#draupad

Parashuram emits blue light from his hands, taking a sword out of the light. Me: Huh? I thought only arrows can appear like that. Bhishm joins his hands, whispering, a sword lands from the air at his feet. Both of them leap. Camera focuses to Ganga entering, psycho Princess glaring at her. A fancy sword fight occurs, Bhishm falls, attacking Parashuram again. They dance around, cutting trunks, causing snowfall. Heaven knows how they aren’t shivering yet. Bhishm disarms Parashuram, who clamps his hand on Bhishm’s sword and knocks it off. Both of them summon divyastras. Ganga looks distressed. She calls out to Shiv. “If Parashuram’s parashu (axe) and Bhishm’s Brahmastr collide, the world will end!” she says. I’m not sure what actually happens in canon. Ganga does call to Shiv, though I doubt it’s this dramatic. I doubt she’d call her own son Bhishm. The warriors release the weapons. A globe of light sucks both the weapons in. Enter Shiv. Wait, this guy doesn’t have a blue throat! Anyway, all and sundry join their hands in respect. Shiv commands them to stop fighting to preserve the Earth. “I still haven’t gotten justice, Mahadev.” Ah, psycho Princess, yet again. “How can you stop this war? Until I get peace of mind, Parashuram has to fight. Fulfill my dearest wish, Mahadev. This man’s (Bhishm’s) death is my wish. I want to be the cause of his death.” “As Parashuram is bound, I have to fulfill your wish. But revenge cannot have my blessing. If you ever do something great and then pray for Bhishm’s death, then you will definitely be the cause of his death.” Wait, this prophecy is incomplete. Canonically, the prophecy says that Bhishm can’t be defeated and killed by anyone except the reincarnation of Rishi Nara, born as the son of Indra, Arjun. Seriously, they omitted my favourite part!! CANON FAIL x2, for good measure. This is the first chronological mention of Arjun!! I mean, yeah, it’s unfair on him that people are literally turning him into a death knell before that kid is even born…but he WAS mentioned in canon at this time. I remember that very well. Let’s continue. “If so, I do not wish to live.” Ofc, it’s psycho Princess. “Please let go of the hardness of your heart. When the day comes, I will lay down my weapons in front of you.” Mr. Paragon of Perfection. I can’t even. “I don’t need your generosity. I will not forgive you. Even 25 years later, I will take birth with your death as my objective in life. The throne you destroyed my life for will be the reason for your struggle day and night. That throne won’t let you sleep peacefully even for a day. You will keep running because of that throne, when your soul will be tired and old, I will come then, as your death.” I can’t see how suicide is a great thing, but hey, who am I to judge. Flash forward 25 years. A baby is born in Panchal. “Strength is born in Panchal” says the King. “Rajyotishi, I am certain that Draupad’s Queen has given birth to a girl child. I have been waiting for 25 years for the birth of this child, ever since I knew that Bhishm will be killed because of a woman. From then, I have been praying that that girl should be born in our family.” A young man enters with a baby. I guess that’s Draupad. “It’s a girl, father.” Mr. King of Panchal thanks maa Kali, lifting the baby in his arms. “All our wishes have come true. Bhishm has humiliated Panchal too much,” he flashes back to Bhishm’s grandiose words when he’d rescued drunk Prince. “The entire Panchal will burn like Lanka if you set fire to Bhishm’s heart.” He sees Bhishm slapping his face again. “Revenge is what we should look out for. This maiden will take our long due revenge from Bhishm.” He names the child Shikandini. I hope she’s less psycho than Amba. “Rajyotishi, what do you make of the time of my grand-daughter’s birth?” “She will be successful in her life objective,” he says, “But after a lot of struggle.” Before that, he says some astrological mumbo-jumbo that I don’t understand. “Struggle is the best teacher. I will poison this maiden against Bhishm. I have full belief that she will be cause of Bhishm’s death, that it will be the objective of her life.” CANON FAIL. Amba is reborn as Shikandini, it is because of that he/she fights against Bhishm. Panchal doesn’t have a long-standing enemity with Bhishm. Oh, Crap. Krishna gyaan again. He’s talking about how ancestor’s thoughts affect the future generation. Sorry not sorry. Skip. The camera focuses on the map of Gandhar. We enter a room lit with many diyas, our focus is on a girl sleeping. It goes without saying that this is Gandhari. The wind blows out the candles. Gandhari breaks out into cold sweat and bolts awake. “Sukhda!” she yells. “Sukhda!” “Kumari Gandhari, I am here. The diyas will be lighted again. The diyas will be lighted again.” She yells at two other women, reminding them that Princess Gandhari is scared of the dark. Seriously, these guys are adding drama everywhere. This show is less of the Mahabharata and more of a soap opera. The diyas are lighted again. “Why am I so afraid of the dark?” asks Gandhari. “It’s not only you, all of us are afraid of it. Only through our eyes can the world come near us. If we have eyes, we have everything. In darkness, we feel like we have lost everything. But there is no cause for fear now. You go to sleep.” Gandhari nods. Sukhda smiles as she leaves. We focus on a campfire. The wood moves due to wind, making the soldier to run. He sees the shadows of a large army. He mounts his horse and gallops towards Maharaj Saubala. The camera focuses on a man, I assume he is Maharaj Saubala. “A large army, talent beyond belief, richer than Kuber. In such a Kingdom shall my daughter be wed, Gurudev,” he says. “The groom too shall be stronger than Pavan and of more virtues than Indra.” I still don’t get why Indra is the gold standard of Virtue in Hindu myths. I mean, he isn’t really the best warrior, he’s literally defeated by mortals, one of whom is his own son, along with Krishna. And Nahusha also defeats him. He doesn’t really have much of a moral compass either, basically raping Ahalya by proxy. And yet, he’s the King of the Gods. Why so? No idea. “My Gandhari cannot marry a man with even a smidgeon of problems,” the King continues. “My daughter is like that, Gurudev” says the Queen. “Bhagwan Shiv has blessed her with the boon of 100 children, after all.” The Guru looks at them strangely. “What is the issue?” asks the King. “You look tense.” The Guru begins. “Forgive me, Your Majesty. I…” A servant enters then. “Maharani, the senapati asks permission to enter,” she says. “At this time?” asks the Queen, confused. “The King is busy now.” The senapati enters. “Forgive me for my offence,” he says. “However, the news is such that I need to speak to the King now.” “What is the news?” The King and his Senapati descend the stairs. He’s firing questions about the army at his gates. “Where is Yuvaraj Shakuni?” “He is out on an expedition for a special purpose.” They are getting angry at the enemy army. They are also boasting about their army. “This is going to be a terrible war.” The Mahabharat theme plays. I think this is CANON fail. I don’t think Bhishm goes to Gandhar with an army, canonically, but I don’t really remember. Someone who does, please help. Precap: Saubala asks whose army is at his gates. “That great man is as effluent as the Sun, Maharaj.” Ah, so it’s Bhishm. “His eyes are like two balls of fire,” Camera focuses on Bhishm. I was right. “On his forehead, the symbol of the moon is present.” Camera shifts to Gandhari. “I am going to join the war with Pitashree,” she says. “If death is certain, then I die in the battlefield.” With this, we finish season 1 of Mahabharat, according to the Hotstar app listings. See you tomorrow with season 2!