March

March 24

Today we covered day 13 and part of day 14 of Mahabharata. 

Homework -

1. Why did Kaurav think that Arjuna will die if he kills Jayadrath

2. ⁠Why did Karna not kill Bheema on day 14 when he had the chance.

3. ⁠Read day 14 and 15 of the Mahabharata.

February

February 18

Today we covered the Virat Parv with the students. 

Homework for next week -

1. What is Apsara?

2. ⁠Read the story of Yudhisthir and the Yaksha

3. ⁠Which kingdom was the ally of the Kauravs during their attack on Virat.

4. ⁠Read Book

February 11

In Class:

First, the students review over the homework that was assigned the previous week.

Next, we talked about the story of Garuda and Nagas, talking about who the mother and father were for that story.

Also, the teacher talked about when Arjun got into the conflict with a tribal group, who ended up being Shiva.

We then watched the video of Duryhodhan and Shakuni trying to find Arjun before the time runs out. After that, Arjuna and Bheema cut off the hair of their opponent instead of killing him.

Homework:

Know what Arjun asked from Mahadev

Know what was so special about the weapon Arjun asked for

Who was the bald guy that Arjun and Bheema cut off all the hair of

What is the relationship of this bald guy with Duryhodhana.

Extra:

The teacher talked about the HATS Annual Day performance and how Dharma 6 will be performing Aigiri Nandini without any papers (memorization) on April 16th

February 4

Talked about Hindu calendar

Watched video and discussed characters

Homework:

Why did Bhima want to break the thigh of Durvodhana?

Which thigh?

Make questions to which you know the answer to for class next wk

January

January 28

In Class:

We reviewed the past two weeks of material and mainly covered some more of the Pandava's journey. We also talked about how Shikhandi, Dristadyumna (we watched a video on all these people), and Draupadi are related to Drupad. We talked about what a Swayamvar is and how it is relevant to the Mahabharata

Homework:

Figure out what lunar month it is

Learn of the story of Shikhandi

January 21

Today, there was a standard 20 minute parent-teacher conference talking about potential alternatives for class work and homework. Some things we are considering are doing weekly quizzes (maybe Kahoots), reading graphic novels concerning the Mahabharata to connect with the students more, and watching more videos in and outside of class. The parents and students were taking a quiz in class today to assess how good the students are and how well they’re paying attention. There is no homework today

January 7

We covered the following topics -

The battle with Drupad

The princes return to Hastinapur

The events of Lakshagrah

Home work

Know the lunar calendar for Jan 14

Read 1.14

December

December 10

HW recap:

 Relationship between Bheeshma and Dronacharya

⁃ Bheeshma hired Dronacharya

⁃ They both had the same teacher (Parshuram)

⁃ Parshuram taught Karna (who disguised himself as a Brahmin b/c Parshuram didn’t teach

Kshatriyas)

⁃ Dronacharya’s wife (Kripi) is Kripacharya’s sister

⁃ Dronacharya’s son is Ashwathama

 Why Yudishtra does not tell anyone about Bheema being poisoned:

⁃ He has no proof

⁃ He will be disgraced if he goes and tells anyone

Why Arjuna was Dronacharya’s favorite student:

⁃ hardworking

⁃ Very talented

⁃ Fulfilled the challenges that Drona created very well

⁃ Sparrow eye

⁃ Splitting leaves

The similarities between Greek and Hindu Gods:

Indra - Zeus

Varuna - Poseidon

Surya - Apollo

Same Pantheon, different names

Story of Ekalavya:

⁃ Rejected by Dronacharya when he asked to be his student

⁃ Created a murti of Dronacharya to be ‘taught’ instead

⁃ Becomes even better than Arjuna

⁃ Silences Arjuna’s dog with arrows without hurting it

⁃ Arjuna is jealous that Drona broke his promise and made someone else the best archer

⁃ Dronacharya then asks for an unfair Guru Dakshina from Ekalavya

⁃ The Guru Dakshina was very unfair - Ekalavya was asked to cut his right thumb

⁃ Ekalavya cut off his thumb (shown to be devoted) but Drona felt bad and taught him to

shoot arrows using his middle and pointer finger

Showcases how you cannot determine if a decision is good or bad without context

Draupad and Drona:

Make a promise (when they were children) that each would give each other one thing:

⁃ Draupad (king) humiliates Drona by saying that they weren’t friends and that he shouldn’t

ask for more stuff

⁃ Drona then makes Arjuna capture Draupad and put him in chains as his Guru Dakshina

HW for next week:

Read 1.12/1.13

December 3

In Class:

1. The students were learning about the different Pandava brothers (Yudhisthir, Bheem, Arjuna,

Nakula, and Sahadeva).

2. Some of the family trees in the Mahabharata were expanded on and the teacher also talked

about what happened when the Pandavas were in exile.

3. The students learned about what Duryodhan did when he learned that the Pandavas escaped

their exile.

4. During the topic of Kripacharya (the Pandava’s teacher), the teacher talked about the origin of

Sanskrit as a short side lesson.

5. They learned about how each of the Pandavas specialized in their own weapon

6. Duryodhan poisons Bheem, but the special deities (snake people) starting biting Bheem, which

cured Bheem of his poison. Bheem still got overpowered though and was brought to the snake

peoples kingdom. (Will be continued next week)

Homework:

All the students should reread some of the previous chapters as they’re having trouble

remembering the character’s names

Read 1.8 and 1.9 (make sure to actually understand the reading)

Know for next week:

Figure out the relationship between Dronacharya, Kripacharya, and Bheeshma

Figure out what weapon Yudhishthir specialized in

Figure out the relationship between Bheem and the king of the snakes

November

November 19

Homework review/recap:

Shantanu had sons:

• Bheeshma - takes a wow to never get married

• Chitrangad

• Dhritrastra (blind, eldest, couldn't be king), married to Gandhari

• KING Pandu (good at archery, health problems)

• 2 wifes

• Kunti (had the mantra, called Surya Dev, who gave her a child that she gave up, Radtheya [Karna])

• Madri (from Madras)

• Vidur (healthiest, smart, did not want to be king, prime minister)

Lesson start:

Pandu gets cursed:

• shoots rishi Kindama + wife, who curses him and says he will meet his end when he is sitting alone with his wife

• Pandu is sad, renounces throne

In the forest (Kunti reveals the mantra):

• Kunti invokes:

• Dharma -> Yudihisthir

• Vayu -> Bheema

• Indra -> Arjuna

• Madri invokes:

• Ashwini Brothers -> Nakula (medicine), Sahadeva (horses, handsome, perseverance)

***THESE ARE THE PANDAVAS***

Dhritrastra + Ghandari has children:

• Ghandari has a lump of flesh

• Rishi Ved Vyaas tells her to cut it into a hundred pieces, put them into pots of ghee

100 sons (Kauravas)

Duryodhana is the oldest of the Kauravas

Pandu dies due to curse, Madri kills herself in grief

Bheeshma wants to bring Kunti and the Pandavas back

The conflict will be who gets the throne, as Yudihistira is the oldest, but Duryodhana will fight him for power.

November 12

References: The map is on page 202 and the family tree is on page 203.

In Class: The family of Kunti was talked about and new characters like Rishi Durvaasa and Suryadey were discussed about. The teacher expanded on Adhirath, the charioteer of Dhritraashtra. and the other important relationships he had. The principal character as of now is Paandu (the king), so the teacher was emphasizing that by talking a lot about him.

Teacher's Notes: Since the Mahabharat is so long, it is very important for the students to understand the roles of each character, the relationships those characters have with one another, and how each character is significant in the epic. This is because all these various characters relate to each other.

Homework:

What was Karna's name before he became Kama? (Students should figure this out before coming to class next week.)

Which kingdom does Madri come from? (Students should figure this out before coming to class next week.)

Read sections 1.5, 1.6, and 1.7 (This will be talked about next week)

November 5

What to Refer to:

The students can find the map of “Kingdoms of Bhãrata during the Mahabharata” in page 202.

The students can find the family tree in page 203.

In Class:

The teacher was talking about the 3 generations of the stories that the students have previously

covered and he was covering over the various characters that the students read about in their

previous reading. The students were discussing about Section 1.4 in the book. It talked about Subal

and his daughter Gandhari and his son Shakuni. They were also discussing about Section 1.5 which

talked about Kunti. Relating to Diwali, the students talked about why Diwali started. They were

talking about solar and lunar calendars as the teacher was trying to explain the Indian calendar.

Homework:

They should also know what the relationship was

between Krishna and Kunti and know how many

wives Krishna had.

October

October 22

- Discussed Hindu calendar

- Discussed who Parshuram's guru was

- Talked about What Parshu means

- Watched Mahabharata video

- Discussed characters (Amba, Parshurami, Bheeshma, Shiva)

- Relation between characters

(Satvavati, Parashar, Vichitravirva, Chitrangda, Ambika, Ambalika, Maid, Pandu, Vidura, Dhitrashta)

Homework:

- Find out the name of Vedvyas.

- Find out the name of Amba in her second birth.

- What was Satyavati's name before she met Parashar and what was the story of her birth?

- Read book.

October 8

Materials covered: Discussed about Amba, Ambika and Ambalika. Why Salva didn't marry Amba ?

Homework:

1. Find out Guru of Parshuram

2.  Find out how was Vedvyasji born

3. Read the book

September

September 24

In class:

Discussed Mahabharata, who wrote it

Gregorian calendar 

Why do we have leap years? How do we account for leap years in Hindu mythology?

Watched a video on Mahabharata and noted down various characters (Rakshas, Hida, Ganga, Devarata, Shantanu, Parshuram, Chiranjeevi)

Received textbooks

Homework:

Count beads in a Malak

Find out the name of Vadya

Read the story of Ganga and Shantanu

Memorize 12 Hindu months 

Importance of 9 Image 1, Image 2

September 17

In class:

Every week, there will be a quiz on the three columns (see attached)

Discussed 12 Hindu months 

Watched crash course video on earth revolution 

Homework:

Find out the name of the person who created the names of the months (January, February, March, etc.)

Bring notebook and pencil to class everyday 

If we follow Hindu months, when do we have leap years?

Image 1, Image 2