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Component-I (A) – Personal Details Component-I (A) – Personal details: Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. Prof. Korada Subrahmanyam Center for ALTS, University of Hyderabad. Dr. N. Siva Senani Hyderabad. Prof. Korada Subrahmanyam Center for ALTS, University of Hyderabad. Component-I (B) – Description of module: Subject Name Indian Culture Paper Name Vedic, Epic and Puranic Culture of India Module Name/Title Encyclopedic Nature of Mahabharata Module Id IC / VEPC / 18 Pre-requisites Familiarity with Rāmāyaṇa Objectives To introduce Mahabharata, its contents and give an idea of its encyclopedic nature. To demonstrate that Mahabharata is a Smriti. Keywords Mahābhārata / Pāṇḍavas / Kauravas/Śāntiparva / Anuśāsanaparva/ Bhīṣma / Droṇa / Great war of ancient India / Dharma E-text (Quadrant-I): 1. Introduction Literature is an important aspect of the culture of a period and needs to be read and understood in a sympathetic way, i.e. it must be approached as it was designed to be, or as it was approached by the people of the society that one is trying to understand. Mahabharata, one of the two epics of India, is indeed familiar to all in India, but two aspects make this module necessary. Much as Mahabharata is well known, only a few would have read it fully or know it fully. The second aspect is that over the years people have approached it in their own way and continue to do so resulting in a wide variety in the ways it is understood. That Mahabharata is a huge epic and is amenable to multiple interpretations has only increased this. In such a situation, it would be useful to introduce the text as a whole and introduce the traditional way of understanding the text – both in understanding the culture of the Mahabharata period and in appreciating the epic. Mahabharata is composed by sage Vyasa and is said to be one lakh Slokas long. The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, starting a few years after the first world war and ending in the 1960s, prepared a critical edition of the work based on manuscripts which were upto 500 years old, commentaries or fragments of commentaries (of similar vintage) and much older Javanese and Telugu translations (nearly a thousand years old). The critical approach to editing Mahabharata was nuanced, but to summarise it, would generally aim to include only material attested to as original by all the manuscripts, or where the material found in only a few manuscripts was felt to be absolutely necessary. Such an approach yielded a critical edition of about 83,000 verses. Against this approach, is the traditional approach of commentators for whom Mahabharata is a work which helps understand what Dharma is. Nīlakaṇṭha’s commentary is the most popular one on Mahabharata. Given the emphasis in this module, the version with Nilakantha’s commentary which is nearly 1,00,000 verses long is referred to herein. The text, composed to teach Dharma, is divided into 18 Parvans of varying length and nominally describes the great war fought amongst cousins. 2. Overview of the Contents of Mahabharata Mahabharata, to simplify, describes the fight between two sets of cousins for their Kingdom. However it is recognized as describing the fight between Dharma and Adharma – and a book which teaches Dharma. It is not surprising, then, that the “moral” is four times as long as the “story”! Before examining it in some depth, a brief synopsis of the contents is presented. The first five Parvans describe the background of the key players – Pandavas, sons of Pāṇḍu and Kauravas, sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra – and the story leading to their fight. The next five Parvans describe the great war lasting 18 days. The last eight deal with the events after war till the death of Pandavas. # Parvan Brief Contents Remarks Contains many stories: Contains the story till the establishment of of Garuda; Yayati & 1 Ādi- the Kingdom of Pandavas with capital at Sarmishtha; Sakuntala Indraprastha, ends with Khandava-dahana etc. Yudhishthira’s Rajasuya sacrifice – Duryodhana’s jealousy – invitation to 2 Sabhā- game of dice – insult of Draupadi – exile of Pandavas Stories of Nala, Savitri 12 years of Pandavas’ exile – Adventures 3 Āraṇyaka- & Rama; Pilgrimage of Arjuna and Bhima – war preparation places One year stay of Pandavas incognito – 4 Virāṭa- killing of Kichaka – “outing” of Pandavas 5 Udyoga- Pandavas’ demand for Kingdom rejected Diplomacy & speeches First ten days of war, Bhishma being the 6 Bhīṣma- Contains Bhagavadgita commander of Kaurava forces Next five days of war, Drona is 7 Droṇa- commander Next two days of war, Karna is 8 Karṇa- commander 9 Śalya- Last day of the war, Salya is commander 18th night; sleeping heroes on Pandavas’ 10 Sauptika- side killed by Asvatthama Lamentation of women over the fallen 11 Stree- heroes Advice of Bhishma on Rajadharma, 12 Śānti- Apaddharma and Mokshadharma 13 Anuśāsana- Danadharma, Bhishma’s death 1,000 names of Vishnu Journey of the sacrificial horse – Arjuna’s 14 Āśvamedhika- Contains Anugita victories, Asvamedha sacrifice Retirement of Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and Dhritarashtra’s advice 15 Āśramavāsika- Kunti to forest; their death to Yudhishthira Arjuna’s powers 16 Mausala- Annihilation of Yadavas, death of Krishna vanish Last journey of Pandavas – circum- Dharma is 17 Mahāprasthānika- ambulation of their Kingdom – Death Yudhishthira’s dog Bad go to heaven first; 18 Svargārohaṇa- Attainment of heaven by all good go to hell first Structurally speaking, the story is told chronologically, in the main. Within, that narrative a number of stories are included. The Aranyakaparvan – describing the exile of Pandavas – especially includes a number of stories. At various points in the narrative, there are a number of discourses; in fact, two very long Parvans, Santi- and Anusasana- are devoted to the discourse between Bhishma and Yudhishthira. Also, included are various accounts of travels – Vijayayatras (victorious campaigns) and Tirthayatras (pilgrimages), which give a rich description of the geography of Mahabharata times. What is noteworthy is that, notwithstanding the huge length of the epic, the story-telling is very taut and a lot of details are not dwelt upon. One detail would illustrate this: Why did the Mahabharata war happen? The technical reason is that Duryodhana claims that Pandavas did not complete 13 years of exile – as Arjuna was seen after Vasantanavaratra (~April), whereas their exile started at the end of Sarannavaratra (~October). The stance of Pandavas, and the correct stance as per the customs in that period, is that13 years are deemed to be completed if the “adhikamasas” (intercalary months) of the lunar calendar are counted. This aspect is not once mentioned, much less debated, in the Udyogaparvan, which is devoted to discussions between the two camps before the parties decide to go to war! The epic is therefore, not merely a story of fight between cousins for a kingdom, but the conflict between Dharma and Adharma. It is the elucidation of Dharma, anchored in a particular context presented in a crisp manner, which makes the epic so gripping. The Dharma (usually Moksha, liberation or salvation, is referred to separately from Dharma, but Mahabharata has a long section on Moksha-dharma as well) so elucidated covers all aspects of life, and this is what makes the epic encyclopedic, as stated twice in the epic itself: धर्मे चार्थे च कार्मे च र्मोक्षे च भरतर्षभ। यदिहास्तत तिन्यत्र यन्नेहास्तत न तत्क्वस्चत्॥1.62.53॥ (reading withकुत्रस्चत्॥17.5.50॥) O best among Bharatas, in matters of Dharma, wealth, desire and Moksha, whatever is there here (in Mahabharata), that is found elsewhere, but whatever is not here, that is not found anywhere. 3.Encyclopedic Nature of Mahabharata Knowledge was categorized into 14 Vidyāsthānas, viz. 4 Vedas, 6 Vedāṅgas, Purāṇa, Nyāya, Mīmāṃsā, Dharmaśāstra, and there were Śāstras dealing with each topic. Thus one of the six Vedangas, Vyākaraṇa, usually translated as Grammar but encompassing much more than Grammar, is one Vidyasthana and there is a Sastra, called Vyakarana-sastra dealing with it. To use this terminology to describe Mahabharata, it is many Sastras rolled into one. Mahabharata is described as: Itihasa (History) सर्षश्रुस्तसर्मूहर्म्The compilation of [the essence of] all Vedas (1.62.35) धर्मषशास्त्रं पुण्यर्म्Auspicious Dharmasastra (1.62.22) अर्थषशास्त्रं परर्म्Ultimate Arthasastra (1.62.22) Mokshasastra (1.62.22) Equal to Vedas, 6 Vedangas, 18 Puranas and All Dharmasastra works (17.5.46) Additionally, it is the richest source of Nīti, which will be dealt with at length in a separate module in this module. Another view of the topics covered is available in the words of the author, Vyāsa himself in his submission to Brahmā (1.1.61 – 70): Secret of Vedas Detailed explanation of Vedas with Upanishads along with the Six Vedangas (Siksha, Vyakarana, Chandas, Nirukta, Jyotisha, Kalpa) Purana Itihasa Nature of old age, death, fear, disease Description of different kinds of Dharma Description of the four Ashramas (Brahmacarya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha, Sannyasa) Division into four Varnas (Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaisya, Sudra) Import of all the Puranas Description of Brahmacarya and Tapas Dimensions of Earth, Moon, Sun, other Planets, Constellations and Stars Lengths of different Yugas The three kinds of Vedic texts – Rik, Yajus and Saman Spiritual knowledge (आध्यात्क्र्मर्म्) Nyaya (Mimamsa and Tarka) Siksha Cikitsa (Ayurveda) Dāna (giving away in Charity) Greatness of God, Pasupati (पाशुपतर्म्) An account of divine and human births Description of holy places and holy rivers Rivers, mountains, forests and the ocean Divine cites Military strategies such as fortification and formation of armies (क쥍पानां युद्धकोशलर्म्) Features of speech of various speakers such as Kings, Ministers and well- wishers of Kings (र्ा啍यजास्तस्र्शेर्ााः) Niti Sastram (लोकयात्राक्रर्माः) Enunciation of that entity which is spread everywhere, i.e. Brahman (सर्षगं र्ततु) The commentator Nilakantha introduces the epic by saying that Vyasa wanted to compile the secrets of the fourteen Vidyasthanas at one place and so composed the Mahabharata and that remains the best summary of the contents of Mahabharata.
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