Early Cultural Writings
CONTENTS
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Notes on the Mahabharata
by Aurobind Ghose
dealing with the authenticity of each separate canto, i.e. whether it belongs or not to the original epic of 24,000 slokas on the great catastrophe of the Bharatas.
Udyogapurva.
Canto I. 1 कुरुप्रवीराः ..स्वपक्षाः . This may mean in Vyasa's elliptic manner the great Kurus (i.e. the Pandavas) & those of their side. Otherwise "The Kuru heroes of his own side" i.e. Abhimanyu's which is awkward 3 वृद्धौ this supplies the reason of their pre-eminence 5. प्रदुम्नसाम्बौ च युधि प्रवीरौ . This establishes Pradyumna & Samba as historical sons of Krishna विराटपुत्रैस्च Virata has therefore several sons, three at least. 7 The simile is strictly in the style of Vyasa who cares little for newness or ingenuity, so long as the image called up effects its purpose. The assonance रराज सा राजवती is an epic assonance altogether uncommon in Vyasa & due evidently to the influence of Valmekie.8 strong brief & illumining strokes of description which add to the naturalness of the scene e.g. ततः क्थास्ते समवाययुक्ताः while also adding a touch that reveals the inwardness of the situation कृत्वा विचित्राः पुरुषप्रवीराः | तस्थुर्मुहूर्तं परिचिन्तयन्तः कृष्णं नृपास्ते समुदीक्षमाणाः || 9 संघट्टिताः surely means "assembled" and nothing else. P. C. Roy in taking it as "drew their attention to" shows his usual slovenliness. Lele also errs in his translation. He interprets it Page – 345 "as soon as the talk was over Krishna assembled the kings for the affairs of the Pandavas." But the kings were already assembled & seated; not only so but they were waiting for Krishna to begin. It is absurd to suppose that as soon as Krishna began speaking they left their seats and clustered round him like a pack of schoolboys. Yet this is the only sense in which we can take Lele's rendering. I prefer to take the obvious sense of the words. "As soon as they had reached an end of talk, those lion kings assembled by the Son of Modhou in the interests of the Pandava listened in a body to his high thoughted and fateful speech." सुमहोदयं having mighty consequences.10 अयं here beside me. See verse 4. Yudhisthere is sitting just by Krishna, separated by him [from] Virata.अक्षव ती not given by Apte.11 . तरसा. तरस् expresses any swift, violent & impetuous act; anything that has the momentum of strength & impulse or fire & energy1सत्यरथैर् This is a word of doubtful import. It may [mean] "of unerring chariots" i.e. skilful fighters, or else "honourable fighters", रथः being used as in महारथः , अधिरथः = fighter in a chariot. Cf. सत्यपराक्रमः In the first case the epithet would be otiose & ornamental & an epic assonance. I cannot think however that Vyasa was capable of putting a purely decorative epic epithet in so emphatic a place. It must surely mean either 2 [i.e. "honourable fighters"] or "making truth their chariot"; being used as in etc. The latter however is almost too much a flight of fancy for Vyasa. 12 त्रयोदशस्चैव —agreeing with संवत्सरः which the mind supplies from वर्षाणि in the last line; a verb also has to be supplied from चीर्णं . This is the true Vyasa style.निविष्ट. निविशः . to abide. This sense, though not given in Apte may be deduced from निवेशः Impersonal. It has been dwelt [incomplete]
1 Another gloss: तरसा energy, speed, violence, force. The word always gives an idea of swiftness & strength.Page – 346 132 It will be seen from Krishna's attitude here as elsewhere that he was very far from being the engineer & subtle contriver of war into which later ideas have deformed him. That he came down to force on war & destroy the Kshatriya caste whether to open India to the world or for other cause, is an idea that was not present to the mind of Vyasa. Later generations writing when the pure Kshatriya caste had almost disappeared, attributed this motive for God's descent upon earth, just as a modern English Theosophist, perceiving British rule established in India, has added the corollary that he destroyed the Kshatriyas (five thousand years ago, according to her own belief) in order to make the line clear for the English. What Vyasa on the other hand makes us feel is that Krishna, though fixed to support justice at every cost, was earnestly desirous to support it by peaceful means if possible. His speech is an evident attempt to restrain the eagerness of the Mutsyas & Panchalas who were bent on war as the only means of overthrowing the Kuru domination. 14 Krishna's testimony to Yudhisthere's character is here of great importance.
अधर्मयुक्त न च कामयेत राज्यं सुराणामपि धर्मराजः | धर्मार्थयुक्तं तु महीपतित्वं ग्रामेऽपि कस्मिंस्चिदयं बुभूषेत् ||
That Yudhisthere has deserved this character to the letter so far anyone who has followed the story will admit. If he acts in diametrical opposition to this character in any future passage we shall have some ground to pause before we admit the genuineness of the passage. बुभूषेत् would wish to obtain, in the second sense of भू get, obtain.3 15 मिथ्योपचारेण by dishonest procedure; not in accordance with straightforward & chivalrous rules of conduct.16 That is, if Duryodhana had taken the kingdom from the Pandavas in fair war by his own energy & genius ( स्वतेजसा ),
3 Another gloss: बुभूषेत् desiderative of भू in the sense of "get, obtain": would aspire after Page – 346 he would not have transgressed the ordinary धर्म of the Kshatriya. In that case the Pandavas might have accepted the verdict of Fate and refrained from plunging the country in farther bloodshed.17 This seems to point to the "Digvijayapurva"; but the reference is general & may apply to the Rajasuya generally. प्रपीड्य by force, pressure; as a result of conquest in open battle. 18 बालास्त्विमे An allusion to the early persecution of the Pandavas by Duryodhana. If we accept this purva in its completeness, we must accept the genuineness in the main of the early narrative of the Adi Purva in so far as it [is] covered by this sloka. Notice especially विविधैरुपायैःतू The force is "But you know what the Dhartarastras are, their fierceness, falseness & land-hunger; how even in the childhood of the Pandavas these, their banded foemen, sought to slay them by various means." 22 तथापि = for all their good will. It is part of the inverted commas implied in इतिएव = at least. यतेयुरेव would at least do their utmost. 23 यथावत् definitely; though they may form a shrewd guess.24 राज्यार्धदानाय Krishna does not, at present at any rate suggest a compromise; let them first make their full claim to which they are entitled. (Notice Genitive)
पुरोहितयान This title is evidently a misnomer; there is no mention of the Purohit, far less does he set out as yet nor need we suppose he is hinted at in the description of a suitable envoy. It is doubtful whether Krishna would have singled out a Panchala Purohit as the best intermediary between the Kurus for he evidently desired to try conciliation first, before resorting to threats. The choice of the Purohita was that of King Drupada and the leaders of the Brahmavarta nations who desired to break the supremacy among them of the Kurus. Page – 349 This Canto is in the very finest & most characteristic style of Vyasa; precise, simple & hardy in phrasing, with a strong, curt, decisive movement & a pregnant mode of expression, in which a kernel of thought is expressed & its corollaries suggested so as to form a thought-atmosphere around it. There is no superfluous or lost word or sentence, but each goes straight to its mark and says something which wanted to be said. The speech of Krishna is admirably characteristic of the man as we have seen him in the Sabhapurva; firm & precise in outlook and sure of its own drift, it is yet full of an admirably disinterested & statesmanlike broadmindedness. 4
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Canto 2. 11 [ दीव्यमानः]5 प्रतिदीव्य Can this not mean "being challenged to dice played against n acceptance of the challenge" or must it mean "gambled & that against Saubala"?
4 A briefer statement is found in the other notebook used for these notes: Every line of this Canto is characteristic of Vyasa in style, atmosphere & thought. It is also indispensable to the conduct of the epic. 5 MS दीव्यमानेनः Page – 350 [Notes on Adi Purva, Adhyaya 1]
Importance attached to गृहस्थाश्रमः I. 73. (Other) poets have not genius enough to improve on this poem just as the three other asramas are unable to improve on the householder's asrama.Application of the word "काव्य" to poetry. "You have called this a poem; a poem therefore it shall be." How far does this bear on the date of the Prolegomena? Story of Ganesha as bearing on the length of the original poem. Slokas 78 . . 83. Sense that the ethical & historical is the main drift of the poem. Repeated statements that the Mahabharata is a popular exposition of the teaching of the Veda & Vedanta ( श्रुति).General (passim): Application of "Puran" & "Itihas" to Mahabharata. Ancient idea of the universality of the poem.
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Mahabharat -Dronapurva.
1. उदीर्ण .. व्यावृत्तेऽर्यम्नि ......... आत्ययिकः In this adhyaya slokas 261 to 35 & half 36 & 46 belong to the epic: the rest is introduction, framework and padding. 2. The first three verses are alternative openings. 1 belongs to the epic. .. .
संमृज्य .. उल्लालयन् ... भावं कुर्वीत शौण्ड. उपासङ्ग नागकक्ष्या भाण्ड संप्रहारोप्रपन्न सन्नहनोपपना ज्या कांस्यं कूबर वरूथिनं
Sloka 31. may be rejected, perhaps, as a mere repetition of a former verse.
1 This refers probably to the verse beginning with the words , which is numbered 24 or 25 in some editions. -Ed. Page – 351 |