Reading the Mahabharata by the Tungabhadra - Day 13#

It begins.

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Struck by doubt, Kounteya Dhananjeya casts away his bows and arrows, refusing to strike down his relatives.

His charioteer, the Lord of the Gopis, Krishna Achyuta, then tells him about Dharma and reveals that in assuming that it is his hand in the act of killing, Arjuna is making a gross overestimation of his importance. He then expounds the Song Divine, the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna.

As Yudhishtira bows down to his elders before declaring that he will not hold back against them, it begins.

As Bhimasena pummels through the Kalingas, showing no quarter as he fights side by side Dhrishtadyumna, it begins.

As Bhishma’s arrows rain down on the Pandavas, laying waste to their confidence, it begins.

Thus it begins, as it always does. Whenever Dharma falls, whenever people stray from the way of truth, Krishna vows to descend upon the world, and it thus begins.

As the age slowly draws to a close, destruction looms overhead. And Kali himself is watching through the eyes of the Kouravas.

Today, I went to read the Mahabharata by the Tungabhadra, and I did. I read the Bhagavad Gita Parva, and read the events of the first two days unfold.