{"id":100,"date":"2019-09-06T04:45:40","date_gmt":"2019-09-06T04:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/icp05.epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/?post_type=chapter&p=100"},"modified":"2019-09-06T04:45:47","modified_gmt":"2019-09-06T04:45:47","slug":"encyclopedic-nature-of-mahabharata","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/icp05\/chapter\/encyclopedic-nature-of-mahabharata\/","title":{"rendered":"Encyclopedic Nature of Mahabharata"},"content":{"raw":"
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1. Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n

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 \u2013 both in understanding the culture of the Mahabharata period and in appreciating the epic.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

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. N\u012blaka\u1e47\u1e6dha\u2019s commentary is the most popular one on Mahabharata. Given the emphasis in this module, the version with Nilakantha\u2019s commentary which is nearly 1,00,000\u00a0verses 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.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Overview of the Contents of Mahabharata<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n

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 \u2013 and a book which teaches Dharma. It is not surprising, then, that the \u201cmoral\u201d is four times as long as the \u201cstory\u201d! Before examining it in some depth, a brief synopsis of the contents is presented.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

The first five Parvans describe the background of the key players \u2013 Pandavas, sons of P\u0101\u1e47\u1e0du and Kauravas, sons of Dh\u1e5btar\u0101\u1e63\u1e6dra \u2013 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.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\"\"\r\n

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Structurally speaking, the story is told chronologically, in the main. Within, that narrative a number of stories are included. The Aranyakaparvan \u2013 describing the exile of Pandavas \u2013 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 \u2013 Vijayayatras (victorious campaigns) and Tirthayatras (pilgrimages), which give a rich description of the geography of Mahabharata times. What is noteworthy is that,\u00a0notwithstanding 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:<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Why did the Mahabharata war happen? The technical reason is that Duryodhana claims that Pandavas did not complete 13 years of exile \u2013 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 \u201cadhikamasas\u201d (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!<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

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:<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

\u0927\u0930\u094d\u092e\u0947\u091a\u093e\u0930\u094d\u0925\u0947\u091a \u0915\u093e\u0930\u094d\u092e\u0947\u091a \u0930\u094d\u092e\u094b\u0915\u094d\u0937\u0947\u091a \u092d\u0930\u0924\u0930\u094d\u0937\u092d\u0964\u00a0<\/span>\u092f\u0926\u093f\u0939\u093e\u0938\u094d\u0924\u0924 \u0924\u093f\u0928\u094d\u092f\u0924\u094d\u0930 \u092f\u0928\u094d\u0928\u0947\u0939\u093e\u0938\u094d\u0924\u0924\u0928 \u0924\u0924\u094d\u0915\u094d\u0935\u0938\u094d\u091a\u0924\u094d\u09651.62.53\u0965 (reading with\u0915\u0941 \u0924\u094d\u0930\u0938\u094d\u091a\u0924\u094d\u096517.5.50\u0965)<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

3.Encyclopedic Nature of Mahabharata<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Knowledge was categorized into 14 Vidy\u0101sth\u0101nas, viz. 4 Vedas, 6 Ved\u0101\u1e45gas, Pur\u0101\u1e47a, Ny\u0101ya, M\u012bm\u0101\u1e43s\u0101, Dharma\u015b\u0101stra, and there were \u015a\u0101stras dealing with each topic. Thus one of the six Vedangas, Vy\u0101kara\u1e47a, 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:<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Itihasa (History)<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

\u0938\u0930\u094d\u0937\u0936\u094d\u0930\u0941\u0938\u094d\u0924\u0938\u0930\u094d\u092e\u0942\u0939\u0930\u094d\u092e\u094dThe compilation of [the essence of] all Vedas (1.62.35) \u0927\u0930\u094d\u092e\u0937\u0936\u093e\u0938\u094d\u0924\u094d\u0930\u0902\u092a\u0941\u0923\u094d\u092f\u0930\u094d\u092e\u094dAuspicious Dharmasastra (1.62.22)\u00a0<\/span>\u0905\u0930\u094d\u0925\u0937\u0936\u093e\u0938\u094d\u0924\u094d\u0930\u0902\u092a\u0930\u0930\u094d\u092e\u094dUltimate Arthasastra (1.62.22)\u00a0<\/span>Mokshasastra (1.62.22)\u00a0<\/span>Equal to Vedas, 6 Vedangas, 18 Puranas and All Dharmasastra works (17.5.46)<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Additionally, it is the richest source of N\u012bti, 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, Vy\u0101sa himself in his submission to Brahm\u0101 (1.1.61 \u2013 70):<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Secret of Vedas<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Detailed explanation of Vedas with Upanishads along with the Six Vedangas (Siksha, Vyakarana, Chandas, Nirukta, Jyotisha, Kalpa)<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Purana Itihasa\u00a0<\/span>Nature of old age, death, fear, disease\u00a0<\/span>Description of different kinds of Dharma\u00a0<\/span>Description of the four Ashramas (Brahmacarya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha, Sannyasa)\u00a0<\/span>Division into four Varnas (Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaisya, Sudra) Import of all the Puranas\u00a0<\/span>Description of Brahmacarya and Tapas<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Dimensions of Earth, Moon, Sun, other Planets, Constellations and Stars Lengths of different Yugas\u00a0<\/span>The three kinds of Vedic texts \u2013 Rik, Yajus and Saman Spiritual knowledge (\u0906\u0927\u094d\u092f\u093e\u0924\u094d\u0915\u094d\u0930\u094d\u092e\u0930\u094d\u092e\u094d)<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n