3. Literature and the Mahabharata

(see introduction) THEMES STUDIED The War of Kurukshetra marked (literally) the end of the previous era and the beginning of the current one (see Context: Chronology & Geography). As can be expected from an age-old epic like the Mahabharata, there is a huge body of debates and analyses found both in the scholarly and non-academic realms. Without going into much of that, here are two themes that I think dominate Mahabharata discussions, at least when it comes to people who love controversy: Mythification: Krishna Oral transmission causes history to become legend, and legend to become myth. When speaking academically, "myth" does not refer to something false, but rather a distorted and exaggerated version of the truth. More importantly, this truth is believed to be true by the general public in which it is told and appreciated. However, it is not always oral transmission that causes mythification (loosely defined in mythology as the process in which heroes and villains of a legend become supernatural beings like gods and demons). Sometimes a scholar sees that a myth may have been tempered on purpose, and can usually guess the stimulant to be a religious movement. Something similar seems to happen with the Mahabharata: the Bhagvad Gita and the Harivamsa Parva in the epic are both possibly appended to the text, given differences in structure and style. Both of these also explicitly reveal Krishna as an avatar of Lord Vishnu. It is very possible that a Vaishnavite movement took place, in which classical (Vedic) Hinduism became more strictly a religion rather than the philosophy that it was, and a focus on Vishnu as a Godhead began to appear in sacred texts. What makes this more interesting is that when Krishna's magical poweress, or at times even Krishna himself, is taken out of the picture, the resulting scene becomes a prime candidate for censoring. For example, when Dushasana drags Draupadi into the court and starts to pull off her clothing, Draupadi prays to Krishna who responds by making the cloth of her sari never-ending. Suppose Krishna had not intervened, we would have an even more unjustified and socially unacceptable situation than before. Some scholars argue that the Krishna in Mahabharata, is not Krishna the Vishnu-avatar at all, but is made to appear so by "editing". But these debates go on, as there is not much evidence to argue with on either Side. Polyandry & Polygamy: Draupadi & Kunti Another amazing theme persistent in the epic is sexuality, especially such that would be considered taboo in society: a woman's sexuality. There is usually an apparent contradiction in the author's view or somewhat of a justification presented when it comes to occurrances of a taboo. For example, while Draupadi is married to five men and this does not seem extraordinary in the story, when it comes to the court scene Karna defines a prostitute so that it would encompass Draupadi and justifies that she be treated like one. In another instance, while Kunti has a boon to conceive from gods and it is again not frowned upon (being a boon, and gods), she is hesitant when Pandu asks her to do this and defines again what a woman like that is called. Kunti also gives up her firstborn for this particular reason. Not a very strong woman, she. The boons in Kunti's case, like Karna's comments in Draupadi's case, seem like cover-ups and cause some rage in relevant debates.

EXCERPTS FROM MY ESSAYS Shankhaa - The Feminine Conch, On Symbolism: This essay talks about the repressed femininity of the warriors in the Mahabharata (Krishna and the Pandavas in particular) expressed via symbolism of the conch. Here is an excerpt: "All these parallels are just more metaphors concerning the conch shell. To decipher the symbolism, one must combine the two lines of thought. One is that the personality of the conch shell is indicative of its owner's character, and the other is that the conch shell is uniformly feminine. It is not too farfetched then to understand the conch shell to symbolize the warrior's repressed femininity. A warrior is placed at the extreme male end when it comes to the gender spectrum, especially the time and culture in which Sage Vyasa and contributing authors were shaping the Mahabharata to bring it to its completion. An exception occurs in the Virata Parva that proves the rule. In this liminal case, the social stereotypes are broken to allow Arjuna, the ultimate warrior, to abandon his manhood and become a dance teacher of neuter sex (Mahabharata, 72). Furthermore, Arjuna's feminine role in these chapters seems to be accepted as the best disguise for him because in reality, a warrior could (and should) be nothing but masculine. This epic successfully brings to life the dichotomy of not just a warrior, but of any man." - Juhi Shukla, 2008. Power by Myth, On Power Structures: This essay talks about how myths dictate the power structures that we see in the society in which these myths proliferate. I especially talk about the structure of power, and the difference of power, between the men and women in Indian mythology. Here is the conclusion: "In the varnas we see how the Rigveda outlines laws of religious power while it neatly categorizes the society and assigns appropriations to each order. The exclusion of outlaws from the varnas implies a power structure imposed on even those who are not included in the system. At the same time, the idealization of Indra in vedic literature hints at what is expected of a political leader in early South Asian society, in contrast to whom the female characters of the Veda insinuate certain expectations for women in the same culture. A people that base their religion on the Vedic teachings are bound to follow these principles and shape their power structures like those depicted. It is difficult for the Veda then, to not dictate the powertoni in early South Asian society." - Juhi Shukla, 2007. From Best to Perfect: Sita's Journey from Valmiki to Us, On Gender Issues: This essay talks about the difference between how Sita, the heroine of the epic Ramayana, is portrayed originally by Valmiki and how she is depicted now in popular culture. This contrasts the way in which the women of the Mahabharata are still seen today. Perhaps the Mahabharata has not been as wounded by religious distortion as the Ramayana. Here is the conclusion: "Untruthfulness, rashness, guile, stupidity, avarice, unseemliness and cruelty are a woman's seven natural flaws. - Chanakya. As can be expected, Valmiki's opinion of women is not that of a fellow person. In the time that the Ramayana was probably composed, men must not have had to worry about feminists when they described women. Since it was men who wrote the literature, it is through a men's perspective that scholars of today see their world. What one can make from Sita's character sketch in Valmiki's Ramayana is that in her, Valmiki describes a woman's full potential, as he sees it. Despite being the best of women, Sita is still prone to incurable feminine woes like being emotional and unreasonable in addition to being the cause of most of men's troubles. What makes Sita an ideal is her faithfulness to her husband and family, and her beauty. While the ideal characteristics on Valmiki's Sita remain, the Sita perceived today has managed to lose her womanly imperfections and become subdued. Even though Valmiki would not please a feminist, he allowed his Sita to argue, discuss and even become angry at times, unlike the popular Sita we see today. That both Sitas are presented as an ideal is clear; however, somewhere down the road of time the required ideal must have changed, as did Sita. Today's Sita seems to me an airbrushed portrait of the original woman. Perhaps it was the transformation of an epic poem into a religious text that converted the "best of women" into a "perfect" one." - Juhi Shukla, 2009.

2. The Epic Mahabharata

(see introduction) The English translation of the word "Mahabharata" is "Great Bharata"; "Bharata" can mean many things (see the disambiguation), although relevant to the epic it refers to the kingdom of emperor Bharata, or "Bharatvarsha"; "Bharat" is now the Hindi term for the "Republic of India". Within the Bharata Dynasty falls the Kuru clan, who fight among themselves (the Pandava and the Kaurava factions) leading to the famous Battle of Kurukshetra, which becomes the subject of the epic Mahabharata. The Mahabharata is the oldest and longest epic poem found to date, containing about 90,000 slokas (verses). The poem begins when the credited author Vyasa (who is also a character in the narrative) asks Ganesha to write down the narration that he has just composed. Later the poem would be recited to Janamejaya (a Kuru descendant), as a cautionary tale about the war of his ancestors that almost entirely annihilated the Kuru race. These beginnings are noted in the first book of the Mahabharata, along with a brief summary of the epic. The next 17 books provide, in excruciating detail, the story of Mahabharata. One additional book, the Harivamsa Parva (the book of Hari's genealogy), talks about the life of Krishna (Hari), who is considered Vishnu's eighth avatar in Vaishnav Hinduism (see Context: Mythology). The fact that this book is more or less appended to the end of the epic has caused some debate among scholars (see Literature: Themes). Other than good old Wikipedia, which is appropriate for a general overview of the Mahabharata, MahabharataOnline.com is a pretty good online resource for informal reading of the epic.

MAIN CHARACTERS Mahabharantaonline.com has individual stories of the epic's characters; however those listed here are linked to Wikipedia pages. The Kuru Family The central characters in the family are: Kauravas - "descendants of the Kurus"; the 101 sons of the blind king Dhritirashtra. Pandavas - "sons of the Pandu"; the five sons of Pandu, Dhritirashtra's younger brother; they stand in opposition to the Kauravas in the war; they share a common wife, Draupadi. Bhishma - aka Devdatta (gift from the Gods); son of king Shantanu and goddess Ganga (river Ganges); great-uncle to the Pandavas/Kauravas; known for his terrible ("bhishan") vow of life-long celebacy and service to the throne of Hastinapur. Duryodhana - eldest Kaurava; entitled to the throne of Hastinapur prior to the war; most vocal opponent of the Pandavas; often depicted as villainous and jealous. Kunti - mother of the three eldest Pandavas and Karna; first wife of Pandu; has a boon to invoke a god and obtain a child from him, which comes in handy as Pandu cannot have children (see Literature: Themes). Karna - warrior and ally to the Kauravas; eldest son of Kunti (obtained via a boon by invoking Surya, the Sun god); born out of wed-lock and abandoned by Kunti; raised by a Charioteer. Yudhishthira - aka "Dharmaraj" (king of Dharma); first son of Kunti and Pandu (obtained via a boon by invoking Yama, the god of Judgement);looses his inheritance, brothers, and wife (Draupadi) to the Kauravas in a game of dice that is the turning point of the epic. Draupadi - wife to the Pandavs; originally sought for Yudhishthira but due to a triviality "shared" among the brothers; she is dragged into court and publically humiliated after being gambled away, causing oaths to be taken that would eventually play out during the war (see Literature: Themes). Bhima - second son of Kunti and Pandu (obtained via a boon by invoking Vayu, the god of the Winds); known for his strength and anger; after Draupadi's humiliation, he vows to drink Dushasana's blood and wash Draupadi's hair with it (which he does during the war) before she will tie it again; also marries and has a son with a rakshasa (giant) woman. Arjuna - third son of Kunti and Pandu (obtained via a boon by invoking Indra, god of War); perhaps the greatest of warriors in the epic, with various weapons obtained from his visit to the heavens; recieves the Bhagvad Gita from Krishna, who is his charioteer during the war, upon breaking down and refusing to fight his family at the start of the battle; his unborn grandson is the only Pandava successor to survive the war to continue the Kuru lineage. Divine Intervention Krishna is approached by both Arjuna and Duryodhana for alliance in the war; while Duryodhana chooses to take Krishna's military help, Arjuna chooses Krishna himself, who then becomes his charioteer. Prior to the battle, Krishna delivers to the Kauravas a peace message from the Pandavas, which is unreciprocated; ironically he is also the one who convinces Arjuna to fight the battle by delivering the Bhagvad Gita (song of God). At both these scenes, Krishna reveals himself to be Vishnu but only Arjuna is able to see the divine vision (read about darshan in Hinduism). See Context: Mythology, Literature: Themes.

SYNOPSIS Mahabharata is full of side-stories that make the text of the epic so lengthy; however, the "meat" of the poem is made up of the conflict between the Kauravas and Pandavas and the war that ensues between them. Let's begin with the romantic-at-heart king Shantanu of Hastinapur, who woos Ganga and suffers the deaths of seven of their sons at her hands, before he breaks his vow and stops her in order to keep the eighth son, Devdatta (read the story of Shantanu). Devdatta would have to take a vow of celibacy and service to the throne of Hastinapur before a fisherman would agree to marry his daughter, Satyavati, to Shantanu, who had once again fallen in love, alas. Since then Devdatta would be known as Bhishma for his terible vow (read the story of Bhishma). Satyavati's son Vichitravirya dies before he is able conceive an heir so the terrible sage Vyasa (Satyavati's first son, born out of wedlock; read the story of Satyavati) is asked to lie with the two wives of Vichitravirya: Ambika, who had shut her eyes for fear of Vyasa, conceives the blind Dhritirashtra, and Ambalika who had trembled with fear of him, conceives the weak Pandu. Fearing this, Satyavati asks Vyasa to grant the family another son and so a fearless maid-servant conceives the wise Vidhur, who would become the voice of reason and foresight to the throne of Hastinapur (read one version of this story). Dhritirashtra marries Gandhari, the princess of Gandhar, who spends the rest of her life blindfolded for the sake of her husband's blindness. Her brother Shakuni out of spite for this, vows to destroy the Kuru clan. Shakuni becomes one of the key players for causing of the conflict between the cousins as he sows the seeds of jealousy in the minds of his nephews (the Kauravas), especially Duryodhana (read the stories of Gandhari and Shakuni). Dhritirashtra fathers 101 sons and one daughter, forming the Kaurava faction of the family. Because Dhritirashtra is blind, the kingdom passes to Pandu. Pandu marries Kunti (an aunt of Krishna), who has been granted a boon so that she may invoke a god and conceive a child by him. Kunti has already tried out this boon, and abandoned her firstborn (Karna, of Surya, the Sun god) for fear of society. Pandu obtains a curse that he will die at the moment of orgasm, so he asks Kunti to use her boon in order to obtain children. Yudhishthira (of Yama, the god of Judgement), Bhima (of Vayu, the god of the Winds), and Arjuna (of Indra, god of War) are conceived this way. Because of Kunti's teachings, Pandu's second wife Madri also obtains two twin sons this way:Nakula and Sahadeva (of the Ashvin Twins, the Vedic gods of the Sunset and Sunrise). Eventually, Pandu has intercourse with Madri and dies. Dhritirashtra then takes over the kingdom until the princes finish their education and training that they were then taking under their teacher Drona. Rifts have already built between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, as the Pandavas (especially Arjuna) excel at everything earning the love of Drona Acharya and the jealousy of Duryodhana and the rest of the Kauravas (read the story of Drona Acharya). At the return of the princes, Karna is introduced to the Kauravas (and Pandavas) in a tournament and becomes friends with Duryodhana, who makes him king of Anga. Yudhishthira is older than Duryodhana by a bit, and so he inherits the kingdom from Dhritirashtra and prospers. Yudhishtira bases his capital in Indraprastha, where he commissions a Palace of Wonders worthy of envy. Duryodhana, on the other hand, wants the kingdom back. With Shakuni, the Kauravas plan to gamble with the Pandavas with the kingdom at stake. Shakuni, who has never been defeated at dice, plays for the Kauravas and Yudhishthira, who has a weakness for gambling, plays for the Kauravas. When Yudhishthira loses his wealth, he stakes the kingdom, then his brothers, and then Draupadi, their wife, and loses all. In what is probably one of the most emotionally-charged chapters in the epic, now that Draupadi is no longer queen, Duryodhana orders younger brother Dushasana to drag her into court. When she questions the ethics and judgement of the court, Dushasana begins to disrobe her. Draupadi prays to Krishna, who saves her honour by creating an illusion of a never-ending sari. After Dushasana has tired, Draupadi once again questions the morality of the elders and people present in the court to witness this, including her husbands. See the scene from BR Chopra's Mahabharat, episode 47 on Youtube (seek to 14:00). At Draupadi's appeal, Dhritirashtra agrees to return what they won to the Pandavas on the condition that the Pandavas be banned for the next 12 years, and spend the 13th year incognito. Here ends the second book, the Sabha Parva. Their twelve years are described in the third book (the Vana Parva), and their thirteenth year in the fourth book (the Virata Parva). When the Pandavas return a conflict about their condition having been met arises leading to no compromise but war, hence take place the remaining books, in war. Bhishma is the first Kaurava commander, as he must service the throne of Hastinapur (currently under Duryodhana) according to his vow. Eventually these warriors (Bhishma, Karna, Drona) fall at the hands of the Pandavas. The Pandavas lose all their sons by Draupadi in a fire set by an enemy warrior. In the end, apart from the Pandavas themselves, only Arjuna's unborn grandson survives as an heir. Arjuna's son Abhimanyu had already impregnated his wife Uttara, before he makes a heroic sacrifice (read the story of Abhimanyu). Uttara would give birth to Parikshit, who would be killed by a serpent and his son Janamejaya would then vow to annihilate the naga (serpent) race (read the stories of Parikshit and Janamejaya). Janamejaya would be stopped by Vyasa, Satyavati's first son and the author of the epic, who would tell him the story of Mahabharata and caution him about the consequences of emotional vows and wars.

TEXT & TRANSLATIONS The full Sanskrit text of the Mahabharata is available online, along with English alliterations of the verses. Kisari Mohan Ganguli published the first complete English translation of the epic Mahabharata between the years 1883 and 1896. It is currently the only complete translation available in the public domain. A brief summary by Professor James L. Fitzgerald of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is also available online.

ONLINE CHAPTER SUMMARIES MahabharataOnline.com has a summary by C. Rajagopalachari who tells the Mahabharata in a story-like format. About.com has a summary by Romesh C. Dutt, who follows the structure of the epic and translates the Mahabharata according to selected verses from the chapters of the books. About.com also has a detailed timeline of events occurring in the story of the Mahabharata compiled by Dr. K.N.S. Patnaik. see part 3: Literature and the Mahabharata

1. Context of the Mahabharata

(see introduction) INDIAN MYTHOLOGY Wikipedia provides a compact and organized overview of Indian (Hindu) texts. The Mahabharata, along with the epic Ramayana, falls into the category Itihasa, meaning "History", and may also be known as a "Maha Kavya" or Great Poem". Before being able to fully appreciate the Mahabharata, one must know about Vishnu and his ten avatars including Krishna, who shows up in the instance of the context of the Mahabharata. Krishna's most important contribution to the Mahabharata is the delivering of the Bhagvad Gita, the God's song, to Arjuna. Arjuna, a warrior of unparalleled ability, in the midst of a nervous breakdown refuses to battle with his family members, who stand ready and waiting on both sides for him to start the war. At this point, Krishna reveals himself to be Vishnu and explains to Arjuna that he is merely a player in the big game, as are his family members, and he must fulfill his duty without thinking of consequences. In Chapter 4, Verse 7 of the Bhagvad Gita, Krishna says: yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata abhyuttanam adharmasya tada'tmanam srjamy aham "O Bharata (Arjuna), whenever there is a decline of righteousness and a rise of unrighteousness, then I manifest Myself." This quote encompasses Vishnu's role in the epic: He has come as Krishna to end this era of unrighteousness. Indeed, not many men remain to be unrighteous after the war.

CHRONOLOGICAL & GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT There is yet to be a unanimous belief of the time-frame in which the Mahabharata was set, although given speculations about the war, 1200 - 800 BCE has been a safe guess (see further discussion). The epic talks about the war between factions of the Kuru clan, who are speculated to span the 1200 - 900 BCE time frame, which resides within the Indian Iron Age, or Vedic Period. All three of the major cities mentioned in the epic can be recognized today. The story begins with the throne at Hastinapur, a city which still bears the same name and is located in present-day north-eastern state in India, Uttar Pradesh. Yudhishthir, a successor, bases his capital at Indraprastha, which is included in present-day Delhi. The ruins of the palace that he commissioned can be found still. The war of Mahabharata takes place in the city Kurukshetra, named after Kuru, the ancestor of the players in the epic. The city still bears the same name and is located in the present-day central Indian state of Haryana. see part 2: The Epic Mahabharata

Mahabharata post series - Introduction

Until I can set up another HTML/PHP server to host my awesome Mahabharata website (with all the cool effects), I thought I'd blog the three info pages that I put together for it. I hate how they're just sitting there. The pages are structured like this:
1. Context: Indian Mythology and Chronological & Geographical Context
-	this page places the epic in context; background info for those who don't know what the heck I'm talking about
2. The Epic: Intro, Main Characters, Synopsis, Text and Chapters
-	this page is about the epic itself; it provides links towards the end for those looking for the full text or chapter summaries. The synopsis is pretty awesome, I had fun writing it.
3. Literature: Themes Studied and Excerpts from my Essays
-	this is the page for people who already know the basics. I mention two themes that interest me the most, namely, the "mythification" process (involving Krishna) and polyandry & polygamy in the epic (involving Draupadi and Kunti). Then I go on to provide some excepts from my essays. If anyone is crazy enough to want to read an essay in their free time, let me know. :)