Mahabharata – 93

by

Sankar Mukherjee

&

Dr. Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya

                                        Aadivamsavatarana Parva

In a number of sections above we have noted the names of those who

were the chief protagonists in the action of the heroic poetry the

Mahabharata. The names themselves are  significant if we decode them

etymologically.

Besides none of them was human.They were either the children of gods

or of demons & the like.This reminds us of Homer.In Homer the gods

often cohabit with wemen & beget children there by.They are always of

extra ordinary prowess in relation to their mortal counter parts.But

these demigods in human flesh are however not gods and they are not

immortals.The gods take care of their children in human form.For

exampleArjuna was the son of Indra the king of heaven by Kunti & Indra

took care of Arjuna over & over again. Thus one wonders whether gods &

demons chose the earth & human society as the theatre for war between

them.During the second world war the theatre of war was Europe.We are

afraid that Asia could be the theatre of war in the next great war.

The proper names chanted together give us a symphony.

The birth stories of the protagonists of the Mahabharata war often

give us  the foretaste of how they would fare in times to come.

Curiously enough,while we look upon the Moon as symbolic of  love &

tenderness the spiritual son of Moon god in human shape, it has been

pointed out, was a fearsome warrior even in his teens.This might be

an eye opener for the astrologers.

What has been told in these sections only evoke the curosity of the

readers.The rest of the great war will narrate in an elaborate way the

stories put here in out line.Later in the narrative when Abhimanyu

dies battling we are shocked with his untimely death.But here it has

been observed that the Moon god wanted his child back at the age of

sixteen.Thus every happening in the Mahabharata is preordained.

Despite that when one dies we can not but lament for his death.No one

dies.The bodies are destroyed.But the owners of the body are unhurt.

Be that as it may we look upon the living body as the self & when a

living body is shattered we think that the self of the body  or the

owner of the body  has been destroyed. This is not the truth according

to the Mahabharata.But we are always swayed by the upheavals of

appearance.

It is assumed that gods & demons are inimical to each other. Fine. But

the circumstances on earth often makes the gods friendly with the

demons. Karna the son of the Sun god becomes the ally of Duryodhana &

his party who are devils incarnate.

This is the paradox of the way of the world   where mortals act. In

fact the Close Reading school opines that it is the paradoxes that go

to forge great poetry.The followers of Kuntaka might find in it

vakrokti.

The birth story of Karna reminds us of the birth story of Moses & the

birth story of Romulus.Thus the Mahabharata is loaded with archetypes

that makes us ponder over the inscrutable mystery of human existence.