Mahabharata Podcast Episode 20 - King of the World
Jun 2, 2010
00:00
Episode 20 - The Pandavas range the Four Directions and conquer the world, bringing home mountains of treasure. Soon after, the Rajasuya Sacrifice commences. Krishna is given the top honor among the guests and this causes a tumult of disgruntled kings and nobles. They point out the problem that has become apparent in the story, which is that Krishna is a nobody in terms of societal ranking. He's a former cowherder from a caste of shudras who claims his father is a prince (alas, there were no witnesses to his alleged birth by Devaki). But even if he were not lying about his descent, he was still a noble of the 3rd tier, and from an insignificant backwater kingdom, where they had been forced to move by Jarasandh's armies.
The general of that army, Sishupal of Chedi, was particularly outraged by this elevation of a milkman over the heads of all the kings of India. Sishupal had other grievances against Krishna, since his fiance Rukmini had been abducted by Krishna, his boss had been killed by Krishna's plan, and his friend and ally Rukmi had been killed by Krishna's brother.
So Sishupal points out what should be obvious to us all-- that Krishna was a low-class cowherd, who boasted about killing a vulture and a cow, a woman, and an ox cart! Who said that these animals and the woman and the cart were demons? Furthermore, Krishna killed his own king-- a treasonous act of regicide that should be obhorred by anyone who desires law & order in society.
Finally, Sishupal suggests that maybe Rukmini had already been used & put aside by himself before Krishna took her as his wife. That does it for Krishna. His killer frisbee comes flying and Sishupal is Beheaded. Check out that link, it's to the picture I mentioned in the podcast. It's pretty cool.
This episode ends with a little vignette of Duryodhana wandering the Pandavas' palace and getting fooled by the illusions of the place. He falls into a pond and gets laughed at by his cousins. I've got more to say about how this scene gets changed over time, but we'll get into that in a later episode.
The general of that army, Sishupal of Chedi, was particularly outraged by this elevation of a milkman over the heads of all the kings of India. Sishupal had other grievances against Krishna, since his fiance Rukmini had been abducted by Krishna, his boss had been killed by Krishna's plan, and his friend and ally Rukmi had been killed by Krishna's brother.
So Sishupal points out what should be obvious to us all-- that Krishna was a low-class cowherd, who boasted about killing a vulture and a cow, a woman, and an ox cart! Who said that these animals and the woman and the cart were demons? Furthermore, Krishna killed his own king-- a treasonous act of regicide that should be obhorred by anyone who desires law & order in society.
Finally, Sishupal suggests that maybe Rukmini had already been used & put aside by himself before Krishna took her as his wife. That does it for Krishna. His killer frisbee comes flying and Sishupal is Beheaded. Check out that link, it's to the picture I mentioned in the podcast. It's pretty cool.
This episode ends with a little vignette of Duryodhana wandering the Pandavas' palace and getting fooled by the illusions of the place. He falls into a pond and gets laughed at by his cousins. I've got more to say about how this scene gets changed over time, but we'll get into that in a later episode.