For episode 7, I decided to stay with Ramdhari Singh Dinkar whose poem we heard in the last episode. I chose this poem, Rashmi Rathi because I have always been mesmerized by it. It has a lyrical quality while being a study in Hindi grammar and vocabulary. It is a retelling of the Hindu epic Mahabharat from Karna’s perspective.  Karna is the most interesting character of the Mahabharat. Born of an unwed mother and misunderstood through his life, he is torn between siding with his dear friend or with his half-brothers in the Great War of Mahabharat. The word Rashmirathi literally translates to “the one who rides the rays of the sun” and refers to Karna himself. Though vastly different in their plotlines, there are a lot of parallels between the epic of Gilgamesh and Mahabharat. Both use historically relevant places and events and both are epic stories of human emotion, magic realism, destruction, hope and realization of the truths. I am reading an excerpt from part three of Rashmi Rathi, where Krishna, brings a peace proposal to Kauravas one of the warring parties. The proposal is spurned and Krishna insulted. Krishna, who is a human avatar of  God Vishnu, then warns about the horrors of a war unlike any other, in his gargantuan God form which encapsulates the universe and time itself.

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