Reading Notes Week 7: Mahabharata Reading D- The Forest and its Ghosts

The Forest and its Ghosts:

• Summary: In this story, Dhritarashtra , Queen Gandhari, and Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas, and Vidura, and others who were of great age went to live in a humble dwelling in the jungle. They mourned the loss of loved ones. Years later, Yudhishthira and his brethren and their wife Draupadi also journey to the place the elders had came years before (this is talking about Dhirtarashtra and the people who came with him). When Yudishthira and his people came, the only person who was gone was Vidura, who had went down to the banks of the Ganges to undergo penances and wait on the arrival of Yama (god of the dead). When the people arrived at the banks of the Ganges, they found Vidura wasted with hunger and great age. They knew he would not make it and waited beside him until he died. When he died, a great grief fell upon the people, reopening their old wounds of lost loved ones. While the people mourned and cried together, a great sage with the name of Vyasa came along and told them, that he could allow them to see their loved ones again. He told them that at sunset, each of them were to bathe in the holy waters of the Ganges and when night falls, their loved ones would return to them. They all did as he said, and when the sun began to set, their bathed in the Ganges and chanted mantras and then they all came out and stood on the bank. The Ganges then began to foam and heave as Vyasa muttered and called out the names of the dead one by one. The dead began to come forth one by one. Family members were united. The night passed very quickly and soon it was time for the dead to return. As the people were bidding goodbyes, Vyasa told the widows that if they desired to go with their husbands they could. Some did. The pandavas returned to hastinapura and after two years, a new sorrow fell upon them.
• My idea is to pick a character and put it in their perspective. More than likely, it would be widow. This would allow a pretty cool perspective to this story. Most people have envisioned a reunion with a lost love one, so I think that putting it in a widows perspective would form a really cool connection with the reader. I would keep the story line the same, maybe change the ending. I understand that the widows missed their husbands, but if they were basically going to kill themselves, why did they wait for Vyasa to tell them to? This part was a bit odd to me. I would like to clarify what was happening.
• Bibliography:  "The Forest and its Ghosts" from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

The Ghosts being summoned from the Ganges
Source: Wikimedia Commons