Reading Notes: Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata Part D

I was pretty upset from the death of Bhima's son, Ghatotkacha. The Ramayana mentioned rakshasas a couple of times, but in the Mahabharata, they play a huge role in the war against the Kauravas. Arjuna, being one of the 5 Pandava brothers, was who Karna had planned to use his mighty spear weapon against. It was special because it could only be used once, and if a direct hit, would fatally injure someone. However, Karna was forced to use this godly weapon against Ghatotkacha, so we can see how much of a warrior he really is to represent in this epic. He reminds me of Hanuman in the Ramayana, because he's a loyal character that holds an immense amount of power and without him much of what the Pandavas are able to accomplish wouldn't be possible without him.

I also remember reading about Ghatotkacha earlier this semester from a storybook, and from there had that tie to him.

There's a bit of revenge later in this section when Arjuna kills Karna. This wasn't so satisfying though because he did this against a defenseless Karna trying to get his wheel un-stuck from the mud. Typically, this would be seen as a rather coward type move, but Arjuna was simply following the orders from Krishna.

The war comes to an end when Shayla is killed by Yudhishthira. He was forced to do this out of love and respect because there was a demon inside of Shayla that fed on the opponents aggression. If Yudhishthira approached Shayla with this aggression, then the demon in Shayla would only obtain more power to destroy the opponent. Yudhishthira kills Shayla with ease. At this time the Kauravas realize the war is over and that the Pandavas have won.

Rest in peace to Ghatotkacha. Wikimedia

Bibliography: 

Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata by Laura Gibbs