Mahabharata 1
By
Sankar Mukherjee
&
Dr. Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
India during the days of the Mahabharata
Sauti comes to Naimisharyanya
During the time
of the Mahabharata India was different to look at. May be 2000/2500 years back India
abounded with wilderness laden with greenery, deep forest crowded with fearsome
snakes & animals & littered with lakes & rivers & rivulets. Despite
that ,the wilderness in India was never as terrible as it is in many places in
the world now. Because here & there amidst the woods there were Ashramas
where people gathered to enquire into their self. The Mahabharata opens with an
Ashrama in the forest known as Naimisharyanya. Eleven thousand people practiced
hard in quest of their innerself there. We can just imagine how a human
habitation , which had eleven thousand residents could be. Was it not as large
as a township? And yet it was an Ashrama in the heart of a forest ,And
curiously enough we can just have a notion about the people of those times.
Eleven thousand men gave up their material ambition in quest of their self. And
this is unique even if it were a figment of imagination, Well the poet of the Mahabharata
could imagine like that. This is unique in world history & world
literature.
The son of Lomharshana, Ugrashravas/Sauti arrived at Naimisharyanya. Ugrashravas was well verse in the Puranas ------myths and annals of ancient India. Although we feel that the age of Mhabharata is very ancient to us .The sages of Mahabharata were as interested in history as we are & they would deliberate on the history of their culture that harked back to further past .This shows that when we reach the time of Mahabharata we can have a vision of a remote past of the society of the Mahabharata .The sages were as much conscious of the past of their culture as we are, In Naimisharyanya Saunaka, the kulapati had been guiding eleven thousand pupil in their practising austerity for last twelve years. The names may be allegorical as Saunaka means listener .The Saunaka or Kulapati were observing penance with his eleven thousand pupils .There was a saint called Lomharshana had the power of great hearing .He heard things with all his heart & his hair would stand at their end. In short he was a an ideal listener who heard things with his mind body & senses .He used to narrate what he heard & learnt ,with such great power that whoever heard it ,would be in the melting mood .His son Ugrashravas similarly had the power of strong audibility & speech as a narrator. Naimisharanya is a famous holy place for meditation presently in U.P.The divine saints welcomed Ugrashravas with great spirit & surrounded him in reverence .After the exchange of cordial greetings , the holy saints took their seats ,Sauti also took his seat. After a while feeling that Sauti had enough rest the holy saints asked him about his journey. After asking them as to their spiritual development,Sauti said that he is coming from the “sarpa satra /snake sacrifice a yajna performed by Emperor Janamjejaya,where he heard the great epic the Mahabharata composed by Vyasa or Krishna Davaipayana. Krishna Davaipayana was borne in an island & he was black in complexion. At the site of snake sacrifice Vaisampayana the great pupil of Vyas recited the Mahabharata.Sauti was atravelling mendicant .He had ben to “samanta panchaka. There the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, Parashuram observed ancestor worship or “tarpana" at a lake. Samanta Panchaka Is also famous for the great war between Kurus & Pandavas. The name Sauti by the by means a son of a Kshatriya woman & a Brahamin father.The Mahabharata is a history .It is also considered as a fifth Vedas .It contains everything that is required by a dynamic society .It contains social rules , religious rules ,science ,political rules, principle of war, wisdom & discourse on art & culture. It is said what is not available in the Mahabharata is not available in Bharata.The saints performed their rituals.Their after the Sauti asked them what they like to listen.The sages said that they were curious to hear the amazing narrative composed by Vyasa which was highly praised by gods & sages. The said work is a marvelous built of words ,diction, language ,style & manner.
The son of Lomharshana, Ugrashravas/Sauti arrived at Naimisharyanya. Ugrashravas was well verse in the Puranas ------myths and annals of ancient India. Although we feel that the age of Mhabharata is very ancient to us .The sages of Mahabharata were as interested in history as we are & they would deliberate on the history of their culture that harked back to further past .This shows that when we reach the time of Mahabharata we can have a vision of a remote past of the society of the Mahabharata .The sages were as much conscious of the past of their culture as we are, In Naimisharyanya Saunaka, the kulapati had been guiding eleven thousand pupil in their practising austerity for last twelve years. The names may be allegorical as Saunaka means listener .The Saunaka or Kulapati were observing penance with his eleven thousand pupils .There was a saint called Lomharshana had the power of great hearing .He heard things with all his heart & his hair would stand at their end. In short he was a an ideal listener who heard things with his mind body & senses .He used to narrate what he heard & learnt ,with such great power that whoever heard it ,would be in the melting mood .His son Ugrashravas similarly had the power of strong audibility & speech as a narrator. Naimisharanya is a famous holy place for meditation presently in U.P.The divine saints welcomed Ugrashravas with great spirit & surrounded him in reverence .After the exchange of cordial greetings , the holy saints took their seats ,Sauti also took his seat. After a while feeling that Sauti had enough rest the holy saints asked him about his journey. After asking them as to their spiritual development,Sauti said that he is coming from the “sarpa satra /snake sacrifice a yajna performed by Emperor Janamjejaya,where he heard the great epic the Mahabharata composed by Vyasa or Krishna Davaipayana. Krishna Davaipayana was borne in an island & he was black in complexion. At the site of snake sacrifice Vaisampayana the great pupil of Vyas recited the Mahabharata.Sauti was atravelling mendicant .He had ben to “samanta panchaka. There the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, Parashuram observed ancestor worship or “tarpana" at a lake. Samanta Panchaka Is also famous for the great war between Kurus & Pandavas. The name Sauti by the by means a son of a Kshatriya woman & a Brahamin father.The Mahabharata is a history .It is also considered as a fifth Vedas .It contains everything that is required by a dynamic society .It contains social rules , religious rules ,science ,political rules, principle of war, wisdom & discourse on art & culture. It is said what is not available in the Mahabharata is not available in Bharata.The saints performed their rituals.Their after the Sauti asked them what they like to listen.The sages said that they were curious to hear the amazing narrative composed by Vyasa which was highly praised by gods & sages. The said work is a marvelous built of words ,diction, language ,style & manner.
Mahabharata 2
by
Sankar mukherjee & Dr. Ramesh Chandra
Mukhopadhyaya
The story of the creation
Sauti told
that, there is a supreme absolute being. He created the Multiverse.He is the
supreme controller.He always leads the whole creation along the road to moksha
or liberation. The Lord revealed His presence in all things in the Srimad
Bhagavad-Gita through Viswarup Dasrshan
Universal
form of the Omni -form.He is the Consciousness worshipped by all .He is the Om
or primordial sound.He is always delightfully manifest as joyfulness. He is the
most precious possession with the emancipated soul. I bow Him before narrating
the deligent generous work of Vyasa.
Poet's in
the world will narrate the said epic in the manner Vyasa composed. The
Mahabharata is already established as a book of knowledge in the three worlds.
The Mahabharata is full of beneficial verses that depict the practise of
Swargaloka or heaven & Martyaloka or
earth. For that reason the said epic is adorable to all the knowledgeable
persons.
During the
phase of Genesis the world was deeply dark.In the phase of creation an embryo
showed up. The said embryo was growing up in an extra huge & unworldly way,
into which a strange soul entered & equally spread. As the author of the multiverse
the Brahmaa,who was born on his own entered
into the embryo . Gradually the first Prajapati, the Lord & the protector
of the creatures, the Daksha the great king took birth from Brahmaa.
The
cosmological evolution speaks of the
realistic imagination of the poet .
In the
process of Genesis Daksha gave birth to seven sons, Afterwards twenty-one
Prajapatis were born .
The
unknown & the unknowable Purasha is real to the sages.
Ten Viswadevas,
twelve Suns, eight Vasus, two Aswinikumaras, yakshas, Saadhyas, Pisaachas ,Guhyakas,
Pitris ,& the wise,the Brhaamarshis, were born from aforesaid indeterminate
Purasha.
Thereafter
Rajarshis, water, heaven, earth, the air, the skies, the directions, the year,
the sessions, the months, the fortnights, the days, the nights, showed up.
Whatever
else besides them sprang from the Purusha
entered the cosmic embryo.
All that
we perceive, is movable or immovable is
destined to dissolve during the
Ultimate destruction,
the Pralaya of the Multiverse.
Just as
when a season appears nature decks herself in the self same apparels as when
the season came earlier, similarly when Time begins all things show up as they
were before.
The wheel
of worldly life or Sansaara has been revolving like this through eternity.
Later on
thirty three thousand, thirty three hundred, & thirty three gods showed up.
This is the creation story in brief.
Mahabharata
3 by Sankar mukherjee & Dr . Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
Vedyasa & the open ended structure of the
Mahabharata
Gradually villages ,towns show up. Vedavysa had
learnt through yogic practice all
that contemporary knowledge had to offer .He was proficient in three
secret practices such as killing others without employing any
physical tools, enthralling others with sheer power of the mind & so
on .Besides he knew ail the four Vedas ,Yoga ,art & craft. Dharma,
Artha & Kama. He knew how Dharma holds the society ,how the economic activities enrich the society, &
how physical passion sustains the society through the ages .He knew the
mundane disciplines that are associated with social control. He has
enshrined history as well as various types of scriptures with their
exegesis in the great book the Mahabharata .He has also pointed out the
characteristics of the book he composed. The great sage Vedavyasa has delineated
the Mahabharata in an abridged form as well as in an elaborate way.
In fact the scholars need to peruse the book in both ways. This
section of the Mahabharata shows that the Mahabharata is conscious of
itself. It dwells on its ambiguous structure. Different readers read the
narrative beginning at different points.That is, the Mahabharata
resembles an expressionist drama. And is a meta literature or a work of
art that reflects on how it is forged. A few Brahamins will narrates the Mahabharata
by bowing to the Lord Narayana. Others will begin the reciting of the
Mahabharata with the Aasatika episode ,or some others would read the
Mahabharata beginning
with the Uparicharvasu episode, with all their attention The scholars explained the Mahabharata in different ways. Some only mug the epic some others explain it .In the light of there experience ,knowledge & wisdom . The son of Satyabati ,Vyasa divided the timeless Vedas into four volumes. Thereafter he composed the said grand epic. In the past the
resolute, religious & heroic divine sage Vyasa on the request of his mother Satyabati & intelligent Bhimsha, following the old custom, raised issues in the wombs of the widow wives of King Vichitravirya .He produced three fire like sons The sons might be compared to the three house hold fires. After causing birth to Dhritarashtra, Pandu & Vidura, Vyasa went back to his
Ashrama for practising austerity. On completion of the life time of Dhritarashtra etc.,at the several requests of the mighty king Janamejya Vedavyasa asked his disciple Vaisampayana to narrate the Mahabharata. Vaisampayana was seated next to the Vyasa during the snake sacrifice in the Janamejya premises. Everyday when the rituals were over during the snake sacrifice
,Vaisampayana used to narrate the Mahabharata to Janamejya & his courtiers. Vedavysa principally narrated how Kuru family increased & prospered. He also dwelled on the religious nature of Gandhari ,intelligence of Vidura & the patience of Kunti .Vedavyasa also focused on the glory of Lord Krishna, the faithfulness of the Pandavas, notoriety of Durydhana.
with the Uparicharvasu episode, with all their attention The scholars explained the Mahabharata in different ways. Some only mug the epic some others explain it .In the light of there experience ,knowledge & wisdom . The son of Satyabati ,Vyasa divided the timeless Vedas into four volumes. Thereafter he composed the said grand epic. In the past the
resolute, religious & heroic divine sage Vyasa on the request of his mother Satyabati & intelligent Bhimsha, following the old custom, raised issues in the wombs of the widow wives of King Vichitravirya .He produced three fire like sons The sons might be compared to the three house hold fires. After causing birth to Dhritarashtra, Pandu & Vidura, Vyasa went back to his
Ashrama for practising austerity. On completion of the life time of Dhritarashtra etc.,at the several requests of the mighty king Janamejya Vedavyasa asked his disciple Vaisampayana to narrate the Mahabharata. Vaisampayana was seated next to the Vyasa during the snake sacrifice in the Janamejya premises. Everyday when the rituals were over during the snake sacrifice
,Vaisampayana used to narrate the Mahabharata to Janamejya & his courtiers. Vedavysa principally narrated how Kuru family increased & prospered. He also dwelled on the religious nature of Gandhari ,intelligence of Vidura & the patience of Kunti .Vedavyasa also focused on the glory of Lord Krishna, the faithfulness of the Pandavas, notoriety of Durydhana.
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