Yudhisthira is the eldest son of the exiled King Pandu and his first wife Kunti. Born in a forest, life is idyllic, until one day when Pandu and his second wife Madri suddenly pass away. Orphaned at a young age, Yudhisthira and his four brothers go back to Hastinapur with their mother, hoping for some…
Rukmini, the princess of Vidarbha is a charismatic woman. Intelligent, inquisitive and strong-willed, she knows how to question the wrong and do the right. When her arrogant brother Rukma and father, the weak King Bhishmaka arrange her marriage with Chedi prince Shishupal, under the pressure of tyrant Jarasandha, Rukmini puts her foot down. She decides…
What if I tell you that Draupadi never insulted Duryodhana as Andha Ka Putra Andha in the canonical Sanskrit text of Vyasa’s Mahabharata, contrary to what we see in popular depictions? To understand, let’s go back a little in time. The year is 1989. On a hot, humid Sunday morning on the 9th of July,…
In the past few years that I have been reading Mahabharata, I have come across various modern retellings of the epic. Some are plot-based, some character-centric. Some are heart-touching but atrociously biased, while others are lucid and illustrated with an almost neutral pen. And Now Let Me Sleep by P.K. Balakrishnan is easily one of…