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Pradip Bhattacharya

Indologist, Mahabharata scholar

  • BOOKS
    • MAHABHARATA
      • The Mahabharata of Vyasa – Moksha Dharma Parva
      • The Jaiminiya Mahabharata
      • The Jaiminiya Ashvamedhaparva
      • The Secret of the Mahabharata
      • Themes & Structure in the Mahabharata
      • The Mahabharata TV film Script: A Long Critique
      • YAJNASENI: The Story Of Draupadi
      • Pancha Kanya: the five virgins of India’s Epics
      • Revisiting the Panchakanyas
      • Narrative Art in the Mahabharata—the Adi Parva
      • Prachin Bharatey ebong Mahabharatey Netritva O Kshamatar Byabahar
    • LITERATURE
      • Ruskin’s Unto This Last: A Critical Edition
      • TS Eliot – The Sacred Wood, A Dissertation
      • Bankimchandra Chatterjee’s Krishna Charitra
      • Shivaji Sawant’s Mrityunjaya: A Long Critique
      • Subodh Ghosh’s Bharat Prem Katha
      • Parashuram’s Puranic Tales for Cynical People
    • PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & MANAGEMENT
      • Leadership & Power: Ethical Explorations
      • Human Values: The Tagorean Panorama
      • Edited Administrative Training Institute Monographs 1-20. Kolkata. 2005-9
      • Edited Samsad Series on Public Administration. Kolkata, 2007-8
    • COMICS
      • KARTTIKEYA
      • The Monkey Prince
    • HOMEOPATHY
      • A New Approach to Homoeopathic Treatment
  • BOOK REVIEWS
    • Reviews in The Statesman
      • Review : Rajesh M. Iyer: Evading the Shadows
      • Review : Bibek DebRoy: The Mahabharata, volume 7
      • Review :The Harivansha – The Significance of a Neglected Text
      • Review : Battle, Bards and Brahmins ed. John Brockington
      • Review : Heroic Krishna. Friendship in epic Mahabharata
      • Review : I Was Born for Valour, I Was Born to Achieve Glory
      • Review : The Complete Virata and Udyoga Parvas of the Mahabharata
      • Review : Revolutionizing Ancient History: The Case of Israel and Christianity
    • Reviews in BIBLIO
    • Reviews in INDIAN REVIEW OF BOOKS And THE BOOK REVIEW New Delhi
    • Reviews in INDIAN BOOK CHRONICLE (MONTHLY JOURNAL ABOUT BOOKS AND COMMUNICATION ARTS)
  • JOURNALS
    • MANUSHI
    • MOTHER INDIA
    • JOURNAL OF HUMAN VALUES
    • WEST BENGAL
    • BHANDAAR
    • THE ADMINSTRATOR
    • INDIAN RAILWAYS MAGAZINE
    • WORLD HEALTH FORUM, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, GENEVA
    • INDIA INTERNATIONAL CENTRE QUARTERLY
    • ACTUALITIES EN ANALYSE TRANSACTIONNELLE
    • THE HERITAGE
    • TASI DARSHAN
  • STORIES, ESSAYS & POSTS
    • Chakravyuha by Manoranjan Bhattacharya
    • The Head Clerk. A short story.
    • BANGLADESH NEW-BORN: A MEMOIR
  • GALLERY
  • PROFILE
    • About the Author
    • IN THE NEWS
      • Epic discovery: City scholars find lost Mahabharata in Chennai library – The Times of India (Kolkata)

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata as a Whole

October 24, 2017 By admin

RECONSIDERING THE MAHABHARATA

Vishwa Adluri (ed.): Ways and Reasons for thinking about the Mahabharata as a Whole, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, 2013, pp. xxv+201, Rs.500/-

One of the signal achievements in Indology that Indian scholars can be proud of is the publication by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, of the Critical Edition (CE) of the Mahabharata (MB) and the Harivansha (HV) in 22 volumes, along with a Pratika Index and a Cultural Index. However, scholars the world over have turned this into another instance of “Others abide our question; thou art free!” It was the French scholar Madeline Biardeau who, in the 1990s, stated her preference for the Vulgate text, free of the CE’s excisions and for treating the MB as a whole instead of as a hotchpotch of materials. Actually, way back in 1901-2 Aurobindo Ghose, had done this in his Notes on the Mahabharata” which scholars are unaware of. A case for taking a second look at the CE was made out by Alf Hiltebeitel, the American scholar and the most prolific writer on the MB. Wendy Doniger and David Shulman “have also expressed reservations about the CE.” A justification for revising the CE was advanced by me in a national conference held by the National Mission for Manuscripts in 2007. Papers relating to this trend of thought, which is gathering momentum, have been compiled in this important publication edited by Vishwa Adluri of Hunter College, New York, with an elaborate Introduction and a 16 page Bibliography. Two essays bring out the thematic unity of the epic while others explore historico-textual issues and the question of Greek influence.

In a thought-provoking lengthy Introduction, Adluri critiques the tradition of “higher criticism” (a philological term denoting matters influencing the text) and prefers the “hermeneutic method” which focuses on the CE text to interpret it. This approach takes the epic as a whole, discounting the theory of “layers” and the search for the “Ur text” exemplified by Hopkins and German scholars who were importing Biblical research methodology on the Old Testament into the MB.

The first essay is a riveting study of the Uttanka story at the beginning of the MB, recurring in the Book of Horse-Sacrifice, which apparently has nothing to do with what follows, bringing out its symbolism as an “education in becoming” and its relevance in the epic. All on a sudden, why should Sarama, the hound of heaven, curse Janamejaya that his sacrifice will face a serious impediment? Here Adluri painstakingly lays out the narrative structure of the Adi Parva, the Book of Beginnings, showing how Vyasa’s epic has two sacrifices (Shaunaka’s and Janamejaya’s) in two tales, one embedded within the other. There are other sacrifices he overlooks: Parashara’s to annihilate rakshasas, Drupada’s two rites birthing Shikhandi, Dhrishtadyumna and Draupadi leading to the Kurukshetra war, repeatedly referred to in terms of a holocaust. And it all has its origins in yet another yajna: the sacrificial ritual the gods hold in Naimisha forest with Yama as the butcher-priest. Adluri highlights the multiple levels of the text: Vaishamapayana’s narrative; the allegorical sacrificial rites and, thirdly, Uttanka’s interpretative tale, the last providing the key to how the story is to be read. Besides this, however, the Uttanka tale also contains Vedic symbols related to a spiritual journey, which Adluri does not touch upon. Vyasa states he has retold the secrets of the Veda in the MB, an aspect explored utilizing nirukti (etymology) in my Secret of the Mahabharata (1984).

Hiltebeitel’s fascinating paper investigates the possibilities of the MB as history, itihasa, as it calls itself 8 times (which the Ramayana never does, always referring to itself as kavya). From 2001 onwards, several Western scholars besides himself, like Biardeau, Fitzgerald and Sutton, have agreed that the MB is a post-Ashokan composition. He argues that references to Cinas suggest a date post 221 BC of China’s first emperor. It is curious that he does not cite the reference to denarius, which would also date the MB to early Roman times in the 3rd century BC. Hiltebeitel shows why the MB predates Ashvaghosha’s Buddhacharita (1st-2nd century AD), suggesting that it was composed between 150 BC and 100 AD.

Hiltebeitel accepts T.P. Mahadevan’s thesis that the MB was composed by Purvashikha Brahmins (wearing tufts on the front of their heads) of the Kuru-Panchala area, taking historical data from the Vedas, between 300 and 100 BC. The Yuga Purana dated around 60-25 BC has 12 slokas on the MB, refers to Greek-Panchala-Mathura forces sacking Pataliputra (the end of the Mauryas c. 190 BC), to Shaka invasions and to safe havens in the south where the Purvashika Brahmins migrated during the Tamil Sangam culture, carrying the MB. From this, written on bark or palm-leaf in Brahmi script, the elaborate Southern recension was created, drawing upon the HV, in Grantha script in the Tanjavur area. A subsequent migration from eastern Haryana and Malva, fleeing the Huna raids c. 6th century AD, occurred in the 7th century AD by Aparashikha Brahmins (wearing tufts on the back of their heads) carrying the Northern Recension of the MB text in a northern variety of Brahmi that influenced Tamil script. under the Pallavas who produced the inflated version in Telegu Grantha script. Meanwhile, in the 5th century AD, in the context of the Kalabhra Interregnum, a chaotic period in Tamil history, some Purvashikha Brahmins (the future Nambudiris) moved to Malabar region carrying the MB where it is found in the Aryaeluttu script. Here an entire section, the Sheshadharmaprakaranam, was added to the Harivansha (available thanks to Purshothaman Avaroth at http://www.dvaipayana.net). One branch of the Purvashikhas remained under the Cholas creating the Krishnaism of the MB borrowing from the HV. Mahadevan analyses as a case in point the presentation of argha to Krishna in the Sabha Parva (2.35.6-29). He shows that around 300 CE three texts exist simultaneously in the Sangam Tamil region: a Sharada text (the foundation of the Critical Edition) with an additional Krishna-bhakti portion called “A-21”, a similar section in P.P.S.Sastri’s Southern Recension in the process of construction drawing upon the Harivansha’s sections 38, 41 and 42 in response to the Alvar bhakti movement. The killing of Madhu and Kaitabha is the main part of this insertion.  Mahadevan draws attention to an untraced complete text of the MB lying in the Bharat Itihasa Sanshodhaka Mandal of Pune referred to by Edgerton, editor of the Sabha Parva of the CE. It is a great loss that the National Mission for Manuscripts has not pursued this. An exciting development is mention of a joint project by Hiltebeitel and Mahadevan to compare the Sastri southern recension with the CE to reveal how the text took shape.

Taking off from an earlier paper by Adluri on Ruru and Orpheus using etymology (nirukti) to plumb the symbolism, Joydeep Bagchee shows that the myth of Ruru is part of the epic’s response to the philosophical problem of time and eternity. The introduction itself states that one who knows the etymology of the MB is liberated from all sin, niruktam asya yo veda sarvapapaih pramucyate (1.209). Salvation inheres in turning to self-knowledge. The entire Bhrigu cycle (Pauloma and Astika Parvas) is about a fall from being into becoming. It is the snakes who form the interpretative apparatus for comprehending the action of time amongst humankind.

Simon Brodbeck analyses the analytic and the synthetic approaches to the MB suggesting that with the CE it is the latter that is appropriate. The former seeks to outline the historical process by which the MB came to be built, varying from a thousand years (400 BC to 400 AD) to a couple of generations (150 BC to 100 AD). The focus is on the “original” form of the MB. He critiques Tokunaga’s paper on Bhishma’s advice to Yudhishthira to expose weaknesses in the analytic approach, such as Yudhishthira being enthroned twice, which does not occur. The search for historical clues within the text blinds the analyst to narrative subtleties within it. Brodbeck points out the basic flaw in the assumption of the CE, viz. that scribes only add to and do not subtract from texts they copy. There is a case for re-examining the decisions of the CE’s editors about including and leaving out passages.

The book ends with F.W. Alonso’s paper arguing that the MB drew upon a vast quantity of Greek materials, particularly the Homeric cycle and the myths about Heracles. He finds as many as seven parallels between the former and the design of the MB. There are numerous commonalities between Achilles and Bhishma, Helen and Draupadi, Alcmaeon and Parashurama, the lament of Yudhishthira over Karna and of Menelaus over Agamemnon, Arjuna and Rama with Odysseus in the contest for Draupadi/Sita/Penelope. Alonso finds as many as 11 themes common to the tenth book, the Sauptika Parva, and the tenth book of the Iliad. He claims there are 8 clear borrowings from the account of the fall of Troy. But why can it not be the other way around? From this evidence, Alonso suggests that the epic was written after Alexander’s invasion which provides the historical basis for relationships with Greek and early Roman culture. During the same time (1st century BC), writing pervades Roman culture and the Aeneid is composed with Greek materials.

This is truly a very important book, which every Indologist dealing with the epics ought to study. Unfortunately, for such a significant collection, BORI has produced a disappointingly shoddy publication. There is not a word about the editor and any of the six contributors, nor any index; the cardboard covers are of the poorest quality; the typeface used is shabby; some articles are followed by a blank page, others by none, suggesting that each article was printed separately and the lot stitched together without regard to consistency in composition and printing. For an institution that will be a hundred years old in 2017, this is a lamentable display indeed.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: BOOK REVIEWS Tagged With: Critical Edition, Mahabharata

The Bhishma and Drona Parvas–the P. Lal Transcreation

October 19, 2017 By admin

A Zero-Sum Game:
Where Ignorant Armies Clash by Night

The publication of the P. Lal transcreation of the first two of the five battle-books is an important event. After K.M. Ganguli’s prose translation in the late 1890s, followed by M.N. Dutt’s replication, the world has not had access to an English version of these in their entirety. J.A.B. van Buitenen passed away without touching them and his successors have, so far, published part of the Shanti Parva. The Clay Sanskrit Library’s diglot edition has brought out half of the Drona Parva. The Lal transcreation stands apart from all others particularly because of none of them dare to set the translations to poetic rhythm, something that comes so naturally to Prof. Lal, who brings to the work a unique Indian flavour by working into the transcreation many Sanskrit words. The great Ganguli had a P.C. Ray to take care of the manifold problems of publishing such a gargantuan work; van Buitenen had the University of Chicago Press; the Clay series has the New York University Press’all well established institutions with trained manpower. Here is another Abhimanyu taking on the awesome challenge of transcreating-and-publishing Vyasa’s hundred thousand verses, working through the epic-of-epics steadily, relentlessly.

Reading the first two battle-books together is rewarding because of the varied insights such an approach provides. In the first place, the second book, despite covering half of the duration of the first, is longer by half because the battle is far more sanguinary and varied. Both the Kaurava commanders-in-chief’appointed by Duryodhana reluctantly because of Karna’s refusal’are Vyasa’s expose of deeply flawed elders and their narrow dharma. We have here a patriarch who signally fails to provide protection to his foster brother’s wife and sons from murderous attacks in childhood and youth. Later, he and the two gurus of the grandnephews remain silent onlookers to the spectacle of a granddaughter-in-law being molested publicly by their employer, the heir-apparent. It is supremely ironic that the prince who earned the sobriquet of ‘Bhishma’ and came to be renowned as the greatest of renouncers should be so hopelessly bound to his father’s throne as not only to preside over the suicide of the dynasty, but to actually participate in it on the side he knows to be in the wrong! Indeed, Devavrata-Gangadatta-Bhishma is another Prometheus, bound in adamantine chains to the icy Caucasian peaks of the Hastinapura throne, wracked in immortal agony as the Dhartarashtra-Pandava fratricidal strife eats into his vitals endlessly. For, perversely, he cannot, or will not, die till liberation comes in the form of mortal arrows showered by a grandchild who loves him. And the person whom the Indian government holds up as the model of a guru is one who unhesitatingly indulges in sharp practice to ensure that his son gets exclusive tuition and his favourite pupil is not outdone by a talented tribal; who abandons his calling as a non-violent Brahmin to take up arms to acquire power and pelf for his son’no different from the blind king of Hastinapura in his paternal obsession.

It is in the first war book that both patriarch and guru acknowledge, ‘I am tied to the Kauravas by need.’ Bearing out Gandhari’s warning to her son in the Udyoga Parva, Bhishma and Drona fight for Duryodhana, but not with their hearts, announcing that they will not kill any of the five Pandavas. Duryodhana is caught in a zero-sum game: he has no option but to appoint them as the commanders-in-chief. His best bet, Karna, sulks Achilles-like in his tents, determined not fight so long as the patriarch is in command. Yet, this same Karna rushes to the fallen Bhishma begging his permission and blessings to fight against his brothers’what a marvellous vignette Vyasa presents us with! Even thereafter, aware that everyone is unlikely to accept his overlordship and for once letting his discrimination prevail over his egotism, he advises that Drona be made supreme commander. Fifteen days pass and every other day Duryodhana’s desperation mounts and he berates first Bhishma, then Drona for not killing the Pandavas’all to no avail. He directly indicts the guru (VII.94.14) in gravely insulting terms:

‘We ensure your livelihood
Yet you harm us.

I did not know
You are a honey coated razor.’

Drona’s flawed character is exposed as Sanjaya tells Dhritrashtra that in order to impress Duryodhana (VII.94.40) Drona encased him in golden armour made impervious mantrically. In the duel that follows, Arjuna, unable to pierce this armour, displays his unique bowcraft by wounding Duryodhana’s palms and underneath his finger-nails, forcing him to retreat (VII.103.31-32). However, this incident of encasing in magical armour seems to be an interpolation because in sections 116 and 120 Satyaki and in section 124 even Yudhishthira have no problem in wounding his chest so grievously that he is forced to flee the field.

Dhritarashtra’s perplexity over the failure of his army provides the reader with interesting information about how it was administered (VII.114): ‘We treat our soldiers well’Only after passing extensive tests’has their pay been determined, Not because of family connections, personal favour or nepotism. None is conscripted, none is unpaid’we spoke to them sweetly. Not one’has been unfairly treated. Each, according to his ability, gets paid and receives rations’we give presents, we honour them with the best of seats. Even these veteran warriors face defeat.’

In the duels with Dhrishtadyumna we are treated to martial acrobatics of a special type as he jumps on to the guru’s chariot and rapidly shifts position, foiling all Drona’s attacks (VII.97.26-28). Bhima’s duel with the guru is also memorable as he overturns Drona’s chariot repeatedly’as much as eight times! If he is defeated and spared by Karna (VII.139), he also succeeds in forcing the latter to retreat twice (VII.131, 145) and after Drona’s death Karna flees the battlefield out of fear (VII.193.10). The battle for Jayadratha reaches a high point with Arjuna single-handedly holding back the entire army while Krishna refreshes the horses in a hall-of-arrows. Sanjaya exclaims (VII.100.12, 21):

‘O Bharata! Krishna, smiling,
stood gracefully in the arrow-hall
created by Arjuna,
as if he was in the midst of women’
In a single chariot, clad in armour,
facing the Kshatriyas,
the two played with our warriors
like children with toys.’

As we wade through rivers of blood and gore these 15 days, we notice a gradual breaking down of codes of conduct as the stress mounts steeply. Chariot, cavalry and elephant divisions no longer refrain from attacking infantry and even unarmed charioteers and fleeing soldiers or from killing the charioteer to perplex the chariot-rider. After Bhishma’s fall, the battle even carries beyond midnight first by torchlight, then by moonlight, with warriors killing their comrades in the confusion:

‘And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.’

As in Shakespeare’s Henry VI, fathers slay sons, maternal uncles kill nephews and vice-versa. Warriors intervene in duels, attack from behind, many encircle a lone fighter: ‘Dignity was lost/In that crazed clash’ (VII.169.50).

The Udyoga Parva had closed with Yudhishthira taking a measure of his strength after hearing from his spies that Bhishma and Drona had announced that each could wipe out the Pandava army in a month, Kripa in two months, Ashvatthama in ten days, Karna in five. He puts the question specifically to Arjuna who claims that using Shiva’s weapon he can annihilate all opposition in a flash, but adds that its use is improper against humans. He avoids declaring how many days of normal warfare he would take to defeat the opponents. It is Arjuna’s initial assurance that constitutes the backbone of Yudhishthira’s morale because he knows full well that Arjuna’s fulsome estimate of Virata and Drupada equaling Bhishma and Drona is nothing but bombast. The former was cowed down by Kichaka and routed by the Trigartas, as was the latter by the teenaged Pandavas. Sanjaya exclaims to Dhritarashtra:

O raja! Then erupted the battle
Between the Kauravas and Pandavas
Whose origin was the dice-game,
Whose end was all-embracing doom. ‘VI.103.44

Planning for a war is one thing; coming face-to-face with the imperative of killing a beloved patriarch and a revered guru is quite another. It is this existential angst that pierces through Arjuna’s moral armour, effectively unmanning him and becoming the occasion for the recital of Krishna’s Gita transcreated by Prof. Lal in 1947 in rhymed verse, in 1952 in prose, in free verse in 1965, revised in 1968. Intrigued by Arjuna’s uncharacteristic collapse and not finding answers in theGita, he embarked upon the epic journey of transcreating the entirety of Vyasa’s composition verse-by-verse. I will skirt this much-commented-upon text and deal with the rest of the parva. Both in VI.51.6 and in the Gita (1.10) there is a verse that remains intriguing. Duryodhana tells Drona that his forces led by Bhishma are ‘aparyapta’, inadequate, while the Pandava army led by Bhima is ‘paryapta’. This has been transcreated as ‘vast’ and ‘limited’, which is to twist the natural meaning of the word. If Duryodhana feels his army is innumerable, why should it be necessary for Bhishma to revive his spirit in the very next verse?

Prof. Lal’s Preface to the first war-book deals only with the Gita, seeing it as the core of the Bhishma Parva. Reading it is a gripping experience as the reader follows a sensitive and incisive modern mind grappling with Krishna’s recital to extract meaning, savours the delight of the memorably retold parable of the Kalpataru and is surprised by joy to come across gems of insight through a spectrum spanning Vyasa, Dante, T.S. Eliot and Ramprasad Sen. The Preface to the Drona Parva is another scintillating piece teasing out the many shades of the guru-chela relationship: neither will harm the other, yet ‘both must face each other, courtesy of Mahakala’. Against the ideal of the guru-shishya bond given in the Bhagavata Purana, here Vyasa shows us the ground reality of excruciating dilemmas: Drona trying to balance Arjuna-Ekalavya-Ashvatthama; Bhishma caught between Duryodhana-Karna-Pandavas-Krishna. And was Vyasa himself not the greatest victim of this, asks Prof. Lal, when his son almost drove him to suicide by not following his wishes?

Section 1, verse 7’describing the vast empty field of battle’is virtually identical to verse 25. The critical edition overlooks this duplication. Historically, Vyasa’s reference to icons of gods in 2.26 is of interest, as prior to the epic such references are almost absent.

For making sense of the divya drishti gifted by Vyasa to Sanjaya we need not conjure up theories of India having television cameras recording the war. The secret of the supranormal vision is revealed in Vyasa’s announcement at the very beginning that none will harm Sanjaya and his access to everything and everyone will be unfettered. In sections 4-12, Sanjaya gives the king a cosmography that theVishnu Purana copies. There is a detailed description of 7 continents (dvipa, i.e. land with seas on two sides) with their mountains, the countries (varsha) in-between the mountains, 6 oceans. Man is associated with Bharatavarsha, which has 7 ranges, 161 rivers and 228 peoples among whom there is an intriguing reference in 9.56 to Romanah people in the northern region. In 6.14-15 we find a mini-myth of Garuda leaving Meru because all birds there are golden plumaged like him. 8.10 mentions Shandili living at Shringavat, winging us back to Garuda’s traumatic meeting with her in the Udyoga Parva. However, in 8.16 the reference to Hari’s golden chariot of eight wheels has no puranic correspondence. There is a moving reference in 9.5-8 introducing Bharata as a land loved by Indra and 16 famous kings, ‘all these kings and other powerful Kshatriyas/Have deeply loved the territory of Bharata.’ Astronomical data provided in these parvas are hopelessly garbled and have led to a wide variety of dates being fixed by scholars keen to pin down the date of the war, each claiming to have interpreted the dubious references correctly. Deliberate changes appear to have been made in the data around the time of Devabodha’s commentary (mid-18th century CE), each statement conflicting with the others.

Section 13 is virtually a new beginning of the Bhishma Parva as though the lesson on geography had not occurred at all. Reverting to the original narrative pattern of the epic, we find Vaishampayana stating that Sanjaya rushed back to the king to announce that Bhishma ‘lies dead, sprawled on a bed of arrows’. This is repeated in section 1 of the Drona Parva. In both cases, as well as in Dhritarashtra’s extended laments, the references are quite plainly to death and not to awaiting death. Therefore, it is in later times that the concept of Bhishma waiting for the auspicious stellar conjunctions for giving up life was added along with the elaborateShanti and Anushasana Parvas. From Day 1 to Day 10, from the 11th day till the death Abhimanyu, then till the 15th evening and from Day 16 till the end of the 17th day, Dhritarashtra had no news till Sanjaya rushed back to report that Abhimanyu, Drona, Karna and Shalya had fallen. Sanjaya’s narration begins from VI.15 stating that ‘this long-distance hearing and vision, this insight into people’s mind and into past and future, this power of flaying in space, this immunity to war-weapons’ are his by Vyasa’s grace. His presence on the battlefield is testified to in VI.94.46 where he says, ‘though I and Devavrata kept shouting’ at the soldiers not to flee from Ghatotkacha’s illusions, they paid no heed. In section 30 of the Drona Parva he mentions hearing the twang of the Gandiva to his right and speaks of joining Drona’s division as the Kauravas are beaten back, of facing Chekitana in the field and in section 200 of witnessing Bhima’s incredible tackling of Ashvatthama’s attack. He is one of the five (the others being Arjuna, Kripa, Krishna and Yudhishthira) who alone saw the ascent of Drona’s soul to Brahma’s abode (VII.192.57-58). An intriguing bit of information contained in theDrona Parva is usually overlooked amid the welter of action: the blind king was not closeted in Hastinapura but was at least sometimes in Kurukshetra. After Abhimanyu’s death Dhritarashtra’s enquires of Sanjaya why he cannot hear any joyous sounds of dancers, bards and minstrels from the Kaurava camp as he used to while sitting in Somadatta’s camp.

Before the battle begins, we are given detailed descriptions of the Kaurava array led by Bhishma in a white helmet, white armour, under a white umbrella, in a silver chariot with his white palm-tree-symbolled flag fluttering. It is not Arjuna but Yudhishthira who is demoralised, vishadamagamad, at the sight of Duryodhana’s huge army and, as with Uttara, it is Arjuna who restores his morale, drawing upon on an ancient god-vs-demon battle narrative whose lesson is, ‘Victory is where Krishna is’ (VI.23). The next section is abruptly cut off at the seventh stanza with the exultant adversaries about to clash and the Gita begins, continuing till the fifth stanza of section 43. In the sixth shloka we find armies surging forward, as though the 20 sections in-between had not occurred, and are treated to a unique spectacle: Yudhishthira steps down armourless and weaponless from his chariot and proceeds on foot to the Kuru elders! Were Arjuna’s vishada and laying down the bow suggested by this? Each patriarch repeats a formulaic phrase: ‘a man is the slave of need’I am tied to the Kauravas by need’I say this like a eunuch.’ Later Drona and Bhishma recall the bread eaten in Duryodhana’s house (VI.77.71; 109.29). As with Krishna and Kunti’s master stroke of strategy that succeeded in weakening Karna’s animosity, this action of Yudhishthira’s wins him a signal moral advantage. By obtaining the blessings of the elders for victory, Yudhishthira fulfils Gandhari’s prophetic warning to her son in theUdyoga Parva that though the elders may fight for him with their bodies, their hearts and good wishes will ever be with the Pandavas. At this stage Krishna once again approaches Karna, trying to persuade him that since he will not fight so long as Bhishma is alive, he might as well fight on the Pandava side. Karna resolutely refuses to be part of such sophistry and undermine his friend in any way. Then, in a final master stroke aiming at demoralising the enemy, Yudhishthira openly invites defection and succeeds with Yuyutsu, born of a Vaishya handmaid to the blind king, of whom we have not heard anything till now. The reader would expect Vikarna, who spoke up so powerfully against his elders in the dicing match, to have responded instead, but his fraternal loyalty obviously holds, ending finally when Bhima reluctantly kills him. In the Drona Parva we suddenly find Dhritarashtra revealing a heroic feature about Yuyutsu that is never mentioned elsewhere: there was a bitter six-month-long battle in Varanavata where he remained undefeated and slew the Kashi king’s son, a notorious philanderer (VII.10.58-60). He is specifically mentioned by Krishna as severely rebuking the Kauravas for rejoicing after killing a boy (VII.72.63-67).

Sanjaya, in VI.9.74-75, uses an image that recurs at significant points of the epic, spoken by different protagonists: ‘Like dogs snarling over a chunk of meat,/These rajas are squabbling over this earth./And they cannot be satiated.’ The dice-game image is brought in towards the end (VI.115.45): ‘It was victory or defeat, with Bhishma as the stake,/It was a game of dice played by two armies.’ Drona shows Duryodhana the battle in terms of the dice-game (VII.130.20-21) with warriors as gamblers, arrows the dice, Jayadratha the pawn.

As with Abhimanyu later, Arjuna is unaware of his son Iravat’s death till informed by Bhima and then he tells Krishna that though he may be branded a weakling (VI.96.5, 11):

‘This has been a heinous war’
all for the sake of wealth’
we have killed for property!
Dhik! Shame on the wealth that comes
from killing kinsmen!…
But this killing of my kinsmen
is not to my liking.’

This could be referring to Krishna’s reprimand in the Gita. He curses the Kshatriya code and himself again in abject disillusionment after knocking Kripa unconscious:

‘Is there anyone
Like me
Hating a Brahmin and an acharya?…
My karma today deserves that hell’ (VII.147.16-27).

Following Drona’s death, he laments that the little of life left to them will be stained permanently because they killed their guru

‘to enjoy briefly a kingdom’
Because I too
Lusted for a kingdom
I failed to prevent
The murder of my guru.
Head lowered in shame,
I will go to hell’ (VII.196.46, 53).

This is hardly the Gita’s ‘sthitaprajna’ in practice! Arjuna will repeat this sentiment to Duhshala in the Ashvamedhika Parva blaming the warrior’s way of life in the same terms. In its 15th verse the Drona Parva states that the cousins re-examined Kshatriya dharma after Bhishma died, each condemning his sva-dharma. This introspection recurs after Abhimanyu’s death with Dhritarashtra exclaiming (VII.33.23), ‘How terrible is this war-code called Kshatriya dharma/that makes power-hungry men kill a small boy!’

In section 23, at Krishna’s instance, Arjuna invokes Durga for blessing him with victory, a passage occurring only in the Bengali and Devanagari manuscripts. The episode is repeated at greater length in the Mahabhagavata Purana where Krishna is an incarnation of Kali or Bhadrakali (the first appellatives by which Arjuna invokes Durga in the epic passage). Arjuna’s invocation resembles that in the Devi Mahatmya and markedly differs from Yudhishthira’s to Durga in the Virata Parva, where she is addressed as Krishna’s sister and of Nandagopa’s family.

Day 1 goes in favour of Duryodhana. We, who usually shrug the eldest Pandava away as a pacifist, are surprised to find Yudhishthira complaining to Krishna that Arjuna fights like uninvolved spectator (possibly following the letter, not the spirit of detached karma!), indifferently watching the destruction of own forces. That is when he announces that Dhrishtyadumna will command the Pandava forces and all ponder the meaning of the announcement till he explains that Dhrishtyadyumna is ordained by Shambhu to slay Drona. We now come to know that Drupada’s black-magic abhichara rite had invoked Shambhu, producing Dhrishtadyumna and Draupadi. Similarly, in the Drona Parva we are told that Shikhandi was the result of Shiva’s boon to Drupada for a Bhishma-killing son as was Bhurishrava to Somadatta to take revenge on Shini. The shadow of destructive Rudra looms over Kurukshetra. Bhima is specifically compared to Shankar, Rudra, and trident wielding Shiva during his grisly exploits, as is Arjuna repeatedly in his destructive fury. Significantly, Ashvatthama is identified with Rudra, looking forward to the horrific carnage he perpetrates in the Sauptika Parva. The climactic touch comes at the end of the Drona Parva where Arjuna tells Vyasa that though the opponents thought they were being routed by him, it was really a dazzling male form, trident in hand, who preceded him and created havoc whichever way he turned. Vyasa reveals that this was the primal lord, Ishana-Shankara, carried by Durga in her arms in the form of a babe with five tufts of hair. The myth of Barbarika rings a change on this when his bodiless head tells the Pandavas’who are disputing over who routed the enemies’that he saw the Sudarshana discuss whizzing through the battlefield, beheading thousands, and Draupadi in Kali form running behind, drinking up all the blood.

The first major casualty is Virata’s son Shveta who, due to some differences with his father, sought refuge with Pandavas (VI.49.4-5). Shveta must have had some connection with eastern India as the episode is not known beyond a few Bengali and Devanagari mss and the 11th century Old Javanese recension. On the second day there is an interesting elaboration on the charioteer’s role and on Bhima’s grisly swordsmanship. We learn that eastern India was renowned for its war elephants and had no liking for Krishna and his instruments the Pandavas. The Kalinga and Vanga kings and Bhagadatta of Pragjyotishpura (Assam) are important allies of Duryodhana. The Tamraliptas (today’s Tamluk in West Bengal) are clubbed along with mlecchas like Shakas, Kiratas, Daradas, Barbaras’all on the Kaurava side. Finding Satyaki unstoppable, Duryodhana finally turns loose the hill-tribes (Daradas, Tanganas, Khasas, Lampakas, Kulindas) expert in stone-warfare, of which both armies are ignorant (section 121), but Satyaki routs them. Indeed, this parva becomes a celebration of Yadava prowess, represented by Abhimanyu and Satyaki who equal Arjuna and Krishna in their battlecraft. Krishna, seeing Satyaki chariotless and about to face Karna, provides him his own chariot driven by Daruka.

On Day 2 Yudhishthira advises adopting the krauncha formation, a never before used vyuha, and the day goes to the Pandavas. This is the only occasion on which all the conches of the Pandavas are named (VI.51.26-27): Krishna’s Panchajanya, Arjuna’s Devadatta, Bhima’s Paundra, Yudhishthira’s Anantavijaya, Nakula’s Sughosha, Sahadeva’s Manipushpaka. Day 3 sees a breakdown of the codes of battle, which recurs on the 10th day, with confusion prevailing and no quarter given regardless of the status of the opponent. Arjuna uses a celestial missile for the first time: Mahendra, followed by Vayavya and then Aindra. The reason is that Krishna, losing patience with Arjuna’s half-hearted fighting, leaps off the chariot and rushes to kill Bhishma, the discuss miraculously appearing in his hand. Without turning a hair, the patriarch welcomes him, glorying in dying at the hands of the Lord of all:

ehyehi devesa jagannivasa namohastu te madhava cakrapa’e
prashya ma’ pataye lokanatha rathottama’ sarvasara’ya sa’khye

The incident is repeated on Day 9, where the description is less elaborate and more realistic with Krishna flourishing his charioteer’s whip. Bhishma’s welcome to Krishna is less exaggerated:

ehyehi pundarikak’a devadeva namohastu te
mamadya satvatasre’ha patayasva mahahave

This later incident must have been the inspiration for a later Vaishanavite composer to insert the episode, with miraculous embellishments, into the third day. Krishna breaks his vow again in the Drona Parva when, to save Arjuna, he receives Bhagadatta’s Vaishnava missile on his chest, where it turns into a celestial garland. To assuage Arjuna’s bruised ego, he recounts the vyuha doctrine of his four-fold existence’ a sure indication of interpolation. Following Drona’s murder, the infuriated Ashvatthama releases the invincible Narayana missile which is neutralised by Krishna. The name of the weapon and Krishna’s intervention bereft of any miraculous transformation indicates that this was the incident on which the Vaishnava missile incident was modelled subsequently to introduce a miraculous element and deify Krishna.

On Day 4 Bhima makes his first kill of the Dhartarashtras: Senapati, followed by seven more. When Duryodhana asks Bhishma to explain the secret behind the Pandavas’ success, he is told about the Pancharatra cult. Bhishma’s account of the creation of the four varnas harks back to the hymn to Purusha in theRig Veda. An intriguing reference is made to Vishnu killing only Madhu, with no mention of Kaitava, and being called Janardana, the people-churner (it could be a reference to the wielding of the rod of punishment to control the wicked, which Arjuna later celebrates as the foundation of dharma). Duryodhana is uncharacteristically impressed and thinks highly of Krishna and the Pandavas’again a sure sign of interpolation.. The 3rd day incident, Bhishma’s discourse to Duryodhana, Dhritarashtra extolling Krishna’s divinity in VII.11 and, at the end of this book, Ashvatthama being similarly impressed by Vyasa’s explanation that Krishna is Narayana who is Rudra are obvious Vaishnavite interpolations.

Sanjaya minces no words in telling home truths to Dhritarashtra, reading him a lecture (VI.65.22-26) in the law of karma’ reaping as he has sown, suffering the fruits of his own misdeeds, tasting the fruit in this life and later. Often he repeats his admonition that the king is like a dying man refusing medicine and that he ought not to blame his son now for his own sins of commission and omission. He also explains that Krishna decided war was the only option on finding that despite his proposing peace the blind king was devious in dharma and, motivated by envy of the Pandavas, persisted in making crooked plans against them (VII.114.51-53).

In the battle descriptions certain formulaic metaphors occur frequently, such as of son and father, brothers, nephew and maternal uncle non-recognition and mutual slaughter, the horrific river of blood, wounded warriors looking like flames-of-the-forest etc. The reader is often taken aback by Vyasa’s use of conceits where two completely different objects are brought into violent conjunction: an arrow stuck in the forehead is like a lotus on a long stem; elephants drag chariots as if uprooting lotuses in a lake, the Kaurava army is vulnerable as a tipsy girl on a highway or standing senseless like a lovely limbed weak willed girl, the battlefield is as beautiful as the autumn sky flecked with red sunset clouds, or a haunting sight, glowing everywhere with softly flaming fires of blood stained armour and gold ornaments; littered with handsome faces with well-trimmed beards and ornamented, the earth looks like the sky scintillating with stars or like a lovely girl adorned with multiple jewels, strewn with golden girdles, glittering necklaces, gold-plated darts, golden breastplates. Arrows speed gracefully like flocks of birds settling on a tree with delicious fruit or slide into a body like swans gliding into the waters of a lake, or shoot up like birds from trees at early dawn. The princes slain by Abhimanyu are like five-year-old mango trees about to fruit shattered by a severe storm. Warriors pierced with golden-feathered arrows are like trees full of glow-worms. The transcreator lends a fine Shakespearean touch to the description of supine heroes who, ‘though dead, looked as if they were alive’ (VI.96.54). An unusual image surfaces on Day-9 of the Pandavas chasing Bhishma like the Asuras attacking Indra and, conversely, like the gods staring at Danava Vipracitti, facing Bhishma who is Death (VI.108.34, 39). The ineffable beauty of the description of exhausted warriors lying asleep and of the rising moon spreading its radiance over the battlefield (VII.184) is brought into violent clash with the blood-letting that follows. There is the unique passage of pathos embedded in the narrative when Duryodhana recalls the sweet childhood days Satyaki and he shared when he faces him in battle.

In VI.110.31 we come across a lost myth of Indra fighting the Asura Maya. The duel with Shrutayudha becomes the occasion for recounting the mini-myth of Varuna’s wondrous mace (Krishna’s Kaumodaki mace and Sudarshana chakra are also Varuna’s gifts). The brief battle with Shrutayu that follows has one of those extremely rare instances of Arjuna fainting (VII.93.12-19). VI.90 supplements the account of the Arjuna-Ulupi romance in the Sabha Parva. In recounting Iravat’s history, Sanjaya states that Garuda having killed Ulupi’s husband, she was in despair. Her father Airavata gave her to Arjuna, whom she desired. Iravat, abandoned by his wicked maternal uncle who hated Arjuna (possibly Takshaka), met his father in Indra’s realm and was requested to join the war. Curiously, Babhruvahana does not join his father in the battle. Iravat is the first Pandava scion to die, killed by the rakshasa Alambusha in the form of a garuda. Iravat is a very important figure in the south Indian cult of Draupadi, where, because his body carries all the auspicious signs, he becomes a willing sacrifice prior to the war to ensure the victory of the Pandavas. In the Drona Parva first Arjuna and then Bhima lose their sons, while Ghatotkacha loses his son Anjanaparva to Ashvatthama.

There is a misconception that Abhimanyu fighting six warriors alone is a unique situation. We find Bhurishravas taking on Satyaki’s ten sons simultaneously and beheading the lot. Bhishma is attacked by 6 or 7 warriors together frequently. In VI.86.16 there is a circular stranglehold of chariots around Bhishma, similar to what Abhimanyu faces. The difference is that where, in the Bhishma Parva, Abhimanyu pierces through the Kaurava ranks, leading Draupadi’s sons, the five Kekayas (sons of Kunti’s sister) and Dhrishtaketu in a needle-point formation to rescue Bhima, the latter is unable to replicate this in the Drona Parva where Jayadratha frustrates all attempts to aid Abhimanyu.

The special regard Krishna has for Arjuna is brought out more than once in these two books. In VI.107.36 Krishna tells Yudhishthira:

‘Arjuna is my sakha
my love-and-loving friend,
my relative and pupil.
I will cut off my flesh
for Phalguna.’

In VII.79 he tells Daruka that the world means nothing to him without Arjuna and whoever injures him, harms Krishna, for Arjuna is half of him. In VII.182.43-44 he tells Satyaki that his parents, brothers, his own life are less dear to him than Arjuna, and that he would not want to possess at the cost of losing Arjuna something more precious than all the three worlds. An interesting parallel to this duo (often called the two Krishnas on one chariot, as in VI.81.41) occurs when Dhrishtadyumna exclaims (VI.77.31-34) that life is meaningless without Bhima, ‘my sakha, my loved-and-loving friend, my devoted bhakta as I am his’. Like Arjuna in the Virata Parva, Dhristadyumna uses a special weapon to make the Kauravas fall senseless (VI.77.48).

At the end of Day 8, which goes very badly for Duryodhana, with many of his brothers slaughtered, he reproaches Karna for standing aside. Defying the much-touted virtue of undying loyalty to his friend, Karna’s pride takes precedence and he stands firm on not joining so long as Bhishma fights. It is this egotistical obduracy that erodes whatever chances Duryodhana has to win the war in the first ten days. Karna’s much-vaunted heroism stands exposed as he has to flee the field several times. Even Dhritarashtra exclaims that he has lost every battle fought against the Pandavas, ‘But my stupid son seems to be unaware of this’ (VII.133.9). Kripa mocks him for his empty bombast and when he insults Kripa, Ashvatthama pounces on him with drawn sword recounting how he has often been routed (VII.158).

Bhishma is truly a man at war with himself: he will neither kill any Pandava, nor will he stand aside from fighting for Duryodhana. He insults Karna grossly, ensuring that he opts out of battle. It is as if he were hoping to cause so much slaughter that, exhausted, both sides will agree to disengage. Otherwise why should he go on killing for the longest period among any of the Kaurava generals? Day 10 is a deeply moving narrative, with Bhishma repeatedly urging Yudhishthira to kill him as he has lost the desire to live (VI.115.15). The battle rages around him as if the patriarch were the stake in a dice-game. Turning away from Shikhandi, Bhishma smiles and tells Duhshasana that the arrows wounding him mortally must be Arjuna’s and cannot be Shikhandi’s for they strike his weakest spots deep, ‘Like baby-crabs emerging/after cannibalizing their mother/they are devouring me’ (VI.119.66). Ultimately, there is not even two-fingers-breadth of exposed skin left on his body!

Curiously, Dhritarashtra and Gandhari make no move to meet the fallen patriarch until the war gets over, which argues for his having been killed as indeed is often stated quite bluntly. At the end of the Bhishma Parva and again at the beginning of the Drona Parva Sanjaya describes Karna rushing to meet the fallen Bhishma to get his permission to fight. The patriarch unveils for him the secret of his parentage which Karna already knows from Krishna. Bhishma considers his birth adharmika,jatohasi dharmalopena. It may very well indicate that the story of the god Surya engendering him was not believed by the patriarch who frowned upon this instance of unwed motherhood. Bhishma tells Karna that such a birth warped his discrimination so that he chose to mix with the mean and was jealous of the noble (VI.122.12-13). Though Arjuna’s equal, these undermined him. This is substantiated in the Drona Parva when Arjuna berates Karna for his ignoble conduct in abusing Bhima although the latter had never spoken a harsh word to him despite uncharioting him repeatedly:

‘You must have a low mind
To speak as you do.
You say things
That should never be said.’ (VII.148.19-23)

Karna’s response to Bhishma is that of a tragic hero: fate is inevitable, struggle cannot overcome it, but he is obliged to pay with his life for the favours received. When Duryodhana complains about Drona’s failures, Karna’s reply sounds surprisingly like Krishna’s to Arjuna on performing kartavyam karma:

‘Do your duty,
And do it fearlessly.
Whether what you do
Succeeds or fails’
That’s in the hands of fate.’ (VII.152.31)

Envy of the much younger Arjuna is the driving force of his being and he remains obsessively true to his ‘sva-dharma’ of being the egotistical sublime till the bitter end. We recall that Duryodhana had declared him ruler of Anga, but here we come across Bhima killing the ruler of Anga who is called a ‘mleccha’ (VII.26.17).

Duryodhana’s soldiers can only imagine Karna as Bhishma’s replacement, not Drona. Karna discerns that he may not be universally acceptable as the commander and, for once swallowing his pride and listening to reason, advises the reluctant Duryodhana to install as Bhishma’s successor the guru: ‘Ear-long white hair,/shyama-dark the complexion, eighty-five years old,/Drona moved like a boy of sixteen’ (VII.125.73)’a description Sanjaya repeats when he is beheaded (VII.192.64-65). With this the horrors of war abruptly exacerbate. The first warning bell is rung with Satyaki beheading the armless, meditating Bhurishrava, presaging the manner of Drona’s death. That incident reveals that strong opposing views prevailed about the Vrishnis. When Arjuna suddenly intervenes in the duel and slices off his arm, Bhurishravas is astonished at his uncharacteristic conduct and attributes it to his keeping company with the Vrishnis and Adhakas who ‘are mean and vicious’ and making them his models (VII.143.16). Sanjaya counters this by extolling the nobility and virtue of the Vrishnis to explain their invincibility to Dhritarashtra (VII.144.26-32). Then there is the horrendous battle at night, fought by lamp-torch-and-moon-light. Next, six heroes combine to kill a sixteen year old. One cannot believe one’s ears when the revered guru advises Karna to cut Abhimanyu’s bow and armour from behind so that he can be killed. We recall how he played favourites, disabling Ekalavya and giving his own son special coaching, used his pupils to grab half of Drupada’s kingdom (if he was such a mighty hero, why did he not do this by himself?), uttered no protest when Draupadi was abused. Bhima brutally tells him to his face that, obsessed by love for his son, he forgot his dharma of ahimsa to chase after wealth and killed thousands (VII.192.38-40). Drona is no different from Dhritarashtra in this respect. This is the person after whom India has named the award for its best sports coach! His brother-in-law Kripa (a foundling reared by Shantanu) is no better. Despite being the first guru of the family, not only does he join in the killing of the youth, but assists Ashvatthama in the horrific carnage of sleeping combatants. Strangely, Vyasa has not a single word to say against Kripa!

After Jayadratha is killed, a gruesome picture of the battlefield is described to Arjuna by Krishna (VII.148) which is comparable to that in the Stri Parva. Ghatotkacha and Alambusha’s chariots are in a class apart, made of iron, of huge size, drawn by massive beasts and their duels are truly horripilating. Sauti may seem to be nodding when Alambusha, who has already been pummelled to death Bhima-style by Ghatotkacha (VII.109) is again beheaded by Satyaki (VII.140). However, in the latter instance, the rakshasa killed is ‘Alabala’ according to the Critical Edition.

There is no epic evidence for the popular tale of Abhimanyu learning the secret of penetrating the discus formation while in Subhadra’s womb. Arjuna’s behaviour is most curious. He knows that his primary responsibility is to prevent Yudhishthira from being captured by Drona, yet when the Trigarta suicide-squad challenges him, he suddenly announces his vow never to refuse a challenge and follows them far away, resulting in Abhimanyu’s death. Not only does Krishna remain silent, but later he praises Arjuna, as never elsewhere, for surpassing the gods in killing, single-handed, innumerable samshaptakas. Satyaki, Arjuna’s disciple, similarly suddenly recalls a vow to justify killing the meditating Bhurishrava. However, when Arjuna announces his vow to kill Jayadratha before sunset, Krishna does reprimand him for the rash decision taken without consulting him. In his dreams, Arjuna himself becomes apprehensive that he will fail and must commit suicide. This becomes the occasion for Krishna taking him to Shiva to obtain the Pashupata weapon. Once again at a critical juncture Shiva intervenes. However, it is a weapon never used except by Drona and is then ineffective! Similarly, when Ghatotkacha flings the spike-studded Rudra weapon at Karna, he throws it back at him incinerating the rakshasa’s chariot.

Then comes the gut-churning killing of Abhimanyu, grandfather of the yajamana of the snake-holocaust during which the epic is recited. The reader should note that there has been no lamentation earlier when Abhimanyu killed Duryodhana’s son Lakshmana. On Drona’s advice, Karna slices the youth’s bow from behind, Kritavarma kills his horses, Kripa slays his two escorts, Drona slices his sword, Karna shreds his shield, all jointly splinter the wheel he wields. Undeterred, Abhimanyu’Bhishma-like resembling a porcupine’attacks Ashvatthama who leaps away from his mace that pulverises his horses and both escorts. It is particularly puzzling that Duhshasana’s son, who smashes to pulp the recumbent Abhimanyu’s skull, should remain nameless and Vyasa never tells us what happened to him. One of the opponents Abhimanyu routs is of interest because of a possible historical reference: Paurava, whom van Buitenen links to Alexander’s Poros. Another instance is when Satyaki routs the Shurasenas referred to by Megasthenes (VII.141.9). In a rare instance of puranic irony, the Surya dynasty of Ayodhya is wiped out by Abhimanyu, incarnation of Chandra’s son, when he slays its last descendant Brihadbala. If we keep in mind theAmsavatarana, several conundrums surface where divinities clash, reminding us of the Iliad: Indra-Arjuna kills Vasu-Bhishma and Surya-Karna; Agni-Dhrishtadyumna kills Brihaspati-Drona and is killed by Shiva-Ashvatthama. Dhritarashtra’s lament over Abhimanyu’s death contains a cryptic statement in which lies the seed of a wonderful tale to be told later by Vidura to console the king that travelled over continents to be known in the Occident as the story of the man in the well told by Barlaam to Josephat: ‘In my eagerness to lick honey/I failed to foresee the fall from the tree.’ (VII.51.15)

The other major incident is Krishna getting Karna to expend his infallible missile on Ghatotkacha. Following this, Vyasa paints for us a picture that is literally horripilating. Krishna roars with joy, hugs Arjuna repeatedly, thumps his back and dances about ‘like a tree swaying in the wind.’ Arjuna is shocked and the explanation provided needs to be read carefully. With his skin-armour and earrings and then with Indra’s weapon, not even Krishna and Arjuna together could have defeated Karna. That is why Krishna did not allow Arjuna to face Karna so far (VII.147.34-35). In that context, section 148 is clearly inconsistent where, hearing Bhima’s complaint of being abused by Karna, Arjuna goes up to him and reads him a lecture on his meanness of mind. Perceptively, the blind monarch exclaims,

‘When a dog and a boar fight
It’s the hunter who gains.
In the clash between Karna
And Hidimba’s son Ghatotkaca,
The winner was Vasudeva-Krishna.’ (VII.182.8)

To his question as to why Karna never used the infallible missile against Arjuna, Sanjaya responds that night after night he, Duryodhana, Shakuni and Duhshasana used to advise Karna to use it against Krishna, ‘the root of the Pandavas’. But, during battle Krishna invariably confused them by making others face Karna. Sanjaya goes on to narrate that Satyaki also asked Krishna the same question and was told ‘It was I who confused/The son of Radha’ (VII.182.40). Krishna now reveals (VII.181) that in order to lighten the balance of forces against Arjuna, he had systematically got rid of Jarasandha (who could be killed because Balarama destroyed his infallible mace), Shishupala and Ekalavya (this remains an untold tale) and would have killed Ghatotkacha one day since he was a dharma-destroyer:

‘I will destroy all
Who destroy dharma’
Brahma-sacred texts, truth, self-
Control, purity, dharma, humility,
Shri-prosperity, patience, constancy’
Where these are,
There I am.’ (VII.181.28-30)

Krishna’s clarity of focus becomes unnerving at times, as when he urges Arjuna to kill Kritavarma’a Yadava’without consideration of the relationship. At such times we need to recollect that his career began with killing his maternal uncle, then his cousin Shishupala and that Ekalavya who is another cousin of his. Moreover, Kritavarma was a rival of Krishna for the hand of Satyabhama in the Syamantaka gem affair and was one of Abhimanyu’s killers.

As we read the parva it becomes clear that stoking the flames of the Pandava-Dhartarashtra rivalry is the animosity between two classmates, Drona and Drupada, fed by the smouldering embers of the ancient Brahmin-Kshatriya conflict that Parashurama had drowned in lakes of kshatriya blood. When pressed to use his celestial weapons for victory, Drona agrees to do so, though aware that this is ignoble because the warriors are ignorant of these, to please Duryodhana. As he assures Duryodhana (VII.185.12), Parashurama’s disciple Drona gives no quarter to the Panchalas. He kills his arch-enemy Drupada, the three sons of Dhristadyumna and Virata. The major allies of the Pandavas, two of their sons and one grandson are, thus, slaughtered by their guru and his son who will finally exterminate the entire Panchala clan. Curiously enough, none of the Pandavas mention Duhshasana’s son as Abhimanyu’s killer, not even Yudhishthira in his extremely significant complaint to Krishna that instead of attacking Drona, the architect of his son’s death, Arjuna targeted Jayadratha who merely prevented help from reaching the youth. Yudhishthira is so infuriated that he sets out to kill Karna and has to be restrained by no less a person than Vyasa. Thereupon he commands Dhrishtadyumna to kill Drona whom Arjuna always bypasses. It is as though Krishna’s sermon had not happened (which, indeed, may very well be the case in the Ur-text).

Sanjaya has a very revealing comment about the Pandavas when they jointly attack Drona. Bhima and the twins were ‘crooked-minded’ and separated the Kauravas from the guru so that the Panchalas could kill him. Dhrishtadyumna cuts off the head of the meditating preceptor, just as Satyaki had beheaded Bhurishrava. Here it is important to dispel the popular misconception that following Yudhishthira’s lie (it is interesting that Arjuna refused to do so), Drona laid down his weapons. Bankimchandra Chatterjee analysed the text at length in Krishnacharitra (1892) to show that Drona did not stop fighting but began using the Brahmastra unethically. When Drona was rebuked by seers for the heinous act of using celestial weapons against those not conversant with them and directed to discard his weapons, he continued to destroy thirty thousand soldiers and even defeated Dhrishtadyumna who had to be rescued by Bhima. It is only after Bhima abused him for abandoning his dharma out of greed for the sake of his son that he discarded weapons. There was, therefore, no impact of the false news of Ashvatthama’s death. Neither theAnukramanika nor the Parvasamgraha refer to it. Krishna’s narrative to his father in the Ashvamedhika states that the guru was worn out by the strain of battle. On a very sound basis, therefore, Bankimchandra classified it as an interpolation. After his father’s death, Ashvatthama erupts in fury but, disorientated at Arjuna foiling his Agneya missile, he flees to Vyasa for an explanation. Hearing that Narayana, who is Krishna, is one with Rudra (whose devotee Ashvatthama is), he retreats with his army. The parva ends, ominously, with an elaborate paean to Rudra, the shatarudriya chant.

Bhishma’s fall had not led to any acrimony, but now Arjuna bitterly berates his brother-in-law for killing the guru and is soundly reprimanded in return. The Pandava camp now erupts in violence, bursting through the lid of compromise Krishna repeatedly weighs down over the seething cauldron of hidden agenda. Arjuna blames Yudhishthira and Dhristhadyumna who retorts and then Satyaki and the Panchala prince trade insults and come to blows, having to be restrained by Bhima and Sahadeva with great difficulty. Dhrishtadyumna bluntly states that both sides have used adharma as convenient for the sake of victory. Worse is to come in the Karna Parva where the smouldering resentment among the brothers, only a spark of which emerged during the game of dice, bursts out into the open.

The Complete Bhishma & Drona Parvas transcreated from Sanskrit
by Padma Sri P.Lal, Writers Workshop, Calcutta.

Filed Under: BOOK REVIEWS, MAHABHARATA Tagged With: Bhishma, Drona, Mahabharata

Chakravyuha by Manoranjan Bhattacharya

October 9, 2017 By admin

“Chakravyuha” by Manoranjan Bhattacharya, with lyrics and music by Kazi Nazrul Islam, first performed on 23rd November 1934. The play is unique for three reasons:

The novel explanation it offers for the traditionally accepted “motiveless malignity” of Shakuni, the set-piece villain of the Mahabharata, depicting an intriguing understanding between him and Krishna, who appear almost as partners orchestrating the Kurukshetra holocaust.

The entrancing picture of the David-and-Jonathan-like “love passing that of woman” between Lakshman and Abhimanyu, sons of Duryodhan and Arjun respectively, who make a pact to share the kingdom between themselves, irrespective of what their elders do, if they ever become heirs to the throne. Ironically, one kills the other and is himself slain in the deadly discuss formation of the Kaurav army.

An outstanding scene in which, after Abhimanyu’s death, Draupadi confronts Jayadrath and her husbands in flaming agony.

The extracts that follow relate to the encounters between Shakuni, Bhishma and Krishna, and Draupadi, her husbands and Jayadrath.

Act I Scene I
(Bhishma, Abhimanyu, Lakshman and Shakuni)

Shakuni
Vasudev? Such a good boy!
When we meet, only jests
saying, “Uncle, Uncle”
Didn’t come himself? Could not, I suppose?
Pandavs’ incognito time is over,
Many tasks on his shoulders!
He, perhaps, knows where’s Yudhishthir.
If only he’d whisper it to me,
secretly the tricks of dice I could teach him.
He knows nothing at all;
only suffers defeat after defeat!
Trained by me,
Duryodhan he could defeat.
On return, the game shall be held,
again kingdom he’ll lose at dice.
Had he learnt it, this time Duryodhan
would be forest-bound.
Do not mind, Lakshman.
Kings’ exile is but luxury!
Harishchandra, Ramchandra,
Many Chandra-stories I hear in the Purans.
All forest-exiles are a fancy.
What would happen if one didn’t go
That I can’t understand.

Bhishma
The essence of vow-observance
passes your comprehension,
non-Aryan Saubala.

Shakuni
How true, Bhishma-dev
I had forgotten you are here
incarnate vow-observance yourself!
But, is it good to fulfill all vows?
That day, that moment
when father and brothers died
in the dark dungeon
like a fool
Kuru clan annihilation had I vowed.
But what is a non-Aryan’s vow?
That vow has been swept away
in the flood of Karurav love.
Hence, oblivious of all
I live only for dicing!
Dice, dice – dice is my bosom companion.
Ha! ha! ha! ha! (laughs demonically)
What these dice are made of
you’ll all laugh to hear.
My father died first.
In prison cremation wasn’t possible
flesh and skin melted; rotted, fell away
exposed pure white skeleton.
One by one fell ninety-nine brothers
I alone, eat, drink and pass time.
Time refuses to pass.
From father’s rib-cage
carefully breaking-off three firm bones
passed time grinding them on the stony floor.
Those bones turned into dice
Then Kauravs turned compassionate,
released me from prison.
When I die,
these dice will I leave Lakshman
to defeat Abhimanyu and send him to the forest.

Bhishma
Matters long past why recall?
Forget not, Gandhari’s brother are you . . ..

Act II Scene II
(Karna, Krishna, Shakuni)

Karna
Discussions are over.
I leave to salute father.

Shakuni
Most devoted to his father is Anga’s king:
In the tourney when Duryodhan
anointed Karna king of Anga,
leaning on a staff, barefoot,
Adhirath the charioteer
caught betwixt fear and wonder,
trembling in every limb, crying
“Son! Son!” burst into the royal presence,
Karna unperturbed fell prostrate
bowing lustrated head
in the dust at his bare feet.

Krishna
Your devotion to your father too
I know well.
The burden of his bones
you bear on your breast.

Shakuni
Never have I got you, Krishna, by myself.
In the sabha you look at me and smile,
I myself laugh and try to make all laugh.
This restless agony of mine
who comprehends, who doesn’t
I know not, don’t worry about.
That you, Krishna, have understood
makes my bearing this burden
worthwhile.
I realize, at long last it’s time
to offer father’s bones to Ganga.

Krishna
Do so, son of Subala.
Let peace come to this Bharata.

Shakuni
First let peace come to this Bharata.
Subala’s bones will reach Ganga thereafter.
Father’s refusal to marry his daughter
to blind Dhritarashtra
only this the crime,
for that cause, prison;
for that, death in neglect,
with ninety-nine sons, – you know!
Me alone they all kept alive by their share
of the morsels to repay the debt!
Father’s bones keep lidless watch
over my repayment efforts
While that debt remains,
peace will come to this Bharata you imagine?

Krishna
Can past crimes not be forgiven, hero?

Shakuni
I’d thought today I wouldn’t laugh.
Now you make me laugh, Keshav,
you speak of forgiveness?
Your father, too, was in prison;
in prison were you born
how much did you forgive Kamsa?
Kaliya, Putana, Chanura, Mushtika, Kamsa,
Shishupal and others
with stories of your forgiveness
Bharata’s history is replete.

Krishna
Now it seems perhaps I was mistaken.

Shankuni
Then such mistakes commit some more.
Kurukshetra finish off,
then raise the question of forgiveness
Because of your hesitation
quenching of all flames is delayed.
Your vow not to take up arms in Kurukshetra
is senseless egotism!
Sudharshan at rest will only delay justice.
And then this repeated useless
enacting of peaceembassies!
All over today?
The attempt to bind you – Shakuni’s scheme.
Now speed your way to Virata’s city,
seven armies swiftly assemble
on the plains of Kurukshetra.

Krishna
How much pain in how many quarters,
Mahamaya!
Great Creatrix of illusion!
Knot upon knot!
Will you not in compassion un-knot, Mother?

Shakuni
Knot upon knot,
revolutions of eras, of birth
inextricably intertwined!
Amba’s ascesis as Shikhandi targets Bhishma;
Drupad’s flaming agony birthed Dhrishtadyumna
to slay Dronacharya;
Draupadi’s flowing tresses – Bhim’s vow
against Duryodhan, Duhshasan;
Gandhar’s bones demand oblations
of Kaurav blood;
Amid eighteen armies, if you can seek out,
a wondrous skein
of flaming agonies interwoven
you’ll perceive!
How many knots will you unravel?
Sever asunder with an adamantine stroke,
Mahakal!
More the delay, more steely the stroke
will have to be tempered, Discuswielder!

Krishna
So much you see, Shakuni!
Heart’s profound agony has honed wisdom!
I understand why Dharmaraj’s dharma
mankind can’t accept even today!
In ever-new forms, new and newer coils
will ensnare man’s heart.
New blows will be needed
to sever them time and again.
Then, one day, man’s love
will shine forth piercing the mists of hatred.

Shakuni
That day is still afar, Krishna.
Today’s task do today.
Yet, that day’s hope time proffers today;
even in this age see Dharmaraj,
even within Shakuni the touch of softness
awakens when I see Lakshman,
like Prahlad among demons, in the Kaurav clan.
That this weakness cause me no anguish,
this little grant,
you, whom all call Narayan.
[ Laughing] Being Narayan is very problematic,
the thief wishes not to be caught. (laughs)
But where’s Lakshman?
Again will you take him to Virata’s?
I find the art of enchantment you’ve
gifted all to your nephew!
Lakshman he’s turned almost into a Pandav!
Binding leaf to leaf
you won’t succeed in uniting trees
meaningless, to create a fresh anguish for me.
Astonishing! so much weakness in me
for a Kaurav child?
I have sped here for his sake!
It seems I’ve grown old.
Delay no more, Keshav!
It seems I’ve grown old.
Delay no more, Keshav!
Before death my life’s debt
must be repaid………….

Act III Scene 1
(Bhishma and Shakuni)

Bhishma
Who? Saubala? Where is Duryodhan?

Shakuni
You know the Kuru King’s ego is hurt
Bhishma’s vow stands broken in today’s battle,
that’s not Bhishma’s shame alone,
but counted as the Kuru king’s insult.

Bhishma
My vow alone is not fruitless today,
Keshav’s resolve is fruitless
him have I forced to take up arms in
Kurukshetra today.

Shakuni
And what did that profit?
The Pandavs weren’t slain.
Only a fresh fear arose of Krishna’s arms
in the Kaurav army
But where are your five arrows
with which you vowed to slay the Pandavs?

Bhishma
At night’s end stolen by Keshav-Arjun,
my resolve frustrated.
That’s why Keshav’s vow
had to be broken.

Shakuni
Stole away arrows!!!?

Bhishma
In Duryodhan’s guise stole the arrows.

Shakuni
And you couldn’t recognize?
Grown so senile?
Or, senile you’ve been since long
only, you’ll not admit it to yourself.

Bhishma
Know you with whom you talk, Shakuni?

Shakuni
With Bhishma’s spectre!
You threaten Gandhar with fear of death?
Ever seen any Gandhar afraid of death?
If you wish, kill me,
Unarmed, alone, I stand before you.

Bhishma
What is it you wish to say?

Shakuni
Let the death wish awaken in you.
That you’ve died long ago, realize.
False flatterers lift you skyhigh
with cries of “Bhishma! Bhishma!”
Know yourself.
No longer truthvowed son of Shantanu,
nor Parashuram’s victor.
The unjust attack on Gandhar,
the torture in dungeons,
the day these occurred because of you,
that day you died.
Or Bhishma never would’ve tolerated
torture of woman in the Kaurav clan!
Or you, Bhishma, yourself could have stopped
the infantile rivalry of Kaurav-Pandav,
Or, in mockbattle over nine days in Kurukshetra,
destroying a few petty lives of mere soldiers
uselessly, never would Bhishma have done.

Bhishma
Such bitter words never have I heard
from any mouth!

Shakuni
Angry? Kill me.
You’re the general and armed.
Bitter surely my words
but true; think them over
if any sinews of thought remain.
The Pandavs you’ll be unable to destroy
or to defeat
then, to fight on Duryodhan’s side
is meaningless, senseless.
Stand aside, let Radheya come,
swiftly let the curtain drop on this play. . . .

Act V Scene 1
(Draupadi, Bhim, Yudhishthir, Jayadrath)

Bhim
Death, give me death, you Sindhu hound!
(off stage) Oh you, lustcrazed, greedy for others’ wives!

Jayadrath
Lustcrazed, doubtless,
(off stage) Draupadi I still crave for.

(Both enter)

Bhim
Life you’d gifted your relative,
death ask him to give me, O Dharmaraj,
from suicide’s sin save me.

Jayadrath
Yudhishthir I see here?
Salutations!
By your generosity,
glory in today’s battle is mine.

Yudhisthir
I had gifted you life, Sindhu king,
in return I beg
open the vyuhadoor. We’ll enter
to protect the child in battle
only against injustice,
not harm any of the Kaurav side.
In the slaying of a helpless child
do not assist, O hero.

Jayadrath
Hero I’m none.
Petty king of Sindhu, lustcrazed thief.
BhimArjun’s insults still etched on my body.
Only today have I found the chance
vengeance for the insult
I’ll extract to the hilt.
Tomorrow?
Tomorrow might be my death!

Draupadi
Death surely is yours tomorrow at Arjun’s hands, villain.

Jayadrath
But today?
The vyuhaentrance I can leave open, Bhim,
if today you give me your Draupadi.

Bhim
Oh, you wicked second Kichak!

Draupadi
Drop futile arrogance today, Vrikodar!
(stopping Bhim) Charioteer’s son bound you,
kissed your cheek,
Jayadrath defeated you,
yet empty vaunting won’t end even today?

Bhim
Krishnaa!

Draupadi
But Krishnaa is wanton!
Menstruating, singlecloth clad,
being stripped in court
you watched unmoved.
Today of my own will
I’ll choose the Sindhu king,
more precious than life,
more dear then honor,
dearer than all
son’s life to save,
that you’ll be able to bear.
Come, let’s go, Jayadrath, where you’ll take me.
Open up the vyuhagate.
Go Dharmaraj, go Bhimsen if you can, save
Subhadra’s and Uttara’s life’s treasure.
For me the wareffort,
in my dishonor let it end!
Let peace be established!

Yudhishthir
Mad woman!

Draupadi
Mad, insane,
repeatedly do not call me!
Come, Sindhuraja!

Bhim
Dead or alive am I, asleep or awake?
Dharmaraj, command I slay this wicked female!

Draupadi
Prowess only in killing women!
Even than awaits brother’s command!
So incapable, Bhimsen,
had I known would I have unbound my tresses?
Come, Sindhu hero,
with your own hands you’ll plait my hair

Bhim
Yes, oh yes! Go lovelyhaired one,
go, wed Jayadrath!
Heroic Jayadrath will open up the vyuhapath,
Abhimanyu I’ll bring back!
Then, thereafter! Thereafter?
No, no, what is this terrible dilemma?
Sindhubeast will bind up Draupadi’s flowing hair?
That flowing hair, that pennant
in joy and sorrow, victory and defeat
that led the Pandav expeditions!
That flowing hair whose history’s writ
in letters of blood in Bhim’s heart,
that flowing hair!
But within the vyuha imprisoned
lies five Pandavs’ life!
His life bought with mother’s dishonor
will heroic Abhimanyu ever forgive?
You, Yudhishthir, are still
unkind to Bhim ever!
Won’t you guide this imbecile to his duty
this moment?

Draupadi
Determine your own duty,
I have determined mine.
Come, Sindhuraja.

Jayadrath
Thus you inveigled Kichak into the dancing hall!
ensured his destruction.
Deception won’t fool me.
Your willing consent’s the most terrible!
Terrifying its flames,
even the Pandavs , I see, can’t bear!
Remain in the Pandavs’ home,
Burn them!
I’ve to attend to my duty. (Exit)

Draupadi
Then what will I do?
Kill me, Bhimsen. . . .
Act V Scene 2
(Karna, Krishna and Shakuni after Abhimanyu’s death)

Karna
I, King of Anga, Kauravally
slew in unfair battle son of the Pandavs!
What other son’s sacrifice do you desire,
Narayan?
Feel, now, the pain!

Krishna
Pain today the Pandavs comprehend,
pain today the Kauravs understand,
pain today Virat apprehends,
pain today the Yadavs realize.

Shakuni
How much pain, exposed and secret
in every limb of Bharata,
concentrated in Kurukshetra
as explosive eruption
if you have understood, masterphysician,
delay no longer the ultimate surgery!…
Arise in fury, O Pandavs,
launch a night assault on the Kaurav camp.
Slay Drona, Karna, Duryodhan, Duhshasan,
myself, all!
All slew your son in unjust battle,
slay all today!

Krishna
Mahakal, Lord of War, Annihilating Time,
at your feet we sacrificed our dearest treasure!
Pray to him,
may we not stray from Dharma in war,
we followers of Dharmaraj.

Karna
Whether Dharma or adharma is mine
Narayan, you know all.

Shakuni
Dharma! Dharma!
Dharma will stay no more, Krishna!
Chakravyuha churning has engendered
adharmavenom in Kurukshetra!
Today the Kauravs have drunk it,
tomorrow the Pandavs.
Slaying Drona, Karna in fair battle
is that possible, you think?
Drinking Duhshasan’s heart’s blood,
breaking Duryodhan’s thigh,
gross violations of Dharma
are Bhim’s vows, you know,
yet “dharma, dharma” you chant in deceit?
Hence this terrible blow
had to be hit at you,
had to be hit at Parth!
Don’t turn today’s blows fruitless, Krishna;
swiftly quench the burning!
Fruitful or fruitless, whatever it be,
today’s effort is my last,
no more strength is left.
In the dicegame sabha
casting my father’s ribs
I raised a storm;
today, shattering my own ribs,
have I cast them in Kurukshetra!
Pushed Lakshman into death’s maw!
Gave Kauravs the scheme to slay Abhimanyu!
Unmasked the real face of war!
Now at its own pace will war move
towards its own goal.
Only, you
must fulfil Abhimanyu’s last wish
light twin pyres in Kurukshetra.

Krishna
I will light twin pyres in Kurukshetra today
in that fire let everyone’s pain burn away.

Shakuni
Pain not only of now,
The accumulated pain of the age,
The era’s collected sickness
burn them in that fire, Keshav,
Then, if you can, usher in a new yuga
to lift men’s hearts above war,
above violence!
But,
so long as war exists
the pain of war do not assuage.
The more excruciating the pain of battle
the sooner will mankind forget war,
However,
that task is yours,
that worry is yours.
My work today is ended.
You had wanted it one day,
Today the time has come
to offer father’s bones
at the Ganga of your feet, Narayan!

(Places dice at Krishna’s feet)

Original Bengali Play by Manoranjan Bhattachrya
Transcreated by Pradip Bhattacharya, IAS

Filed Under: STORIES, ESSAYS & POSTS Tagged With: krishna, Mahabharata, shakuni

Review: Buddhacharita Drew Upon Mahabharata for Dharma

July 31, 2017 By admin

Alf Hiltebeitel: Dharma: Its early history in law, religion and narrative

Oxford University Press, pp. 748, Rs. 1800/-

The period from 300 BCE onwards marks a watershed in ancient history. It is not only the time of Ashoka, but also that of Qin Shi Huang, uniter of China and founder of the Great Wall, and of Rome’s triumph over Carthage assuring its supre macy in the Mediterranean. Hiltebeitel assigns to this period the writing of the Mahabharata by Brahmins of Haryana in the 1 st century BCE and Ashvaghosh’s Buddhacharita which, he shows, draws extensively upon the epic in its depiction of Dharma. Both the epics and the Buddhists use the literary trope of oral origins of their texts. He discounts the theories of Gupta patronage for the Mahabharata’s composition and of Doniger’s assertion that it continued in oral form for a millennium.

The term “dharma texts” (Hiltebeitel lists 12 starting with the Ashokan edicts) relates to the period between the Mauryas and the Kushans when these were composed in several languages: Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit and Tamil by propagators of both Brahmanical and non-Vedic Shramanic soteriology. Ashvaghosh uses “dharma” in ways not found before the dharmasutras and the epics, using it “as a term of civil discourse with his Brahmanical counterparts.” The Tamil Draupadi temples are often called Dharmaraja temples, personifying the concept as a god. Bengal has an analogous folk tradition of worshipping Dharmadeb that should have been included in this discussion. In several shrines it is an icon of Buddha, sometimes of Shiva or a Tirthankar, that passes by that name. Among “dharma texts” Hiltebeitel includes the Yuga Purana and the BuddhistProphecy of Katyayana (late 1 st to early 2 nd century CE). Why he places their composition in Central Asia is not clear. Both share the background of invasions by Greeks, Shakas and Pahlavas (the last are absent from the Yuga Purana). Where the Buddhist text speaks of dharma disappearing, the purana assures its continuance as a seed. Hiltebeitel does not explore the reasons for this, which lie in the puranic concept of universal dissolution leaving a remnant symbolized by Shesha-naga from which the world’s great age begins anew. Buddhism has no concept of pralaya and re-creation.

Hiltebeitel devotes significant space to pointing out where Wendy Doniger, Madeleine Biardeau, Georges Dumezil and David Shulman are mistaken in rejecting the Bhandarkar Critical Edition (CE) in favour of the Vulgate text of the Mahabharata (MB) and postulating bardic paeans to warriors as the early tribal epic. But why should the “Sharada” script text be accepted axiomatically as the earliest version simply because it is the shortest? Hiltebeitel builds on B.K. Matilal’s treatment of MB “as the locus of a paradigm shift on dharma.” While Ramayana [R] is founded on formal ethical norms, with Rama exemplifying it in action, MB is far more complex, embodying it in Yudhishthira’s dilemmas as the son of the deity Dharma.

A very telling and interesting point made is that what Krishna says in the Gita is not cited as the ultimate pronouncement on dharma anywhere in the MB. The arguments Krishna uses to persuade Arjuna first not to kill Yudhishthira and then not to kill himself out of guilt are founded on the premise that saving life is superior even to truth and to keeping an oath. How is this to be reconciled with the carnage he encourages on Kurukshetra and participates in at Prabhasa? Such complicated questions are not found in the Buddhacharita (BC). In explaining Krishna’s speech to Arjuna, telling him that he had blundered being unfamiliar with the decisions of those who pursued dharma, (the “kavayah”) Hiltebeitel makes the mistake of translating this as “poets” (p. 24). In the Vedas, “kavi” means “seer”, one who sees through the appearance into the reality. The MB is Vyasa’s rendering of the Vedas for the common reader. Krishna is referring not to “the imaginative poet” but to the seers who have proclaimed what is dharma.

Yet, Krishna also says that prescriptions do not exist in all cases. Then what does one take recourse to? Reason? But reason, “tarka” is not extolled in the MB. Bhishma urges that it be shunned as a worthless branch of knowledge. What is of interest is to see Yudhishthira justifying Bhima’s kicking prone Duryodhana’s head when Krishna rebukes him for countenancing this. Krishna has no option but to accept Yudhishthira’s viewpoint. When Hiltebeitel says that such a relaxation of dharma is absent in Rama’s case he overlooks the onslaught Tara launches upon him, and before that the reproaches Bali showers upon him. Unlike Krishna, Rama has no moral compunctions about killing Bali from hiding, or in killing the Shudra ascetic Shambuka. Rama and Yudhishthira share one interesting feature: both favour the traitors, Vibhishana and Yuyutsu, by making them ruler and regent respectively of the conquered kingdom.

Ashoka used “dhamma,” the Prakrit for “dharma,” 111 times, inscribing it in Kharoshthi for the north-west and in Brahmi for the rest. He appointed dharma spies not only for the officials but even for royalty and enumerated seven texts as expressing the true dharma (“saddhamma”). He sought to advance dharma in everyone, irrespective of religion and class. Basically this was showing respect and being generous to Brahmins, Shramanas (monks), parents, teachers, elders, servants, slaves, the weak and the poor. He dismissed Brahmanical rites and women’s rituals as meaningless and insisted on not killing animals. Progress in dharma occurred by following its rules and meditating, the latter being most important. The new imperial ideology was a major threat to Vedic religion. Chandragupta and Bindusara had already favoured Jainism and Ajivika-ism. This would have spurred the composition of new dharma texts by Brahmins such as the Apastamba, Gautama and Baudhayana Dharmasutras.

Hiltebeitel holds that our epics are not tribal bardic lore about chiefs but written documents constructing an imaginary history of monarchs. In the early books of the Rig Veda (II, IV, V and VI) dharman is the foundation of the cosmos that is both above and below, and is linked to Varuna and Mitra, described as asura, representing the foundation of authority that structures society. It is parallel to rita, the truth expressing the proper structuring of the world. In the later Book X Soma establishes the material foundation and Varuna the social. The Atharva Veda departs from the Rigvedic “dharman” to use “dharma” in an abstract sense as custom or law. The Maitrayani Samhita invokes gods as upholders of dharma, “Dharmadhritas” to make the king emulate them. The Taittiriya Samhita explicitly identifies the king with Varuna whose dharma is true, “satyadharma”. Both Samhitas state that in the Rajasuya sacrifice a formal proclamation is to be made, “This is your king, Bhaaratas” which the Apastamba Shrautasutra explains as signifying Kurus-Panchalas, or just people. That leads directly to the MB. It is in the Taittiriya Brahmana that the first reference occurs to “adharma” as a deity to whom a deaf man is to be dedicated in the Purushamedharite, while a member in the assembly is offered to “dharma”. Here is the first reference to dharma in the context of a royal “sabha”. Here Shri is also called “dharmapatni”, the wife of dharma and also of Indra. This links to the MB where Shri-Draupadi is the wife of both Yudhishthira and Arjuna. The Aitereya Brahmana celebrates the king as protector of dharma, “dharmasya gopta”.

“Dharma” occurs in only ten passages in the four oldest Upanishads, specially in the Brihadaranyaka and the Chandogya, all in the context of Brahmanical concerns. Their geographical horizon stretches from Afghanistan to Bihar but no picture of the changing socio-political conditions is found in them. In the Brihadaranyaka, Brahman creates dharma in order to develop itself fully. Nothing, it says, is superior to dharma to which a weak man appeals as to a king. Here dharma is the law enforced by the monarch, and is identical to truth. In the later Katha Upanishad in the story of Nachiketa, Yama instructs in “subtle dharma” which is distinct from dharma-adharma. Yama compliments Nachiketa for rejecting Vedic rites as the foundation of dharma, and imparts to him the far more profound knowledge of the atman gained through yoga. Kings say nothing about dharma in the Upanishads. Indeed, it is Gautama Buddha, of royal Ikshvaku lineage, who expounds dhamma to both Brahmins and kings in the Ambattha Sutta. The Brahmins are of two types: those having great halls (Brahmana mahasala) and those with matted hair (jatila). Buddha compares dhamma to a raft used to cross over to the other shore and then left behind, not to be held on to. The king governs with dhamma as co-ruler. “For the first time dharma is presented as a tactic of civil discourse for engaging Brahmins.”

Some of the Buddha’s most profound discourses—as many as six suttas—were delivered to the Kurus in a town (nigama) named Kammasa-dhamma or Kammasa-pada (ogre with spotted feet, MB’s Kalmasha-pada). The Kurudhamma Jataka refers to Bodisatta as king of the Kurus after his father Dhananjaya’s death. He follows five principles strictly, as do all his subjects, because of which the kingdom is ever prosperous. It is interesting to find Buddha moving from Magadha to bring his dhamma to the Vedic heartland. The Mahaparinibbana Sutta documents that despite the Vajji republic following the seven Vinaya precepts preached to the monks, Ajatashatru of Magadha destroys them. Buddha has nothing to say about this. The Pali Vinaya text records people criticising Buddha for causing families to die out as they turn to Buddhist life. Indeed his own royal Shakya line becomes extinct. That may well be the reason why the Puranas depict him as the avatar who brings destruction to the asuras by deluding them into practising non-Vedic dharma.

The early dharmasutras (Gautama, Baudhayana) claim that the householder’s ashrama is the only one since it alone produces progeny. Later, Vasishtha Dharmasutra, Manava Dharmashastra and both the epics hold that the householder’s ashrama is the best of the four, being their support. Hiltebeitel holds Manava Dharmashastra (Manu) to be the earliest, an early Sunga or late Kushana text. The Buddhist Vinaya Pitaka (which often refers to writing) condemns coitus since it leads to living in houses and to storing food. The Ambattha Sutta accuses Brahmins of slandering Brahma when they claim to have issued from his mouth whereas actually their birth is vaginal. It carries a reference to the Baudhayana Dharmasutra in describing how good Brahmins live, which is absent from the Apastamba and Gautama Dharmasutras. Thus, the Buddhist text is referring to a dharmashastrarule that is not earlier than the 2 nd century BCE, i.e. not pre-Mauryan. The MB, too, has the same description of the life of a renunciant Brahmin.

The Shrauta, Grihya and Dharma sutras—in that chronological order—constitute a genre called kalpasutras linked to specific Vedic schools in which dharma means specific rituals, a technical meaning not found in the Brahmanas and Upanishads. Svadharma means the rules specific to a particular rite, which later denotes duties specific to particular groups or persons. Manu attempts to create a dharma specifying standards coordinating the differing traditions of Vedic schools to set up a common Brahmanical order. Possibly this was called for with the growth of trading urban settlements in the eastern regions. In this the most important place was assigned to five maha-yagyas with five rituals which radically simplified the elaborate Vedic Soma sacrifice: bali (food offering to spirits); hospitality; wood as fire-offering saying “svaha”; water to ancestors saying “svadha”; and Vedic recitation in solitude (svadhyaya) as the offering to Brahman. These would secure one all the fruits of a pious life. To these are added the concept of four debts to rishis (by study), devas (by sacrifice), ancestors (through progeny) and hospitality. Manu specifies that only after these have been discharged, through following the various ashramas in sequence, is the pursuit of moksha through renunciation permissible, whereas the Buddha did not limit monkhood to any stage of life.

Buddha in the Subha Sutta favours five Brahmanical pursuits as meritorious, viz. truthfulness, austerities, celibacy, study, charity, which are “as old as Vedic culture itself” and recommends a sixth: compassion (anukampa). The Apastamba lays down the duties of a Brahmin which are carried into Manu and the MB, combining the lifestyles of the wealthy householder and the ascetic: study, teach, sacrifice and officiate at sacrifices, give and take gifts, inherit, glean. Manu replaces the three shrauta fires by the domestic fire. He also ushers in non-violence by describing the householder’s slaughter-houses as: fireplace, grindstone, broom, mortal-and-pestle and water pot, all of which can be performed by meditative means by the sense organs, speech, breath, or knowledge (mind). In the MB (12.12.23) Nakula recommends domestic life to Yudhishthira after the war where maha-yagyas are performed just with the mind.

For Hiltebeitel, Manu and the R overlap with the MB composed by a committee led by Vyasa over a period of not more than two generations from 150 BCE. He suggests that Valmiki and Manu could be names taken by contemporary poets from the MB and that both texts could have been begun before the MB was finished. In each case the poet is present to listen to his work recited: Valmiki by Rama’s sons, Vyasa by Vaishampayana, Manu by Bhrigu. Manu is early Shunga or late Kushana, focussing on the dharma of Brahmanical kings, which is what both epics also do. This was a counterpoint to the term having been appropriated by Buddhist and other monks and made into an imperial ideology by Ashoka. Only the two earliest dharamashastras, Apastamba andGautama, draw upon purana as an authority for dharma. Vasishtha Dharmashastra is the only one to refer to a sloka from Manu and is possibly later than it, while the MB alone uses the phrase itihasam puratanam. None of the others link dharma with itihasa, whereas all except Apastamba use the term itihasapurana once. The MB’s stock phrase while citing dharma prescriptions is atrapy udaharanti which is absent from Manu, R and Gautama. Hiltebeitel suggests that this second group claims authority independent of early dharmashastras and the MB which cites itihasa as precedent to support its views on dharma.

The MB depicts sanyasa in two ways. In the story of Shuka it shows that the four ashramas need not be lived in sequence. Instead one can directly attain moksha. Yet, it also speaks of the sequential pursuit of four stages of life. Manu, however, insists on the latter. All the texts hold that domestic life is the best, as it supports the others and produces progeny, a concept that the Buddha counters in the Agganna Sutta.

The linking of social classes (varna) to the ashramas is first done by Manu in chapter 7, Rajadharma. Whereas Apastamba and MB permit learning dharma from Shudras and women, Manu drastically abjures this, using terminology found in the Arthashastra for describing punishments for them, as also in describing how the king should think, “chintayet”. Both MB and Manu hold that the raja’s thinking must be dharmic. The Apastamba, prior to Manu, recommends the raja should have a fort (puram) and provides a floor plan with a gambling table in the middle of the assembly hall (sabha) and a capital complex, both of which feature in the MB. Hiltebeitel argues that Manu is drawing upon the MB in recommending that soldiers be drawn from the lands of the Kurus, Matsyas, Panchalas and Surasenas, and in mentioning a forested area for building a capital, as in the epic’s Indraprastha. Hiltebeitel refers to Manu’s ruler as an “upstart king,” reflecting early Vedic chiefs and later Vedic Vratyas (Brahmin and Kshatriya) anticipating the medieval Rajput. The Pandavas can be viewed as “vratya” like the Rajputs, who only assert rulership after disguising themselves as “snatakas” who have just completed Vedic study and kill Jarasandha. So that they are not seen as parvenus, both Manu and MB, specially the latter, want their kings to be Kshatriyas. Manu recognises the existence of non-Kshatriya rulers in warning snatakas not to live where a Shudra rules, nor accept gifts from a king following a wrong shastra (Jainism, Buddhism).

New territory is explored by contrasting how Buddhist and Brahmanical cosmologies relate change in dharma to the concepts of kalpa in the former and yuga in the latter. Kalpa denotes cyclical time in the Magadha area’s Jain, Ajivika and Buddhist concepts, while yuga is linear time. Hiltebeitel disputes the finding that the yuga theory is a late addition to MB. The epic links dharma with yuga and the manvantara (a Manu’s epoch), while Buddhism linked dharma with kalpa as in Ashoka’s rock edicts. Through this linkage, Buddhism gave the kalpa complexity, which Brahmanical texts gave to the yuga. Gonzalez-Reimann, studying the MB and the yugas, notes that in the Mokshadharma Parva’s Narayaniya section Vishnu speaks of the devas fulfilling their duties till the kalpa ends, which is similar to Ashoka’s inscriptions that practising dhamma will increase and improve life in the world till the kalpa’s end. This seems to be the Brahmanical dharma’s answer to Ashoka’s proclamation regarding Buddhist dhamma, both using the same expression, “yavat kalpakshayat”, until the destruction of the kalpa. Nowhere else in the epics is kalpa used thus. Manu (9.301-2) restates the MB’s doctrine that the raja is or makes the yuga, and describes the decline of dharma through the yugas.

James Mitchiner studying the Yuga Purana, which alone refers to the Indo-Greeks, holds that after the Shakas invaded, a new Krita Yuga dawned and the era of 58 BCE was founded by the Indo-Scythian king Azes. This era of renewed prosperity was under the Shatavahana Empire between the Vindhyas and the river Krishna. Parallel to this is the Buddhist text, Prophecy of Katyayana which is told from a Bactrian perspective whence the Nikaya school of Dharmaguptakas with four Pitakas and the Mahasanghikas would have spread it through Central Asia. Both Katyayana and the Yuga Purana depict Magadha in decline. Where the Yuga Purana assures that dharma will continue through history, the Buddhist text depicts a disappearance of the true dhamma and its replacement by a semblance of dhamma.

Where Stridharma is concerned, Apastamba and MBH state that dharma can be learned from women and Shudras. But Baudhayana, Vasishtha and Gautama are as negative as Manu in denying women any independence. This might be a reaction to the growing phenomenon of independent and religiously unorthodox women, viz. the heterodox nuns of Buddhism and Jainism. Hiltebeitel makes a novel point that in the MB from the entry of Ganga the law of the mother prevails as crisis mounts among the Kuru males. This is not found in the R which stresses the importance of upholding the father’s pledge.

Hiltebeitel mistakenly states that Mahabhisha picks Devapi to be his father (p. 346), and refers to “Bhishma’s paternal grandmother, the wife of Devapi,” (p. 365) whereas it is Pratipa, whose eldest son is Devapi. Nor does Vasishtha curse Mahabhisha but only the Vasus (p. 353).

Ganga tells Shantanu that her acts were to accomplish the work of the devas—the first statement of what the Kurukshetra holocaust is all about. With her departure begins the “itihasa” of the MBH, with events occurring not in the world of gods but on earth. Shantanu is linked to the solar dynasty not only because of having been Mahabhisha of that lineage in his previous birth, but also because of his relationship with Ganga who had been brought down to earth by Bhagiratha of that dynasty. Hiltebeitel puts much store by the word “samaya” (compact, arrangement) in the interventions by these women: Ganga’s with the Vasus and Pratipa; Satyavati’s foster-father with Bhishma. Both of Shantanu’s marriages are the result of “restrictive samayas” introducing “a supervening Law of the Mother” into a dynasty whose continuity is disrupted by curses (Mahabhisha-Shantanu and Vasu-Dyaus-Bhishma). Moreover, Ganga and the Yamuna (on which Satyavati plies the ferry) encircle the doab that is the land of dharma. Ganga brings liberation by killing; fish-odorous Satyavati suggests connections with both the law of larger fish eating the smaller and the ferrying across the waters of samsara. Both Ganga and Satyavati make crucial decisions that ensure the continuance of the dynasty. The dharma in which Bhishma and Satyavati engage is “rough and discordant” “co-improvising it with the author” (Vyasa).

In a brilliant insight Hiltebeitel links the two mothers, bright Ganga and dark Satyavati-Kali, to Dhatri and Vidhatri in Uttanka’s story who weave the black and white threads of night and day on the loom of Kala-Time. Very significant is the forcible induction of the Kashi princesses named after the three mothers who are specific to the horse-sacrifice where the chief queen has to simulate coitus under a blanket with the slain horse to which she is led by her co-wives (Taittiriya Samhita). Hiltebeitel indulges in flippancy here following Jamison, translating the names as “Mama, Mamita and Mamacita or Mummy, Mummikins, little Mummy”. Not only is their induction violent, but so is their impregnation. They are also the three Ambikas of Rudra Tryambaka who is invoked in the ritual of pati-vedana (husband-finding) to obtain progeny with some rites similar to the horse-sacrifice. Hiltebeitel suggests that malodorous and terrifying Vyasa is taking on the role of the resurrected sacrificial horse for impregnating the queens. The year-long vow he urges the widows should maintain before impregnation is the same in the Ashvamedha stipulation that the king and queens must remain celibate for the full year the horse wanders. Vyasa assures that if this is done he will give the widows sons like Mitra and Varuna—an unusual Vedic echo in the MB. The Rajasuya sacrifice invokes Mitra as “lord of truth” and Varuna as “lord of dharma”. The Ashvamedha identifies the king with dharma. In both epics progeny are the result of the horse-sacrifice (Parikshit, Lava and Kusha). However, in the MB, Satyavati’s hurry distorts this paradigm. Instead of Amba, the other two “mothers” are joined by a Shudra maid-servant to be impregnated by Vyasa. They are subsequently paralleled by Gandhari, Kunti and Madri. The eldest of both generations (Amba, Gandhari) is linked to Shiva and destruction. Kunti carries the Ashvamedhic paradigm further in urging Pandu to emulate Bhadra who lay with the corpse of her husband Vyushitashva (as the queen does with the slain stallion).

Where the life-goals (purushartha) are concerned, it is significant that while artha is displayed by the martial exploits of Chitrangada and Pandu, and kama by Vichitravirya and Dhritarashtra, the function of dharma is not discharged properly either by Bhishma or by Vidura as they are not rulers. Hiltebeitel is mistaken in saying that Bhishma brings in the three new queens. He has nothing to do with Pandu being chosen by Kunti in her svayamvara. Both Kunti and Gandhari win boons by satisfying the rishis Durvasa and Vyasa, emanations of Shiva and Vishnu respectively. Thus, two of the Trinity act in conjunction to accomplish the work of the gods to remove the earth’s burden of wicked warriors. Like the ancient duo of Kadru and Vinata, Gandhari and Kunti are rivals.

Hiltebeitel makes a fascinating finding in showing that the way in which Rama and Yudhishthira’s lives are organised follows a common blueprint through the first five books in both epics. He argues that the poet of the R was familiar with the design of the MB and refined it. Thus, in the R version told in the MB, Kabandha was formerly the Gandharva Vishvavasu. Valmiki turns this in his R into Viradha who was the Gandharva Tumburu, and makes Kabandha a nameless Danava. He draws a revealing comparison between the two protagonists on four points: their introduction; their status relative to sub-stories (almost nil in the R); their second encounter with monsters that end their forest exile; and how they handle duplicitous killing (this last section is particularly illuminating). A fine point is made that when Yudhishthira sees his four brothers fallen at the Yaksha’s lake like guardians of the world yugante (end of a yuga), there is a correspondence between the four fallen brothers and the four yugas, while Yudhishthira is the king who has to make a new yuga. Hiltebeitel alone has linked the Yaksha-crane to Bagalamukhi, the Tantric goddess, who paralyses, which is what has been done to the Pandavas. In ensuring that his step-mother Madri has a living son, Yudhishthira is true to a law of the mothers, whereas Rama deals solely with that of fathers. Further, whereas Rama never has any doubts about his actions, however cruel, Yudhishthira often questions his. To the former the highest virtue is truth, while to the latter it is non-cruelty, non-violence and truth. “Yudhishthira’s dharma biography comes from within. Unlike Rama’s and like the Buddha’s, it is one of ongoing reflection.”

Sita’s birth being described as “like a crest of fire on a vedi” suggests that Valmiki is making her resemble Draupadi, with the difference that Sita has no knowledge of the divine plan. To that end he adds the svayamvara too. Both features are absent in the R narrated in the MB. Hiltebeitel erroneously cites Sita calling upon “the four mothers plus her own mother as well,” (pp. 499, 505) whereas she mentions only three: Sumitra, Rama’s mother and her own mother. Making a suggestion that is novel indeed, Hiltebeitel argues that in Draupadi’s debate with Yudhishthira about karma, Jain doctrines discounting a Creator are being voiced under a Vedic cover (Brihaspati’s materialistic shastra) in a woman’s voice.

In discussing the Manu’s point that by being married to Brahmins low-born women improve their gunas, while noting that the Mandapala-Jarita example is drawn from MB, Hiltebeitel overlooks that Vidura is the best example of Manu’s pronouncement that progeny of an Arya man by a non-Arya woman becomes an Arya because of the father’s gunas. Manu also gives Vasishtha a low-born wife named Akshamala, which occurs in the Skanda Purana. She is said to be the second birth of Arundhati, or having been so named by her husband because of her radiant beauty.

Hiltebeitel provides interesting statistics: Kshatriya/Kshatra-dharma is found about 175 times in MB except in the Mausala and Mahaprasthanika Parvas. Curiously, in the R they occur only 12 times and not in the Yuddhakanda, which is about the war! Brahmanadharma is mentioned only once, in Shanti Parva, Vaishyadharma 9 times, Shudradharma 6 times. What is of great significance is that the innovative meaning the Gita gives to svadharma is not to be found elsewhere in the MB. Neither is karmayoga the same in Manu (where it relates to desire-impelled ritual rites) and the Gita. Actually, in the Anugita in the Ashvamedha Parva Krishna never mentions the phrase! Hiltebeitel’s point is that “Krishna’s teaching to kill with indifference runs the risk of winning the warrior who has not quite mastered it the same prize—heaven being just a favourable rebirth—as the sacrificial goat.” He is, however, mistaken in claiming that Arjuna loses track of his question, “Then why to violent action?” Krishna answers that quite conclusively: death is inevitable and he is to act as the instrument of the divine plan. Draupadi’s birth was for the same purpose and she acted without hesitation. He discusses the Gita as presenting dharma “through a ring structure,” with ripples moving outwards.

The Arjuna-Krishna dialogue is the only one amidst the plethora of samvadas making up the MB that is described as “dharmya”. The Manu refers to the place of the Kurus as sacred and Buddhist texts mention it as a place of Kurudhamma where Buddha imparted special teachings. “Kurudharma” occurs six times in the MB and its limits are said to have been reached kurudharmavelam in the attempted stripping of Draupadi. Buddha in the Samyutta Nikaya contradicts Krishna’s assurance to Arjuna about those falling in battle being assured of Swarga by stating that a warrior goes to hell, his mind being depraved by violence. Indeed, the Nikayas condemn kshattavijja (Kshatriya science) in no uncertain terms. Chapter 14 of the Gita speaks of attaining brahma nirvana, becoming Brahman, which is a term used in early Buddhist texts to describe nibbana, but Krishna means something quite different from what the Buddha does.

Hiltebeitel believes that the Manu and the R are a little later than the MB which does have an element of bhakti. The former leaves out bhakti and focuses on prescribing what dharma consists of, while the latter arranges both dharma and bhakti around the perfect king. There is less of a riposte in the R than in the MB to Buddhism but there is the same condemnation of Shudras seeking to move up as in the Manu. Biardeau holds that the danger from Buddhists has been displaced on to the Rakshasas of distant Lanka. Hiltebeitel points out that to fulfil the heavenly plan of relieving the earth of being overburdened and urbanized Brahma directs the devas to be embodied without passing through wombs. He lists among those not-of-woman-born Dhrishtadyumna, Draupadi and Drona but overlooks Kripa and Kripi.

Hiltebeitel is one of the very few scholars to discuss the Harivansha as completing the MB and, therefore, not composed much later as is the prevailing view. He focuses on the seminal query Janamejaya poses to Vyasa: despite his omniscience and his being the guide of the Kuru-Pandavas, how did they depart from dharma? Vyasa replies and forecasts that Janemejaya’s horse-sacrifice will impact all Kali Yuga ashvamedhas. Indeed, Janamejaya abolishes the ashvamedha for Kshatriyas. The first to be celebrated after Yudhishthira’s successful horse-sacrifice is by a Brahmin, Pushyamitra Sunga (185 BCE), which Vyasa also foretells. Pushyamitra performs it twice. Is Vyasa referring to him in the Harivansha (115.40) as the “army-leader, a Kashyapa Brahmin who will again restore the Ashvamedha in the Kali yuga”? Markandeya’s description of Kali yuga to Yudhishthira in the forest-exile paints a society without sacrifices and festivals, Brahmins having abandoned the Veda for logic. This may refer to Ashoka’s prohibition of religious assemblies and the land being dotted with edukas (stupas) worshipped by people instead of temples of gods. The passage about Kalki, a Brahmin, as king re-establishing social roles and classes does for the ideal Brahmin what the Gita does for the ideal Kshatriya, with the same concept of “just war” for both.

Hiltebeitel opens up a new theme: how the heavenly plan ties in with themes of friendship, hospitality and separation. These supplement the strains of bhakti and dharma in the epics, calling for “a three-dimensional map that can plot vertical and horizontal movements, temporo-spatial coordinates and textual and geographical terrains.” In a very interesting sidelight the deities Dhatri the Placer and Vidhatri the Ordainer are distinguished at some length by the way their functions are referred to. They are involved in seeding, forming character, karma-dharma-svadharma, fate and, fifthly, the food chain.

The two epics are discussed as two dharma biographies whose approach is different from Ashvaghosha’s in Buddhacharita (1 st or 2 nd century CE) which is the first “close and critical reading of the Sanskrit epics.” Hiltebeitel argues that Valmiki copied features of the Kabandha story in the Ramopakhyana of the MB in his tale about the encounter with Viradha. However, where both are cursed Gandharvas in Vyasa, in Valmiki Kabandha is a Danava which argues against this proposition. In both epics the second encounter with a monster marks the hero’s exit from the forest and his re-entry into society (of apes, of Virata). How his dharma changes with circumstances is depicted.

There is a major typographical error on page 599 in the quotation from the Shanti Parva (53.23.25), where instead of “Bhishma” we find “Bhima” in line 4. Hiltebeitel makes a questionable point that Krishna’s display of friendship for Draupadi comes in only two scenes where her problem occurs because of “Vedic ritual injunctions”, namely the attempted stripping and the horse-sacrifice (p. 605). However, the Critical Edition, which Hiltebeitel swears by, has no Krishna in either case. There is no indication that he intervenes to save her from the “humiliation” of simulating intercourse with the slain horse, or from being stripped (if he had provided clothes, why is she wearing the blood-stained cloth when leaving on exile?). Moreover, the translation of “kalabhis tisrbhi” as “three minutes” (the period for which she lay beside the horse?) by Jamieson which he accepts is incorrect.

Why Hiltebeitel feels that Rama’s ancestry sounds occasionally “like a spoof on the lunar dynasty’s early genealogy” is not clear. He feels that in performing the horse-sacrifice with a golden statue of Sita as her substitute, he is mocking the ceremony too. Valmiki might have the Kurukshetra carnage in mind when he has Bharata urge Rama not to perform the Rajasuya which leads to the destruction of royal lineages.

An interesting point is made that the Seven Rishis common to the two epics point Rama to his destination whence Sita will be abducted. Four of them play host to him. This group is also the author of the oldest hymns in the Rigveda. These seven are Vishvamitra, Gautama, Atri, Bharadvaja, Vasishtha, Jamadagni and Agastya, who are first mentioned in the Jaiminiya Brahmana. Hiltebeitel adds Kashyapa merely because he is the ancestor of Rishyashringa who brings about Rama’s birth and also because the Brahmin gotras stem from these eight. Kashyapa, actually, is added to the list in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad which drops Agastya.

Where James Fitzgerald posits a post-Ashokan bitter political animosity at the core of the MB, Hiltebeitel suggests that its mingling of bhakti and dharma reflects a post-Mauryan clever way of spreading a new Brahmanical dharma depicted through great rishis extending hospitality to the two avataras and by the son of Dharma listening to the advice of Krishna and the rishis on the subject. Ashvaghosha, familiar with both epics, weaves bhakti into the Buddha’s quest for true dhamma. By his time (pre-Kanishka, 1 st century CE) both Brahmanical and Buddhist streams of bhakti were running side by side. By studying Ashvagosha’s treatment of dhamma it is possible to estimate the type of MB and R that he was responding to. In Ashvaghosha’s world Brahmanical ideas prevail, he refers to Brahmins with great respect, drawing from their myths and couches Buddhist views in terms that recall Brahminical sources. There are specific references to events and characters from both the MB (Shanti Parva) and the R (cantos 1 and 7) only to show that, while they might be parallels, they are irrelevant to what Buddha achieves. One of the references that Hiltebeitel refers to as “unknown and uncertain” is to Karalajanaka (p. 636 n. 34) although a discourse with this king exists in the Mokshadharma Parva of the MB in the Haridas Siddhantavagish edition, which I have translated.

An analysis of BC reveals familiarity with the Ayodhyakanda as we have it today, comparing Siddhartha and Rama in leaving the palace, as also borrowing from the Sundarakanda the description of women asleep in Siddhartha and Ravana’s palaces. Seven of the thirteen proponents of Brahmanical dharma recall the R, and the R-link is perceptible in the first nine cantos of BC. Patrick Olivelle states that Ashvaghosha is presenting Buddha as the new Rama.

Where the MB is concerned, the BC’s stance that dhamma can be chosen at any time goes against the Manu’s emphasis on the four ashramas being consecutive, while the MB is aware both of this and the earlier doctrine of the earliest dharmasutras (pre-150 BCE) that they are four independent ways of life. Ashvaghosha is quite familiar with the Shanti Parva, as we have it now, particularly the Rajadharma and Mokshadharma portions, specially in his cantos 9 and 10 (the former transiting from the R to the MB). Vishnu’s prophecy to Mandhata (Shanti Parva) links the free choice of ashramas to the spread of Buddhists (bhikshavo linginas) after the Krita yuga. Ashvaghosha does refer to several characters and episodes of the MB and to Bhishma killing Ugrayudha which occurs only in the Harivansha, which, therefore, is much earlier than usually presumed. Siddhartha’s dress as a mendicant on Rajagriha’s Pandava mountain is precisely the guise adopted by Krishna, Bhima and Arjuna when they enter Girivraja by the Chaityaka mountain (a Buddhist reference), and by Ravana and Hanuman. Vyasa refers to the peak as a “horn”, which the Pandavas shatter and kill Jarasandha. Conversely, In Ashvaghosha Buddha rejects Bimbisara’s prayer to fight his foes and is described as the restored “horn” of the mountain (of dhamma) broken by those following Brahmanical dharma in the MB. Ashvaghosha uses the Jarasandha episode to convey that “where Krishna was, there now is the dharma looking personally like the horn of a mountain.” BC introduces the term mokshadharma from the MB as a way to render Nirvana. It does not appear in Buddhist texts before him and the Manu never uses it. Yudhishthira and Siddhartha both wish to abandon kingship and pursue moksha, but where the former is persuaded not to do so, the latter rejects the same arguments and does. Mara’s challenge to Buddha is couched in the language of the Gita, urging Kshatriya svadharma (a term not found in Buddhism), placing “Krishna’s words into the mouth of the devil.” In remarkable insight, Hiltebeitel brings in Ismaili ginans in which Buddha appearing before the Pandavas as a monk looking like a Muslim warrior, who is an untouchable and a sinking leper, teaches bhakti as dharma, denounces the Brahmanical sacrifice as useless, and convinces them to make a shared meal of the Kamadhenu (wish-fulfilling cow) to gain liberation.

At the end the BC states that Ashoka distributed the relics of Buddha in over 80,000 stupas, which tallies with Markandeya’s prophecy that in Kali yuga the land will be covered with edukas (the oldest term for Buddhist reliquaries) instead of devasthanas(temples). The converse if found in the Manjushrimulakalpa where Buddha foretells to the parricide Ajatashatru that the land will be invaded by Devas and Tirthikas, with people turning to Brahmins and violence. To Ashvaghosha both Buddha and Ashoka are Dharma-Rajas propagating a universal value, to which the epics and the Manu provide ripostes.

This valuable and extensive study would have been enriched by an examination Bankimchandra Chattopdhyaya’s Dharmatattva(1888) and his commentary on the Gita available in translation since 2001.

Filed Under: BOOK REVIEWS Tagged With: Mahabharata

Review : Rajesh M. Iyer: Evading the Shadows

May 26, 2017 By Author

Review :

Rajesh M. Iyer: Evading the Shadows,

Kriscendo Media, 2016,

340 pages,

Rs. 295/-

 

Indian writing in English has finally woken up to the treasure trove ready to hand in its maha-kavyas. After Prof. P. Lal’s “The Man of Dharma and the Rasa of Silence,” Amreeta Syam was the first to write long poems on Kaikeyi and Kurukshetra.

Amidst the several re-imaginings of the Mahabharata in the form of a novel, Rajesh Iyer’s first attempt stands out because of his unusual recasting of the Pandavas’ exile-in-incognito in terms of a spy story. The Virata Parva is unique because of the absence of both Krishna and Kunti. From the Pandavas’ birth till their marriage with Draupadi, Kunti is their friend, philosopher and guide. Thereafter, the role is assumed by the Krishna-Krishnaa duo. Indeed, as the Hindi novelist Chitra Chaturvedi was the first to point out, Kunti’s is the dynasty that rules Hastinapura, half Yadava in lineage. One awaits a novel about her in English (Dipak Chandra has one in Bengali).

Telegu cinema produced two memorable films based upon the Virata parva: Narthanasala and Virataparvam (in the latter N.T. Rama Rao took on five roles—a unique phenomenon—as Krishna, Arjuna, Brihannala, Duryodhana and Kichaka). Here, without their twin guiding lights, the Pandavas and Draupadi have to fend for themselves, weaponless, disguised, pitting their wits against Shakuni’s spies who are seeking them. Iyer’s creation of spy-master Jartasya, the vengeful brother of Purochana whom the Pandavas burnt alive in the house-of-lac (in Varanavata, not “Varnavrata”) is an inspired ploy. He also has a tribal woman spying upon Draupadi as Sairandhri in the queen’s apartments. An opportunity is missed here to build on the burning alive of a Nishada woman and her five sons by the Pandavas in the house-of-lace. Iyer creates a team of Pandava servants led by Indrasena acting as their spies, pitting their skills against Shakuni’s in a see-saw battle that engages our interest successfully.

In just eight pages Iyer provides a succinct account of events leading up to the 13th year of exile as recited by a wandering rhapsode who, then, leaves the village keeping the audience in suspense, eagerly awaiting his return from the next hamlet. A fine touch is ending this introductory portion with the Bharata Savitri which most of us are unaware of, and the benefits that accrue from listening to the Mahabharata. The novel proper begins with Draupadi as Sairandhri, switches to Duryodhana conferring with his cabal, then returns to each of the disguised Pandavas. It is with Yudhishthira that the Vyasa-knowing reader experiences the first stumble when Iyer gives his assumed name as “Kanak” (gold) instead of the original “Kanka” (flesh eating crane). “Kanka” is drawn directly from Yudhishthira’s interaction with Dharma disguised as a crane over the corpses of his brothers immediately before the incognito period. Since Iyer recounts this interaction later as a reminiscence, it is all the more an unfortunate change. Where the Pandavas prepared their incognito identities so carefully, how can Draupadi be taken aback when Queen Sudeshna asks her name? Nor would Virata employ a eunuch to teach his daughter music and dance without testing his potency, which Vyasa clearly mentions.

Highlights from the past are woven in as reminiscences, such as the parallel tale of Nala-Damayanti (Iyer takes care that we do not miss the similarities) and the attempted disrobing. Here Iyer innovates by having the Kaurava women fling their garments over Draupadi instead of leaving it wholly to a miracle. The battle of wits between the two bands of spies makes for interesting reading. Iyer invents a trip to Madra by two of the Pandavas where they are almost discovered by Duryodhana’s spies (quite thrilling) and even has Duryodhana and his cabal visit Virata’s kingdom in disguise to spy out the Pandavas, creating considerable suspense. Iyer’s achievement in breathing life into the shadowy characters of Nakula and Sahadeva, besides lending some dimension to Virata, deserves appreciation. What he does not do is exploiting the link between the Pandavas’ great-grandmother Matsyagandha-Satyavati and her twin who became the Matsya-raja whose king at the time of the exile was Virata. It is because of this link that they choose this particular kingdom—it is a symbolic return to their matrilineal roots. The fish is also a symbol of re-birth (which is why the early Christians used it).

Iyer seems to be in a hurry towards the end, his handling of the murder of Kichaka and the battle with the Kaurava army being rather perfunctory, particularly as the original is considerably detailed. Particularly disappointing is his failure to draw upon Vyasa’s brilliant depiction of how Draupadi seduces the sleeping Bhima into killing Kichaka immediately instead of waiting for the incognito period to be over as he advises her initially. The venue for the killing is not Kichaka’s guarded apartment—which is quite absurd—but the dancing hall which is deserted at night. Brihannala does not offer to be Uttara’s charioteer; Sairandhri suggests this to the prince. There is a rare comic moment when the transvestite pretends not to know how to don armourIt is not Arjuna but Uttara who climbs the tree to fetch the weapons and it is he who collects the garments of the somnolent Kaurava generals his sister had wanted Brihannala to bring back. Iyer fails to capitalize on the hilarious description of Uttara fleeing, chased by Brihannala with braid and skirts flying. The Pandavas do not reveal their identities immediately after the victory to Virata but surprise him the next morning by occupying his throne and other royal seats in his court. How can Draupadi be maintaining a diary on parchment, when all that existed was palm-leaf and tree-bark as writing material?

Iyer enriches his novel by introducing two elements from regional retellings. One is the failed attempt of Duryodhana to kill the Pandavas by invoking an evil spirit occurring in Villi’s Tamil Bharata. The other is Shakuni’s hidden agenda to destroy the Kaurava clan to avenge the deaths of his father and brothers, which is mentioned in passing. We hope he will expand upon this in the novels that seem likely to follow.

The story-telling is good and would improve with greater attention paid to grammar and idiom and by matching style to character. Would Draupadi be “gaping listlessly at the sky” or Yudhishthira be “wailing” so loudly when struck by Virata’s dice that Sairandhri hears him in the women’s quarters? Actually, she is present in the court. Ever alert, she catches Yudhishthira’s glance and rushes to catch his dripping blood in a vessel before Arjuna can see it. There are some awkward usages that grate (e.g. “returning back,” “stifled mocks,” “advices,” “hunky dory”. The map is difficult to read and should have been printed clearly. Schwarberg’s historical atlas of South Asia has an excellent map that could have been drawn upon. A helpful glossary has been appended. Over all, the author is to be complimented on a successful first novel.

Filed Under: BOOK REVIEWS Tagged With: Book Reviews, Mahabharata

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