Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part D (The Forest and It's Ghosts)
The Forest and It's Ghosts
In this story the Pandava's travel to the jungle to visit Kunti and the other elders who occupy it. They find Vidura at the banks of the Ganges, and they sit with him until he passes. They all become very sad, and Vyasa comes to comfort them. He tells them to bathe in the waters and when night comes their loved ones will return for the night. They do, and everyone who bathed sees their loved ones return on chariots form the sea. They all spend the night together, and when the sun comes up the dead return to heaven. The ones who cannot stand to be without them choose to jump into the sea so they can also go to heaven.
I really liked this story because it was very mystical. I would rewrite this story and add details of what they did all night, like dancing and drinking and being with each other. However, I don't think I would have people kill themselves in order to be with their loved ones. I would rewrite it to have everyone feel better because they got to say their goodbyes and now they know that their loved ones are in heaven and are okay. It's a good lesson to teach that closure is very important, and to also understand that one day loved one will be reunited in heaven, or where ever else the reader may believe.
In this story the Pandava's travel to the jungle to visit Kunti and the other elders who occupy it. They find Vidura at the banks of the Ganges, and they sit with him until he passes. They all become very sad, and Vyasa comes to comfort them. He tells them to bathe in the waters and when night comes their loved ones will return for the night. They do, and everyone who bathed sees their loved ones return on chariots form the sea. They all spend the night together, and when the sun comes up the dead return to heaven. The ones who cannot stand to be without them choose to jump into the sea so they can also go to heaven.
I really liked this story because it was very mystical. I would rewrite this story and add details of what they did all night, like dancing and drinking and being with each other. However, I don't think I would have people kill themselves in order to be with their loved ones. I would rewrite it to have everyone feel better because they got to say their goodbyes and now they know that their loved ones are in heaven and are okay. It's a good lesson to teach that closure is very important, and to also understand that one day loved one will be reunited in heaven, or where ever else the reader may believe.
(The dead returning, Wikipedia Commons)
Bibliography: "The Forest and It's Ghosts" from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie, via PDE Mahabharata
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