As the warring factions try to sleep the night before the war! Mahabharata 132

I have no idea how the pandavas or the kauravs spent the night before the war or for that matter the hundreds of thousands of recruited foot soldiers and the volunteers. I do remember reading in one of the chapters of Ramayana that the soldiers would get restless if they were kept idle for too long. That was in treta yuga, and it could be the same in dwapara yuga and I suppose we can ask our army friends whether it is still true in kali yuga! But, I am sure the arms makers will surely be desperate if there is peace on earth for too long.

I began with some questions; 'Why are we so oversensitive? Is it part of our psyche? Do our great epics teach us how to conduct ourselves? How relevant are they today? .....and the answers have to wait!

The story, by itself is strange. Whether it is Ganga throwing her children into the river or Satyavathi having a child by sage Parashara and blessed to be a Virgin again. The plight of Kunti and the boons given her by an (irresponsible?)  rishi Durvasa. The birth of Draupadi. The direct interaction between mortals and gods, apsaras and the rakshas.  The constant visits by Vyasa and Narada, all need explanations which test ones' rational approach to events.

My own approach which began with an incredulous and sarcastic note has seen many changes. I have taken many detours. My basic approach has been of one, who has only heard the stories in bits and is now trying  read it in full. In fact, we may at the end of this blog discover what an untutored, an anpad, will make out of this epic story!

We have numerous examples of  the many beliefs that persist. As I walk around, I discover  temples dedicated to the diverse manifestations of goddess shakti. One takes care of all the summer ailments. Another, you should see the queue in the mornings, where children with diaherria are brought to be blessed. I am told that  they prefer to go there instead of getting medicines from doctors!'

I have a  picked a few comments made in my blogs which illustrates that the answers are not easy.
" wonder if this type of analysis is valid in this age. However, parallels can be seen demonstrating that human nature has not changed but the milieu has.. ..

That was Dwapara Yuga when the hotline between the gods and man was still operating, albeit after 'ghor tapasya'. In Kali Yuga it has been replaced by power lines that connect only mortals. Therefore only 'nasmarana' is effective! But cannot elicit boons ..

Single women wanting to have children is common in Western societies. I read an article about chat groups formed by offspring of a single sperm donor. So the craving for offspring i.e. progressers of lineage is not too strange. Kerala provided a modern example in India! Lysenko postulated the influence of environment on the outcome of pregnancy. Derided outside Soviet Union but may have an iota of truth! ...Raghunath"

 'Why are we so oversensitive?'  The question itself needs to be rephrased. While I try hard at my age to avoid becoming oversensitive, I see that it is mostly a political act! True most of us, the aam admi, are just long suffering Mr. Citizens! Those in power and those who are influential, barring a few exceptions are just overbearing! My friend chandramouli calls them Rakshas. Mahabharata tells us that they could be the new khsatriyas. In fact, many are classified as khsatriyas.