Reading Notes: Mahabharata, Part D

Draupadi is a interesting character in my eyes. She is very set in what she wants and we see an example of this in this part of the Mahabharata. Since her brother died and her five sons she just wants revenge. Yudhishthira tries to tell her that if Ashwatthaman did something wrong then he will suffer for it. Draupadi doesn’t need to make him suffer because karma is enough but she does not want to listen to anyone and what they have to say. She also blackmails and says that if you don’t bring me the head of Ashwatthaman then I will not look at your face. Draupadi also did not care about what would happen to her because she know that if anything happened to Ashwatthaman then his sons and his brothers will come for revenge. Draupadi is also very clever, she know about the jewel that was protecting Ashwatthaman but she is going to use that against him. She know that without the jewel Ashwatthaman is going to be cursed and that is what she wants. The jewel is the reason Ashwatthaman did not suffer from hunger or poison. Basically he was very protected.


I really like the characters of Ashwatthaman and Dhrupati together. But for the purpose of recreating a story from the original I want to use Ashwatthaman. If I were to recreate a story I would want to use the concept of Ashwatthaman’s jewel and how something was always protecting him. But later it gets taken away from him and it all goes down hill from there. This jewel is like a superpower so instead of a jewel I would give a character superpower and then have it taken away by god because the person was abusing it. Then I would want to also give the superpower back if they start becoming better.


Mahabharata: Ashwatthaman Cursed. Source. Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).

                                                      Ashwatthaman with Vyasa. Source.