Wikipedia Trail from Arjun to Gandhari

Arjun

I decided to start off my Wikipedia trails with Arjun, an obviously important character in the Mahabharata. The article had some interesting facts right off the bat! Firstly, Arjuna was naturally a talented archer - in fact, he is often cited as the greatest archer in the world at the time of the Mahabharata, according to Wikipedia. Another great fact I just learned from Wikipedia would be that Arjuna apparently had a life before Arjuna, sort of like Arjuna is the reincarnation of his previous life. In his previous life, he was the saint Nara, companion of Narayana, an incarnation of Vishnu.

Subhadra

From Arjun, I naturally found myself at the article for Subhadra, a wife of Arjun. Arjun was married to others, notably Draupadi, but Subhadra so far has been my favorite of his wives character-wise. In the Mahabharata, she is the sister of Krishna and Balarama, both considered to be avatars of Vishnu. According to Wikipedia, Subhadra is herself considered to be the incarnation of Yogmaya.

Duryodhana

From the article on Subhadra, I found myself on one about Duryodhana. I was going to visit an article on Yogmaya, but after researching her I found myself very confused. So, I chose to visit Duryodhana next instead, as he was the destined husband of Subhadra instead of Arjun. Duryodhana is also a major character in the Mahabharata, as I am sure anyone who has read through it would know. He is the crown prince of the Kuru kingdom, being the eldest son of the blind king.

Gandhari

Lastly, I found myself in the article on Gandhari, the mother of Duryodhana. Gandhari has an interesting story relative to the birth of her sons - of which there are 100, by the way. It was said she was destined to have 100 children, and that she did. However, according to Wikipedia and the Mahabharata, it did not go as planned. Instead, apparently because she would beat her womb out of frustration due to the fact her pregnancy with the blind king's children was taking too long, she gave birth to a lump of flesh. From this lump of flesh, the Veda Vyasa divides the lump into 100 pieces, placing each into a vat of oil, and from these 100 pieces rises her 100 sons.

Arjun and his wife, Subhadra. Source: Wikimedia