Introduction

The topic of this Storybook concerns the common theme of twinness seen in the ancient Indian myth the Mahabharata. Through the anthological posts on this page (whether prose or poetry), discover what it means to be two halves of a harmonious whole. This theme of complementary/cyclical relationships is commonly associated with multiple births in Indian tradition, and as it happens this epic has no shortage of supernatural “twin” conceptions. Among those caught in contrasting archetypes are mystical pairs of twins made famous outside of the Mahabharata who happen to make an appearance in the tale when referenced by the characters or central narrator. These include Yama and Yami, deities who represent death/darkness and life/light respectively, and the Gemini gods called the Ashvins, Nasatya and Dasra, who are said to symbolize the sunrise and sunset. The significance of these dichotomous sets will provide similar influence in “Tales of Twinhood,” since the main moral messages of the Mahabharata can likewise be seen as “two toned:” are the notions of love and hate, peace and war, pain and pleasure, virtue and vice, and life and death not essentially two sides of the same coin, much like the famed twins of old Indian folklore?

Get ready to start seeing double (meanings) in the following passages through the perspective of the following fraternal pairs in the Mahabharata: Nakula and Sahadeva, Draupadi and Dhristadaumma, and lastly Satyavati and the Matsya King. The re-tellings ahead will reconstruct the Mahabharata through a lens that their identities as twins informed by the famous Gemini gods/goddesses mentioned above provides. The dynamics of each of these duos is unique. Nakula and Sahadeva represent a brotherhood characterized by a deep bond, whereas the pairs Draupadi and Dhristadyaumma and Satyavati and her unnamed brother are born together but beyond their birth lead separate lives. For the pairs who forge their own path, the Mahabharata leaves the reader to speculate the feelings and fate of the twin whose other half didn’t make it into the myth as heavily. For the sake of these “shadow twins” whose counterpart stole center stage, these stories will speak into the void of their absence.

Look back as the stories develop for character descriptions below.