Bibliography: Krishna Dharma, Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time, Dharma's Mahabharata
Birth of the Kuru Elders:
Ambikā= Lost her husband, but none of her beauty. Black eyes, bow-like eyebrows, flawless skin and jet-black hair. Vicitravīrya was her husband, who never left her side. The story begins with her preparations to meet another man.
*Satyavatī= the "queen mother". She wants her to marry again because after years and years with her husband, Ambika still never had a child. Without an heir to the throne, the previous king was guilty of crime. He died in an untimely manner.
*Ambika had a co-wife, and the queen mother urged them both to stay and fulfill their husbands duty of producing an heir. Bhisma= kings brother. If a king died, the queen could fulfill her duties with the kings eldest brother. Ambika saw the process not as betraying, but as honoring to her husband.
*A knock came to Ambika's door, and in came a shockingly dirty and unappealing man. Ambika thought it could surely not be Bhisma, and the queen mother blamed herself.
*Santanu= emperor of the world. In a flashback, the queen mother remembers seeing him hunt in a nearby forest. He was seduced by her fragrance. He heard she was unmarried, asked her father for permission and eventually took her hand in marriage.
*Back now, the queen mother says Bhisma's name and her responded, confirming his identity. She implores him to seek this responsibility for his own virtue, rather than for the interests of his parents. We find out the previous king died from sudden illness.
*Because the young queen turns pale when the time comes and they are in the bedchamber, a sage declares that the first born child will be pale. He will also be called "Pandu" or the pale one. This made the young queen very anxious.
*The other child, who was actually born first, was named Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He was blind and this disqualified him from being the true heir.
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Illustration of Mahabharata Characters
Mahabharata Illustration
Birth of the Kuru Elders:
Ambikā= Lost her husband, but none of her beauty. Black eyes, bow-like eyebrows, flawless skin and jet-black hair. Vicitravīrya was her husband, who never left her side. The story begins with her preparations to meet another man.
*Satyavatī= the "queen mother". She wants her to marry again because after years and years with her husband, Ambika still never had a child. Without an heir to the throne, the previous king was guilty of crime. He died in an untimely manner.
*Ambika had a co-wife, and the queen mother urged them both to stay and fulfill their husbands duty of producing an heir. Bhisma= kings brother. If a king died, the queen could fulfill her duties with the kings eldest brother. Ambika saw the process not as betraying, but as honoring to her husband.
*A knock came to Ambika's door, and in came a shockingly dirty and unappealing man. Ambika thought it could surely not be Bhisma, and the queen mother blamed herself.
*Santanu= emperor of the world. In a flashback, the queen mother remembers seeing him hunt in a nearby forest. He was seduced by her fragrance. He heard she was unmarried, asked her father for permission and eventually took her hand in marriage.
*Back now, the queen mother says Bhisma's name and her responded, confirming his identity. She implores him to seek this responsibility for his own virtue, rather than for the interests of his parents. We find out the previous king died from sudden illness.
*Because the young queen turns pale when the time comes and they are in the bedchamber, a sage declares that the first born child will be pale. He will also be called "Pandu" or the pale one. This made the young queen very anxious.
*The other child, who was actually born first, was named Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He was blind and this disqualified him from being the true heir.
Illustration of Mahabharata Characters
Mahabharata Illustration
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