Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Section B

photo captions

I have to admit, the Mahabharata has been a lot harder for me to follow than the Ramayana. I think this is because there are so many more characters and terms that I am unfamiliar with.
Because of that, I wanted to do some research about swayamvaras, since they are mentioned a lot in the Mahabharata.
From what I understand, a swayamvara is like an arranged marriage, but it is a little more complicated than that. It is where a message is sent out that a girl is looking for a husband. Once this is done, men from the community can come together and compete to be the girl's husband. This reminds me of the Disney movie, Brave and also how in Cinderella the prince is looking for the woman who fits into the glass shoe.
This was also in the Ramayana. That is how Sita chose Rama because he was strong enough to string the bow. Upon some research, this practice was not that unknown to me, I think I just wasn't aware of the term.




Bibliography: PDE Mahabharata, Swayamvara