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My Impressions on the Mahabharata - Essay - 2
By vatsayan
The Story Summarized:
The story commences with the visit of a Rishi called
Ugasrava Sautin, a son of another accomplished Rishi called
Lomaharshana, approaching some other ascetics in a forest
called Naimisa. The ascetics had just then performed a
yagya (sacrifice) to a deity called Saunaka Kulapati. The
ascetics make Sautin comfortable and inquire about his
wanderings. Sautin narrates that he was just coming from
the Court of Emperor Janamejaya. The Emperor Janamejaya was
a son of Emperor Parikshat, who himself was born to
Abhimanyu that was valiantly slain in the Mahabharata war.
Emperor Janamejaya had just then performed a great yagya,
in which he had intended to sacrifice and destroy all the
snakes that were in existence then. In order to prevent
their destruction the snakes had approached a Rishi called
Vaisampayana, a disciple of the Great Vyasa himself that
authored the Mahabharata. Vaisampayana approached
Janamejaya and informed him that his hatred for the snakes
was undesirable. What supposedly caused Janamejaya’s
anguish prompted him to destroy all the snakes was a fact
Emperor Parikshat, Janamejaya’s father, had died of a snake
bite in spite of guarding himself well and hiding in an
inaccessible single pillared structure. Vaisampayana then
told Janamejaya about the karma theory propounded in the
Gita by the Lord Krishna himself, who was a reincarnation
the Almighty. He then narrated to Janamejaya the story of
Janamejaya’s forefathers – the Pandavas and the Kauravas
and the great battle they fought at Kurukshetra.
Kurukshetra contains a lake called Samantapanchaka where
the Pandavas, even though victorious in the battle of
Kurukshetra had to perform a great penance to rid
themselves of their own damaged souls. For in the battle of
Kurukshetra all the chiefs of the earth as it was then
known ranged on either side and were destroyed. The earth
witnessed death and annihilation in a manner that was never
experienced before. Neither the victors nor the vanquished
found satisfaction and peace of mind. All this was narrated
and committed into writing in a book form by the Great
Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa in a great poem called the
Mahabharata. Vyasa himself was motivated to commit this
poem for the sake of benefit of the future generations as
he was greatly moved by the occurrences of the events
narrated therein. He was even more induced by the fact that
players in the drama happened to be his own descendants, as
we shall soon learn as we get along the story. The
narration of Sautin then leads on further and directs us to
the Preface by Sri Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa himself, which
we shall approach.
My Impression:
This is a format that is usually followed in many ancient
Indian texts, whereby a story, an incidence or occurrence
is narrated within another story, an incidence or
occurrence. This format is found in several Indian scripts
which I have mentioned in my previous essay, (Please refer
to http://mahabharataimpressions.blogspot.com/2005/05/my-
impressions-on-mahabhar_111591094715184643.html), viz. the
Brihatkatha, the Jataka Tales, the Pañca-tantra,
Hitopadesa, the Subhashitas the Kathääsarítsagara (“Ocean
of Rivers of Stories”) etc. I believe the format traveled
from India to Arabia and was adopted for the Arabian
Nights1. From there on Europeans discovered this narration form.
However, to my knowledge I have found this narrative form
in the European literature only in the Arabian Nights,
there are several Indian expositions as I have already
mentioned. Now we shall return
The Story Summarized:
Preface by Sri Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa:
The Maharishi Veda Vyasa first interpreted the four Vedas2
in the form of eighteen Puräänäs. According to the author,
they are, “possessing subtle meanings logically combined,
and gleaned from the Vedas, are a sacred work. Composed in
elegant language, they include the subject matter of other
books as well. They are elucidated by other Shastras, and
comprehend the sense of the four Vedas.
The ascetics gathered there then beseeched Sautin to
narrate them the History called Bharata (the Mahabharata),
the holy composition of the wonderful Vyasa. The hearing of
the narrative dispels the fear of evil. Sautin then
proceeded to recount the history just as it was cheerfully
recited by the Rishi Vaisampayana, under the direction of
Dwaipayana himself, at the snake-sacrifice of Raja
Janamejaya. He said, “Some bards have already published
this history, some are now teaching it, and others, in like
manner, will hereafter promulgate it upon the earth. It is
a great source of knowledge, established throughout the
three regions of the world. It is the delight of the
learned for being embellished with elegant expressions,
conversations human and divine, and a variety of poetical
measures.”
Thereafter the narrative proceeds into a story of the
Creation of the Universe according to the Hindu tradition,
which we need not go into, and which I consider is not very
interesting or imaginative.
Sautin went on elaborating, “The Rishi Vyasa published this
mass of knowledge in both a detailed and an abridged form.
It is the wish of the learned in the world to possess the
details and the abridgement. Some read the Bharata
beginning with the initial mantra (invocation), others with
the story of Astika3 , others with Uparichara4, while some
Brahmanas5 study the whole. Men of learning display their
knowledge of the institutions in commenting on the
composition. Some are skilful in explaining it, while
others, in remembering its contents.”
Veda Vyasa composed this work after having mastered the
analysis of the Great Vedas themselves by great penance and
meditation, and having completed the composition began to
wonder how the poem may be made available to the general
population. Then Brahma, the creator of the universe
according to Hindu tradition appeared to him and advised to
commit the verse into a written form. Thus we arrive at the
delightful tale of how Vyasa dictates his composition to
Ganesha, the world’s first stenographer, and how Ganesha
transcribes the poem. More about this later, as we move
along with the text.
However, returning to the preface by Veda Vyasa himself,
Vyasa informed Brahma before the latter advised him to
commit the verse into a written form (as Sautin narrates),
“a poem has been composed which is greatly respected. The
mystery of the Veda, and what other subjects have been
explained by me; the various rituals of the Upanishads with
the Angas; the compilation of the Puräänäs and history
formed by me and named after the three divisions of time,
past, present, and future; the determination of the nature
of decay, fear, disease, existence, and non-existence, a
description of creeds and of the various modes of life;
rule for the four castes, and the import of all the
Puräänäs; an account of asceticism and of the duties of a
religious student; the dimensions of the sun and moon, the
planets, constellations, and stars, together with the
duration of the four ages; the Rig, Sama and Yajur Vedas;
also the Adhyatma6; the sciences called Nyaya7, Orthoepy8
and Treatment of diseases; charity and Pasupatadharma (I
confess I do not know the meaning of this word); birth
celestial and human, for particular purposes; also a
description of places of pilgrimage and other holy places;
of rivers, mountains, forests, the ocean, of heavenly
cities and the kalpas (a measure of time) ; the art of war;
the different kinds of nations and languages: the nature of
the manners of the people; and the all-pervading spirit;--
all these have been represented.” Having heard Vyasa Brahma
blessed him saying, “There shall be no poets whose works
may equal the descriptions of this poem,” and advised that
Ganesha be beseeched.
_______________________________
1 The Arabian Nights' Entertainment, Arabic Alf Laylah wa
Laylah collection of Oriental stories of uncertain date and
authorship whose tales of Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sinbad the
Sailor have almost become part of Western folklore.
As in much medieval European literature, the
stories—fairytales, romances, legends, fables, parables,
anecdotes, and exotic or realistic adventures—are set within
a frame story. Its scene is Central Asia or “the islands or
peninsula of India and China,” where King Shahryar, after
discovering that during his absences his wife has been
regularly unfaithful, kills her and those with whom she has
betrayed him. Then, loathing all womenfolk, he marries and
kills a new wife each day until no more candidates can be
found. His vizier, however, has two daughters, Shahrazad
(Scheherazade) and Dunyazad; and the elder, Shahrazad,
having devised a scheme to save her and others, insist that
her father give her in marriage to the king. Each evening
she tells a story, leaving it incomplete and promising to
finish it the following night. The stories are so
entertaining, and the king so eager to hear the end, that he
puts off her execution from day to day and finally abandons
his cruel plan.
Though the names of its chief characters are Iranian, the
frame story is probably Indian, and the largest proportion
of names is Arabic. The tales' variety and geographical
range of origin—India, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Turkey, and
possibly Greece—make single authorship unlikely; this view
is supported by internal evidence—the style, mainly
unstudied and unaffected, contains colloquialisms and even
grammatical errors such as no professional Arabic writer
would allow. (Entry Found in The Encyclopedia Britannica
under the Arabian Nights)
2 Sacred hymn or verse composed in archaic Sanskrit and
current among the Indo-European-speaking peoples who entered
India from the Iranian regions. No definite date can be
ascribed to the composition of the Vedas, some of which
possess high literary merit, but the period of about
1500–1200 BC would be acceptable to most scholars. The hymns
formed a liturgical body that in part grew up around the
cult of the soma ritual and the sacrifice. They extolled the
hereditary deities, who for the most part personified
various natural and cosmic phenomena, such as fire (Agni),
sun (Surya and Savitr), dawn (U—as), storms (the Rudras),
war and rain (Indra), honor (Mitra), divine authority
(Varuna), and creation (Indra, with some aid of Vishnu).
Hymns were composed to these deities, and many were recited
or chanted during rituals.
The foremost collection, or Samhita, (of such hymns, from
which the hot… (Chief priest) drew the material for his
recitations, is the Rig-Veda. Sacred formulas known as
mantras were recited by the priest responsible for the
sacrificial fire and the carrying out of the ceremony; these
mantras and verses in time were drawn into Samhita (known
collectively as Yajur-Veda. A third group of priests, headed
by the Udgatr… (“Chanter”), performed melodic recitations
linked to verses that, although drawn almost entirely from
the Rig-Veda, came to be arranged as a separate Samhita,
(the Sama - Veda (“Veda of the Chants”). To these three
Vedas—Rig, Yajur, and Sama, known as the Thrääi - Vedas(
(“threefold knowledge”)—is added a fourth, the Atharva-
Veda, a collection of hymns, magic spells, and incantations
that represents a more folk level of religion and remains
partly outside the Vedic sacrifice.
The entire corpus of Vedic literature—the Samhitas (and the
expositions that came to be attached to them, the
Brahmanyas, the Aranyakas, and the Upanishads—was considered
Shruti, the product of divine revelation. The whole of the
literature seems to have been preserved orally (although
there must early have been manuscripts to assist memory).
Even today several of these works, notably the three oldest
Vedas, are recited with subtleties of intonation and rhythm
that have been handed down from the early days of Vedic
religion (q.v.) in India.
The Veda, meaning “Knowledge,” is a collective term for the
sacred scriptures of the Hindus. Since about the 5th century
BC, the Veda has been considered to be the creation of
neither human nor god; rather, it is regarded as the eternal
Truth that was in ancient times directly revealed to or
“heard” by gifted and inspired seers (Rishis) who
transcribed it into the most perfect human language,
Sanskrit. Although most of the religion of the Vedic texts,
which revolves around rituals of fire sacrifice, has been
eclipsed by Hindu doctrines and practices, the absolute
authority and sacredness of the Veda remains a central tenet
of virtually all Hindu sects and traditions. Even today, as
it has been for several millennia, parts of the Veda are
memorized and recited as a religious act of great merit.
The components of the Veda :
The Veda is the product of the Aryan invaders of the Indian
subcontinent and their descendants, although the original
inhabitants (disdainfully called dásyus, or “slaves,” in the
Veda) may very well have exerted an influence on the final
product. The Veda represents the particular interests of two
classes of Aryan society, the priests (Brahmans) and the
warrior-kings (Kshatriyas), who together ruled over the far
more numerous peasants (Vaisyas).
Vedic literature ranges from the Rig-Veda (Rig-Veda; c. 1400
BC) to the Upanishads (Upanishads; c. 1000–500 BC). This
literature provides the sole documentation for all Indian
religion before Buddhism and the early texts of classical
Hinduism. Because it is the literature of a ruling class, it
probably does not represent all the myths and cults of the
early Indo-Aryans, let alone those of the non-Aryans.
The most important texts are the four collections (Samhitas)
known as the Veda or Vedas (i.e., “Book[s] of Knowledge”):
the Rig-Veda (“Wisdom of the Verses”), the Yajur-Veda
(“Wisdom of the Sacrificial Formulas”), the Sama-Veda
(“Wisdom of the Chants”), and the Atharva-Veda (“Wisdom of
the Atharva Priests”). Of these, the Rig-Veda is the oldest.
In the Vedic texts following these earliest compilations,
the Bräähmanääs (discussions of the ritual), Aranyakas
(books studied in the forest), and Upanishads (secret
teachings concerning cosmic equations), the interest in the
early Rig Vedic gods wanes, and they become little more than
accessories to the Vedic rite. Polytheism begins to be
replaced by a sacrificial pantheism of Prajapati (“Lord of
Creatures”), who is the All. In the Upanishads Prajapati
merges with the concept of Brahman, the supreme reality and
substance of the universe (not to be confused with the Hindu
god Brahma, replacing any specific personification, thus
transforming the mythology into abstract philosophy.
Together, the components of each of the four Vedas—the
Samhitas, Bräähmanääs, Aranyakas, and Upanishads—constitute
the revealed scripture of Hinduism, or the Shruti (“Heard”).
All other works—in which the actual doctrines and practices
of Hindus are encoded—are recognized as having been composed
by human authors and are thus classed as Smriti (Smriti:
“Remembered”). The categorization of Veda, however, is
capable of elasticity. First, the Shruti is not exactly
closed; Upanishads, for example, have not been composed
until recent times. Second, the texts categorized as Smriti
inevitably claim to be in accord with the authoritative
Shruti, and thus worthy of the same respect and sacredness.
For Hindus, the Veda is a symbol of unchallenged authority
and tradition. (Entry Found under the title Vedas in The
Encyclopedia Britannica)
3 To be found in the text
4 To be found in the text
5 To be found in the text
6 Relating to other worldly.
7 Justice
8 Main Entry: or·tho·epy
Pronunciation: 'or-th&-"we-pE, or-'thO-&-pE
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin orthoepia, from Greek orthoepeia, from
orth- + epos word -- more at VOICE
1 : the customary pronunciation of a language
2 : the study of the pronunciation of a language
- or·tho·ep·ic /"or-th&-'we-pik/ adjective
- or·tho·ep·i·cal·ly /-pi-k(&-)lE/ adverb
- or·tho·epist /'or-th&-"we-pist, or-'thO-&-pist/ noun
(Merriam Webster Online Dictionary)Merriam-Webster Online
Dictionary erriam-Webster Online Dictionary
About the Author
vatsayan
* *Age*: 51
* *Gender*: male
* *Astrological Sign:* Libra
* *Zodiac Year:*: Snake
* *Industry*: Accounting
* *Occupation*: Chartered Accountant
* *Location*: Vijayawada, Chennai
Tamilnadu AP, : India
About Me
A man without work
Interests
* Reading
* Philosophy
* Science
* Fiction
* Economics
* Classics in Sanskrit Greek and William Shakespeare
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