- Ramesh Mukhopadhyaya
Mm. Ananta Thakur argues in one of his treatises that even if we
delete the Srimad Bhagavad Gita from the extant text of the
Mahabharata the message of the Bhagavad Gita will be easily
discernible from any and every part of what is left of the vast narrative.
He further observes that there are a number of gitas besides the
Bhagavad Gita scattered in the vast epic. Together they echo the
message of the Bhagavad Gita only. Mm. Thakur is a Naiyayika or a
logician Indian style par excellence. He employs his logic to the end of
his conclusion. On one side, he proves his point with the aid of negation.
Delete the Bhagavad Gita from the text and yet one can reconstruct
the message of the Bhagavad Gita from what remains (Vipaksa). On
the other side, he argues with the affirmative statements that there are
many Gitas strewn in the vast epic (Sapaksa). They are perfectly in
unison with the Bhagavad Gita. They together echo the message of
the Bhagavad Gita only.
One does not speak in vacuum. There must be purbapaksha or
an earlier speech to any speech whatever. And surely Mm. Thakur’s
observation is a response to the opinions of those critics who posit
that the Bhagavad Gita is not an organic part of the Mahabharata. The
latter feel that the Bhagavad Gita is but an instance of interpolation in
the vast epic.
Mm. Thakur however disagrees with such a view and feels that the
Bhagavad Gita is part & parcel of the vast epic Mahabharata. This is
not all. The whole of the Mahabharata as Mm. Thakur opines is instinct
with the message of the Bhagavad Gita.
This is the pratijna or the premise for our present study. We propose
hereby to check the truth of ths same.
When Mm. Thakur asserts that the Srimad Bhagavad Gita is the
part & parcel of the Mahabharata, he does not mean thereby that the
Mahabharata has had no interpolation. Because the extant version of
the Mahabharata is told by Sauti. Sauti, heard it from Vaisampayana.
Vaisampayana learnt it from Vedavyasa. Vedavyasa composed the
Mahabharata itself. May be Vedavyasa had composed only 24000
verses which expanded into the Mahabharata as it is. Thus the
Mahabharata is an instance of the epic of growth. Those who would
not see eye to eye with this interpretation of the story of the growth of
the Mahabharata as a narrative will agree that the same Mahabharata,
was composed of 60 lakh verses to be read in heaven. It consisted of
30 lakh verses to be read in the Gandharvaloka. And it was made of
1 lakh verses to be read on the earth. Besides Vedavyasa wrote the
Mahabharata consisting of 24000 slokas as well. The Mahabharata
itself says that it could be read in abridged form as well as in enlarged
editions.
This is not all. As the Mahabharata itself testifies, one could start to
read the same, beginning with the Anukramanika or the preface, or
else with the Astika Parva and so on.
That shows that the Mahabharata itself does not approve of any
rigid text where no word or sloka or syllable could be displaced.
Everybody will agree that the preface of a work is always written
after the work is composed & still it precedes the text. And the
Mahabharata also observes that its anukramanika has been written
after the text was composed & yet the text could begin with the
anukramanika itself.
Thus it is evident from the admission of the text itself that the text is
not an organic whole. One could read the text beginning from anywhere.
Besides, any part of the text could be abridged or omitted.
Consequently any extract from the text could be read independent
of the text as well. and the people read the Srimad Bhagavad Gita an
extract from the Mahabharata as a complete work in itself and a unique
work of art.
The Pratijna, however, seeks to posit that despite allowing the text
every kind of flexibility as to its structure & meaning, one must admit
that any part & every part of the text has a homogeneity as to its
meaning and that is easily perceptible once we compare the gitas strewn
in the text.
Here we must pause a while to describe what a gita is. The Srimad
Bhagavad Gita is popularly known as the gita. But besides the Srimad
Bhagavad Gita, there are many other Gitas, widely known & read in
India. They do not always belong to the Mahabharata alone. The
Gorakhpur press has published the Gajendra Gita which is an excerpt
from the Bhagavata Purana. Besides there is Uddhava Gita. It is also
an extract from the Bhagavata. Then there is the Devi Gita, an extract
from the Devi Bhagavata. Upendranath Mukhopadhyaya of Basumati
Sahitaymandir published an anthology of twenty-five such gitas, as
early as during the first half of the 20th Century. But that collection is
no longer extant in the market. Of late, Chittaranjan Ghosal has edited
a volume consisting of thirty five gitas in all culled from different Puranas
and the Mahabharata as well.
The gitas belonging to the Mahabharata that Mm. Thakur has
referred to besides the Srimad Bhagavad Gita are
1. Vritra Gita (12/279-80) V.G
2. Harita Gita (12/278) H.G
3. Bodhya Gita (12/178) BO.G
4. Manky Gita (12/177) M.G
5. Sadja Gita (12/167) S.G
6. Vichakhnyu Gita (12/265) VI.G
7. Sampaka Gita (12/176) S.G
8. Parasara Gita (12/290-8) P.G
9. Anu Gita (14/16-9) A. G
10. Brahmana Gita (14/29-34) Br.G
11. Rishabha Gita (12/125-8) R.G
12. Hamsa Gita (13/299) H.G
13. Utathya Gita (12/90-1) U.G
14. Vamadeva Gita (12/92-4) VA.G
( Excerpted from A Study of the GITAS in the Mahabharata by Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya )
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