Reading Notes Week 7 Reading: The Mahabharata- Reading Part C: Bhima and Kichaka

Bhima and Kichaka:

• This story is primarily about Prince Kichaka. The story begins by saying that Prince Kichaka was the bravest, most fierce warrior in all the lands of Viratnagar. It even said that men, even kings were afraid to cross him. In this story, Prince Kichaka goes to visit his sister, Queen Sudeshna, and while he is there, he lays eyes on a serving maid, who he really likes. He then instructs his sister to send her to his palace. The queen loved her brother so much that she did not want to displease him, so she sent Sairandhri to his palace with a tray of food and wine. As soon as she entered the door, the prince grabbed her waist and tried to rape her. Sairandhri was able to free herself from his clasp and flung the tray of food in his face. She then ran straight to King Virata's palace. On her way, the prince caught up with her and struck her on the face, but she was able to escape again and flee unannounced into King Virata's audience room. Here she showed her face to the king and told him what the prince tried to do to her. The king however, being afraid of Prince Kichaka, told her it was her in the wrong (or the cruel one). Sairandhri was horrified about what happened and went to seek Prince Bhima hoping that he would help. She found him asleep in his room and he told her he would kill Prince Kichaka with his bare hands. The next night at a dancing hall, Prince Bhima waited until Prince Kichaka was alone and killed him. He then told Sairandhri (he calls her Draupadi) to go and raise the other maid-servent and tell them her husband (an immortal) caught her with Prince Kichaka and killed him.
• There are a few things about this story that confuse me. In the beginning, it says that Sairandhri was a servant maid, but then later in the story it calls her a princess. Also, Prince Bhima calls her Draupadi (need to research this).
• This story involves a lot of characters, so it could be easily put into one of their perspectives. My initial idea was to put this in Queen Sudeshna perspective. This way, we could give some background on Prince Kichaka. Maybe make it seem like he has done this before. We could make the Queen the hero and she could set her brother up with Sairandhri and expose his true nature, or she could also be evil like her brother ( I am leaning toward the hero idea).
• This story could also be put into King Virata's perspective. This way, the story line could stay the same, but change the ending to make King Virata stand up to Prince Kichaka. Maybe he could even become the most fierce warrior.
• The other two perspective could be Sairandhri's or Prince Bhima's. Both would allow for a unique perspective to the story. With either of these I could simple just switch perspective. With Prince Bhima, I would need to add some more detail, i.e. background. Was there a feud between him and Prince Kichaka, or was him almost raping someone enough for him to kill Prince Kichaka.
• Bibliography: "Bhima and Kichaka" from The Indian Heroes by C.A. Kincaid

Sairandhri watching the Prince's fight
Source: Wikimedia Commons