NYMM 48: Riddle Me This, Cause your Lives Depend On it! Artwork

Not Your Mother's Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is this epic Indian work that encapsulates a great deal of Indian Mythology. It is a magnificent story that is constantly being rewritten and retold since its inception that was somewhere between 3000 BC and 1500 BCE

‘Not Your Mother’s Mahabharata with SP Jayaraj’ is a podcast where S.P. Jayaraj tell the story conversationally to his wife Azure Anderson and to friends, most of whom have never heard of the tale. Listeners familiar and unfamiliar with the epic are treated to their entertainingly honest first reactions.
Doing it conversationally as opposed to it being a straight up reading allows there to be variations in the story and the chance to pick apart some of the ideas about life that the Mahabharat brings to the forefront.

This podcast’s goal is to make this great work accessible, and entertaining to an adult audience. Come in expecting some laughs, some pop culture tangents, and some adult language.
This is a labor of devotion to the Mahabharat quite unlike any other you might come across.

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Not Your Mother's Mahabharata

NYMM 48: Riddle Me This, Cause your Lives Depend On it!

March 31, 2026 • S.P. Jayaraj, Azure Anderson • Season 4 • Episode 48

0:00 | 1:16:23

Marjorie Hakala joins us for the finale to Adi Parva (the book of the forest)

The Pandavas are just about done with their twelve years in the forest, but poor big brother Yudhishthira has not been doing as well as he's claimed. Though the family has forgiven him for that terrible day that led to their banishment, he has still not forgiven himself.

Days before their twelve years is up, the four younger Pandavas drink from a yaksha's lake despite the yaksha's warning, and immediately fall dead. (oh dear) Yudhishtira arrives at the lake, and though parched, heeds the yaksha by answering a series of riddles.

Azure and Marjorie take a stab at some of the riddles to see how they would do.

Marjorie Hakala is a writer with an MFA from Hamline University, a singer with VocalEssence a world traveler, and quite the wonderful person to talk to.

S.P. Jayaraj is the creator of the mythic world of Adijari that is the setting of his two novels, The Secret of the Zipacna Dragons and Legacy of the Crow. He is also a Creative Life Coach through his business Imagination Life Coaching. The Mahabharata and other global mythology inspires him in all his projects.

spjayaraj.com

Azure Anderson-Jayaraj is a musician, a maker, a cat mom, an arts administrator and now a podcast editor.

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Artwork and music by Azure Anderson