By Dayna Purrier:
The song that I would be playing in the background is “Rise Up” by Andra Day. I chose this song because it really expresses how, even though you may go through obstacles and struggles throughout your life, you must continue to strive for greatness and we must have hope in the midst of everything happening. After the Pandavas were exiled for thirteen years, Yudhistira couldn’t provide for his family. They got a copper bowl from the Sun God where they would get an abundance of food if Draupadi held the bowl and they ended up in a forest named Dwaitavana. Draupadi was sick and tired of how they were living, and she and Yudhistira got into an argument because she believed that Yudhistira was too calm about the whole situation, although it was his fault they ended up living like that. The Pandavas and Bhima were siding with Draupadi, and believed they needed to take a stand after everything that happened.
Yudhistira understood where they were coming from and agreed that it was his fault. Yudhistira wanted to gather an army so they could match the Kauravas’s army. Arjuna stood up for his brothers and got different weapons from the Gods in Amaravathi which made him invincible. At the end of their twelfth year of exile, when they arrived at the Himalayas and met up with Arjuna after his absence of five years, Arjuna showed them all the weapons he got and they came up with a plan to destroy the Kauravas. After all the Pandavas went through, they decided to unite together, and get back their kingdom after being exiled and humiliated during the dice game.