18 Encyclopedic Nature of Mahabharata

N. Siva Senani

1. Introduction

Literature is an important aspect of the culture of a period and needs to be read and understood in a sympathetic way, i.e. it must be approached as it was designed to be, or as it was approached by the people of the society that one is trying to understand. Mahabharata, one of the two epics of India, is indeed familiar to all in India, but two aspects make this module necessary. Much as Mahabharata is well known, only a few would have read it fully or know it fully. The second aspect is that over the years people have approached it in their own way and continue to do so resulting in a wide variety in the ways it is understood. That Mahabharata is a huge epic and is amenable to multiple interpretations has only increased this. In such a situation, it would be useful to introduce the text as a whole and introduce the traditional way of understanding the text – both in understanding the culture of the Mahabharata period and in appreciating the epic.

Mahabharata is composed by sage Vyasa and is said to be one lakh Slokas long. The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, starting a few years after the first world war and ending in the 1960s, prepared a critical edition of the work based on manuscripts which were upto 500 years old, commentaries or fragments of commentaries (of similar vintage) and much older Javanese and Telugu translations (nearly a thousand years old). The critical approach to editing Mahabharata was nuanced, but to summarise it, would generally aim to include only material attested to as original by all the manuscripts, or where the material found in only a few manuscripts was felt to be absolutely necessary. Such an approach yielded a critical edition of about 83,000 verses. Against this approach, is the traditional approach of commentators for whom Mahabharata is a work which helps understand what Dharma is. Nīlakaṇṭha’s commentary is the most popular one on Mahabharata. Given the emphasis in this module, the version with Nilakantha’s commentary which is nearly 1,00,000 verses long is referred to herein. The text, composed to teach Dharma, is divided into 18 Parvans of varying length and nominally describes the great war fought amongst cousins.

Overview of the Contents of Mahabharata

Mahabharata, to simplify, describes the fight between two sets of cousins for their Kingdom. However it is recognized as describing the fight between Dharma and Adharma – and a book which teaches Dharma. It is not surprising, then, that the “moral” is four times as long as the “story”! Before examining it in some depth, a brief synopsis of the contents is presented.

The first five Parvans describe the background of the key players – Pandavas, sons of Pāṇḍu and Kauravas, sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra – and the story leading to their fight. The next five Parvans describe the great war lasting 18 days. The last eight deal with the events after war till the death of Pandavas.

Structurally speaking, the story is told chronologically, in the main. Within, that narrative a number of stories are included. The Aranyakaparvan – describing the exile of Pandavas – especially includes a number of stories. At various points in the narrative, there are a number of discourses; in fact, two very long Parvans, Santi- and Anusasana- are devoted to the discourse between Bhishma and Yudhishthira. Also, included are various accounts of travels – Vijayayatras (victorious campaigns) and Tirthayatras (pilgrimages), which give a rich description of the geography of Mahabharata times. What is noteworthy is that, notwithstanding the huge length of the epic, the story-telling is very taut and a lot of details are not dwelt upon. One detail would illustrate this:

Why did the Mahabharata war happen? The technical reason is that Duryodhana claims that Pandavas did not complete 13 years of exile – as Arjuna was seen after Vasantanavaratra (~April), whereas their exile started at the end of Sarannavaratra (~October). The stance of Pandavas, and the correct stance as per the customs in that period, is that13 years are deemed to be completed if the “adhikamasas” (intercalary months) of the lunar calendar are counted. This aspect is not once mentioned, much less debated, in the Udyogaparvan, which is devoted to discussions between the two camps before the parties decide to go to war!

The epic is therefore, not merely a story of fight between cousins for a kingdom, but the conflict between Dharma and Adharma. It is the elucidation of Dharma, anchored in a particular context presented in a crisp manner, which makes the epic so gripping. The Dharma (usually Moksha, liberation or salvation, is referred to separately from Dharma, but Mahabharata has a long section on Moksha-dharma as well) so elucidated covers all aspects of life, and this is what makes the epic encyclopedic, as stated twice in the epic itself:

धर्मेचार्थेच कार्मेच र्मोक्षेच भरतर्षभ। यदिहास्तत तिन्यत्र यन्नेहास्ततन तत्क्वस्चत्॥1.62.53॥ (reading withकु त्रस्चत्॥17.5.50॥)

O best among Bharatas, in matters of Dharma, wealth, desire and Moksha, whatever is there here (in Mahabharata), that is found elsewhere, but whatever is not here, that is not found anywhere.

3.Encyclopedic Nature of Mahabharata

Knowledge was categorized into 14 Vidyāsthānas, viz. 4 Vedas, 6 Vedāṅgas, Purāṇa, Nyāya, Mīmāṃsā, Dharmaśāstra, and there were Śāstras dealing with each topic. Thus one of the six Vedangas, Vyākaraṇa, usually translated as Grammar but encompassing much more than Grammar, is one Vidyasthana and there is a Sastra, called Vyakarana-sastra dealing with it. To use this terminology to describe Mahabharata, it is many Sastras rolled into one. Mahabharata is described as:

Itihasa (History)

सर्षश्रुस्तसर्मूहर्म्The compilation of [the essence of] all Vedas (1.62.35) धर्मषशास्त्रंपुण्यर्म्Auspicious Dharmasastra (1.62.22) अर्थषशास्त्रंपरर्म्Ultimate Arthasastra (1.62.22) Mokshasastra (1.62.22) Equal to Vedas, 6 Vedangas, 18 Puranas and All Dharmasastra works (17.5.46)

Additionally, it is the richest source of Nīti, which will be dealt with at length in a separate module in this module. Another view of the topics covered is available in the words of the author, Vyāsa himself in his submission to Brahmā (1.1.61 – 70):

Secret of Vedas

Detailed explanation of Vedas with Upanishads along with the Six Vedangas (Siksha, Vyakarana, Chandas, Nirukta, Jyotisha, Kalpa)

Purana Itihasa Nature of old age, death, fear, disease Description of different kinds of Dharma Description of the four Ashramas (Brahmacarya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha, Sannyasa) Division into four Varnas (Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaisya, Sudra) Import of all the Puranas Description of Brahmacarya and Tapas

Dimensions of Earth, Moon, Sun, other Planets, Constellations and Stars Lengths of different Yugas The three kinds of Vedic texts – Rik, Yajus and Saman Spiritual knowledge (आध्यात्क्र्मर्म्)

• Nyaya (Mimamsa and Tarka) Siksha
• Cikitsa (Ayurveda)
• Dāna (giving away in Charity)
• Greatness of God, Pasupati (पाशुपतर्म्)

    An account of divine and human births Description of holy places and holy rivers Rivers, mountains, forests and the ocean Divine cites Military strategies such as fortification and formation of armies (कल्पानां युद्धकोशलर्म्) Features of speech of various speakers such as Kings, Ministers and well-wishers of Kings (र्ाक्यजास्तस्र्शेर्ााः)

Niti Sastram (लोकयात्राक्रर्माः)

Enunciation of that entity which is spread everywhere, i.e. Brahman (सर्षगं र्ततु)

The commentator Nilakantha introduces the epic by saying that Vyasa wanted to compile the secrets of the fourteen Vidyasthanas at one place and so composed the Mahabharata and that remains the best summary of the contents of Mahabharata. The uniqueness of Mahabharata is that it brings all known knowledge to bear upon the question of “What is Dharma, and what is not”.

Apart from tenets of various Sastras, there are hundreds of stories, Ākhyānas or Ākhyāyikas, in the Mahabharata. Ex: Major stories like Nala-Damayanti, Savitri-Satyavan, story of Rama, story of Kacha, Devayani, Sarmishtha and Yayati, Sakuntala and Dushyanta; Garuda’s birth etc.; and minor ones like the story of the King and Sparrow, Mouse and Cat etc.A few stories such as that of Kartikeya are repeated. These stories teach Dharma and Niti, and it remains a popular pedagogic technique.

4. Comparison with Ramayana

Another way of understanding the nature of Mahabharata is to compare and contrast with other epics. While we can profitably compare Mahabharata with epics of the world like Iliad and Odyssey of ancient Greece, the ancient epic of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamia, Shahnameh of Persia, Beowulf of Britain, or Nibelungenlied of Germany, our scope does not permit it and we restrict ourselves to a comparison with Ramayana. Mahabharata is four times longer than Ramayana, and is indeed the longest epic, and amongst the longest works of literature. Whereas the story and narrative of Ramayana are fairly focussed, in the case of Mahabharata, the amount of detail supplied is overwhelming. For instance, both Ramayana and Mahabharata depict, at one point, the life of a Prince / King in forest for a similar period and describe the places visited, but both the list of places visited and details provided in Mahabharata are much more. Similarly both epics include Stotras, or paeans, but these are limited in the Ramayana. In a popular Stotra of Ramayana, Adityahridayam, twelve names of Sun god are glorified; in contrast, in the Anusasanaparvan of Mahabharata, we have the thousand names (Sahasranāma) of Vishnu and Siva and an elaborate Krishnastuti.

The difference in amount of detail can also be seen in entire chapters devoted to specific topics.

There is a Kaccit sarga (2.100) in Ramayana where by way of enquiry Rama teaches Dandaniti to Bharata

There is an exact parallel in Mahabharata (15.26) where Dhritarashtra teaches Dandaniti to Yudhishthira by way of enquiry

However, two very large Parvans – Santi Parvan (14,700 Slokas) and Anusasana Parvan (8,000 Slokas) are devoted to teaching Rajadharma, Apaddharma, Mokshadharma and Danadharma. These two put together are nearly as long as the entire Ramayana!

Similarly the books of Philosophy – Sanatsujatiyagita (203), Bhagavadgita (700 Slokas), Anugita (1064) etc. – are almost as long as independent treatises.

From the above, a fair assessment would be that where Ramayana merely mentions and summarises a particular aspect, Mahabharata treats the same in great detail. In other words, Mahabharata can be described as the Encyclopedia of ancient India.

5. Mahabharata as a Smṛti

The Mahabharata may be encyclopedic, but it also has a focus area: to teach Dharma. This aspect is recognized by treating the Mahabharata as a Smṛti.

Smriti is best understood when contrasted from Śruti, another name for Veda. Sruti, etymologically is, what is heard and is a synonym of Veda. Veda is traditionally held to be eternal sound and is “heard” by Rishis, with super-natural powers. Ever-present Veda, so discovered by Rishis, was then taught orally to students; who then continued the oraltransmission. For a long time, at least about two millennia after writing was used in India, it was taboo to commit the Vedas to writing. Even today, Veda is orally transmitted amongst those who actually learn it traditionally; while books are also used by the students, if there is a discrepancy between the printed text and what the teacher says, the teacher’s version prevails. Thus Veda is what was heard and learnt from one’s teacher and hence was called Sruti. This is the source of Dharma, and the highest standard of proof. However, the number of Veda-śākhas (recensions of Veda) available has been steadily declining. Patanjali in his Mahabhashya states that there are more than 1,100 recensions of Veda; today only a handful are available. Further, one needs to be well-versed in Mimamsa to be able to determine Dharma directly from Veda. Therefore great and eminent sages like Yajnavalkya composed texts which deal with Dharma. Such texts are called Smriti, as they are not the Vedic sentences literally but the remembrance (Smriti) of eminent people. When on a particular point of Dharma, relevant sentence from Veda is not available, then the Smriti statement is taken as a Pramana, or a standard of proof. Thus Smriti enjoys a status, very similar to Veda, but just below that of the Veda.

It is this status – that of a Smriti – that is traditionally accorded to Mahabharata. Acharyas like Sankaracharya quote extensively from the Mahabharata taking it as a Pramana. These quotations are not merely from the Bhagavadgita (which as a whole is very important in schools of Indian philosophy and is considered as the essence of Upanishads), but from other sections like Santiparvan as well. Thus if one wants to use Mahabharata as a guide to understand the epic culture, one must appreciate that Mahabharata was not merely a collection of stories, but was seen as a Smriti, and used as a guide in deciding Dharma.

Summary

Thus we have seen that Mahabharata covers all the Vidyasthanas and is multiple Sastras rolled into one. If there was an encyclopedia in ancient India, Mahabharata was that encyclopedia. This aspect is brought out very clearly when we compare it to Ramayana: where Ramayana mentions and summarises various aspects, the Mahabharata treats them in great detail.

The Mahabharata was composed to teach what Dharma is, taking a great war as the context. While the main narrative is very taut, the book contains a detailed account of different aspects of Purusharthas and all other aspects of life. This is achieved through the inclusion of discourses of varying lengths and by including a number of small and big stories, which teach Dharma directly and indirectly. It is said the four-fifths of Mahabharata comprises the “moral” of the “story” which occupies a fifth of the book.

The idea was to make all known knowledge to bear upon the question of what is Dharma, but to do so in a simple language, which made the secrets of all Sastras accessible to the general public. Thus it is respected as a Smriti text, even as it remains very popular. This – treating the work as a Smriti – is the best way to approach Mahabharata when one wants to appreciate the culture of that period.

Web Links

• http://www.ghvisweswara.com/mahabharata-2/ is the result of study of Mahabharata for two years by Sri G. Visweswara. He tried to compile what the Mahabharata says on various topics of interest to him and has compiled the material under separate headings, running to more than 1,000 pages.
• http://www.mahabharata-resources.org/ contains the various resources related to Mahabharata, including links to the text with Nilakantha’s commentary, the Kumbakonam edition, the Southern recension by PPS Sastri, the critical edition, English translation of the entire text by Kisari Mohan Ganguli, various summaries and links to annotated bibliographies on the Mahabharata.

Bibliography

• Mahabharata with the Commentary “Bhāvadīpa” of Nīlakaṇṭha, 6 vols., Vasudeva BalacharyaAinapure. Bombay: Gopal Narayan & Co, 1901.
• Mahabharata, for the first time Critically Edited. various editors. multiple volumes. Pune: BhandarkarOriential Research Institute, various years.