Week 10 Reading Diary A: The Brink of War

This reading was very interesting as the Pandavas approach the final moments of their exile. Dhritarashtra hoped to cause trouble in the Pandava's exile and potentially even defeat them! To start this off Duryodhana attempts to humiliate the Pandavas in a plan that completely backfires. I think this was a silly decision considering the fact that the Pandavas obviously have Karma on their side considering all the events that have taken place thus far. After the attempt at humiliation fails the Pandavas came upon an interesting trial. Tired, hungry and thirsty they came upon a lake. As each brother approached a voice began asking questions warning them not to drink until they answered. One by one the brothers ignored the voice and died when they drank the water! I found this a little odd considering each brother probably saw the bodies of those who had already drank the water. I feel like they should have been a bit more cautious after the first brother!

Yudhistra answering the questions the voice from the lake asks

Finally Yudhistra comes along and doesn't ignore the voice. He answers the questions and all the brothers come back to life! As a reward for solving this task the brothers receive the gift of disguise for their thirteenth year of exile. I was wondering how the well known Pandava brothers were going to survive in the city without being recognized for an entire year, so now it's all starting to come together! They thirteenth year approaches and the brothers enter the city disguised as average citizens. After an unfortunate chain of events, Bhima kills one of Virata's generals. Duryodhana hears of the generals death and one of his allies proposes a raid. The raid ends and the Pandavas and Duryodhana begin preparing for war! Krishna gives each side the option of one million soldiers or Krishna himself. The Pandava's wisely choose Krishna who is an avatar of Vishnu. I have a feeling I know exactly who will win this war!