week 9: reading notes The Five Tall Sons of Pandu part A

The Indian Story Book: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu, written by Richard Wilson

• Pandu has 5 sons: Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva
• Dhritarashtra, Pandu's brother, becomes king when Pandu dies and has 100 sons
• Duryodhana is the oldest sons and he hates his cousins, the Pandavas 
• The princes were taught how to battle growing up
• Karna, a mysterious warrior, challenges Arjuna to a battle and they both are very skilled
• After the battle, a charioteer enters and Karna bows to him because that's his father
• Arjuna makes fun of Karna for having such a lowly father but Duryodhana defends Karna's skills 
• Duryodhana is furious because Yudhishthira is heir to the throne
• Duryodhana tries to trap the Pandavas and their mother Pritha in a burning house but they escape by disguising themselves as hermits
• They enter a contest and the King wants Arjuna to win so he sets up an archery target that only Arjuna can hit
• Other contenders fail to hit the target and Karna does but the Princess refuses him because of his low status
• Arjuna hits the target and the King declares him the winner
• Arjuna takes Draupadi home to his mother to tell her he won a prize but the mother doesn't know what the prize is and tells him to give the prize to his older brother Yudhishthira
• Duryodhana divides kingdom between him and Pandavas because Pandavas have made an alliance with King Drupada
• Pandavas build a royal city and perform a special sacrifice to make Yudhishthira king
• Duryodhana is jealous that Yudhishthira is king so he decides to trick him using a game of dice
• Yudhishthira plays against Shakuni, Duryodhana's uncle, and Shakuni cheats 
• Yudhishthira loses everything, gambling away himself, his brothers and his wife
• Rather than becoming slaves, Yudhishthira offers to go into exile
• Draupadi asks her husband to avenge her but he can't do anything
• Dhritarashtra then offers to grant Draupadi a wish and she asks to go into exile with the Pandavas for 12 years and 1 year of disguise
• While Pandavas are in exile, Duryodhana comes and mocks them but then needs their help to escape and Draupadi gets abducted but they rescue her
• For their last year of exile, they are disguised in the court of King Virata
• The Pandavas are preparing for battle against Duryodhana and he knows they're coming for him because they see the monkey banner in honor of Hanuman

Draupadi's swayamvara.