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Mystical Stories from the Mahabharata: Twenty Timeless Lessons in Wisdom and Virtue
Mystic Stories from the Mahabharata has distilled from India's greatest spiritual epic a collection of gripping stories filled with adventure, romance, intrigue and timeless wisdom.
264 pages, Hardcover
First published July 3, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 8, 2021
I read or was told some stories from the Mahabharata when I was very young, and I thought they were interesting. So here I am with this book.
This book contains 20 tales in which the main characters, according to the author, "acted in ways that are outstandingly exemplary and inspirational". If I'd forgotten that the title has the words "Twenty Timeless Lessons in Wisdom and Virtue", this particular sentence should've been enough warning to me that perhaps I would not enjoy this book. Perhaps I shouldn't be applying Western's modern view to ancient stories, but I really wish that the stories could be retold without pushing so much virtue and wisdom. The words used are also a bit unusual, which makes the reading not at all casual or enjoyable.
The introduction contains a brief summary of the Mahabharata, which packs a lot of information into very few, confusing pages. It seems like Yudhishthira was really not fit to be king. He agreed to gamble again after losing everything in his previous gambling activity. This was after his brother Arjuna agreed to share his prize, from winning an archery contest, with the rest of his siblings. Yes, the prize was a woman.
For some reason, people always agree to do whatever asked of them without knowing what it is they're being asked to do first. Seems like a recipe for a disaster.
There are some mentions of spaceships, planets, planetary system, outer space. Weird.
Below is my opinion of each story - which is, well, very opinionated.
1. Savitri Saves Her Husband
Savithri seems annoyingly sanctimonious, going on and on about things that mostly have little to do with her husband's death. If this was Greek Mythology, the god would've zapped her and fed her to the hellhounds.
2. Bhishma's Terrible Vow
It started with a harsh punishment for forgetting to look away when a goddess' dress was lifted by the wind. I am not sure why challenging your wife when she is killing babies is considered a bad thing. We also have a mere fisherman who decided that his descendants should be kings and unchallenged by the rightful heir.
3. Amba's Revenge
What?! Although Amba's was misguided by revenge, somehow her determination to kill Bhishma is good? Neither she nor Shikhandi was actually the one who caused his death, so she/Shikhandi didn't really achieve anything. Also, this celebrates victim's mentality where she does not take any responsibility for her actions. She is sad, she blames Bhishma, therefore Bhishma must die. And she killed herself in order to reincarnate to a version who would kill him. I am not sure where the wisdom is. And I feel really, really bad for this Bhishma guy. After a hundred years, he was still paying for the cow incident.
4. King Shivi Tested
In the first story, Shivi keeps cutting his flesh until there was none to cut, because a hawk asked him to. In the second story, killing his own son, cooking him, and almost eating him was considered the highest virtue because a Brahmin asked it of him.
5. Shakuntala Vindicated
Interesting story, but I am not sure what it has anything to do with being truthful as a virtue, as the king lied to the point that the divine force had to intervene. And he got away with it.
6. Guru and Disciple
Some interesting stories, but it seems like sometimes these Gurus (and their wives) are unnecessarily annoying.
7. Chyavana Regains His Youth
A young woman was forced to marry an old guy, because he was being vindictive. She was so loyal to him that she ended up with a young, good looking version of him. The interesting part here is that the chief god was terrified of Chyavana and lost a fight against him.
8. Nala and Damayanti
This is actually an interesting, albeit depressing story, that ended up with a happy ending. I think I started to be able to ignore the lectures about virtues, which made this story what it was, an interesting tale.
9. Rishyashringa the Rainmaker
This tale is about a boy who lived so secluded that he never met a woman, so he was easily seduced.
10. Mudgala Rejects Heaven
Mudgala didn't want to go to heaven, because after heaven you would fall back to earth, almost literally.
11. Devayani's Woes
Some of the women in this book were totally atrocious. In this story, one woman was extremely spiteful when she didn't get her way. The other one was devious. They both manipulated King Yayati, and caused him all sort of trouble.
12. Sunda's and Upasunda's Fall
Two powerful villains were defeated by a beautiful woman.
13. Respecting the Brahmans
It started with a king and a frog. They had sons who disrespected a Brahmin.
14. Draupadi Advises Satyabhama
Barely skimmed this one.
15. The Deadly Dice Game
I skimmed most of the beginning of this story, because Yudhishthira made me want to hurl. This is just a long version of what's summarized in the Introduction. Yudhishthira was less than useless. Bhima was hotheaded. The twins just stood there. Arjuna was the only level-headed one. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do.
16. Agastya Defeats the Demons
Agastya seemed to digest things rather quickly, and for some reason it didn't come out.
17. Bhagiratha and the Ganges
This is a story about 2 sets of siblings. One is one person, the other set has sixty thousand people. It all ended up with the sea, that was dried by Agastya, finally filled up with water again.
18. Krishna Saves the Pandavas
The Pandavas almost got in trouble again because of their evil cousins, but they were saved by Krishna. Maybe I am mistaken, but it seems like Krishna was interrupted during sex by Draupadi, who couldn't do anything without begging for Krishna's help.
19. King Kuvalashva's Glory
Lord Vishnu is stunningly beautiful and extremely powerful.
20. King Somaka's Sacrifice
King Somaka sacrificed his only son to gain 100 sons. Apparently, even though they did achieve their objective, this was frowned upon.
This book contains 20 tales in which the main characters, according to the author, "acted in ways that are outstandingly exemplary and inspirational". If I'd forgotten that the title has the words "Twenty Timeless Lessons in Wisdom and Virtue", this particular sentence should've been enough warning to me that perhaps I would not enjoy this book. Perhaps I shouldn't be applying Western's modern view to ancient stories, but I really wish that the stories could be retold without pushing so much virtue and wisdom. The words used are also a bit unusual, which makes the reading not at all casual or enjoyable.
The introduction contains a brief summary of the Mahabharata, which packs a lot of information into very few, confusing pages. It seems like Yudhishthira was really not fit to be king. He agreed to gamble again after losing everything in his previous gambling activity. This was after his brother Arjuna agreed to share his prize, from winning an archery contest, with the rest of his siblings. Yes, the prize was a woman.
For some reason, people always agree to do whatever asked of them without knowing what it is they're being asked to do first. Seems like a recipe for a disaster.
There are some mentions of spaceships, planets, planetary system, outer space. Weird.
Below is my opinion of each story - which is, well, very opinionated.
1. Savitri Saves Her Husband
Savithri seems annoyingly sanctimonious, going on and on about things that mostly have little to do with her husband's death. If this was Greek Mythology, the god would've zapped her and fed her to the hellhounds.
2. Bhishma's Terrible Vow
It started with a harsh punishment for forgetting to look away when a goddess' dress was lifted by the wind. I am not sure why challenging your wife when she is killing babies is considered a bad thing. We also have a mere fisherman who decided that his descendants should be kings and unchallenged by the rightful heir.
3. Amba's Revenge
What?! Although Amba's was misguided by revenge, somehow her determination to kill Bhishma is good? Neither she nor Shikhandi was actually the one who caused his death, so she/Shikhandi didn't really achieve anything. Also, this celebrates victim's mentality where she does not take any responsibility for her actions. She is sad, she blames Bhishma, therefore Bhishma must die. And she killed herself in order to reincarnate to a version who would kill him. I am not sure where the wisdom is. And I feel really, really bad for this Bhishma guy. After a hundred years, he was still paying for the cow incident.
4. King Shivi Tested
In the first story, Shivi keeps cutting his flesh until there was none to cut, because a hawk asked him to. In the second story, killing his own son, cooking him, and almost eating him was considered the highest virtue because a Brahmin asked it of him.
5. Shakuntala Vindicated
Interesting story, but I am not sure what it has anything to do with being truthful as a virtue, as the king lied to the point that the divine force had to intervene. And he got away with it.
6. Guru and Disciple
Some interesting stories, but it seems like sometimes these Gurus (and their wives) are unnecessarily annoying.
7. Chyavana Regains His Youth
A young woman was forced to marry an old guy, because he was being vindictive. She was so loyal to him that she ended up with a young, good looking version of him. The interesting part here is that the chief god was terrified of Chyavana and lost a fight against him.
8. Nala and Damayanti
This is actually an interesting, albeit depressing story, that ended up with a happy ending. I think I started to be able to ignore the lectures about virtues, which made this story what it was, an interesting tale.
9. Rishyashringa the Rainmaker
This tale is about a boy who lived so secluded that he never met a woman, so he was easily seduced.
10. Mudgala Rejects Heaven
Mudgala didn't want to go to heaven, because after heaven you would fall back to earth, almost literally.
11. Devayani's Woes
Some of the women in this book were totally atrocious. In this story, one woman was extremely spiteful when she didn't get her way. The other one was devious. They both manipulated King Yayati, and caused him all sort of trouble.
12. Sunda's and Upasunda's Fall
Two powerful villains were defeated by a beautiful woman.
13. Respecting the Brahmans
It started with a king and a frog. They had sons who disrespected a Brahmin.
14. Draupadi Advises Satyabhama
Barely skimmed this one.
15. The Deadly Dice Game
I skimmed most of the beginning of this story, because Yudhishthira made me want to hurl. This is just a long version of what's summarized in the Introduction. Yudhishthira was less than useless. Bhima was hotheaded. The twins just stood there. Arjuna was the only level-headed one. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do.
16. Agastya Defeats the Demons
Agastya seemed to digest things rather quickly, and for some reason it didn't come out.
17. Bhagiratha and the Ganges
This is a story about 2 sets of siblings. One is one person, the other set has sixty thousand people. It all ended up with the sea, that was dried by Agastya, finally filled up with water again.
18. Krishna Saves the Pandavas
The Pandavas almost got in trouble again because of their evil cousins, but they were saved by Krishna. Maybe I am mistaken, but it seems like Krishna was interrupted during sex by Draupadi, who couldn't do anything without begging for Krishna's help.
19. King Kuvalashva's Glory
Lord Vishnu is stunningly beautiful and extremely powerful.
20. King Somaka's Sacrifice
King Somaka sacrificed his only son to gain 100 sons. Apparently, even though they did achieve their objective, this was frowned upon.
October 17, 2008
Good stories from Mahabharat. Good to know.
May 21, 2011
Twenty mythological stories from the Mahabharatha. Interesting ones.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews