We are delighted to welcome local artist and fellow nerd, Leslie Barlow to the podcast.

Krishna has come to Hastinapur to give the Kurus a final chance to give the Pandavas their due and avoid war. Krishna even tries calling his mom, but Duryhodan just digs deeper and deeper in, and possibly does the dumbest thing he's done yet which leads to a mind blowing spectacle.

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.

Leslie Barlow

is an artist working in Minneapolis, MN. Barlow believes art and art making is both healing and liberatory, through the power of representation, witnessing and storytelling. Her life-sized oil paintings are inspired by community and personal experiences, and often serve as monuments to community members and explorations into how race entangles the intimate sphere of love, family, and friendship. Barlow received her BFA in 2011 from the University of Wisconsin- Stout and her MFA in 2016 from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

www.lesliebarlowartist.com

Confluence

ConFluence’s mission is to build creative, inclusive, and liberating spaces for BIPOC nerds where everyone can feel connected, inspired, and seen. Through both free and ticketed events, ConFluence offers diverse communities opportunities to share interests, foster relationships, exhibit and sell work, learn skills, and play.

www.confluencemn.com

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Artwork and music by Azure Anderson

Our wonderful friends from Colorado and fellow movie clubbers Kari and Mitchel Kusek join us as negotiations to stop the war of all wars continue.

Everyone is here! From everyone supporting the Pandavas to everyone supporting the Kauravas- everyone is having their say on whether peace should still be an option and how to go about making it happen.

Sanjaya returns discombobulated after delivering his message to the Pandavas and shares their response and counter offer of just five villages. Everyone chimes in to convince Duryodhana to take the offer and avoid cataclysmic war.

Does he take it?

...no of course not, but it's fun to imagine.

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.

Support the show

Have an imaginative day.


Artwork and music by Azure Anderson

Recorded LIVE at Convergence in Minneapolis, MN on July 3, 2026.

Friends, we were really lucky to do a live recording of this episode at Convergence 2026 in front of an audience!

#CVG2026

We do apologize for the background sound that was outside of our control for this episode. The running theory is that it was the Reverend Matt Kessen causing a ruckus in the neighboring room.

Fellow podcaster and friend, Aaron King, joins us we go back to the moment when Shiva opens up his third eye and turns the god of love into ash- but this time we follow the story of the ash, the birth of a three world conquering demon, and we learn about the wonder that is Lalita Tripura Sundari, who is certainly the greatest entity we have run across in our podcast. Lalita IS the universe, and from her she spawns legions of women warriors and other amazing goddesses as her generals.

Even for an epic podcast- this is pretty epic!

An audience member asked about my Mahabharata reading list. Here are the books I generally read in preparation for an episode. Sometimes I find tangents and corroboration online.

Ramesh Menon's Mahabharata

Amar Chitra Katha Mahabharata

Devdutt Pattanaik's Mahabharata

Amit Majmudar's The Mahabharata trilogy

Satyarth Nayak's Mahagatha

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.

Aaron King is a game designer, editor and collage editor, and cohost of the podcast ‘Read The F****** Manual’ where they and their cohost read and review Roleplaying Game Manuals. They're also the co-host of Nighcrawler is My Boyfriend. A podcast where two game designers read classic X-Men comics on a quest to make the perfect X-Men RPG!
Hosted by Aaron King (Patchwork World, SpeedRune, RTFM Podcast) and Caleb Zane Huett (Triangle Agency).

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Artwork and music by Azure Anderson

Another long time friend Dr. Victoria Peterson-Hilleque joins us as messengers go back and forth between the two sides to prevent war.

First, the Pandavas send their envoy to let the Kauravas know their terms for peace- carefully laying out the history of injustices and how they will still settle for half what was promised to them to prevent war. Then, Dhritarashtra sends his envoy to carry his message word for word. The Pandava court is flabbergasted by Dhritarashtra's message, which also triggers some rageful healthy discussion between the three of us.

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.

Dr. Victoria Peterson-Hilleque is a practicing psychologist as well as a poet. Purchase her poetry collection, Letters to Minnehaha Creek: https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Minnehaha-Creek-Victoria-Lin/dp/1950730433

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Artwork and music by Azure Anderson

Long time friend Peter Stein joins us as the Pandavas announce their return through a royal wedding.

The Pandavas exile is finally over, although Duryodhana tries to convince them to stay in exile, the Pandavas are not having it as they celebrate the wedding of Arjuna's son Abhinmayu. The Pandavas allies also discuss how to deliver their stance to Hastinapur to let them know firmly that they want what is owed to them after sticking to the terms of the dice roll 13 years ago. Then, Arjuna and Duryodhana go to see Krishna to try and get him to join their side in the upcoming war.

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.

Peter Stein is a poet and a photographer. Find out more at https://www.steinography.com

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Artwork and music by Azure Anderson

We meet five of the ten forms of Shakti known as the Mahavidyas.

Craig Hewitt comes by fresh from seeing Satish tell stories of Shiva and Shakti. A couple internet binges later, Satish has some complementary stories that focus largely on the ten forms of Shakti- stories that seem to be lesser known despite being awesome.

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.

Support the show

Support the show

Have an imaginative day.


Artwork and music by Azure Anderson

Jeenee Lee couldn't stay away. She needed to know how the battle played out and who can blame her.

After laughing from seeing the eunuch and teenage boy running away from them, the mighty Kaurava army now see the odd pair coming back and waving the Hanuman banner- Arjuna is no longer hiding.

Yet, things have changed drastically. Drona of the Kauravas is seeing the signs of their defeat, but in sharing them, it leads to a chain reaction of mass squabbling between them. They don't have a chance to fully get over it before Arjuna relishes using his Gandiva bow that he hasn't used in over a year.

it's an epic battle of Arjuna vs all his rivals and teachers.

Then, when he returns, Yudhishthira is careful to keep an injury he suffered from Arjuna, or risk greater calamity.

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.

Support the show

Have an imaginative day.


Artwork and music by Azure Anderson

We welcome Jeenee Lee for to tell her the exciting story of the Kauravas figuring it out. After not being able to find the Pandavas for most of the year, which means Duryhodan will be obliged to give everything back, he figures out that they've been in the Matsya kingdom the whole time. Now he needs to rout them out by sending his allies to attack the southern side of the kingdom, while he prepares his own forces to attack them from the north.

Because all the Matsya generals were secretly killed by Bheema (listen to the last episode because it was a real killer.) It's up to 4 of the Pandavas to protect the southern border and battle like they never have before- yet still need to maintain their disguises.

Then, for the north battle, the young prince of the Matsya kingdom talks tough because there is no charioteer to actually drive him into battle, that is until Brihanalla the 'eunuch' shares her skills with Draupadi, forcing the naive prince to live up to his bragging.

It's part 1 of 2 of an epic end to the the Pandavas exile, one way or the other.

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.

Support the show

Have an imaginative day.


Artwork and music by Azure Anderson