Despite this, I am enjoying the Mahabharata so far, though I think I will end up liking the Ramayana more. There have definitely been many instances in Part A of the Mahabharata that have been different than how they would have been handled today. Ones that struck out to me mainly dealt with the treatment of women, though the actions of the devas were also odd to me at times.
The tale that stuck out to me the most, however, was actually Tale 35, "Drona Demands Payment". This one struck out to me because, nowadays, the trainer in the position of Drona would likely have been honored for his image and personality to have been so revered by Ekalavya to have resulted in his being the most accurate archer in the land. However, here I was shocked that Drona made him cut off his thumb as "payment", just so his "true" pupil could have the honor of being the best archer. I think this just shows that the actual Drona is not as good a teacher as he thinks...
This punishment of Drona's was also sad to me, because Ekalavya did not hesitate to give Drona what he'd asked, even though it meant all of his hard work would come to nothing.
I think it would be interesting to rewrite this story from a more modern lens, one where Drona rewards Ekalavya for his hard work, instead of punishing him for wanting to improve his skills. It would also be cool to see Ekalavya becoming the master and giving Arjuna some pointers to improve his skills. Another cool idea would be to keep the punishment from Drona but to show Ekalavya managing to overcome the loss of his thumb and becoming the best archer in the land once more!
Art of Drona in Battle.
No Changes Made. By: Skumarm on 10-28-2017. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Bibliography: Part A, Page 4, Tale 35 of the Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata by Laura Gibbs. Link: Tale 35.
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