Undesired Duty

Mahabharata is an ancient story from India, a major Sanskrit epic full of controversies. Undesired Duty attempts to address some of the conundrums in the original text and adds the texture of the perspective of commoners. Siya is an ordinary woman who lives in a village near Dwarka. Her interests focus on music and drama. A few months before the Mahabharata war is to start, Siya is planning Leela, a festival to honor the deity Indra, when she learns of her husband's unexpected death....
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Mahabharata is an ancient story from India, a major Sanskrit epic full of controversies. Undesired Duty attempts to address some of the conundrums in the original text and adds the texture of the perspective of commoners. Siya is an ordinary woman who lives in a village near Dwarka. Her interests focus on music and drama. A few months before the Mahabharata war is to start, Siya is planning Leela, a festival to honor the deity Indra, when she learns of her husband's unexpected death. Her life then becomes anything but ordinary. Siya and her family first become involved in what is to be a war unlike any other when two cousins, Arjun and Duryodhan, visit Dwarka to seek help from Krishna, their divine hero. The story follows the events of the Mahabharata war and its aftermath from the perspective of Siya and her family and ends with the ultimate destruction and rejuvenation of the Yadav clan, the clan to which the Hindu deity, Krishna, belonged. Among other things, the story explores the development of symbols, culture and philosophy in early India that influence people of Indian origin today. Swastika, one of the most sacred symbols of India was desecrated when Nazis adopted its modified version. Jews have a reason to call Swastika evil. But Hindus are unable to explain its sacredness. All they can say is--it is sacred because it has been sacred for centuries. Undesired Duty tries to explain how and why the lines and dots of Swastika developed into a sacred symbol. In Undesired Duty, you'll step into another world, one that explores the turmoils and challenges of ancient India in a manner that makes those times seem as fresh as if they'd happened yesterday.