In Buck’s version of the Mahabharata, he starts with an
invocation of the story. In here Vyasa is the composer of the Mahabharata and
Ganesha is the scribe who wrote down while he dictated. The elephant head of
Ganesha comes from when Shiva got angry with him and tore of his real head. He
ended up replacing his head with that of an elephant’s which is why he has a
human body but an elephant head. There is a background of how certain people
came to be. The ocean was originally milk and upon it’s churning, Rambha,
Lakshmi and others appeared. It turned to poison and Shiva swallowed it.
Shantanu and Ganga fall in love along the Ganges river. She
agrees to marry him only if he does not ask her questions of her actions
throughout their marriage. Each child that she births she drowns in the river
up until the 8th child, Vasu. She gives Ganga that child and dives
into the river where she disappears. That child is Bhishma. Satyavati is born
inside of a fish. Her and Parashara have a child named Vyasa. Drona and Kripi
had a child together. Drona came to King Drupada to ask for help because they
could not feed their child. The king treated him with cruelty. Bhishma employed
Drona (and Kripa) as a teacher for Pandava and Kurava princes. Arjuna is the
best pupil of all the Pandavas.
Photo of Ganesha found online.
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