Mahabharata – 135

by 

Sankar Mukherjee

&

Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
                                   Aadivamsavatarana Parva

King Dushmanta set out for hunting.In course of his hunting he went from forest to forest. And all of a sudden he chanced upon the ashrama of the great sage Kanva. To meet the most magnificent & energetic  sage Kanva, the king kept his troops along with horses & elephants at the gate of the ashrama.He said to his troop that he was going to meet the great sage Kanva who had all his  passions under control. The king entered into the ashrama in all humility doffing his sceptre & crown.The environment of the ashrama was such that all his thirst,hunger & tiredness were done away with. And the king was very much delighted.

It is in the Dushmanta episode that the Mahabharata gives us a vivid description of an ashrama of the Mahabharata period.Despite the fact that the Mahabharata society had cities & palaces, the quantum of forest in the land was not negligible.True that the forest gave shelter to countless snakes & animals. But the forests were peppered with plenty of ashramas.On one level the forest is the antithesis of an ashrama.While in the forest the beasts prey on one another in the ashramas they were friendly to one another.Peace & love reigned there.

It is a pity that India today has less forest cover than what could be ideal.In the days of the Mahabharata towns & cities were not rare. But forests were very much there with its flaura & fauna.Even today there are very dense forests in India. But unlike today whatever dense forest it might be it had some ashrama.In other words how much the forest was there it was a net work of ashramas as well where sacrificial fire were lighted. The ashramas were loud with chants of mantras & a class of men with spiritual bent of mind used to live in the ashramas. And their contact with urban dwellings was very close. Even kings used to stay there for a time. Naturally ancient Indian culture had a very close contact with Nature & rural culture as well as tradition. When we read the Mahabharata we find a mosaic of  the tradition & modernity of the Mahabharata age.