Talk:Arjuna/@comment-123.21.186.226-20180313151345/@comment-119.40.122.4-20180314022037

Mahabharata has a strong underlying theme of social rebellion, where practically every character takes unorthodox but legitimate decisions. So Draupadi's (arjuna's wife who was married to all 5 pandava brothers ncluding arjuna) polyandry (marriage of a woman to multiple men) is just one among many such decisions. Polyandry was used as a plot-device to establish the strength of the Pandava's brotherhood. but hey, here's an easter egg: some writers say that Draupadi had a hidden love for Karna >////<

of course the main OG of the pandavas and mahabartha is arjuna himself. he had multiple wives as well, i mean who wouldn't 5000 years ago. but he didnt seek women from brothels or no-brain princesses. Arjuna was a philosopher warrior. We all know he's an exceptionally strong warrior, but we know less about him being an ARTIST of exceptional calibre, having learnt all the art from the gandharvas (musical and dance) during his residence with Indra (his father, god of lightning). A person possessing of such bandwidth would always seek pleasure from a woman who would be capable of matching his intellect. And Draupadi matched this. So did his other wives.

But since you pointed out RAMA, i have to bring out KRISHA (i'm sure you've heard of him even in the tiniest bit of arjuna's bio) as well. Rama and Krishna are both incarnations of the same god, Vishnu on a different timeline. They're the same, but live different lives and have different philosophies. Let's just say Krishna influences many decisions made in Mahabaratha, including Arjuna's multiple wife picking. But Rama on the other hand, is so devoted to his one and only Sita.

Reason why Rama is so cynical about Arjuna's wife sharing: Rama’s relations with others are fully based on the strength of his own character. His dealings are always straightforward and so are the characters he has to deal with. He finds a fault not to his liking, he says it. Krishna on the other hand, understands and utilizes to the full, the strengths and weaknesses of people he has to deal with, and manipulates them that leads to the multiple events in Mahabaratha so he gives less room for romance and willy nilly things and more to achieve his goals. It has more complex human interplay compared to Rama's epic Ramayana.

Sorry for the loooooong rant but i'm a devout history student and i even play this game because of that. Indian epic really spoke to me because of the immense depth. In conclusion: Yes, Arjuna did share wives, but Rama's understanding as to why he had to and what lied behind all that is poor so he laughed about it instead. BUT let's also not forget this is the younger little bratty Rama, not the much wiser older OG Rama.