Pradip Bhattacharya

Indologist, Mahabharata scholar

Draupadi Dream Trust

DRAUPADI AND HER PANCHALA

By

Neera Misra & Rajesh Lal (eds): Draupadi and her Panchala, B.R. Publishing Corporation, pp. 187, Rs.2250/-

The Draupadi Dream Trust held an international seminar to highlight the character of Draupadi and research about her land, Panchala. This book, edited by the trust’s chairperson Neera Misra, who is from Draupadi’s birthplace Kampilya, and Air Vice-Marshal Rajesh Lal collects 11 papers on Draupadi and 12 on various facets of Panchala in Hindi and English. What is of importance is material drawn from the rare “Kampilya Mahatmya” where Draupadi is an avatar of Parvati. There are a large number of colour plates and illustrations that make this a valuable repository of data.

Hiltebeitel’s paper on Draupadi is a valuable contribution resolving the controversy over whether her laughter spurred Duryodhana’s vengeance. Examining the recensions of the Mahabharata, he shows that the initial account only has Bhima, Arjuna and the twins laughing at Duryodhana’s discomfiture in the palace of illusions. It is Duryodhana who, while complaining to Dhritarashtra, adds Draupadi and Krishna as also taunting him to get him to join in the conspiracy of the dice game. It is Villi’s Tamil Mahabharata that has Panchali clapping her hands and laughing. The crowning insult of “Andhey ka betaa andhaa” (the blind man’s son is blind) was invented by Dharmavir Bharati in his play, “Andhaa Yug” and popularised by the Chopra TV serial.

Possibly the most rewarding research in this book is by Indrajit Bandyopadhyay who plumbs the depths of what is meant when the term “Shyaamaa” is applied to Draupadi. He ranges far and wide across the epics and the Vedas, including Anandavardhana’s concept of dhvani. He brings out its multiple meanings and resonances to show how Krishnaa-Draupadi stands at the centre of the Krishnas who mould the epic narrative: Krishna-Dvaipayana-Vyasa, Vasudeva-Krishna, Arjuna-Krishna. However, while doing so his enthusiasm leads to convoluted interpretations of wheels-within-wheels not all of which are easy to follow.

The organisers are to be complimented for bringing together eminent novelists to speak on Draupadi. Pratibha Ray, author of Yajnaseni, the autobiographical testament of Draupadi, for which she became the only woman to be awarded the Moorti Devi Puraskar by Bharatiya Jnanpith, provides sensitive insights into her interpretation. Sujata Chaturvedi summarises the insights of Chitra Chaturvedi in her Hindi novel Mahabharati depicting Draupadi as a fiery upholder of women’s rights and a profound bhakta of Krishna. Unfortunately, this excellent novel has not been translated into English. Narendra Kohli, renowned for his recreation of the epic in Maha Samar (Hindi, 8 volumes), stresses the need to go back to the original text for the proper perspective. He, too, notes that Duryodhana lied to his father about Draupadi taunting him and points out that she never demanded Duhshasana’s blood to wash her hair (as Neera Misra claims in her paper), nor desired Karna. P. K. Balakrishnan’s And Now Let Me Sleep (summarised in Kavita Sharma’s paper), on the other hand, has her die realising that Karna protected her and her children. Kohli interprets the emergence of Draupadi and Dhrishtadyumna from the sacrificial fire as starting a new life—that of vengeance for their father’s humiliation. He is the only participant to mention the critical role Kunti plays in the Pandavas’ fight for their rights.

Haripriya Rangarajan wrongly asserts that Draupadi was known as Parsati after her mother. Drupada’s father was called Prishat, after whom Draupadi was called Parshati. Nor has Hiltebeitel written three volumes on the cult of Draupadi, but only two. Shri is not the epitome of sattvik quality but of rajasic and Draupadi is never depicted in sattvic form in the epic. Why Narhari Achar’s paper on the date of Draupadi’s svayamvara has been included is unclear. He states that astronomical information is non-existent and whatever dates he proposes “are at best guesses.” He bases his calculations on one “Raghavan”, providing no references. The editors have not rectified this omission. Ramola Kumar’s “Draupadi Communicates” that ends the section on Draupadi, rehashes what is very well-known. She does not even attempt a critique of how the TV Mahabharatas and Peter Brook’s film portray Draupadi. It would have been rewarding to read what Mallika Sarabhai and Shaoli Mitra have to say about their experiences of portraying Draupadi on stage.

Neera Misra draws twelve lessons from the Kampilya Mahatmya and the epic about what Draupadi signifies. She has the soul-force of Parvati; she is pure, radiant, constant; she converts challenge into opportunity; the stripping shames the men not her; she was the victim of the war, not its cause; she was a dedicated ardhangini; she upheld dignity of labour (serving Virata’s queen); her friendship with Krishna empowers her (the folklore of her binding up his bleeding finger is cited); progressive men believe in gender equality (but how does Krishna saving the Pandavas from being cursed by Durvasa show this?); she balanced her husbands equally; she was compassionate, as in sparing Ashvatthama; finally, she is a role model to women today in overcoming challenges to stand tall.

The section on Panchala is by a host of archaeologists, historians and numismatic experts led by Dr B.B. Lal who excavated Hastinapura in 1951-52 finding a Painted Grey Ware settlement of around 800 BCE that had been destroyed by flood in the Ganga, as the Puranas state. King Nichakshu relocated to Kaushambi, where degenerated PGW has been found. On an ad hoc estimate, Lal puts the Kurukshetra War at 900 BCE. However, he makes the usual mistake of stating that the epic originally consisted of 8,800 verses, whereas that is the number of riddling slokas mentioned by Sauti. Ahichchhatra, Kampilya, Kanauj, Atranjikhera and Sankisha have been excavated turning up ochre coloured pottery, black-and-red ware, black slipped ware and painted grey ware with as many as 46 combinations of line and dotted decorations. Dr B.R. Mani suggests that the Rig Veda’s Battle of Ten Kings between five Panchala clans and Sudasa occurring on the Ravi led to a movement eastwards to Panchala by the Krivis who came to be known as Panchals. Bhuvan Vikram presents a detailed analysis of artefacts found in Ahichchhatra along with two large ziggurats which might be temples. It is regrettable that since they were excavated in the 1940s no further investigation has been done. O.P.L. Srivastava studies a coin of Damagupta carrying three Panchala symbols which are unidentified.

Panchala was famous for its pure Vedic pronunciation, its resident Galava having developed different styles of recitation. A.K.Sinha’s paper shows it was the seat of materialistic as well as spiritual Upanishadic philosophy expounded by great intellects like Yajnavalkya, Pravahana Jaivali, Pratardan, Gargyayana and Uddalaka (c.1000-700 BCE). The original Kamasutra was written by Babhravya of Panchala.

Panchala, one of the 16 maha-janapadas, was swallowed up by Magadha’s Nandas and Mauryas. In the pre-Kushana (150 BCE-150 CE) and post-Kushana phases till 350 CE, 22 kings ruled Panchala as copper coins reveal. Thereafter, it came under Gupta rule, followed by Harsha and Gurjar Pratiharas till the end of the 10th century. Ahichchatra is where Parshvanath attained kaivalya. Sankisha has Ashoka’s elephant capital where Buddha descended to earth from heaven.

Recently T.P. Mahadevan has shown that in the 5th century CE a group of Purvashikha Brahmins moved from Panchala to South India carrying the northern recension of the Mahabharata and moved to Kerala whence the recension in Malayali script emerged. Another group, the Aparashikhas, followed them during the Chola period, creating the recension in Grantha and Telegu scripts.

Neera Misra presents a detailed account of Kampilya including the excavations by an Italian team (1997, 1999) that revealed that the plans for the Drupada Kila and Dholavira coincide remarkably. The Kila was dated as post-Mauryan with Kushana restoration. It was deserted around 1st century CE as the Ganga shifted. Further excavation is needed to explore the PGW and NBW settlements that have been found. The justification for this has been established by IIT Kanpur’s GPS survey.

The state of Uttar Pradesh has adopted as its emblem the revolving fish pierced with an arrow which was the test for winning Panchali. The assertion that the Panchala area comprised all of this state does not account for the rival kingdom of Hastinapura and the Yadava oligarchy of Mathura. Nor did Ashvatthama ever rule in Ahichchhattra as Abhay Singh asserts.

This is undoubtedly a stimulating volume compiling important research and insights which is somewhat marred by erratic use of diacriticals and printing errors. The editors would do well to take greater care in future enterprises.

http://epaper.thestatesman.com/1722756/8th-Day/8th-July-2018#page/2/2

Indraprastha Revisited

By

Neera Misra, Rajesh Lal ed.: Indraprastha Revisited, B.R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi, 2017, pp. 264

The Draupadi Dream Trust founded and chaired by Smt. Neera Misra of Kampilya—Panchali’s birthplace—organized the first Indraprastha Festival in November 2016 to highlight the need for recovering and showcasing evidence of this millennia old city. Besides a performance of the Indonesian “Wayang Kulit” depicting how Indraprastha was built according to the legend in Bali, an international conference was held covering a variety of topics centred on Indraprastha. 23 of these papers have been published in this large format volume along with a host of sketches and plates that make it an important book for anyone interested in the heritage of ancient India.

There are several papers by eminent archaeologists led by their doyen Dr B.B. Lal who was the first to locate and excavate both Hastinapur (in Meerut district) and Indraprastha (in Purana Quila) 60 years back. Unfortunately, since then only desultory digging has taken place. So far nothing earlier than Painted Grey Ware pottery (around 1000 BCE) has been found at sites associated with the Mahabharata. It is puzzling why there is no reference to Dr. Gauri Lad’s thesis on the archaeology of the Mahabharata for which the renowned Dr. H.D. Sankali was the guide.

However, J.N. Ravi’s extremely valuable study of Balarama’s pilgrimage along the Sarasvati reveals the links that would have existed between Harappan culture along this river (e.g. Rakhigarhi, Bhirrana dated around 3000 to 2000 BCE), Hastinapur on the Yamuna and Indraprastha on the Ganga. That is why it is puzzling why no excavation has been carried out at Kurukshetra, the site of the bloodiest of all carnages where eleven armies were decimated. Surely some metal artefacts ought to turn up if there is any historical basis to the “itihasa”. Ravi’s paper unaccountably omits the tirthas named after the Vriddhakanya (old woman) who could attained Swarga only after marrying and the Kanya who went to heaven remaining a virgin throughout. The latter half of his paper is an excursion in Euhemerism with Yayati’s sons migrating to become Danaans, the Irish (Danavas), Avestans (Daityas), only missing out on linking Ila with Elam in ancient Iran! Acharya Chatursen had presented a far more evocative picture in his great Hindi novel, Vayam Rakshamah.

“Archaeo-astronomy” is a new term coined by those dating the Mahabharata war by using astronomical data from the text. This book exposes the mutually contradictory dates arrived at. Narhari Achar fixes it in 3067 BCE, along with precise dates for Draupadi’s birth, marriage and the lacquer house episode. As the editors have not provided the bibliography for his paper, the references cannot be verified. A.K. Bhatnagar decides upon 14 October 1793 BCE for the start of the war, besides fixing dates for Varanavat, Krishna’s embassy, the deaths of Bhishma, Drona, Karna and Duryodhan. Besides interpreting the same data differently, Koenraad Elst favours post-1900 BCE because the Sarasvati “must have” (?) dried up around that time and as S.R. Rao dates Dwarka to 1700-1500 BCE. They are all unaware of Dr. Sita Nath Pradhan’s research finding that the war occurred in 1150 BCE. Clearly, no firm date upon which twelve good people and true agree can emerge!

A.D. Mathur draws only upon the Shanti Parva for the principles of governance instead of linking it to what is found elsewhere, e.g. the Machiavellian advice Kunika tenders to Dhritarashtra for getting rid of the Pandavas, or the questions Narada puts to Yudhishthira at Indraprastha. Come Carpentier skips all over the immense span of comparative mythology, compares Indraprastha to Angkor and can come to no conclusion about the historicity of the city. In asserting the existence of copper weapons for the war he is mistaken as no such weapons have been found in any site of that antiquity in this region. Shashi Tiwari’s account of Kaliyuga dynasties with reference to Indraprastha is disappointing as it merely paraphrases Pargiter’s research instead of looking at the different findings of Sita Nath Pradhan in his Chronology of Ancient India (1927) and Kunwar Lal Jain’s Chronology of India in the Puranas (1993). She even mis-attributes a list of puranas to the Mahabharata. She assigns the last date for them to 7th century AD whereas the Bhavishya Purana includes references to the British, the Brahmavaivarta Purana is of the 16th century and the Linga and Shiva Puranas are 10th to 11th century. The most flagrant error is her assertion that Yudhishthira’s line ruled in Indraprastha whereas it is Arjuna’s dynasty that ruled in Hastinapura while Krishna’s great grandson Vajra (and his descendants?) ruled in Indraprastha. What the Kurukshetra War achieved was the establishment of the hegemony of the Yadavas in the heartland of Northern India. The bloodline of Puru/Kuru died with celibate Bhishma. Actually, even Kuru is not a Bharata by blood because King Bharata disinherited all his sons, adopted the Brahmin Bharadvaja re-naming him Vitatha and put him on the throne. It is this Brahmin’s lineage that ends with Bhishma.

There is an important paper by Chahan and Pachauri on the role NGOs and citizens can play in preserving and promoting our cultural heritage. This deserves wide dissemination for implementation. Renu Khanna contributes an architect’s vision with pictures on showcasing Indraprastha as a tourist destination. She refers to having studied “the detailed English illustration of the Mahabharata” which does not exist. The editors should have corrected this to “translation” and provided the reference.

Swapna Liddle’s paper is a valuable presentation of how local builders introduced traditional Hindu motifs even while constructing Muslim edifices, e.g. the Kirtimukha, the lotus and the water pot but did not adopt the true arch till 1280 (cf. Balban’s tomb). She shows a picture of the invocation to Vishvakarma and the name of the Hindu architect inscribed on the Qutub Minar. Unfortunately these fascinating aspects are not highlighted in the ASI plaques, although these provide excellent instances of communal harmony. Sudha Satyawadi contributes an illuminating paper on art and architecture in the Janapada period while Arundhati Dasgupta summarises how modern art depicts the Mahabharata. Rupali Yadav describes the dice-game scene in a mural of the Chattar Mahal of Kota Palace, Rajasthan. Unfortunately, the plate only shows the full mural with no enlargement showing the detail of Duryodhana consulting an astrologer. The editors should have ensured this.

Somnath Chakraverty writes on the ethnography of the epic. He draws upon B.S. Upadhyaya and H.D. Sankalia without citing the references and asserts that names of nagas are drawn from Assyrian kings and therefore they came from that region. Without citing any evidence he asserts that the Yadavas were from Western Asia and Iran. He also says that “there are enormous evidences” from Indus towns of serpent worship, again without supporting reference. It is disconcerting to find him claiming that rock art at Bhimbetka and elsewhere records “mass genocide and battle” that is replicated throughout India. While he states that these belong at least to the Gupta period if not earlier, actually rock art is dated much earlier (10,000 BCE at Bhimbetka).

Major General G.D. Bakshi’s paper on the geo-politics of that time is a superb analysis showing that the autocratic royalty banded together to crush the nascent “democratic” (actually oligarchic) government of the Yadavas. Krishna kept the Yadavas out of the war so that when the field was swept clear, they could take over Indraprastha under Krishna’s great grandson Vajra. Kritavarma’s son and the Bhoja women were given Marttikavat (unknown) while Satyaki’s son was settled on the banks of the Sarasvati, both nearby. K.T.S. Sarao’s very interesting paper describes little known data from Buddhist sources regarding Indraprastha, e.g. that Buddha’s razor and needle were deposited there and its ruler was Dhananjaya Koravya of the Yudhitthila gotra.

Several of the contributors make the common error—not expected from Indologists—of asserting that initially the Mahabharata consisted of only 8,800 verses. This is the number of riddling, knotty slokas Vyasa composed to gain time to compose more while Ganesh scratched his head trying to understand them. The “Jaya” version was 24,000 slokas without ancillary tales, which Vyasa expanded to several lakhs of which one lakh verses were recited to Janamejaya by Vaishampayana in his guru’s presence during the snake-sacrifice in Takshasila.

Neera Misra’s paper presents an overview of the archaeological and other data on the subject, most of which has been featured in individual papers. Hers is a fervent plea for opening up the Purana Quila site for displaying the excavations which ought to be taken further and making it a tourist destination. The editors should have added a line or two about each contributor instead of merely providing their e-mail addresses. The large number of colour plates and sketches of archaeological finds, maps and paintings make this volume a collector’s item. Hopefully the publication will stimulate excavations in key sites mentioned in the Mahabharata and lead to the setting up of a Mahabharata tourist circuit.

Pradip Bhattacharya