The epic of epic proportions

The Mahabharata appeals as it substantiates the presence of myths in fulfilling our collective desires, anxieties, and fear.

No other text has survived the rise and fall of Indian culture and civilization as the Mahabharata. In effect, the epic story has overshadowed all other forms of human expressions, and remained a product of extraordinary cultural significance. In nutshell, it is an unending story of five generations culminating in a war fought over eighteen days. With dramatic twists and mythical turns in the narrative, the epic has never ceased to excite its audiences and viewers. And, yet it is considered  inauspicious to keep the text at home while the Gita, its quintessential essence, has remained a spiritual text of rich philosophical tradition. Despite the characters and the events of the epic frozen in time, the narrative helps relive those glorious moments and their relevance for the present. What makes the narrative an epic of timeless magic? And, what accounts for its continuing influence on the psyche of millions of Indian? 

Much water may have flown down the Ganges but individuals across the ages have dug into the epic to explore myriad narrative possibilities of the endless story of the Mahabharata. The epic is so crafted that actions by its many heroes, who are victims of their own fallible logic, help the spectators identify with its characters as a means of their own catharsis. This lends the epic an incredible appeal, providing expressions for one’s own actions in judgements and criticisms of those characters. Perhaps, it is the matter-of-fact manner of writing that captures the political and philosophical aspects of the time. With myths still in circulation around us, the Mahabharata appeals as it substantiates the presence of myths in fulfilling our collective desires, anxieties, and fear. On top, the epic is peppered with human emotions of heroism, courage, tension, tragedy, deceit, fantasy, and jealousy to find widespread acceptance across generations. 

Known for his scholarship on language and literature, Prof G N Devy meditates on the Mahabharata at many levels and in many different ways. The slim volume explores the historical timeline of its spellbinding charm; its superlative presence amongst world’s great literary works, the metaphysical and theological tussles it had to endure, and its inherent political message on warfare and nation building. Taking the reader through the epochal journey in the making of the epic, Devy attempts to make the reader understand why it has survived so long. Through its characters and sub-plots, the author argues, the epic presents a palatable pot pourri of historical, mythical, spiritual and psychological perspective of the Time. As a result, the epic ends up being a narrative in subjective reality of the past that is open to multiple interpretations in the present. While several commentaries of the epic already exist, there are many more in the making as well.  

It is indeed arduous to find a predominant reason for the epic to endure itself across millennia. For some, it is a religious text that helps draw distinction between right and wrong. For others, the story provides tenets of being on the side of justice. And, for many the epic offers lessons on what the desire for power does to us. In all these and other readings of the text, it comes clear that Mahabharata is what the reader would imagine it to be. The freedom to view the characters through moral lens rest with the reader, be it divine Lord Krishna or eternal villain Duryodhana.

Devy provides a multi-layered assessment on the epic. Saye he, 'the Mahabharata is yet not regarded by Indian people as a work of the past because it brings to them a distinct method of perceiving the past'. While one may agree and accept that the Mahabharata takes us through the transition from a pastoral state structure to the early feudal one, how is a war justified in preserving and promoting the ritualistic dharma that got codified by religious traditions? Did it not focus on warfare, military tactics, and political maneuvering to depict characters of its actors? However, in many ways the essential messages from the epic have continued to be all pervasive. Some of it, the glorification of dharma and the defense of the varna system, have had deleterious impact on the society.

Though somewhat convoluted for the uninitiated, Mahabharata offers a comprehensive reading of the epic, its evolution and its journey till now. Prof. Devy has written a ready reckoner on the subject, which has the potential to trigger a relook at the epic to address many contemporary concerns that have a direct bearing on it. Mahabharata is a handy and readable addition on the subject, as relevant as ever before.     

Mahabharata: The Epic and the Nation
by G N Devy 
Aleph, New Delhi 
Extent: 142, Price: Rs. 499.

First published in the Hindustan Times on July 23, 2022

The voice of the vanquished

It is human nature to find everything about the victors virtuously rosy, and everything about the vanquished a vicious black.

Mythology and history have often been unkind to the losers, as these are either written by the victors or by those who eulogize their heroes. Over time, such exaggerations acquire a reality of their own, told and retold as the ‘truth’ of the times. After all, it is human nature to find everything about the victors virtuously rosy, and everything about the vanquished a vicious black. And, the vanquished are forever the whipping boys of posterity, as the Kauravas have been since the days of the Mahabharata. And, the title of the chief villain of the epic war has been bestowed on Duryodhana, the eldest among the hundred siblings borne to the blind King Dhritarashtra. Rarely has anyone questioned the veracity of the story, which has been passed on from one generation to other. But if the narrative strength of the epic lies in its multiple renderings, should Duryodhana not be given a chance to make a case for himself? 

Known to constitute the ruling and the military elite, it is ridiculous to assume that the kshatriya parents would knowingly consider Duryodhana as a chosen name for their child, as it means the one who makes wrong use of weapons. In reality, the crown prince of Hastinapur could not have any other name but Suyodhana, the one who is adept at wielding weapons. And, there is hardly any account of him proving it otherwise. It seems the chronicler of the epic saga chose to identify the crown prince otherwise, a name that eased in anointing devious sub-plots aimed to demean his character. Subjecting mythological facts to logical reasoning, V Raghunathan brings the much maligned prince to life to narrate his side of the story in Duryodhana. 

Candid in his confession, the protagonist argues that if the Pandavas were as good as they have been painted to be then the Kauravas had their share of good deeds as well.  The epic war is stated to be the handiwork of Duryodhana whereas in reality it was on account of the Pandavas staking unsubstantiated claim to the throne, while none of the brothers were sons of Pandu as the scheming Kunti had made everybody believe. Sage Vyasa had himself put the facts across in the epic: Yama, Vayu and Indra were the respective fathers of Yudhistra, Bhima and Arjun whereas the younger two Pandavas, Nakula and Sahadev – born to Pandu’s second wife Madri – were also not sired by Pandu but by the renowned physician twins, the Ashwini Kumaras. Given the non-Kuru lineage, Duryodhana had a far greater right to reject such devious claim than the Pandavas ever had to make that claim in the first place. 

It is tough not to believe Duryodhana who brings the already known facts to light. In doing so, the protagonist builds a compelling case for the version of the epic being flawed because the facts were misrepresented to disfavor the Kauravas. It is equally true that the story may not have been fascinating had it been painted merely in white and black. The Mahabharata is not one story, but there is story within a story and each character is not what it may seem to be. Fact and fiction blend flawlessly, making it quite a task to separate the grain from the chaff. 

It is often believed that just because Krishna fought on the side of the Pandavas, they must have been in the right. If that be so, why did Krishna’s elder brother Balaram, along with many other noble souls like Karna and Jarasandha chose to side with the Kauravas if they were pure evil? Presiding deity he might be but Krishna had his share of ‘grey’ in the epic when he had partnered with Bhima and Arjun to murder Jarasandha by stealth. Duryodhana equates his attempt to kill Pandavas with Jarasandha’s murder as pre-emptive strikes for the protection of their respective kingdoms, but wonders why his attempt was singled out as a crime?    

Duryodhana’s version of the epic is iconoclastic, engaging the reader's attention to the bygone characters and incidents from a fresh perspective. The idea is not to rewrite the great epic but to pick essential lessons from it. Says Duryodhana: ‘We might ascribe disproportionate credit or disgrace to ourselves for our successes and failures whereas the truth is that, we are bit actors in a grand scheme of random events.’ Afterall, like the Pandavas, Duryodhana and his kin were the product of their times over which they had little control.

Duryodhana leaves the reader with a volley of intriguing questions to ponder over. Was it my fault if Yudhisthira chose not to heed his brothers’ advice against accepting the invitation for a game of chauper? Was it my fault if Yudhisthira considered his wife to be his property (though it belonged to his other four brothers) and wagered her in the game of dice? Was it my fault if Shakuni was a better player of chauper than Yudhisthira? Am I to be faulted for winning back Indraprastha by strategic statecraft rather than open warfare?  Why history doesn’t credit me for upholding the personal liberty of the Pandavas by sending them to exile? Why I’m not being credited for letting Draupati her freedom with her good-for-nothing husbands? 

The Mahabharata has been told and retold for thousands of years. The epic has engaged readers and scholars to understand the story from the perspectives of its secondary characters. V. Raghunathan makes a convincing case from Duryodhana’s perspective, which is highly absorbing and immensely thought-provoking.  It adds yet another dimension to the labyrinth that is the Mahabharata, 

Duryodhana
by V Raghunathan
HarperCollins, New Delhi
Extent: 307, Price: Rs 350  

This write-up was first published in Speaking Tree dated Aug 7, 2016.          

The heroics of a cultural icon

Endowed with enormous virtues, Krsna has been differently understood: as an epitome of beauty, as an invincible warrior and as a mythological reincarnation. It has perhaps been so because the pre-classical figure existed in three distinct roles: as a charming pastoral figure; as a warrior hero; and as the divine incarnation. Of these three, Kevin McGrath analyses the role of Krsna as a military strategist and a moral teacher.

McGrath’s Krsna is mortal, endowed with a great fluidity of speech. Throughout his ksatriya life, Krsna excelled as a dextrous and agile performer in all situations, never inflexible, always responsive but without losing control. If Krsna could be viciously obdurate one moment, he was gentle sage the other moment. Since he didn’t draw any blood in the battlefield, his words become the most potent weapon used in the war.

Unlike other incarnations of Visnu, notably Ram, who had led life as a ksatriya, it is Krsna who draws power from his mental agility alone. He is always percetible and thoughtful, aware of his surroundings at all times. Krsna handles all episodes with consummate oration, be it the disrobing of Draupadi in the court or the demise of Ashwatthama in the battlefield. It is Krsna’s oration, the ‘magnetic and unspeakable’, that uplifts him to a superhuman status. The poetic richness of Mahabharata showers praise on the multi-talented Krsna, converting some of his immoral actions into strategic moves for winning the battle over the symbolic ‘evil’. Assigning a ‘divine’ status to Krsna, according to the author, has been an after thought!   

McGrath depicts the heroic life of Krsna which apparently pre-existed his divine status. This (assumption) lends objectivity to his analysis of the complex friendship and profound amity between a charioteer and his hero - sometimes referred to as ‘two krsnas’ for being partners both in fighting and in intimate camaraderie. Probably compiled during the Bronze Age, the composition of epic Mahabharata went through the hands of at least four composers. No wonder, the author observes few inconsistencies in rendering of the verses.

Spread over eight chapters, the book offers a radical peep into the heroic character of Krsna as he conducts himself as an intimate companion, as an invincible warrior and as a fine poet. Laced with intricacies, the epic offers studies in contrast of its central characters. Heroic Krsna is an absorbing study of the period that is distanced from our imagination. Despite the characters and the events of the epic Mahabharata frozen in time, the narrative help relive those glorious moments and their relevance for the present. Using Sanskrit verses, McGrath interprets the many stories and sub-stories that have formed the cultural basis of India.

Heroic Krsna is not a work of brahmanical literature but one that is pitched around academic inquiry to understand the cultural icon....Link

Heroic Krsna
by Kevin McGrath
Harvard University Press, Harvard
Extent: 278, Price: $85