In this episode of Storytelling with Shweta, we return to the Women of the Mahabharata series. Today’s story is about Chitrangadha, the warrior princess of Manipura. She has barely a few lines dedicated to her in the ancient Indian epic but I wanted to explore her story from before her appearance in the Mahabharata. What I have for you on the podcast is a version of Chitrangadha’s life as imagined before and leading up to her meeting with Arjuna.

The piece that inspired this story from Indian mythology is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Listen to the episode for more. This family-friendly story is best for all who enjoy stories from the Mahabharata, Indian mythology and Folk tales.

Shownotes

The Indian sword that served as inspiration for this episode is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You can see it and read about it here.

Many scholars have argued that the ancient kingdom of Manipura was probably based on a location within Odisha. The river Chitrotpala flows through Odisha and I used it to geographically locate my story, because the name is a natural match for the names of Chitrangadha and Chitravahana, You can read more about it here.

“Chitrangadha” also inspired the poet, playwright and icon Rabindranath Tagore to write a play named “Chitra”.

Here is a fascinating article about the many tribes of Odisha that are possibly as old as or even older than the Mahabharata.

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