(Image: Arjuna Goes to Heaven Source: Youtube)
My final post of the semester! It's been so great reading through all the assigned reading for this class. Indian epics and folklore was an area of literature I was woefully underread in, and I am glad that I decided to take this class instead of the mythology course (I've read the Greek myths and epics dozens of times). Some of my major takeaways from the Ramayana and Mahabharata: they both had excellent, sometimes sympathetic antagonists, they had excellent romances, and they had strong, impactful family relationships and conflicts.
As for this specific reading, it was interesting the delve into Dhrarastra's mindset regarding the Pandavas exile. The Kuavaras are so cruel to the Pandavas that its nice to know some people are sympathetic to their plight. As for the journeys of Arjuna, I tend to find the "hero's journey" portion of both the Ramayana and Mahabharata the least interesting. The journey tends to involve a lot of cool combat, but it doesn't ever really provide the protagonist with much of a challenge, and I'm never concerned that any real harm will befall the hero, These portions of the epics also tend to lack any of the romance that I've come to like in these stories. Despite my misgivings, I still enjoy Arjuna's journey. He does really seem to gain enlightenment, and its always fun to see the hero score come new celestial weapons.
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