Reading the Mahabharata by the Tungabhadra - Day 6#
Wherever I sit down in Hampi, I can’t help but ask myself if once, a long time ago, Krishnadevaraya walked past this very spot. I wonder if I have walked along paths he liked to walk through, I wonder if he could appreciate the poetry of sitting under a tree to read the Mahabharata.
The Mahabharata is daunting in scope. I sat under this tree and read of the lament of Damayanti as her husband Nala forsook her in the woods. I read how Bhima scolded Yudhishtira for being weak willed at the dice game. And I cheered as Arjuna fought the Trymbaka Karpadin himself, the Great Shiva, to prove his worth.
I wonder if Krishnadevaraya read these same scenes somewhere in Hampi. Today I went to read the Mahabharata by the Tungabhadra, and I did. My only neighbours were birds hungry for the snacks my aunt packed for me, and perhaps the ghost of Krishnadevaraya.