DOCSLIB.ORG

Anti-War Sentiments in Andha Yug

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Anti-War Sentiments in Andha Yug (RJELAL) Research Journal of English Language and Literature Vol.4.Issue 4. 2016 A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal (Oct.Dec.) http://www.rjelal.com; Email:[email protected] RESEARCH ARTICLE ANTI-WAR SENTIMENTS IN ANDHA YUG VISHNU RAM Research Scholar, Dept. English & Foreign Languages, MDU, Rohtak, Haryana, India. [email protected] ABSTRACT Can war be the solution of quarrels among humans for property, kingdom and honour? Is war necessary to bring peace and prosperity in the world? Can war be termed as holy or unholy? Dharamvir Bharati’s Andha Yug deals with an array of such questions. Needless to say, innumerable generations of India has grown up listening the story of the Mahabharata war fought in Kurukshetra as it is recorded in the eponymous epic. The epic seems to entrench a view insidiously that wars and slaughter can be holy and participating in carnage is only one’s karma. Andha Yug can be seen as an eye-opener in this regard. The play takes its readers to the VISHNU RAM eighteenth day of the war and a couple of decades following it. The readers are made to rethink about the outcome of the ‘holy’ war. The play poses certain questions exposing the sham belief that wars destroy evil. The events of Andha Yug can easily be compared to the partition of Indian subcontinent and post- partition wars between India and Pakistan. Neither the Kurukshetra war nor the partition of India brought peace. Wars merely increase the feelings of disillusionment and hatred among people. Through Andha Yug, Dharamvir Bharati attempts to present a war as a war, not as holy or religious or the harbinger of peace. Keywords: War, honour, destruction, karma, suicide, meaninglessness, neutral, code, moral, blind, existence. KY PUBLICATIONS The Mahabharata and the Ramayana, the with their more changed versions, e.g. Parkash Jha’s two great Indian epics, have always been closely Rajneeti and Mani Ratnam’s Raavan. Besides associated with the consciousness of traditions, folk inspiring so many annual festivals and dramatic tales, ethical codes and societal norms of Indian performances, these epics are widely used for the subcontinent. Being full of parables and moral syllabi of lower and higher education across the lessons related to the spiritual, social and country. psychological lives of people, they have continuously Much longer than the Ramayana, the remained important sources of inspiration for poets, Mahabharata represents the Indian political, social novelists, and playwrights. They are even adapted and cultural scenario more closely. Over the last into television serials by notable directors, e.g. B.R. hundred years, the Mahabharata is translated into Chopra and Ramanand Sagar. And some more several foreign and Indian languages. Moreover, its eminent filmmakers adapted them for silver screen smaller incidents and anecdotes have inspired many 442 VISHNU RAM (RJELAL) Research Journal of English Language and Literature Vol.4.Issue 4. 2016 A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal (Oct.Dec.) http://www.rjelal.com; Email:[email protected] literary creations of small and large scale. Andha indulgence his sons have brought destruction to Yug, a play by Dharamvir Bharati, is one of such their clan. Gandhari shows deep dissatisfaction literary creation inspired from the Mahabharata. towards the ethical concepts of the world. Published in 1953, Andha Yug is a very Meanwhile, Vidura unsuccessfully tries to pacify significant post-Independence play. It is considered them. to be a landmark in the history of Indian drama. The second act, ‘The Making of the Beast,’ When dramatized for the first time on the stage, it concentrates on the character of Ashwatthama, one was immediately hailed as a classic play of highest of the three survivors from the Kaurava side, the order. Written just few years after the Partition, it other two being Kritavarma and Kripacharya. He is meditates upon the difficult phase of the holocaust enraged because Duryodhana gets shamefully which destroyed the lives of millions of people. The defeated in the war. Victory in the war matters the play brings the fact into light that the real most to Ashwatthama because of his father’s independence, peace and prosperity cannot be unlawful murder in the same war. He behaves like a achieved by the means of war or division. Wars beast justifying his actions reasoning that even cannot resolve effectively the basic existential persons like Yudhishthira chose the side of untruth problems of human lives. by speaking half-truths to get advantage in the war. Along with many other languages, Andha Blinded by anger, he attacks Sanjaya and a Yug is translated into English abundantly by various Mendicant. Kripacharya and Kritavarma save the authors. Among these translations, Alok Bhalla’s former but the latter is strangled to death by translation of the play seems the best one. Bhalla Ashwatthama. masterfully captures various dimensions of the ‘The Half-Truth of Ashwatthama,’ the third argument depicted in the play. Further, he act, details how from the fight of an owl and a crow beautifully retains its epic grandeur, and poetic Ashwatthama gets the idea to destroy the Pandava simplicity blended with supreme elegance. army while the soldiers are sleeping. Duryodhana As mentioned earlier, the moral and gives his consent to make Ashwatthama the new political issues depicted in Andha Yug are relevant commander. Meanwhile, Yuyutsu, the only Kaurava even in the twenty-first century. This technocratic who sided with the Pandavas considering their side age is perhaps the eponymous age of blindness virtuous, is humiliated in Hastinapur by the citizens surrounded in the sinister forces of terrorism, and his mother for fighting against his own relatives. corruption, religious fundamentalism, and Vidura, again unsuccessfully, tries to console bloodshed over the issues of community, caste and Yuyutsu. honour. The next section, ‘Interlude: Feathers, The play has a prologue, five acts, an Wheels and Bandages,’ explores the ideas of interlude and an epilogue. The prologue begins with honour, Karma and blindness chosen willingly. This an ‘Invocation’ addressed to Narayana, Saraswati part does not affect the main narrative but as the and Vyasa. It is followed by the ‘Proclamation’ Mendicant comments it is there to understand the explaining how Vishnu Purana mentions the age of “inner contradictions” of some of the characters darkness that will follow ‘the great war,’ the strong who appear as specters in this section (Bharati 90). reason behind the decline of prosperity, dharma and The fourth act, ‘Gandhari’s Curse,’ honour from the earth. chronicles the destruction of Pandava camp by In the first act, ‘The Kaurava Kingdom,’ furious trio of Ashwatthama, Kripacharya and Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and Vidura along with all Kritavarma. Gandhari along with Dhritarashtra, the citizens of Hastinapur apprehensively wait for Sanjaya and Vidura visits Kurukshetra. Greatly Sanjaya who is neutral in the war for what happened disturbed at the sight of the corpses of his sons and in the battlefield in the eighteenth day. relatives, especially after seeing the carcass of the Dhritarashtra, though somewhat reluctantly, half-eaten Duryodhana, Gandhari alleges that acknowledges that because of his too much Krishna is responsible for the war and curses him 443 VISHNU RAM (RJELAL) Research Journal of English Language and Literature Vol.4.Issue 4. 2016 A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal (Oct.Dec.) http://www.rjelal.com; Email:[email protected] with an ordinary death following the destruction of honour. Gandhari considers these concepts as his clan. Krishna accepts the curse and thus making useless and manipulative. Even the narrator begins Gandhari even more remorseful. the play in the following manner: The fifth act, ‘Victory and a Series of Both sides in the war Suicides,’ is an account of the suicides of Yuyutsu, violated Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and some others. Krishna the code of honour… also goes to the forest even after knowing that he the Kauravas perhaps more than the would be killed by a hunter in that forest. The Pandavas. (Bharati 27) suicide of Pandava brothers and Draupadi is hinted The same violation is perhaps the sole reason upon as Yudhishthira, disillusioned after war and behind the end of the dwapara yug and the defeat disappointed by the disrespectful behavior of his of “whatever is good and gentle and beautiful” brothers, decides to go on a pilgrimage on the (Bharati 27). What makes this concept weak and higher crests of Himalayas. manipulative is the fact that it remains vague and In ‘Epilogue: Death of the Lord,’ another unspecified from the beginning to the end of the invocation is devoted to the Christ-like sacrificial play. Everyone seems to revere it and want to abide death of Krishna. Sanjaya and Ashwatthama witness by it. However, it is either manipulated by cunning Krishna’s death by Jara who is reincarnation of people suiting their own ends or abandoned by wrongfully killed Mendicant. In the end, Chorus people finding it useless. Immensely disappointed comments that with the death of the Lord began the Gandhari comments: age of darkness that will be full of half-truth and I had seen the ways of the world some more great wars. and knew The author of Andha Yug warns the readers that dharma against an age of darkness. He wants them to duty and honour improve themselves because improvement of their were illusions. souls is the only way out from the encroaching When the time of reckoning arrives darkness and evil. He implies that there are at least wisdom and honour two ways of improvement: the first is learning are always useless. (Bharati 37) through one’s own experience and the other is She is of the view that hypocrisy directs all these learning through others’ experience. At the very precepts: beginning of the play, the playwright asserts that the Morality, honour, selflessness story is meant to enlighten its audience.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Complete List of Books in Library Acc No Author Title of Book Subject Publisher Year R.No
    Complete List of Books in Library Acc No Author Title of book Subject Publisher Year R.No. 1 Satkari Mookerjee The Jaina Philosophy of PHIL Bharat Jaina Parisat 8/A1 Non-Absolutism 3 Swami Nikilananda Ramakrishna PER/BIO Rider & Co. 17/B2 4 Selwyn Gurney Champion Readings From World ECO `Watts & Co., London 14/B2 & Dorothy Short Religion 6 Bhupendra Datta Swami Vivekananda PER/BIO Nababharat Pub., 17/A3 Calcutta 7 H.D. Lewis The Principal Upanisads PHIL George Allen & Unwin 8/A1 14 Jawaherlal Nehru Buddhist Texts PHIL Bruno Cassirer 8/A1 15 Bhagwat Saran Women In Rgveda PHIL Nada Kishore & Bros., 8/A1 Benares. 15 Bhagwat Saran Upadhya Women in Rgveda LIT 9/B1 16 A.P. Karmarkar The Religions of India PHIL Mira Publishing Lonavla 8/A1 House 17 Shri Krishna Menon Atma-Darshan PHIL Sri Vidya Samiti 8/A1 Atmananda 20 Henri de Lubac S.J. Aspects of Budhism PHIL sheed & ward 8/A1 21 J.M. Sanyal The Shrimad Bhagabatam PHIL Dhirendra Nath Bose 8/A2 22 J.M. Sanyal The Shrimad PHIL Oriental Pub. 8/A2 Bhagabatam VolI 23 J.M. Sanyal The Shrimad PHIL Oriental Pub. 8/A2 Bhagabatam Vo.l III 24 J.M. Sanyal The Shrimad Bhagabatam PHIL Oriental Pub. 8/A2 25 J.M. Sanyal The Shrimad PHIL Oriental Pub. 8/A2 Bhagabatam Vol.V 26 Mahadev Desai The Gospel of Selfless G/REL Navijvan Press 14/B2 Action 28 Shankar Shankar's Children Art FIC/NOV Yamuna Shankar 2/A2 Number Volume 28 29 Nil The Adyar Library Bulletin LIT The Adyar Library and 9/B2 Research Centre 30 Fraser & Edwards Life And Teaching of PER/BIO Christian Literature 17/A3 Tukaram Society for India 40 Monier Williams Hinduism PHIL Susil Gupta (India) Ltd.
    [Show full text]
  • The Epic Imagination in Contemporary Indian Literature
    University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School May 2017 Modern Mythologies: The picE Imagination in Contemporary Indian Literature Sucheta Kanjilal University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the South and Southeast Asian Languages and Societies Commons Scholar Commons Citation Kanjilal, Sucheta, "Modern Mythologies: The pE ic Imagination in Contemporary Indian Literature" (2017). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6875 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Modern Mythologies: The Epic Imagination in Contemporary Indian Literature by Sucheta Kanjilal A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy with a concentration in Literature Department of English College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Gurleen Grewal, Ph.D. Gil Ben-Herut, Ph.D. Hunt Hawkins, Ph.D. Quynh Nhu Le, Ph.D. Date of Approval: May 4, 2017 Keywords: South Asian Literature, Epic, Gender, Hinduism Copyright © 2017, Sucheta Kanjilal DEDICATION To my mother: for pencils, erasers, and courage. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS When I was growing up in New Delhi, India in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, my father was writing an English language rock-opera based on the Mahabharata called Jaya, which would be staged in 1997. An upper-middle-class Bengali Brahmin with an English-language based education, my father was as influenced by the mythological tales narrated to him by his grandmother as he was by the musicals of Broadway impressario Andrew Lloyd Webber.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mahabharata
    ^«/4 •m ^1 m^m^ The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924071123131 ) THE MAHABHARATA OF KlUSHNA-DWAIPAYANA VTASA TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH PROSE. Published and distributed, chiefly gratis, BY PROTSP CHANDRA EOY. BHISHMA PARVA. CALCUTTA i BHiRATA PRESS. No, 1, Raja Gooroo Dass' Stbeet, Beadon Square, 1887. ( The righi of trmsMm is resem^. NOTICE. Having completed the Udyoga Parva I enter the Bhishma. The preparations being completed, the battle must begin. But how dan- gerous is the prospect ahead ? How many of those that were counted on the eve of the terrible conflict lived to see the overthrow of the great Knru captain ? To a KsJtatriya warrior, however, the fiercest in- cidents of battle, instead of being appalling, served only as tests of bravery that opened Heaven's gates to him. It was this belief that supported the most insignificant of combatants fighting on foot when they rushed against Bhishma, presenting their breasts to the celestial weapons shot by him, like insects rushing on a blazing fire. I am not a Kshatriya. The prespect of battle, therefore, cannot be unappalling or welcome to me. On the other hand, I frankly own that it is appall- ing. If I receive support, that support may encourage me. I am no Garuda that I would spurn the strength of number* when battling against difficulties. I am no Arjuna conscious of superhuman energy and aided by Kecava himself so that I may eHcounter any odds.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mahabharata Twenty-Five Years Later
    THE MAHABHARATA TWENTy-Five YEARS LATER Peter Brook in conversation with Jonathan Kalb t age eighty-five, Peter Brook does all he can to avoid interviews. He has no interest in his own legend, and as for his theatrical ideas, he has said it all before, in his autobiography (Threads of Time), in his other books (The AEmpty Space, The Shifting Point), and in the body of influential productions that established him as one of the giants of twentieth-century theatre. At the request of a common friend, he nevertheless kindly agreed to speak to me on the subject of his magnum opus, The Mahabharata—a focus of the book I was writing at the time (Great Lengths: Seven Marathon Plays from Three Decades, forthcoming). Brook was in New York rehearsing his adaptation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute at Lincoln Center and accompanying the Theatre for a New Audience presentation of Love is My Sin, his staging of Shakespeare sonnets. Although he announced in 2008 that he was giving up day-to-day operation of his theatre in Paris, Bouffes du Nord, he has been notably active. Among his other recent projects have been: Fragments, a program of five short pieces by Samuel Beckett; Athol Fugard’sSizwe Banzi is Dead; The Grand Inquisitor, adapted from Dostoyevsky; and Tierno Bokar, a parable about tolerance and fundamentalism rooted in a spiritual dispute among Sufis. The Mahabharata was Brook’s eleven-hour stage adaptation of the massive, epic cor- nerstone of Hindu literature, religion and culture, originally produced in French in 1985 and performed in English for a 1987 world tour that included the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Majestic Theatre (now The Harvey).
    [Show full text]
  • Dharma and Caste in the Mahabharata
    TIF - Dharma and Caste in the Mahabharata RUDRANGSHU MUKHERJEE February 5, 2021 Assembly of Warriors, illustration to the Gemini Ashwamedha of the Mahabharata | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Francis H. Burr Memorial Fund and Friends of the Fogg Art Museum Fund The Mahabharata is peopled by the ‘higher’ castes but there are important personages from the ‘lower’ castes whose presence gives a radical salience to ‘dharma’ as set out in the epic, to the point of even suggesting a subversion of the dominant ideology. There is a scholarly consensus that below the apocalyptic events---covered in five of the 18 books--- that form the core of the epic, the idea of dharma serves as a principal theme. Many dimensions of the idea are explored through characters, sub-tales and events; even transgressions of dharma illuminate it.1 In comparison, the great book has very little to say explicitly about caste or varna in the sense that it does not address the question of inequality that the operation of the caste system inevitably engenders. It need hardly be emphasized that most of the main characters come from the two top castes and the language of the epic is Sanskrit, the language of these two castes. The second caste, kshatriyas, not surprisingly, dominates the epic. According to one calculation, there are as many as 175 references to kshatriyadharma in the epic (Hiltebeitel: 2014: 528). In contrast, the vaisyadharma and sudradharma receive nine and six references respectively (Hiltebeitel: 2014: 528). Page 1 www.TheIndiaForum.in February 5, 2021 The argument that this essay seeks to present through the narration of certain episodes and characters, is that the lower castes do make significant appearances in the epic and that those appearances are not unrelated to the epic’s approach to dharma—in fact, those appearances give a radical salience to the question of dharma.
    [Show full text]
  • Masculinity and Transnational Hindu Identity
    Nidān, Volume 3, No. 2, December 2018, pp. 18-39 ISSN 2414-8636 Muscular Mahabharatas: Masculinity and Transnational Hindu Identity Sucheta Kanjilal University of Tampa [email protected] "Hence it is called Bharata. And because of its grave import, as also of the Bharatas being its topic, it is called Mahabharata. He who is versed in interpretations of this great treatise, becomes cleansed of every sin. Such a man lives in righteousness, wealth, and pleasure, and attains to Emancipation.” - Mahābhārata (18.5) translation by K. M. Ganguli Abstract The climax of the Sanskrit Mahābhārata is undeniably muscular, since it involves a kṣatriya family fighting a brutal but righteous war. Many 21st century Mahabharata adaptations not only emphasize the muscularity of the epic, but also flex these muscles in an arena beyond the Kurukṣetra battlefield: the world. Through an analysis of texts such as Chindu Sreedharan’s Epic Retold (2015) and Prem Panicker’s Bhimsen (2009), I suggest that the increased visibility of epic warrior narratives across global platforms indicates a desire to re-fashion a hypermasculine identity for Hindus in the transnational religio-political sphere. I see this as an attempt to distance Hinduism from Gandhi’s ‘passive resistance’ and colonial conceptions of the ‘effeminate native’. Instead, it aligns with the nationalist and global aims of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who emphasizes the importance of Hindu traditions and physical fitness for collective prosperity. While these new epic adaptations certainly broaden the reach of Hindu culture beyond national boundaries, I suggest exhuming only warrior narratives from the epic texts oversimplifies Hindu values and threatens a range of gender identities and religious affiliations.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa SALYA
    The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa SALYA PARVA translated by Kesari Mohan Ganguli In parentheses Publications Sanskrit Series Cambridge, Ontario 2002 Salya Parva Section I Om! Having bowed down unto Narayana and Nara, the most exalted of male beings, and the goddess Saraswati, must the word Jaya be uttered. Janamejaya said, “After Karna had thus been slain in battle by Savyasachin, what did the small (unslaughtered) remnant of the Kauravas do, O regenerate one? Beholding the army of the Pandavas swelling with might and energy, what behaviour did the Kuru prince Suyodhana adopt towards the Pandavas, thinking it suitable to the hour? I desire to hear all this. Tell me, O foremost of regenerate ones, I am never satiated with listening to the grand feats of my ancestors.” Vaisampayana said, “After the fall of Karna, O king, Dhritarashtra’s son Suyodhana was plunged deep into an ocean of grief and saw despair on every side. Indulging in incessant lamentations, saying, ‘Alas, oh Karna! Alas, oh Karna!’ he proceeded with great difficulty to his camp, accompanied by the unslaughtered remnant of the kings on his side. Thinking of the slaughter of the Suta’s son, he could not obtain peace of mind, though comforted by those kings with excellent reasons inculcated by the scriptures. Regarding destiny and necessity to be all- powerful, the Kuru king firmly resolved on battle. Having duly made Salya the generalissimo of his forces, that bull among kings, O monarch, proceeded for battle, accompanied by that unslaughtered remnant of his forces. Then, O chief of Bharata’s race, a terrible battle took place between the troops of the Kurus and those of the Pandavas, resembling that between the gods and the Asuras.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter Iv Data Analysis
    CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS Ramayana and Mahabharata are Wiracarita, the heroic stories which are well – known from one generation to another. These two great epics are originally written in Sanskrit. The author of Ramayana is Walmiki, and the author of Mahabharata is Bhagawan Wyasa. Ramayana and Mahabharata have been translated into various languages. In Indonesia, these two great epics have been retold in various versions such as Wayang kulit performance, dance, book, novel, and comic. For this research, the writer chooses the Mahabharata novel by Nyoman. S. Pendit. With the focus of the research on the heroic journey of Arjuna in this novel. In this chapter, the writer would like to answer and to analyze three problem formulations of this research. First, the writer would like to retell Arjuna‟s journey based on the twenty parts selected in the Mahabharata novel. After that, as the second problem formulation, the writer would like to compare to what extent the journey of Arjuna on the twenty parts selected in the Mahabharata novel fulfills the criteria of the Hero‟s Journey theory proposed by Joseph Campbell. The Hero‟s Journey theory itself consists of seventeen stages divided into three big stages: Departure – Initiation – Return. It can be seen from the journey of Arjuna in the Mahabharata novel by Nyoman. S. Pendit. After going through the several archetypal journey process framed in the Hero‟s Journey theory, Arjuna gets or shows the life virtues in himself. Therefore, as the third problem formulation, the 34 writer would like to mention what kind of life virtues showed by Arjuna on the twenty parts selected in the Mahabharata novel.
    [Show full text]
  • 2. a Superhit Goddess
    Ganesh, lord of auspicious beginnings and father of goddess Santoshi Ma. A Superhit Goddess Jai Santoshi Maa and Caste Hierarchy in Indian Films Part One Philip Lutgendorf “Audiences were showering coins, perennials of its vast output, yet they quarter of national cinematic output) flower petals and rice at the screen constitute one of the least-studied enjoys the largest audience in appreciation of the film. They aspects of this comparatively under- throughout the Indian subcontinent entered the cinema barefoot and set studied cinema. Indeed, I will venture and beyond. Sholay (“Flames”) and up a small temple outside…. In that for scholars and critics, Deewar (“The Wall”), were both Bandra, where mythological films mythologicals have generally been heavily-promoted “multi-starrers” aren’t shown, it ran for fifty weeks. It “hard to see.” Yet DeMille’s words belonging to the then-dominant genre was a miracle”. —Anita Guha, also belie the fact that most sometimes referred to as the masala (actress who played goddess mythologicals—like most commercial (“spicy”) film: a multi-course cinematic Santoshi Ma; cited in Kabir films of any genre—flop at the box banquet incorporating suspenseful office. The comparatively few that drama, romance, comedy, violent 2001:115). have enjoyed remarkable and action sequences, and song and Genre, Film & Phenomenon sustained acclaim hence merit study dance. Both were expensive and Cecil B. DeMille’s famously both as religious expressions and as slickly made by the standards of the cynical adage, “God is box office,” successful examples of popular art and industry, and both featured Amitabh may be applied to Indian popular entertainment.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mahabharata
    VivekaVani - Voice of Vivekananda THE MAHABHARATA (Delivered by Swami Vivekananda at the Shakespeare Club, Pasadena, California, February 1, 1900) ​ ​ ​ ​ The other epic about which I am going to speak to you this evening, is called the Mahâbhârata. It contains the story of a race descended from King Bharata, who was the son of Dushyanta and Shakuntalâ. Mahâ means great, and Bhârata means the descendants of Bharata, from whom India has derived its name, Bhârata. Mahabharata means Great India, or the story of the great descendants of Bharata. The scene of this epic is the ancient kingdom of the Kurus, and the story is based on the great war which took place between the Kurus and the Panchâlas. So the region of the quarrel is not very big. This epic is the most popular one in India; and it exercises the same authority in India as Homer's poems did over the Greeks. As ages went on, more and more matter was added to it, until it has become a huge book of about a hundred thousand couplets. All sorts of tales, legends and myths, philosophical treatises, scraps of history, and various discussions have been added to it from time to time, until it is a vast, gigantic mass of literature; and through it all runs the old, original story. The central story of the Mahabharata is of a war between two families of cousins, one family, called the Kauravas, the other the Pândavas — for the empire of India. The Aryans came into India in small companies. Gradually, these tribes began to extend, until, at last, they became the undisputed rulers of India.
    [Show full text]
  • When Blind Love for Kin Precedes Bounden Duty to Kingdom- a Reflection on King Lear and King Dritharashtra Vandana Ravi MA
    9ROXPH,,,,VVXH,0DUFK,661 When Blind Love for Kin Precedes Bounden Duty to Kingdom- A Reflection on King Lear and King Dritharashtra Vandana Ravi MA. B.Ed. (English) GC: 3rd Block Sree Vigneswara Apartments, Ayyappa Nagar, Poonkunnam Thrissur-680002, Kerala India Abstract An individual from his birth till death is destined to play many roles and thereby fulfill his/her expected duties. While doing so one should not compromise one’s duty in favour of another benefit especially when it is concerned with both personal and professional life affecting the lives of many. If done otherwise, the consequences would be disastrous as seen through the lives of Lear of Shakespeare’s King Lear and Dritharashtra of the Mahabharata. Both of them were Kings but at the same time also fathers whose love for their children overpowered their duty to their country and thereby their sense of taking right decisions as Kings. Dritharashtra’s blind love towards his sons especially Duryodhana made him overlook all their misdeeds leading to their death. On the other hand, Lear’s blind faith in his two greedy elder daughters’ (Goneril and Regan) proclamation of love much against the honest love of youngest daughter (Cordelia) leads to his destruction. Further, blind love for their children by the respective kings leads towards causing dereliction of duty to their countries. King Lear and King Dritharashtra, failing to keep equilibrium between their personal and professional duties, incurred the greatest loss of their life by losing their children. In short, life of King Lear and King Dritharashtra stand as a pointer to the world to show that, the consequences, when love for kin takes precedence over one’s duty towards the country, will always be detrimental.
    [Show full text]
  • Educating Society in the Eradication of Superstitions Regarding Getting Son by the Boon of Sage During Mahabharata Period
    IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education (IOSR-JRME) e-ISSN: 2320–7388,p-ISSN: 2320–737X Volume 4, Issue 3 Ver. I (May-Jun. 2014), PP 47-53 www.iosrjournals.org Educating society in the eradication of superstitions regarding getting son by the Boon of Sage during Mahabharata period Dr. Jyotindra Choudhary1, Dr. Kumari Vineeta2 1Senior university professor, T.N.B. College, Bhagalpur and Ex-D.S.W., T.M. Bhagalpur University Bhagalpur- 812007, Bihar Govt. nominee Maithili Sahitya Academy, Govt. of Bihar Patna India. 2Faculty of Education, S.M. College, Bhagalpur, T.M. Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur, India. Abstract: The birth story of five Pandavas, by the blessings rishi Durbasha from different Hindu Gods, birth of Kauravas 101 children from zygote of Gandhari by boon’s of Maharishi Vyasa, birth of Guru Dronacharya from Drona (a pot) by rishi Bharadwaja, birth of most charming lady of Dwapar Yuga Draoupdi from the fire pitand many more have created misconception in the society that a child may take birth without Mother’s womb. The answer of this superstition comes with the birth of a test tube baby IVF and Stem Cell Technology. This study is to educate society from this misconception. Thorough survey of Hindu testaments and latest literature of genetic engineering it becomes crystal clear that genetic experimental procedure of ancient Maharishi was more knowledgeable than the present one, however findings of Hindu testaments and present scientific reports are concurrent in central ideas but basic difference could not be precipitated as the shlokas are in coded word that needsadvanced analysis through super computer and we have to wait for that time.
    [Show full text]