Shinde
asked
Shinde Sweety:
Asked by @anand vishwanathan : ur book doesn't cover the krishna arjun samvaad on the battlefield. Ur thoughts on why u skirted that entire dialogue? would have been nice to see how arjun received it. We only know what sanjay said and heard and understood. What did Arjuna see? what did he hear Krishan say? and how did he respond?
Shinde Sweety
It was by design, not an oversight. There had to be a coherent transition from warrior Arjun to reluctant Arjun. My idea was to delve into Arjun’s psyche before that vital dialogue. The night before Day1, which is when I assume the emotional turbulence must’ve peaked within him.
The Krishn Arjun dialogue of B. Gita is too well-known & too extensive to be copy-pasted within the book. Instead I translated Arjun's upheaval into chapter 21 The edge of innocence.
The transition comes in 2 steps - when Draupadi anticipates it and on night before first day of Kurukshetra.
After Virat war (page 196) Draupadi anticipates Arjun’s reluctance to harm Bhishm-Drona. She says, ‘The white robes of pitamah & Acharya were missing. Those two promised to be the most difficult temptations for Arjun to wreck through.’
In chp 21, Arjun debates with Krishn. The dialogue answers multiple accusations hurled at Pandavas, it questions veracity of Yudhisthir’s ownership of his brothers’ lives (Our nearest ones make impossible demands precisely b’cos we are forced to use different standards to judge them), citizens needs vs rulers’ ambitions, Arjun’s sacrifices vs virtues (If only I had been selfish enough, disobedient enough and rebellious enough – so much of our anguish was preventable. Since when did sacrifice, obedience and tolerance lead to heinous sins?), Bhishm-Drona’s helplessness arising from blind loyalty vs his own loyalty (this is a war between evil & lesser evil. Or a war between good & lesser good. My duty – towards whom? By killing – whom?), the realization of Kunti’s ruthless streak, all of these clashes culminating in Arjun’s reluctance about morality of the war.
I fleshed out this chapter as a prelude leading to Bhagavad Gita, since it was the most logical way to bridge the gap from a war-ready Arjun to
the reluctant warrior of B. Gita.
The subsequent chapters also throw up Arjun’s questions on B. GIta . For example when he says at Abhimanyu’s death – ‘no matter how many Jayadraths I killed, Abhi would never return as my son. How did it matter how many rebirths we took later as unrelated human beings?’
B. Gita cannot be encapsulated in brief, nor digested in one go. It throws up uncomfortable questions which unfold as their lives reconstruct post Kurukshetra. Hence I spaced out the Krishn-Arjun B. Gita dialogue in pre & post pages to explore its liveable, practical aspects instead of lumping it as an impractical philosophy.
The Krishn Arjun dialogue of B. Gita is too well-known & too extensive to be copy-pasted within the book. Instead I translated Arjun's upheaval into chapter 21 The edge of innocence.
The transition comes in 2 steps - when Draupadi anticipates it and on night before first day of Kurukshetra.
After Virat war (page 196) Draupadi anticipates Arjun’s reluctance to harm Bhishm-Drona. She says, ‘The white robes of pitamah & Acharya were missing. Those two promised to be the most difficult temptations for Arjun to wreck through.’
In chp 21, Arjun debates with Krishn. The dialogue answers multiple accusations hurled at Pandavas, it questions veracity of Yudhisthir’s ownership of his brothers’ lives (Our nearest ones make impossible demands precisely b’cos we are forced to use different standards to judge them), citizens needs vs rulers’ ambitions, Arjun’s sacrifices vs virtues (If only I had been selfish enough, disobedient enough and rebellious enough – so much of our anguish was preventable. Since when did sacrifice, obedience and tolerance lead to heinous sins?), Bhishm-Drona’s helplessness arising from blind loyalty vs his own loyalty (this is a war between evil & lesser evil. Or a war between good & lesser good. My duty – towards whom? By killing – whom?), the realization of Kunti’s ruthless streak, all of these clashes culminating in Arjun’s reluctance about morality of the war.
I fleshed out this chapter as a prelude leading to Bhagavad Gita, since it was the most logical way to bridge the gap from a war-ready Arjun to
the reluctant warrior of B. Gita.
The subsequent chapters also throw up Arjun’s questions on B. GIta . For example when he says at Abhimanyu’s death – ‘no matter how many Jayadraths I killed, Abhi would never return as my son. How did it matter how many rebirths we took later as unrelated human beings?’
B. Gita cannot be encapsulated in brief, nor digested in one go. It throws up uncomfortable questions which unfold as their lives reconstruct post Kurukshetra. Hence I spaced out the Krishn-Arjun B. Gita dialogue in pre & post pages to explore its liveable, practical aspects instead of lumping it as an impractical philosophy.
More Answered Questions
Jyoti Arora
asked
Shinde Sweety:
In your book Arjun- Without a Doubt, you did not have to imagine a new story or plot twist. Yet, Arjun couldn't have been an easy book to write. Trying to give new shades to an epic whose colors are already well-embedded in our hearts is not an easy thing. What was the hardest part of developing the story of Arjun? What gave you the courage and inspiration to try such a thing?
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