Episode 80 - Kurukshetra, Day 18: Shalya & the dissolution of the Kauravas

Episode 80 - This episode covers the final day of the great war.  If you were expecting things to go out with a bang, you'll be disappointed.  Once the Kaurava general Shalya is killed, things just sort of disintegrate.  Duryodhana's remaining brothers are all killed.  Shakuni is killed.  Karna's sons are exterminated.  The Pandavas make one final sweep over the field, killing literally everyone who was left standing.  They spend the rest of the day sifting through the corpses in search of Duryodhana.

By this point, the only survivors are Krpa, Aswatthaman, Kritavarman, Sanjay, & Duryodhana.  Everyone else is dead.  The Pandavas still have their tight group of heroes and Draupadi's sons, but most of their troops are dead.

Duryodhana finds himself standing alone, abandoned & on foot in the midst of the battlefield.  Everyone is dead or has fled the scene.  Stunned, he wanders off the field and makes his way aimlessly towards Hastinapur.  Sanjay finds his prince, filthy in blood & gore, in a state of shock, standing by a lake shore.  When the Kaurava finally comes to his senses, he submerges himself into the lake, where he intends to rest, indefinitely.

Aside from Duryodhana, blind king Dhrtarastra still has one son yet living.  It is his illegitimate son Yuyutsu, who had joined with the Pandavas at the beginning of the war.  He is given leave to comfort his brothers' retainers & womenfolk and returns with them to Hastinapur.  There are no recriminations for his having gone over to the enemy.  Now they are just glad that some one son of Dhrtarastra has survived to carry on the line.

Episode 41 - The Golden Plough

Episode 41 - This one covers Duryodhana reaction to the humiliation of being captured by the Gandharvas and then released by the valor of his hated cousins the Pandavas.  Unable to face his clan after the ignominious defeat, the prince resolves to sit down and starve himself to death.

This decision sets off alarm bells in Hell, where the Daityas and Danavas have big plans for Duryodhana.  They summon a genie and have her deliver Duryodhana to them, and they tell him about the cosmic nature of this conflict, that powerful Asuras have already taken their places for the great war, and only he can see it through to victory.

Duryodhana returns, his old attitude back, and he leads his brothers back to Hastinapur, as if they had just conquered half the world.  But the boy's ego was a fragile thing, and when Bhisma scolds him, he needs something to cheer him up.  Karna first proposes another Rajasuya, but that is limited to one per family, so they must settle for the Vaishnava ritual, which involves a golden plough, which Duryodhana would use to plow a sacred enclosure.

The episode ends with Duryodhana once again feeling bad about himself, and Karna going to ever greater lengths to keep his patron happy.  This time he swears to never wash his feet again until Arjun is dead!  This will probably contribute to some of the trouble he has later one while in command of the Kaurava forces!

Episode 7 - The Heroes and the Villains are born

Episode 7 - This episode covers the marriage of the three princes Dhritarastra, Pandu and Vidura.  Here's the map I promised of India during the time of the Mahabharata.  What's important to notice is that first, the Kuru nation was in a very central location and must have been very important in the politics of the age.  The Himalaya mountains acted as an enormous bulwark, keeping each kingdom safe from attack from the north.  Thus the marriage alliances seemingly secured peace with neighbors to the west and south, and Pandu was able to wage a military campaign against the kingdoms dowstream along the Ganges to the east.
It is interesting how Pandu eventually thought of his natural father and tried to convert to a Brahmin later in life, giving up the crown.  In addition to all that, the five Pandavas (good guys) and the 100 Kauravas (bad guys) are born, then Pandu dies, leaving his five sons orphans.  Everyone agrees that the eldest Pandava, Yudhistira should be the first in line for the throne, but his blind uncle King Dhrtarastra has good reason to be resentful for how things worked out, and he won't let us forget it!