and loyalty, as well as the benefit his formidable fighting skills in the great war to come. 

10.  DRAUPADI becomes wife of the PANDAVAS
Arjuna comes to his mother Kunti to announce that he has won a great prize in a tournament.  Before knowing the particulars, Kunti says Arjuna must share his prize with his brothers.  Arjuna then explains that the prize is a wife, the beautiful princess DRAUPADI.  Kunti, however, reaffirms her command: Arjuna must share Draupadi with his brothers and that Draupadi must never suffer in any way; “I can’t take by my word,” Kunti states.  “Destiny has slipped into my words without warning.”  Thus, Draupadi   becomes the joint wife of all five of the Pandava brothers, each of whom declares his love for her and vows to reverence her deeply.  (The versions of how this came to pass vary, in any case making her the object of deepening the rivalry between the Pandavas and the Kauravas.) 

11.  VYASA introduces the God KRISHNA
We are returned now to the “narrative frame”: the boy questions Vyasa: “Why do they kill each other?”  meaning the Pandavas and the Kauravas in the war to come.  Vyasa explains that they have “forgot the essential”: “It is the sacred law of dharma that maintains the world,” and when chaos threatens, “no one can save dharma except KRISHNA.”

We first see Krishna sleeping, then awakened by the Pandava brothers.  Krishna has sent for them because he has “heard the Earth complain.”  Everyday the Earth is given “fresh wounds,” “trampled” by “violent” men “driven by dreams of conquest.”  Yudhishthira, the righteous, asks: “What can save the Earth?”  Krishna responds that the people want a calm, just king, “a legitimate king.”  Yudhishthira is that rightful king.  Yudhishthira, a pacifist, objects that if he were to assert his claim, that his uncle Dhratarashtra and the Kaurava cousins will feel threatened and declare war, thus condemning to Earth to great horror and death.  Krishna advises Yudhishthira not to deceive himself, that  he is the “son of dharma” and thus must do his duty according to the higher cosmic law in operation here.  In support, his Pandava brothers each declares his loyalty to the eldest Yudhishthira.  Krishna advises: “Resist what resists in you.  Become yourself.”  Yudhishthira bows to the Lord’s will and the law of dharma, declaring that his youth at an end and that he will go to his uncle and ask for his rightful kingdom. 

12. DURYODHARA’S Reaction and the Plot
Duryodhara berates his father Dhratarashtra for giving the Pandavas part of the kingdom.  Dhratarashtra protests that he has been guided by Bhishma is granting Yudhishthira’s claim.  Duryodhara is consumed with anger, jealousy, calls himself “a dried up stream” because his father is blind.  He is determined that Yudhishthira, the eldest Pandava, will never gain the throne after Duroyodhana’s father Dhratarashtra dies, and he won’t see the kingdom divided up.   He declares, “I want to be discontented, dissatisfied,” his desire for power grows daily, and he is anguished by self-doubts.  His mother’s concern about the “shadow” in her eldest son’s mind, prompts Duryodhara to admit his great jealousy of Yudhishthira.  “I love nothing,” Duryodhara states.  At this point his uncle SHAKUNI comes forward with just the plot to satisfy Duryodhara:  Shakuni reminds his nephew that Yudhishthira has “one weakness,” a love of gambling, and is more vulnerable because Yudhishthira doesn’t know how to play.  Shakuni, himself a master gambler whom “no one can beat,” suggests that  Duroyodhana challenge his hated rival to a dicing match and let Shakuni play in his nephew’s place.

13.  KRISHNA warns BHISHMA
Krishna--the avatar of Vishnu, the great god made flesh and come to earth in human form-- knows of the dishonest plot that Shakuni and Duryodhara have hatched--indeed, Krishna knows everything.  Yet he enjoins Bhishma to let it happen just as the evil ones plan.  “Whatever you know or hear, you must not stop” the game, Krishna warns Bhishma.  Bhishma is dismayed and full of fear at the Lord’s advice.  Bhishma fears the destruction of “the way of truth,” of dharma.  Krishna counters with the question:  “If your race had to be destroyed to save dharma, would you sacrifice your race?”  Bhishma admits that this very question constantly troubles him. 

14.  THE GAMBLING MATCH
All the principal characters assemble for the great gambling match. Yudhishthira is surprised by Duryodhara’s deception: it is his uncle Shakuni he must play, but Yudhishthira will not withdraw: he cannot, once he is challenged.  The game begins slowly but heats up as it progresses, the stakes getting higher and higher, and Yudhishthira constantly losing more and more, punctuated by Shakuni’s repeated, gloating: “I have won!”  When Yudhishthira seems to have lost everything, including his kingdom and the freedom of himself and his brothers, he wagers Draupadi, their wife.  

Ultimately, Yudhishthira loses everything in the dishonest game thrown against Shakuni.  The evil Kaurava brother, Duhshasana, goes to declare her fate to Draupadi.  Draupadi contests Yudhishthira’s right to wager her, after he has lost himself; then asks for time to dress, since she has on only a robe stained with her menstrual blood.  But Duhshasana won’t respect her condition, drags her roughly from her chambers into the court room, publicly humiliating her.  Draupadi berates the company, especially Bhishma and Drona, the powerful elders:  “You see my shame and you do nothing.”  Of course Bhishma has promised Krishna he will not intervene, and says only that he is “troubled.”  Argument ensues, Gandhari maintaining that Draupadi has indeed been lost.  Karna, Duhshasana, and the other Kauravas taunt her, telling her to choose a new husband from among them;  Duyrodhara presents himself as her “new man” and asks her to admire his thigh.  Deeply humiliated, Draupadi curses the two elder Kauravas, promising them “a savage death.”  A jackel cries, an ominous sigh. 

Dhratarashtra comes forward and offers to grant Draupadi a favor.  She asks him to free Yudhishthira, which he grants.  But the king asks her to ask another favor, and Draupadi now asks for the freedom of her other husbands, the rest of the Pandava brothers.  This too Dhratarashtra grants, but enjoins her to ask something for herself.  Draupadi refuses, saying “greed devours all beings.”  Citing dharma, Draupadi says: “I refuse greed.”  At this, Dhratarashtra frees Draupadi as well. 

As the Pandavas leave, Duyrodhara entreats his father not to let them go free, for he predicts “they will destroy us all.”  Dhratarashtra agrees to call them back and challenge Yudhishthira to one more wager: the entire Kaurava kingdom against 13 years exile.  Again Yudhishthira loses to Shakuni, and the Pandavas and their wife Draupadi prepare to go into exile.  But in parting, Bhima vows to avenge the public humiliation of Draupadi one day by  drinking Duhshasana’s blood and breaking Duroyodhana’s thigh.   Arjuna vows that he will kill Karna, and Karna vows the same:  “One of us will die.”

Vyasa serves as Dhratarashtra’s eyes, describing the sorrowful scene of the Pandavas going into exile in the wilderness and foreseeing the destruction of the great war that will be the consequence of this day’s crisis.

15. THE PERIOD OF EXILE BEGINS
In the beginning of the exile, we find the Pandavas by a pool in the wilderness.  Draupadi speaks of her shame and berates her husband Yudhishthira.  She respects him greatly but she does understand why he doesn’t act:  “Where is your will?”  Draupadi enjoins Yudhishthira to “Rise” and take up weapons against the evil Kauravas.  Bhima joins her in telling Yudhishthira to “Rise!”  But Yudhishthira refuses; he knows now that he is enacting the will of dharma and cannot escape the operations of fate.

Meanwhile Duryodhara is not satisfied, he cannot sleep, and he is haunted by dreams of the Pandavas.  He knows that “exile strengthens them,” that power is brief and his death will be the consequence.  Anguished, unable to rest, Duryodhara determines that he will lead a “hunt.” 

Much happens and many adventures occur during the 13 years of the Pandavas’ banishment.
The film presents several notable incidents most relevant to the great Battle of Kurukshetra.

16.  GHATOTACHA
The superhuman, wild, valient, powerful, and devoted son of BHIMA (a Pandava)--is conceived during the Pandavas’ exile in the wilds.  The human-eating monster HIDIMB smells the human Pandavas camped in his region one evening, and sends his sister HIDIMBA to kill them for dinner.  However, Hidimba falls in love with Bhima when she stalks him, reveals herself in beautiful female form, and asks Bhima to marry her.  Bhima calls Hidimba “beautiful as the Night” but refuses, saying he already has a wife.  Hidimba protests that Draupadi lies with another, but Bhima explains the situation.  They are interrupted by the roars of the monstrous brother.  Bhima, the powerful, declares that he has no fear of Hidimb.  They fight, and ultimately Hidimba helps Bhima destroy her monstrous brother Hidimb by lifting him off the Earth, the source of his power.  Now Bhima will not refuse Hidimba and promises to stay with her until he gives her a son--she carries him away.  Enormous, “red-eyed” superhuman  Ghatotacha is result of the union of Bhima and Hidimba.   When Bhima must return and the Pandavas part,  Ghatotacha says he cannot stay with his father, for he lives in another world with his mother.  However, Ghatotacha promises his father that if ever Bhima needs his aid, Ghatotacha will come to him to carry out his wishes. 

17.  THE ‘HUNT”
The Kauravas come upon the Pandavas in the wilderness.  Duyrodhara is incensed to learn that Arjuna is not there.  Yudhishthira explains that Arjuna has gone on a journey alone.  But before Duryodhara can act, VYASA intervenes:  “No crime shall corrupt this poem,” declares the Mahabharata’s composer.  He advises Yudhishthira and the Pandavas to profit from their period of exile, especially by listening to the people’s stories.  And Vyasa sends the Kauravas back to the city.

18.  THE MOTHERS
Gandhari and Kunti have a conversation, during which Kunti demands that Gandhari uncover her eyes and “see” clearly what is happening.  Gandhari’s sons (Kauravas) have launched a “hunt” against Kunti’s (the Pandavas).  Gandhari refuses to tear off her veil--”To each his darkness.”  Kunti challenges Gandhari to have the “courage to see things as they are”: that she is blindedby the fact that Kunti’s son Yudhishthira was born before Gandhari’s.  Gandhari rejoins that Kunti has children who are united and strong, while she has great fear for her own Duryodhara, “a blind man’s son who lives blindly.”

19.  QUESTS FOR DIVINE WEAPONS
Duryodhara is fearful and unsettled about Arjuna’s journey; he believes, and rightly, that Arjuna has gone seeking sacred weapons to aid him in the great way to come.  Karna advises Duryodhara to “evoke” Arjuna and see what he is doing.  Duryodhara performs the appropriate ritual of fire, which sparks a magical fire trail to a vision of Arjuna.  They watch as Arjuna confronts a stranger in the mountains over a fallen boar, each claiming the boar as his own.  When Arjuna lets arrows fly, they are caught harmless by the mysterious stranger, who taunts Arjuna: “You can’t touch me!  I master you!”  With a touch, the stranger blocks Arjuna’s lungs and threatens to draw out his life.  Then the stranger reveals his true identity:  he is God Shiva, the Destroyer.  Arjuna asks Shiva’s forgiveness, telling the God it was he that Arjuna has been seeking.  Shiva says he is pleased with Arjuna and grants him a boon.  Arjuna asks for and receives the sacred and deadly weapon Pashupata so that neither man or god could prevail over him.  Yet Shiva warns him of Pashupata’s powers: Arjuna will not be able to dispose of the weapon or give it back, nor recall the horrible weapon once he wields it.  It has the power to destroy the world. 

KARNA, too, will seek a divine weapon.  In the film version, Karna gains from Bhishma a mantra enabling him to call the deadly Shakti.  But he does so under false pretenses.  It seems that by now Karna has guessed his true origins, but he protests to Bhishma that he knows he is not a kshatriya, (the warrior caste), whom the brahmin-caste Bhishma professes to hate.  Because Karna has served Bhishma faithfully, Bhishma grants him a boon, and Karna asks for the magic formula, or mantra, to call Shakti.  Bhishma, tired, rests his head on Karna’s knee and falls asleep.  As he sleeps, a torturous insect bores a hole through Karna’s leg, but Karna doesn’t move or cry out, not wanting to disturn Bhishma.  Bhishma awakes and learns what happened--and he is enraged:  “You tricked me!  Only a Kshatriya could display such courage!”  Bhishma curses Karna:  while Bhishma can’t recall the favor he has granted, his curse is that Karna will forget the secret words when he needs them most “and that will be the moment of your death.”  

Background: In another version, which the film draws on, Karna (raised under the name Radheya) comes by the gift of a mantra to call to his aid a divine and deadly weapon, but it is another master--not Bhishma--who grants the boon.  Both the stories emphasize that Karna did so through deceiving a master teacher of war skills  regarding his true caste.  The teacher in turn lays a curse upon Karna, that someday when he finds himself in real danger, Karna will forget the mantra and be unable to call the divine weapon when he needs it most.  However Karna has another divine weapon at his disposal as well, one which he intends for Arjuna.  Another background story tells that Karna comes upon the war god Indra disguised as a poor Brahmin caste beggar.  It is necessary to give alms in such cases, though Karna has been warned not to give up the gold earrings and raiment that incarnate his divine father.  These, of course, are exactly what the beggar asks for, and Karna cuts the gold earrings from his ear to give the disguised Indra, who gives Karna in return the deadly Shakti weapon.  Shakti is charmed to unfailingly kill whomever it is aimed at, but can only be used once, after which it will fly back to the god Indra.

20.  THE END OF EXILE AND THE BEGINNING OF WAR
Our film narrator Vyasa and the boy prepare us for great battle of Kurkshetra and the climax of the Mahabharata.  Vyasa foretells the dire future, which will inaugurate “the Age of Pali, a black time” of barbaric kings, terrible battles, widespread destruction and misery, and “hard men who live tiny lives.” The Pandavas’ exile faithfully completed, they return to court to claim their share of the kingdom.

Krishna, once again sleeping, is awakened by Duryodhara and Arjuna, both come to ask Krishna’s aid in the great war that is coming. Krishna says he cannot take sides.  KRISHNA, in his human life, is ostensibly leader of the Vrishnis, a clan whose lands neighbor the Kaurava kingdom;  he has been friends to both the Kauravas and Pandavas, and is the especially beloved friend of ARJUNA. Duryodhara argues that he was there first and thus deserves Krishna’s aid, but Krishna argues that his eyes fell first on Arjuna and so will get first choice of the offer Krishna will make.  Krishna offers Arjuna a choice of the aid of either Krishna himself or Krishna’s entire army. Arjuna chooses Krishna himself (a better deal it will turn out).  So Duryodhana receives the aid of  Krishna’s entire army--and the Kaurava forces will significantly outnumber that of the Pandavas.  Krishna tells Duryodhara he will not engage in the fight: only serve as Arjuna’s charioteer in the epic battle.

21. THE FINAL OFFER OF PEACE
At the end of the 13 years’ banishment, the Pandavas have carried out the terms of the lost wager, but when they return but Duroyodhana refuses to restore the kingdom. Bhishma and Drona inform Dhratarashtra that Duryodhara prepares for war, with 11 armies at his command against the Pandavas’ 7 armies.  They make clear that happiness has until now characterized the kingdom in peace time.  Duryodhara declares his resolve that the kingdom never be divided with the Pandavas, through they have a rightful claim: “I won’t share.  I give nothing.” 

 When Krishna is consulted, he declares that Dharatarashtra must give the Pandavas what is rightfully theirs.  Duryodhara challenges the god Krishna’s advice.  Though Krishna tells him that to scorn his advice is to invite disaster, that in the coming war all will die and there will be no winners, Duryodhara declares, “I will never bow down.”  Finally Krishna, as the Pandavas’ emissary, makes a final bid for peace. Yudhishthira, by nature good and pacifist, and loath to engage in war, especially a fratricidal war, offers to settle for a mere 5 villages in the kingdom.  Still, Duroyodhana refuses.  Krishna bitterly promises, “You will have your glorious death.  We’ll see a splendid massacre.” 

Vyasa explains to the boy who Krishna really is.  As we know, Krishna is in reality the avatar of the god VISHNU--the god having taken human form on earth to protect the good, destroy evil doers, and uphold dharma, the law of righteousness.  Through Duryodhana knows Krishna’s godly identity, he nevertheless refuses the final offer of peace and thus defies god Vishnu himself.  Blind Dhratarashtra asks the god to “lighten my eyes for a moment so I can see you.”  Krishna grants the blind king’s request, and perhaps Dhratarashtra “sees” the truth at last (?).  The moment passes for Dhratarashtra: “Darkness covers me again.”   He tells Krishna, “I did what I could.”  Krishna responds, “So did I.”

[Videotape PART #2]

22.  NIGHT BEFORE THE BATTLE
Krishna goes to Kunti and asks her, “What shall I tell your sons?”  Kunti shows great wisdom and respect for the the law of dharma in her responses.  She asks Krishna to tell Yudhishthira that “a bad king is like a contagion; he perverts his age”; that he should “Awake and arise...for he’s not alone” but “the center” of all.  Essentially he must resist his resistance to this war now which must come, “forge a heart of iron,” be courageous, for “if you live with the fear of death, why are you given life?”

Krishna also interviews Karna in his confusion and bitterness.  Krishna knows that Karna is the son of Kunti and his “enemies are your brothers.”  When Karna asks if the Pandavas know, Krishna says no.  Were he to tell the Pandavas, they would be at Karna’s door to claim their brother joyously and shower him with gifts.  Karna expresses his bitterness at Kunti’s abandonment, has given his word to kill Arjuna, and asks Krishna not to “reveal my birth” to the Pandava brothers.   Krishna informs him that the “victory of the Pandavas is assured.  The Kauravas will die.”  Karna, however, will follow his fate.

23.  ARJUNA HESITATES AND LORD KRISHNA’S SONG (BHAGAVAD GITA)
The armies mass for battle and the wardrums pound.  Vyasa, the boy, Gandhari, and Dhratarashtra position themselves on a hilltop overlooking the battle ground, and Vyasa relates for the “blind” what transpires below.  Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna go out in the middle of the battlefield, between two armies preparing to destroy themselves, and there Arjuna and Krishna stop and begin a long dialogue.  Arjuna argues that he can’t do this, shed the blood of his family.  Krishna berates him for his “mad and shameful weakness.”  Arjuna asks Krishna to teach him what to do, what is right.  Krishna’s words are many and cannot be summarized:  this is the film’s gloss of the Bhagavad Gita.  We are told that Krishna points out to Arjuna, “victory and defeat are the same,” “seek detachment, forget desire,” “fight without desire.”  Against Arjuna’s confusion, Krishna enjoins him, “Don’t withdraw.  In the heart of action, detach yourself “ and do what must be done according to dharma, for “another intelligence beyond the mind leads” here.  “Men are born into illusion,” but Krishna will show Arjuna “the whole of truth,” the “ancient yoga of wisdom and the mysteries of action and inaction” so that his confusion will clear and he will act rightly.   Arjuna is shown the ineffable--Krishna’s “universal form”--and asks, “Tell me who you are....I’m afraid.”  “Krishna responds, “I am all that you think and say...all hangs on me.”  Krishna embodies and unifies all the apparent contradictions of the world, and Arjuna is given a glimpse of the true nature of the divine cosmos.  Krishna tells Arjuna he is “invincible.  Have no fear, rise up...because I love you.  You can dominate your indominable spirit.  Act as you must act.”  And Arjuna finally rises: “Illusion, error, doubt destroyed.”  And Arjuna does indeed act on Krishna’s word.  The battle commences.

24.  THE BATTLE OF KURUKSHEKTRA BEGINS
Vyasa continues his narration, describing the early events of the battle to those on the hilltop.  Bhishma, “great in war, “no one can kill.”  At the end of the first day of battle, night falls and things have not gone well for the Kaurava side.  Duryodhara confronts Bhishma, accusing him of believing he fights on the wrong side, though fate has decreed it.  “You have failed me,” Duryodhara declares and demands that Bhishma help him to victory.  Bhishma tells him tomorrow will be Bhishma’s greatest battle and asks to be left alone.

Bhishma is then visited by AMBA, the young woman introduced early in the film who has been rejected and offended by Bhishma and have vowed to have her revenge. Bhishma has expected her, saying, “I wait for you every night.”   Over the years, we learn, Amba has continued to live consumed by her desire to get revenge on Bhisma.  A long and complicated story, Amba tells of 12 years of ascetic sacrifice waiting for the voice of the god to grant her wish, and finally Shiva is pleased with her devotion and the God’s voice comes to her.  Amba recites the God’s instruction: she built her own funeral pyre and burned herself alive:  “I’m dead, Bhishma” But her desire for revenge is not.  In fact, Amba tells Bhishma she has been reborn a man and will fight him on the battleground.  When he asks, Amba tells Bhisma, “My name now is Shikhandi.”

Background:  In another version, Shiva tells Amba she’ll be reborn in her next life as a young man SHIKHANDI, who will indeed get the opportunity to kill Bhisma in battle.  To hasten that moment, Amba builds a pyre, lays herself upon the heaping flames, and burns herself alive, voicing her determination to die immediately that she may sooner be reborn and further the progress of her revenge.

25.  THE EVENING AFTER THE  NINTH DAY OF BATTLE
Yudhishthira, Arjuna, and Krishna come to Bhishma after nine days of battle to ask, “How are we to defeat you?”  Bhishma: “You want me to die?”  Yudhishthira explains that it is fated that the battle cannot end until after Bhishma dies, so they seek his help in bringing an end to the horror.  So in another  irony of the laws of dharma, fate, and karma, Bhishma must tell his kinsmen how he can be defeated:  Find the youth Shikhandi.  “I can’t fight with Shikhandi before me.”  Bhishma will tell them no more, but the truth is that he knows Shikhandi is truly a woman, Amba, and he cannot raise his hand against a woman.

26.  APPEALS TO KARNA
The next day Bhishma is finally wounded: Shikhandi is brought before him, and when he doesn’t attack, Arjuna, counseled by Krishna, has the opportunity to pierce Bhishma with the arrow that Krishna guides.  Wounded, Bhishma, knowing who Karna is, commands Karna to join the Pandavas: “You betray your nature.” 

That night Kunti visits Karna, coming, she says, to take him back to reunite with Arjuna, join the Pandavas--”towards the light.”  Karna is filled with rage, hate, and passion for victory; he nurses his bitterness again Kunti, the mother who rejected him, worse that “my cruelest enemy.”  Kunti acknowledges her son and asks his pardon.  Yet as she tries to lead him toward the Pandava camp, Karna refuses to go.  However, he promises that he will kill none of her sons but Arjuna--”one of us must die”--so that after the battle, she will still have 5 sons.

27.  GHATOTACHA SAVES ARJUNA
A night attack is launched, which Vyasa describes to blind Dhratarashtra on the hilltop.  Krishna keeps Arjuna from confronting Karna, who has the terrible divine weapon Shakti at his disposal which cannot fail to kill whomever it is aimed at.  Instead, Krishna advises that now is the time for a “trick of the night”--time to call Bhima’s superhuman son Ghototacha. And the terrifying son comes at Bhima’s call: “Stop Karna!” he is instructed, “Bhima is in danger and you are your family’s last defense.”  Vyasa describes the magnificent and otherworldly Ghatotacha--terrible laughter taunts his Kaurava enemies, for ”night increases my power!”  Ghatotacha cannot be stopped by anyone and is decimating the Kaurava forces.  Duyodhara goes to Karna and commands him to use Shakti now against Bhima’s superhuman son.  Karna would not, for he reserves the weapon for Arjuna, but in the end he has not choice for nothing else can stop Ghatotacha.  Bhima and Hidimbe’s son is slain and their grief is great. 

Yet Krishna is found celebrating and rejoicing at Ghatotacha’s death.  Krishna explains that yes, he knew Karna would kill Ghatotacha, but it had to be.   Without Shakti--which can only be used once then flies back to Indra--Karna is vulnerable and can be killed by Arjuna.  Thus, Ghatotacha has saved Årjuna’s life and advanced the work of dharma.  Krishna reminds them that he was born to destroy the destroyers and that he became Arjuna’s friend out of love for the world.

28.  THE MESSAGE OF THE DEATHLESS BOY
Amid the death and devastation, Yudhishthira seeks out Bhishma on his death bed, asking how he can go on.  Bhishma tells him  the message of the Deathless Boy: “death doesn’t exist.”  “What does it mean?” Yudhishthira asks.  The Deathless Boy is there to explain.  Poets glorify death, but it is “negligence” and ‘ignorance.”  In fact, “death is powerless against eternity.”  “When the body is destroyed, death is destroyed.  “The wise man soars when he contemplates infinity.”  “When dharma is protected, it protects.  When dharma is destroyed, it destroys.”  Bhishma tells Yudhishthira, “Sometimes the only way to protect dharma is to forget it.”

29.  THE BATTLE  REACHES ITS CLIMACTIC END
In ensuing battle, Karna once has Yudhishthira at his mercy.  But true to his vow to Kunti, Karna tells Yudhishthira that he cannot kill him because of his promise.

Another vow is also fated to come to fruition.  Bhima is wounded, his “eyes full of blood,” and falls.  There the evil Kaurava brother Duhshasana finds him and is poised to kill Bhima, as Vyasa’s boy watches in horror.  Yet Bhima’s great strength gives him the advantage, and he soon has Duhshasana at his mercy.  Reminding him of the vow made to avenge Draupadi’s humilitation, Bhima rips open Duhshasana’s chest and drinks his blood, savagely declaring its taste “more delicious than my mother’s milk.”  Then Bhima calls Draupadi to the scene, invites her to wash her hair in Duhshasana’s blood, which she does with mingled horror and delight it seems.  Bhima dances in celebration, remarks, “We weren’t born to be happy.  Farewell.”

The great heroic confrontation between Arjuna and Karna comes at last.  Karna and his charioteer advance to meet Arjuna and Krishna.  But the wheel of Karna’s chariot becomes caught.  Krishna tells Karna that the wheel is caught because “the Earth has hold and will not let go.”  Krishna urges Arjuna, “Strike! Don’t wait!”  Karna protests that striking him in this situation is contrary to the rules of honor.  Krishna is not moved: “Do not speak of honor now,” and reminds Karna of all his own transgressions against honor.  Karna’s charioteer exclaims, “Don’t let yourself be killed like a driver’s son!”  His allies urge him to use the secret mantra now, for his life depends upon it.  But the master’s curse is upon Karna:  when he needs the sacred weapon most, he is fated to forget the words of the sacred formula.  Karna, child of the Sun god, watches as the Sun moves behind the clouds: “Why has the sun fled?”  There is no help for Karna now.  Krishna kneels over Karna and seems to bless him, then returns to Arjuna.  “All signs are against him.  Take his life.”  Arjuna does, killing Karna with an arrow. 

            Karma and fate combine to bring other predicted resolutions.  The Kauravas are defeated.  Duryodhara has fled the battlefield with his club and used magical ritual to secure himself behind ice that can’t be broken.  The Pandavas seeking him, hear his chant and Krishna points him out.  Yudhishthira calls Duryodhara to come out and face them.  Duryodhara refuses: “I leave you the earth clothed in corpses.”  In another ironic twist, Yudhisthira challenges Duryodhara to a wager, the prize all the lands of the Kurus now at the victorious Pandavas’ disposal.  Duryodhara emerges with his club, but it is powerful Bhima who confronts him.  At a vulnerable moment, Krishna tells Bhima to hit Duryodhara on the legs, to crush his thighs.  Bhima protests that that’s dirty fighting--against the rules of honorable warfare.  Krishna:  “Do it!”  And Bhima does.  Duryodhara protests in his mortal pain that the rules have been shamefully broken.  Krishna responds: “Don’t waste words on him.  No good man is entirely good.  No bad man is entirely bad.  I take no pleasure in your pain, but your defeat is a joy.”   Duryodhara thus dies as Bhima had vowed when he shamefully flounted his thigh at the humiliated Draupadi earlier: her curses have done their work and Bhima promises to avenge her honor have been fulfilled.  Duryodhara is left, and he dies.

30.  THE AFTERMATH

The battlefield is strewn with its carnage, and the surviving principal characters walk through the battlefield.  Kunti searches out her dead son Karna to mourn him.  When Arjuna asks her why, she finally explains that Karna is the Pandavas’ eldest brother.  Arjuna turns to Krishna in dismay, “Krishna, you knew it?”  Krishna says yes, but he has respected his promise not to tell.  Yudhishthira is in despair and declares that he will “go to the woods.”  But Bhishma reminds him he cannot escape his duty:  “Don’t go....You’re the most upright of men.”  Dhratarashtra remarks that the “world is savage.  How can one understand it?....How can one escape?”  “You’re part of it,” Bhishma responds, still on his deathbed.  He has had enough to life, however, asks Arjuna for water, drinks, and then wills himself to die.  Yudhishthira follows dharma, and moves to return to the city with Dhratarashtra to begin his rule.  Gandhari  has lost all her sons, and in her grief calls Krishna to account for breaking his promise not to fight against the Kauravas.  Gandhari curses Krishna.  Krishna accedes: “Yes, Gandhari, what you say is true,” but even if Gandhari can’t see it, “the light has been saved.”

All leave except Krishna and the boy.  Krishna predicts that he’ll die like the others, 36 years later.  “I’ll go into the forest and die where I drop from fatigue.  A hunter will mistake my feet for a deer” and shoot Krishna.  The boy wishes to question Krishna, the god-made-flesh.  He asks why Krishna used all those “tricks and bad directions” and what he said to Arjuna at the beginning of the great battle.  Krishna replies enigmatically: “I showed Arjuna the path of freedom, right, and truth.  I never say anything twice.”  Krishna then lays down and will speak no more.