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Monday, April 2
Mahabharata
By Vickie Chao
Mahabharata (pronounced "ma-haa-BHAAR-a-ta") is the world's longest poem. Altogether, it has 18 sections
and 220,000 lines! This great piece of work is from India. It tells the story of a royal family's struggle over
power. The story goes like this:
A long, long time ago, there was a kingdom in India called Bharata ("BHAR-a-ta"). The king of Bharata had
two sons, Dhritarashtra ("dhri-ta-RAASH-tra") and Pandu ("PAAN-doo"). Dhritarashtra was the eldest of the two.
He was supposed to be the next king. But because he was blind, he could not take the throne. His brother
became the next king.
Dhritarashtra was married to Gandhari ("gaan-DHAAR-ee"). The couple had one hundred sons in all!
Collectively, their offspring were called the Kauravas.
Pandu had two wives, Kunti and Madri. Kunti bore him three sons, and Madri two. Together, the five sons
were called the Pandavas.
One day while hunting, Pandu killed a sage's wife by accident. The sage was very angry. He placed a curse
on Pandu and killed him. Pandu's death shattered his second wife, Madri. She killed herself and left her two sons
to the care of Kunti. Kunti took the five boys back to Bharata. Now with everybody together, the new king
(Dhritarashtra) asked his uncle, Bhishma ("BHEESH-ma"), to supervise the upbringing of the princes. Bhishma
then hired Drona ("DROE-na") as the boys' tutor. Drona was a good teacher. He taught the kids the art of
archery. He taught them how to fight.
Under Drona's guidance, it soon became clear that the Pandavas were smarter and stronger than the Kauravas.
The Kauravas were jealous. They wanted to get rid of their five cousins and aunt. One day, they came up with an
evil plan. They wanted to lure the Pandavas and Kunti to a palace and set the place on fire! Luckily, the
Pandavas got a wind of the evil plan before they departed. They dug a secret tunnel and escaped the fire just in
time. Afraid that the Kauravas would try to kill them again, the Pandavas and Kunti fled. They put on disguises
and traveled from one kingdom to another. Everybody thought Kunti and her five boys died in the fire.
During their time abroad, the Pandavas heard about a contest held in the kingdom of Panchal. The rule was
simple: whoever could shoot an arrow into a moving target could marry the beautiful princess, Draupadi (
"DRAO-pa-dee"). Many people tried. But none succeeded. At last, it was Arjuna's turn. He calmly walked up to
the platform, took aim, and released the arrow. He hit the bull's eye! Everybody there congratulated the winner
and discovered that he was actually one of the Pandavas. Now with their secrets out, Kunti, the five princes, and
Draupadi all returned to Bharata.
Dhritarashtra was very happy to see them. Though he welcomed them with open arms, he knew that his sons
did not get along with the Pandavas. At the urging of Bhishma, the king decided to split his kingdom to two parts.
He gave one half to the Kauravas and the other half to the Pandavas. The eldest of both clans became the rulers
of the new nations.
Despite his father's best effort, Duryodhana ("dur-YODH-ana"), the eldest of the Kauravas, was not happy.
He did not want the kingdom to be split to two. He wanted it all to himself! So he devised a devious plan. He set
up a game of dice and asked his cunning uncle, Sakuni, to play on his behalf. He then openly challenged
Yudhishthira ("yu-DHISH-thir-a"), the eldest of the Pandavas, to join the game. Of course, Yudhishthira did not
know the game was a set-up. He lost every hand! He first lost his necklace, then all the jewelries, brothers, the
nation, and finally, Draupadi! Pleased with his victories, Duryodhana asked his younger brother to go and get
Draupadi. He wanted to embarrass her. He wanted to make her a servant!
Just as the Kauravas were dragging Draupadi to the court, she cried out for help. Krishna, the divine god, was
a good friend of the Pandavas. He intervened. Dhritarashtra was horrified! He begged the god for forgiveness.
He promised that he would look into the matter. He also promised that he would have Duryodhana return to the
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Pandavas everything they had lost.
Duryodhana obeyed his father reluctantly. He freed his cousins and Draupadi, and gave them back the
necklace, all the jewelries, and the nation. After the Pandavas left, Duryodhana had a second thought. With
much persuasion, he talked his father into inviting Yudhishthira for another game of dice. Yudhishthira accepted
the invitation. He came back and played with Sakuni again. And he lost again! This time, the wager was
different. Instead of asking for the land, Duryodhana demanded the Pandavas go into exile for thirteen years. He
demanded that they remain undiscovered during their last year of exile. If they were discovered, the Pandavas
must go into exile again for another round of thirteen years. Depending on their hiding skills, this punishment
could go on forever!
Yudhishthira accepted the terms. He, his four brothers, and Draupadi moved to live in a forest. During their
first twelve years in the forest, they visited many holy places. They befriended several gods. In the thirteenth
year, the Pandavas and Draupadi left the forest and went into hiding. They went to the kingdom of Viratas and
worked as servants in the king's palace. Duryodhana looked for them everywhere. But he could not find them.
Just as he was about to give up, he got a big break.
Duryodhana heard about a tragedy in the kingdom of Viratas: the king's brother-in-law was recently murdered!
Right away, he suspected that this must be the work of his cousins. He was right! As it turned out, the king's
brother-in-law was very interested in Draupadi though he knew that she was already married. He kept harassing
her. He kept pressing her into marrying him. When Draupadi could not take his advances any more, she told
Bheem, one of the Pandavas. Bheem was very angry. He killed the king's brother-in-law that very night! The
event gave away their whereabouts.
Duryodhana led his troops and attacked the kingdom of Viratas. The Pandavas took part in the battle. But
when they were found out, the time limit of thirteen years had already expired. Now with the wager no longer
valid, Yudhishthira wanted his nation back. He and the rest of his family members all wanted to live in peace.
But things did not go as planned. Duryodhana rejected the claim flat-out and, thus, forced the Pandavas to
declare war. The two sides fought at Kurukshetra. In the end, justice prevailed. The Pandvas won and killed all
the Kauravas. Yudhishthira finally became the king. He united the two nations into one. He ruled it for 36 years.
When he died, he went to heaven.
Mahabharata
Questions
1. Where did the story of Mahabharata take place?
A. Greece
B. India
C. Japan
D. China
2. Who saved Draupadi from Duryodhana's humiliation?
A. Bheem
B. Krishna
C. Bhishma
D. Arjuna
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3. How many years did Yudhishthir go into exile?
A. 12
B. 13
C. 15
D. 14
4. How many princes did the kingdom of Bharata have altogether?
A. 110
B. 105
C. 115
D. 100
5. What did Dhritarashtra do when he realized that Kunti and her five boys were not dead?
A. He hid them.
B. He welcomed them back.
C. He sent them into exile.
D. He killed them.
6. Who won the archery contest in the kingdom of Panchal?
A. Bheem
B. Arjuna
C. Drona
D. Bhishma
7. Which of the following about Mahabharata is correct?
A. It is the longest poem in the world!
B. It has 16 sections.
C. It is the love story of Romeo and Juliet.
D. It has 20,000 lines.
8. What did Duryodhana do when Yudhishthira came to claim his nation?
A. He rejected the claim.
B. He accepted the claim.
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Tuesday, April 3
Caste System in Ancient India
By Vickie Chao
About 3,600 years ago, a group of cattle herders from Central Asia settled into
India. This group of people, called the Aryans, brought with them their beliefs,
customs, and writing system (Sanskrit). They introduced a rigid caste structure that
divided people into four classes.
Under this setup, Brahmins or priests made up the highest caste. They held a
tremendous amount of power over everybody else. They were the only ones who
could both study and teach the holy texts, known as the Vedas. They were also the
only ones who could perform sacrifices and other religious rites. Because of their
authority, people of other castes often gave them generous donations. By giving
Brahmins (also spelled as Brahmans) valuable goods, people of other castes
believed that they would be rewarded in their next life.
Next to the Brahmin class was the Kshatriya (pronounced "shuh-TREE-uh")
class. It consisted of warriors and rulers. Kshatriyas' main duties were to govern
and defend the country. Though they could learn the Vedas as Brahmins did, they
could not teach the holy texts. As Kshatriyas were responsible for the national
defense, they underwent extensive military training. They were the experts in archery, swordsmanship, and
hand-to-hand combat.
The Aryans categorized farmers and merchants as their society's third caste, called the Vaishya (pronounced
"VYSH-yuh"). Vaishyas were expected to tend cattle, to farm, or to trade. Like Kshatriyas, they could only learn,
but not teach, the Vedas.
Beneath the Brahmin, the Kshatriya, and the Vaishya castes was the Shudra (also spelled as Sudra) caste. It
represented the majority of the populace. People in this caste did menial, labor-intensive work. They took on the
duties of servants, craftsmen, or laborers. Shudras received little informal education. They were not allowed to
learn the Vedas, so they could not participate in the initiation ceremony that boys of the three upper castes were
entitled to when they began learning the holy texts. The ancient Indians believed that a person who had the
initiation ceremony was "twice-born." The first was, of course, the person's physical birth. The second was his
spiritual birth. As Shudras could not learn the Vedas, they would never experience a spiritual birth. Thus, they
had only one birth.
Though Shudras were the lowest of the four classes, they were still better off than the so-called outcastes. The
outcastes, as the name suggests, were people who did not belong to any of the four castes. They did work that
nobody else wanted to do. They swept the streets. They collected garbage. They cleaned up toilets. And they
disposed of dead animals or humans. The outcastes could not live in cities or villages. They led a lonely,
humiliated life. When they ate, they could only take meals from broken dishes. When they traveled, they needed
to move off the path if someone from a higher caste was approaching. When they entered a marketplace, they
had to strike a piece of wood to announce their presence, so that other people could avoid them. The outcastes
were not allowed to drink from a public well. They were not allowed to enter a temple. And they were not
allowed to study. Given that they stirred fear and were despised everywhere they went, nobody in the ancient
Indian society wanted to see, hear, or touch them. This group of people in India suffered the worst fate. They
simply became known as the untouchables!
The Aryans' caste system came from local legends. When Brahma, the god of creation, made humans, his
mouth became the Brahmins, his arms the Kshatriyas, his legs the Vaishyas, and his feet the Shudras. Tales aside,
the caste system was a very important element in ancient India. It followed a specific set of guidelines (called the
Laws of Manu) that dictated every person's behavior. The guidelines set rules from the type of jobs a person
could hold to the type of foods a person could eat. According to the Laws of Manu, each caste was represented
by a color. White was for the Brahmins, red for the Kshatriyas, yellow for the Vaishyas, and blue for the Shudras.
Marrying someone within a person's own caste was norm. Marrying someone outside of a person's caste was rare,
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but possible. Children born from an inter-caste marriage needed to follow a different set of rules to determine
what caste they belonged to.
The ancient Indians believed that each person had an eternal soul that could be reborn in a new body after
death. While that person could never move from one caste to another in this life, he or she could be reborn to a
different caste in the next life. If the person did a lot of good deeds (such as giving Brahmins generous donations)
in this life, he or she would have the chance of being reborn to a higher caste in the next life. If the person did a
lot of horrible things (such as committing a crime) in this life, he or she would risk being reborn to a lower caste
in the next life.
The caste system had been prevalent in India's society for thousands of years. It was deeply embedded in the
country's dominant religion, Hinduism. Though discriminations on the basis of a person's caste had already been
outlawed in the 1900s, they still exist today. Because of this, the caste system has continued to be a sensitive
issue in modern India. It is a topic better approached with extreme caution!
Caste System in Ancient India
Questions
1. How many castes were there in India?
A. Three
B. Four
C. Two
D. One
2. The untouchables worked as servants, craftsmen, and laborers.
A. False
B. True
3. In ancient India, who were responsible for fending off intruders?
A. Untouchables
B. Brahmins
C. Shudras
D. Kshatriyas
4. Under India's current law, it is illegal to discriminate against an untouchable.
A. True
B. False
5. Which of the following colors would a Brahmin wear?
A. Orange
B. Yellow
C. White
D. Red
6. According to legends, Brahma created Vaishyas from his ______.
A. Arms
B. Feet
C. Legs
D. Mouth
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7. Which of the following about ancient India's caste system is correct?
A. Priests were in a caste lower than rulers.
B. Both Brahmins and Kshatriyas could teach the Vedas.
C. Vaishyas were twice-born.
D. Inter-caste marriages could never happen.
8. Who introduced the caste system to India?
A. The Arabs
B. The Aryans
C. The Chinese
D. The British
9. Which of the following about the untouchables is NOT true?
A. They could not go to a temple.
B. They could not drink from a public well.
C. They could not live in cities or villages.
D. They could not eat meals from broken dishes.
10. In ancient India, who were responsible for exporting goods to other countries?
A. Vaishyas
B. Brahmins
C. Shudras
D. Kshatriyas