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Reading: Mahabharata part A

1. Explains how Vyasa is born
2. Introduces the character Devavrata who is the son of King Shantanu and the goddess Ganga. He is a human but has the power of 8 gods.
3. Satyavati is now the new love interest of King Shantanu after he has been deserted by his first wife
4. Explains how Devavrata gets his name: the Sanskrit word the "terrible oath" which Devavrata takes here so that King Shantanu can marry Satyavati is Bhishma pratigya, hence the name "Bhishma."
5. Brishma takes the three daughters of the King of Kashi to be brides of Shantanu's son.
6. Only two of the girls will become Brishma's wives and the third one Amba will return in the story later.
7. Having wives didn't solve anything because King of Shantanu's son died before he could have any sons to carry on the family name.
8. I explain the birth of Karna and how he will be relevant in the story
9. King Pandu is cursed similar to when Dasharta was cursed from hunting.
10. Pandu receives sons despite his curse and we also see how Pandu's curse will cause his death later
11. the sons of Dhritarashtra, who are called the Kauravas and Dhritarashtra's oldest son is named Duryodhana, and the rivalry between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, led by Duryodhana.
12. Kunti alone raises the 5 sons of Pandu, living in the remote Himalayas. She brings the boys to Pandu's royal city
13. Duryodhana attempts to try and kill his cousins. He attempts to kill Brihma who goes down to the underworld and gets strong powers.
14. Drona is introduced and becomes guru to the young Pandavas and to the Kauravas
15. The 5 students each get their own personalities but there are 3 that are most important to the story. Yudhishthria, followed by Bhima and then Arjuna, are the most important
16. The story of Ekalavya, an aboriginal boy who wants to be Drona's pupil
17. The Pandavas and Kauravas have been trained to fight and will display their skills in a tournament
18. Arjuna is the winner of the tournament but before it's over Karna comes to fight in the tournament, Karna and Arjuna don't know they are brothers yet
19. Now that the training is over Drona requires one of his students to pay for his services. What he wants is the revenge against King Drupada because he used to bully him at a young age
20. Duryodhana becomes more jealous until finally, he decides that he will get rid of the Pandavas and Kunti once and for all.

Bibliography:  The Mahabharata, A Summary by John Mandeville Macfie 



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