Itihasa
Revenge, retaliation, and dark characters make us feel something more than just addiction to stories of violence; we feel that we are discovering stories about ‘justice’, and turn them into moral discourse.
Goenawan Mohamad
March 22, 2021
OUR imagination needs something dark and negative: this is what has perpetuated the Mahabharata over centuries. Since 400 BCE, the epic has been reread, reproduced and reinterpreted; yet still we are delighted when Bhima drinks the blood of his combat victim Dursasana. Generation upon generation applauds when Drupadi, the wife of the Pandawa, washes her hair in the fresh blood of the slain Kurawa prince. Vengeance is held in a way that excites us
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