Peter's India Blog

In the old ancient India, there was a mischievous, popular king named Uparichara. Uparichara was born into a life of enormous wealth and privileges: he didn't have siblings and was destined to become the king of Chedi. Uparichara didn't care about his future because he was destined to the crown, so he lived a life of sex, binge drinking, smoking medicinal drugs for recreation, and all sorts of indulgence until the age of 33. Another reason why he was so much into lust and indulgence was because of stress of being an important public figure. As a prince, he was expected to appear moral and exemplary to his people. Uparichara desperately wanted to become the king, but his father lived a long life: Uparichara's 88-year-old father who was his predecessor didn't want to turn over the crown to his son because he believed he failed his son's upbringing and moral character education.  One night in his dream, Uparichara saw frowned-faced gods and angels. Uparichara ask...

I really liked Mahabharata reading. It was obviously different from Ramayana.I thought the birth story of Vyasa was so interesting. Uparichara, who was the king of Chedi, gave birth to Vyasa in a very unusual and mythical way: "One day in spring, as he was flying through the sky, his semen fell into a river. It was swallowed by a female fish with the result that ten months after, when the fish was caught by a fisherman, two children — a boy and a girl — came forth." Honestly, this was the most fascinating birth story I've ever read. It made me wonder if it was Uparichara's mistake to drop his semen into the river. Vyasa might have been the king's unintended spill. The best thing that I liked about Mahabharata was its vivid description of the scenes, characters, and backgrounds. The character such as Ganga in human form (Goddess Ganga) was particularly detailed: "Suddenly there appeared before him a maiden of surpassing beauty. She was Ganga in human for...