Mahabharata Vol. 6 (Penguin Translated Texts) Read Online Free

summon Arjuna for help on such occasions? No, she does
     not. She summons Bhima. Therefore, did Arjuna exist at all? Or were there simply two
     original Pandava brothers—one powerful and strong, and the other weak and
     useless in physical terms. Incidentally, the eighteen-parva classification is
     clearly something that was done much later. The 100-parva classification seems to be
     older.
    The Mahabharata is much more real than
     the Ramayana. And, therefore, much more fascinating. Every conceivable human emotion
     figures in it, which is the reason why it is possible to identify with it even
     today. The text itself states that what is not found in the Mahabharata, will not be
     found anywhere else. Unlike the Ramayana, India is littered with real places that
     have identifications with the Mahabharata. (Ayodhya or Lanka or Chitrakuta are
     identifications that are less certain.) Kurukshetra, Hastinapura, Indraprastha,
     Karnal, Mathura, Dvaraka, Gurgaon, Girivraja are real places: the list is endless.
     In all kinds of unlikely places, one comes across temples erected by the Pandavas
     when they were exiled to the forest. In some of these places, archaeological
     excavations have substantiated the stories. The war for regional supremacy in the
     Ganga–Yamuna belt is also a plausible one. The Vrishnis and theShurasenas (the Yadavas) are isolated, they have no clear
     alliance (before the Pandavas) with the powerful Kurus. There is the powerful
     Magadha kingdom under Jarasandha and Jarasandha had made life difficult for the
     Yadavas. He chased them away from Mathura to Dvaraka. Shishupala of the Chedi
     kingdom doesn’t like Krishna and the Yadavas either. Through Kunti,
     Krishna has a matrimonial alliance with the Pandavas. Through Subhadra, the Yadavas
     have another matrimonial alliance with the Pandavas. Through another matrimonial
     alliance, the Pandavas obtain Drupada of Panchala as an ally. In the course of the
     royal sacrifice, Shishupala and Jarasandha are eliminated. Finally, there is yet
     another matrimonial alliance with Virata of the Matsya kingdom, through Abhimanyu.
     When the two sides face each other on the field of battle, they are more than evenly
     matched. Other than the Yadavas, the Pandavas have Panchala, Kashi, Magadha, Matsya
     and Chedi on their side. The Kouravas have Pragjyotisha, Anga, Kekaya, Sindhu,
     Avanti, Gandhara, Shalva, Bahlika and Kamboja as allies. At the end of the war, all
     these kings are slain and the entire geographical expanse comes under the control of
     the Pandavas and the Yadavas. Only Kripacharya, Ashvatthama and Kritavarma survive
     on the Kourava side.
    Reading the Mahabharata, one forms the
     impression that it is based on some real incidents. That does not mean that a war on
     the scale that is described took place. Or that miraculous weapons and chariots were
     the norm. But there is such a lot of trivia, unconnected with the main story, that
     their inclusion seems to serve no purpose unless they were true depictions. For
     instance, what does the physical description of Kripa’s sister and
     Drona’s wife, Kripi, have to do with the main story? It is also more real
     than the Ramayana because nothing, especially the treatment of human emotions and
     behaviour, exists in black and white. Everything is in shades of grey. The Uttara
     Kanda of the Ramayana is believed to have been a later interpolation. If one
     excludes the Uttara Kanda, we generally know what is good. We know who is good. We
     know what is bad. We know who is bad. The Ramayana is like a clichéd
     Bollywood film. This is never the case with the Mahabharata. However, a
     qualification is necessary. Most of us are aware of the Mahabharata story because we
     have read someversion or the other, typically an abridged one.
     Every abridged version simplifies and condenses, distills out the core story. And in
     doing that, it tends to paint things in black and white, fitting everything into