Episode 89 - For some reason, the first three full-fledged stories from the Anusasana Parva all center around a Banian tree. They also share the theme of low-caste hunters and their cruelty. Remarkably, in the 2nd story the three characters are all saved, but all three die violently. In the 3rd story, the Brahmin Gautama is an unreformed scoundrel, but he is brought back to life!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
News Update: Next episode is currently under construction!
I've finally managed to read through the entire Anusasana Parva, and I've started working on the next episode.
This took some serious reading, since the Anusasana Parva is almost exactly as long as the Book of the Forest, which I covered in 22 episodes!
For better or worse, Bhisma's teachings are not nearly as engaging as the Book of the Forest, so it won't take anything like that many episodes to cover. There are a handful of interesting parables, plus some additional information about a couple of our characters-- Krishna and Vyasa.
Mostly, the book is full of wordy dialogues-- it is like a heavily watered-down version of the Bhagavad Gita. At the end, we are treated to all 1,000 of Vishnu's names (and a discussion of each), a list of holidays for worshipping Krishna, and some prayers and songs to Krishna.
So now I'm back to work on producing episodes. Hopefully I'll have one available for you next week!
This took some serious reading, since the Anusasana Parva is almost exactly as long as the Book of the Forest, which I covered in 22 episodes!
For better or worse, Bhisma's teachings are not nearly as engaging as the Book of the Forest, so it won't take anything like that many episodes to cover. There are a handful of interesting parables, plus some additional information about a couple of our characters-- Krishna and Vyasa.
Mostly, the book is full of wordy dialogues-- it is like a heavily watered-down version of the Bhagavad Gita. At the end, we are treated to all 1,000 of Vishnu's names (and a discussion of each), a list of holidays for worshipping Krishna, and some prayers and songs to Krishna.
So now I'm back to work on producing episodes. Hopefully I'll have one available for you next week!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Episode 88 - The Book of Peace
Episode 88 - This episode begins the voluminous Last Teachings of Bhisma. As Bhisma lies on his bed of arrows, the Pandavas, Krishna & Satyaki gather around to listen. Yuddistira poses the questions, which mostly revolve around Dharma and kingship, and Bhisma answers.
These teachings are exceptionally difficult to convey in the form of a podcast, mostly because they are so boring. There are very few stories, and most of the stories revolve around conversations in which one character instructs the other on good behavior. I have tried to extract the more interesting details from the book, and I included the most interesting of the stories. Hopefully this is enough to convey the nature of this part of the epic, which makes up nearly a third of the entire text!
These teachings are exceptionally difficult to convey in the form of a podcast, mostly because they are so boring. There are very few stories, and most of the stories revolve around conversations in which one character instructs the other on good behavior. I have tried to extract the more interesting details from the book, and I included the most interesting of the stories. Hopefully this is enough to convey the nature of this part of the epic, which makes up nearly a third of the entire text!
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