mahAbhArata - origin and growth

THE MAHABHARATA : ORIGIN AND GROWTH In the history of Indological studies there has been evident a tendency to exaggerate the importance of the Vedic Aryan element in India’s culture-complex According to this school of thought the Veda has made the greatest contribution to the moulding of the Indian way of life and thought through the ages As a matter of fact, ancient Indian culture, or, more precisely, the Hindu culture, as a whole, is not infrequently characterised as Vedic culture Even a casual survey of the Hindu way of life and thought would, however, lay bare the inadequacy of such a characterisation The principal gods of the Vedic pantheon, such as Indra and Varuṇa, are now no longer worshipped, their place has long since been taken by the gods of the people, like Visou and Rudra Siva Mythology and demonology other than those of the Veda have been ushered in and now cater to the instinctive demands of the people in connection with what may be called the embellishment and ornamentation of religion. The elaborate system of sacrifice, which had been evolved and consolidated dur jog the Brāhmana period and resuscitated and reorganised during the Sūtra period and which had come to be recognised almost as the hallmark of the Vedic religious practice, has now become well nigh extinct. The profound philosophical speculations of the Upanısads, which were once regarded as the last word in the field of mysticism and spiritualism, have either undergone vital modi. fications or have been cotirely superseded by other systems of thought The fastidious rules governing man’s personal, domes tic, and social life, prescribed by the Sūtras, have given way to a Dew ethical code In short, the ideals sponsored by the Veda have long since ceased to operate as the exclusive motive force so far as the Indian way of life and thought are concerned There. forc, the claim that no litcrary work has influenced and still conti. nucs to influencc India’s cultural life to such a remarkable extent As the Veda can be regarded as hardly warranted It has to be THE MAHABHĀRATA : ORIGIN AND GROWTH 263 realised that Brahmanism of the Veda has long since disappeared, and Hinduism, which traditionally claims to have derived its inspiration from the Veda but which, historically speaking, bas actually assimilated within itself perhaps more non-Vedic elements than the Vedic ones, has become the dominaot force in the socio religious life of India. And the literary works, which have left an abiding imprint on the socio-religious life sponsored by Hinduism, are not so much the Veda as the popular epics. Even, among these popular epics, if there is any one single work which has proved to be of the greatest significance in the mak ing of the life and thought of the Indian people and whose tradi tion continues to live even to this day and influenee, in one way or another, the various aspects of Indian life, it is the Mahābhārata, the great national epic of India. Men and women in India from one end of the country to the other, whether young or old, whether rich or poor, whether high or low, whether simple or sophisticated, still derive enlightenment, entertainment, inspira tion, and guidance from the Mahābhārata. In times of stress and trial, the Mahābhārata has given consolation and brought a message of hope as much to an illiterate villager as to an experi enced statesman, Indian writers, ancient and modern, have found in the stories of the great epic excellent vehicles for the expression of their creative genius. If we were to consider, for instance, the popular folk-songs, or the ballads sung by itinerant bards, or the well-known literary works written in various Indian languages by eminent men of letters, we would find that many of these had drawn their inspiration and material from the Mahābhārata. There is, indeed, no department of Indian life, public or private, which is not vitally influenced by the great epic. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the people of India have learnt to think and act in terms of the Maltābhārata. The Mahābhārata is, indeed, a unique phenomenon in the literary history not only of India but of the world. Just consider its extent. The Mahabharata, as we know it today, consists of 1,00,000 stanzas. It is thus by far the biggest single literary work known to man. A comparative statement would, perhaps, make 264 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY the enormity of the work more patent. The Mahabharata is eight times as big as Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey put together; it is, indeed, bigger than all the epic poems in European languages put together. The tradition about the various forms in which the Mahābhārata is known to have existed, as mentioned in the epic itself, is still more astounding. We are told that the great Vyäsa produced the Mfahābharata consisting of six million stanzas. Of these six million, three million are recited among the gods, one an half million among the pilars, one million and four lacs among the Gandharvas, and the remaining 1,00,000 have been assigned to the earth for the human beings. The mythical character of this tradition apart, there is no doubt that it contains some indications regarding the history of the text of the Mahābhārata. This much at least can be safely assumed on the strength of that tradition, namely, that, in its long course, the literary activity, which even tually gave rise to the great epic, was characterised by the processes both of compression and expansion. At this stage, attention may be incidentally drawn to another remarkable feature of the Mahābhārata In spite of its vast extent, the epic does not give the impression of being a motley mass piled up together. Without dilating upon the Mahābhārata as a piece of literary art, one can say with conviction that, on a closer study, one finds .the epic, as a whole, presenting a surprisingly well-balanced and harmonious structure. But it is not only its size that entitles the Mahābhārata to the claim of uniqueness. Its contents too are unique in many rese pects. Even a casual reader of the Mahābhārata would be struck by its essentially encyclopaedic character. Indeed, it may be said to be embodying almost all knowledge about Indian religion and mythology, law, ethics and philosophy, statecraft and art of war, and history and ethnology, which had been current in that epocb. Vyāsocchistam jagat sarvam: There is no subject under the sun which the versatile Vyasa, the traditionally recognised author of the epic, has not tackled, The Mahābhārata constitutes a very

  1. I. *29, THË MAHABHÂRATA : ORIGIN AND GROWTH 265 comprehensive historical record of a large slice of India’s past-a record which, to boot, is prepared with a marvellous insight into the lives of men and women belonging to all strata of society: In a truly cinematographic fashion, the epic unfolds, through reels after reels, as it were, the moving picture of the cultural life as lived by the people of India through centuries. The name, Mahābhārata, is explained in the epic itself as follows: mahattrad bhāratatvāc ca mahābhāratam cyate. Whatever the true inten. tion of the author, the strikiog character of the epic tempts me to interpret this verse-half as: This epic is called Mahābhārata on account of its mahariva (that is, its enormous size) and its bharatatja (that is, its essential. Indianness). None could have brought out this Indianness’ of the epic in a more telling manner than that versatile German Indologist, OLDENBERG, who has declared that in the Mahābhārata breathe the united soul of India, and the individual souls of her people.’ In the fullest sense of the term, therefore, the Mahābhārata can be said to be the national saga of India. It is, indeed, no wonder that the Indians should have raised the cpic to the status of the fifth Veda (bhāratam pañcamo veda!) and thus invested it with the sanctity and authority of the four Vedas. As a matter of fact, the verse-half about the name, Mahabharata, which has been quoted above, is, through a clever pun, sometimes, read as : malaltiad bhāravattvāc ca mahābhāratam ucyate. It is thereby perhaps suggested that the Mahābhārata actually outweighs the Veda and other sacred writings of India. But the appeal of the Mahābhārata is not merely Indian or national; it is essentially human or universal. A proud claim is made on behalf of the epic: dharme ci ‘rthe ca kāme ca inokṣe ca bharatarsabha gad iha ‘sti tad anyafra yan ne ‘hā ‘sti na tat hvacit.’ In the matter of religion and ethics ( dharma), of material pro.
  2. I. 1.209. 2a, The Crit, Ld, bus accepted the reading bhara,a!!cdc (for bharolatut),
    1. 56,33. 944 266 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY gress and prosperity (artha), of the enjoyment of the pleasures of personal and social life (kama), and of spiritual emancipation (moksa), whatever is embodied in this epic may be found else. where, but what is not fouod in the epic, it will be impossible to find elsewhere And a close study of the Mahabharata will cos vince one that this claim is not at all exaggerated Verily, the Mahabharaia constitutes an outstanding record of the collective conscious, unconsious, and subconscious of man There is per haps hardly any human thought or sentiment which has not found expression in this epic, there is perbaps hardly any conceivable situtation in human life which has not been portrayed in it Indeed, one of the most striking features of the Mahabharata 15 that every reader finds in it something, which is, as it were, speci fically addressed to him In this sense, the Mahabharata belongs not only to the Indians but to every citizen of the world How must have this unique work-vast in extent, encyclo paedic in character, and universal in appeal-come into being ? Prima facie it would appear that the Mahābharata could not have been the creation of ope author or eyen of one generation of authors With reference to it, therefore, one has to speak in terms not of creation but of growth The suggestion that the epic is the outcome of a long and continual literary activity 15, however, by no means acceptable to all critical students of the epic. There is, for instance, the view of Rev DAHLMANN." According to DAHLMANN, who, incidentally, is one of the most prolific critical investigators of the Mahabharata problem, it is quite unnecessary to speak of the different layers of the composi tion of the epic, because it can be proved that the epic belongs to one single stratum It will be seen, asserts that scholar, tbat, in spite of its general prolixity and of the fact that didactic digressions and irrelevant episodes often break the continuity of its main story, there is in the epic a striking unity of characterisation lo other words, the author of the epic does not ever lose sight of 4 J DAILMANY Das Mahabharala als Epos und Rechtsbuch, Berlin, 1895, Gens des Afghabh srala Berlo, 1899, D. Sankhya Philosophie als Naturlehre und Crldsungslehre nach dem Mlak ob/ rata, Berlin, 1902.THE MAHABHARATA : ORIGIN AND GROWTH 267 the main argument. The feud between the Kauravas and the Pāņdavas, which forms the central theme of the poem, is accord. ing to DAHLMANN, not historically authentic. Had it been so, some traces of it would certainly have been preserved also else where in Indian history. It would appear that the main purpose of the author was didactic–that is to say, to present the conflict between Good and Evil and to emphasize that Good would in the end prevail over Evil. As an adequate vehicle for this didactic teaching, the poet has spun out a story from the ancient epic material relatiog to the Kurus and the Pandavas. DAHLMANN eventually concludes that the Mahābhārata presents itself as a unified work, that, in it, two elements—the didactic and the epic -have been artistically welded together, that this welding together of the didactic and the epic elements has been conceived and worked out by a sipgle jospired poet, and, finally, that all this must have been accomplished not later than the Sth century B. C. It may be incidentally stated here that, even before DAHL MANN’s time, SORENSEN, the eminent compiler of the famous Mahābhārata Index, had, in 1883, spoken of the oldest form of the Mahābhārata, which, according to him, must have been of the nature of a saga, as having represented a unified whole. BARTH, who has subjected to a critical examination the views of several Mahābhārata scholars, also finally pronounces the judgement that the epic can lay claim to being an upmistakably uniform work. If, according to SÖRENSEN, the factor, which invests the epic with a unity, is the ancient saga of the Kurus, according to Sylvain LEVI, it must have been some didactic teaching such as the one which is embodied in what later came to be known as the Bhagavadgita.? Sylvaio LÉVI characterises the Bhagavadgiia as constitutiog a Kṣatriya code of conduct based on the religious ideology of the Bhāgavatas. The central purpose of the poem is, according to that scholar, to rally together the Ksatriyas in the
  4. S, SORENSEN, Om Miakabhirala’s stilling i den indiske Literatur, Copen. hagen, 1803.
  5. , BARTII, Ormures IV, 317-103 7. S. Lévi, “Tato jayam udira; ct", R. . Bhandarkar Comm, Vol.. 99-106. 268 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY service of Lord Krsna. With a ricw, then, to convincing the Ksatriyas that the scrvicc of Krona is, indeed, the true guarantec of their success and welfarc, & Bhāgavata poct must have woven round the Bliagavadgitū thc cpic tale of the Kauravas and the Pandavas OLDENBERG has characterised all such attempts at discoser. ing in the Malabharata a unified and harmonious whole-more or less justifiably but rather in strong terms–as constituting * scientific monstrosity… When, for instance, DAULMANN speaks of the unmistakable unity of characterisation in the epic, one can hardly persuadc oneself to accept that claim. There are, in the Nahābhārata, certain obvious inconsistensies, both pertainjog to the story and the characterisation, which would remain unci. plained in case of the assumption of the unified authorship of the work. Again, if the central purpose of the Malabhārata had really been to induct the Ksatriyas in the service of Lord Krsna, the single poet, who is averred to have been the author of the epic, would have taken care not to represent Krsna in a dual character. Further, it is, indeed, strange that, in this unified poem, in which didactic teaching is claimed to have been presented in the garb of an epic with a view to propagating that teaching among the people at large, there should have been glaring discrepancies between the theory of law and ethics, which must have been sought to be taught, and their practice as manifested through the persons and events in the story. And, finally, may we pot ask how one single author could have been as he is actually seen to be in the Mahābhārala-at once a great poet and a miserable bungler, a wise sage and a weak-beaded simpleton, a genial artist and a droll pedant? How could he bave sponsored mutually opposing systems of religion and philosophy? It may also be pointed out that, if DAILMANN’s date of the epic-poem were to be accepted, it would have to be presumed that the cultural nted in the Mahābhārata synchronise with those 8 H. OLDENBERO, Das Mahabharata, seine Entstehung, sein Inhall, seine Forms Goettingen, 1922. THE MAHABHARATA : ORIGIN AND GROWTH 269 represented in the Jātakas. But FICK’s remarkable study relat ing to the Jatakas. clearly indicates that there is a wide gul ween the two. But perhaps the most convincing argument against the acceptance of the unified character of the Mahābhārata is the mention in the epic itself that it had been narrated on three different occasions and, therefore, has three different beginnings and three different forms.ga The more common method of approach to the study of the Mahābhārata has, therefore, been shat is popularly known as the analytical method. Even a casual reader of the epic will be struck by certain conspicuous inconsistencies in it. He will, for instance, find–and this to his dismay–that the Pandayas, who have been glorified as the heroes of the epic, are never shown to conquer except through some kind of deceipt or fraud, Bhiṣma, the veteran warrior, could be overpowered only on account of Sikhandi’s strategic intervention between him and ‘Arjuna. Drona became the upfortunate victim of an anbiguous declaration pur posefully made by Dharmarāja, who is generally represented as the paragon of piety and righteousness. In his final encounter with Karna, the Pandava hero, Arjuna, is shown to have dis regarded all rules of dharma-yuddha. Indeed, several such instances can be quoted. And the wonder of it all is that these unchival rous acts were perpetrated by the Pandavas not only with the condivance of their friend, guide, and philosopher, Kțṣoa, in whom, as a matter of fact, they recognised the incarnation of God, but on his active instigation. How can such obvious anomalies be explained away? This question formed the starting point of the penetrating investigations of Adolph HOLTZMANN.10 Following in the foot-steps of his paternal uncle, HOLTZMANN ultimately evolved a theory in connection with the growth of the Mahābhārala-a theory, which, on the face of it, aight seem more ingenious than convincing. He suggested that, in its original
  6. R. Ficx, Die soziale Gliederung in nord östlichen Indien tu Buddha’s Zal, Kiel, 1897.
  7. I. 1.50-61, 10. A. HOLTZMAYY, Das Afghabhárala und seire Tale, Kiel, 1092-95. 270 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY form, the epic must have been a poem in which the Kauravas were the heroes. Later on, however, as the result of changed circumstances, the epic was, as it were, set upon its head. It was, in other words, subjected to a process of tendentious inversion. The Kauravas, who were the righteous party in the original epic, now came to be represented as the villains and the Pandavas became the heroes, HOLTZMANN does not stop only with enunciating a theory. He has also tried to offer some historical motivation for this wholesale inversion of the epic. He suggests, for instance, that the military feud between the Kauravas and the Pandavas is but a reflection of a conflict between the ancient ideal of chivalry sponsored by the Kauravas and the new polity and statecraft, which had been evolved in the meantime and which were adopted by the Pandavas. That feud is, according to him, also the reflec. tion of a religious conflict. The Kauravas, who seem to have been the yotaries of ancient Saivism, had to encounter the subsequent rise of Vaispavism, which the Pandavas seem to have accepted as their religious creed In the Mahābhārata, however, there is to be found no trace of such a collision between Saivism and Vaisnavism. HOLTZMANN is, therefore, required to adopt, in this connection, a more or less circuitous way. He points out that Saivism and Buddhism had many things in common, that Buddhism and Brahmanism were opposed to each other, and that Vaisnavism had assimilated several teachings of Brahmanism. So the con flict between saivism and Vaisnavism must have actually been represented as a conflict between Buddhism on the one hand and Brahmanism on the other. As a matter of fact, this entire process of inversion is, according to HOLTZMANN, characteriscd by certain distinct stages Originally there must have existed an aocient poem composed by court-singers to extol the mighty deeds of the Kauravas. In course of time this ancient poem underwent two main transformations–both the transformations having been tendentious in character, Firstly, a talented. poet trans formed it into a poem in praise of an ancient Buddhist ruler, 272 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY counterpart in the downfall of the Kurus and its literary reflec. tion in the inversion of the original epic poem The followers of Krsna were shrewd enough not to give up altogether the original epic, which had already struck deep roots among the people They only recast it by giving it a strong Kęsnaite bias But this their recasting must be said to have been only skin deep, for, even after being tendentiously recast, the new epic clearly betrayed several essential features of its original form This is the reason why the present recension of the epic is characterised by many obvious inconsistencies and contradictions GRIERSON mentions a Brāhmana antı Brāhmana conflict as the principal motive for some kind of inversion of the original epic The Kauravas of Madhyadesa were, according to him, sponsors of Brahmanism They came into conflict with the Pancala Pandavas, who were unorthodox people, as is indicated, for instance, by the polyand rous marriage between the Pancāla princess, Draupadi, and the five Pāndavas The starting point of the actual struggle would then seem to have been the insult given to the Brāhmana, Drona, by the anti Brahmanic Pancāla king, Drupada Drona, seeking retribution, went over to the Kauravas, who claimed to be the defenders of Brahmanism, while Drupada was supported by the Pandavas, who were matrimonially allied to the Pāñcalas The fact that different-and, what is more significant, mutually contradictory-motives have been suggested for the in version of the epic by HOLTZMANN and the other two scholars, definitely detracts from the soundness of their ingenious hypo thesis Moreover such a hypothesis has absolutely no external evidence to support It For instance, GRIERSON s assumptions regarding a war between the Kauravas of the Madhyadeśa and the Pañcala Pandavas and of a Brāhmaṇa-anti Brāhmaṇa conflict are historically unattestable Equally untenable i5 HOLTZ MANN’s assertion that the present recension of the Mahabharata could not have been in existence before the 12th century AD. For, it can be proved, on the strength of the manuscript evi. dence, that no substantial or significant additions have becn made to the epic after the 11th century AD Even in the 8th century THE MAHABHARATA ORIGIN AND GROWTH 273 AD, the Mahabharata must have been known io the from 10 which we now know it, namely as epic plus dharmasastra Indeed, there is inscriptional evidence to show that, in the 5th century AD, the Mahabharata was known as the work of Vyasa and as consistiog of 1,00,000 stanzas There is thus sufficient ground to suppose that, since at least a couple of centuries before 400 AD, the epic has remained practically unchanged Even so far as the internal evidence was concerned, one would search in vain for any traces of Buddhism in the epic HOLTZMANN, who speaks of a Buddhist transformation of the epic, himself admits this Similarly it would be difficult to find any portions of the epic where Brahmā is specifically glorified as the leading god As a matter of fact, a conflict of any consequence between the cult of Brahma and the cult of Krsna is almost unknown in the reli gous history of India All that can, therefore, be said of the inversion theory is that it is certainly attractive in its basic sugges tion but highly strained in its ramifications 120 12a In recent years I myself have tended to believe that, at a very carly stage, the original epic poem must have been tendentiously redacted in favour of the Pandavas Presumably, the Pandavas were not the direct legal scions of the huru family, though they mght have been in some way related to that family it is significant that the name Pandava does not occur In any carlier text But, being politically ambitious the Pandavas staked their claim to the throne of Hastinapura In order to support that claim they asserted their close relationship with the Kuru family through the myth of their hay. ing been the children of Kunti (and Madri) and the gods, Dharma, Vāyu, and Indra (and the two Afvins) They also cstablished politically useful alliance with the Pancalas through their marriage with Draupadl It further seems that, in their conflict with the hauravas, the Paodavas occasionally resorted to what might be called unchivalrous strategy Eventually the Pandavas came out victorious and, as a matter of course, the bardıc poem cmerged as a Pandava oriented saga It is not unlikely that the Pandavas bad actively sponsored one of the popular religious cults which was later assimi lated into hispaism When, therefore, the bardic poem, Jaya, was transfor med into the epic Bharata under the acgs of Krybaism, the Pandavas came to be represented as the special proteges of Krsna Similarly, in the appa rently unchivalrous episodes relating to the overpowenog of Bhisma, Droba harra, etc (see supra), the Pandavas are shown to have acted under the advice of hrsra Tor, a new political ethics bad arisen in the wake of popular Hinduism, and hopea, as a pragmatic leader, must have subscribed to it (see DANDEKAR, Insights into Hinduism p 255 )

274 EXERCISCS IN INDOLOGY Ever since 1837, in which ycar LASSCN may be said to have inaugurated the modern period of critical scholarship relating to the Mahābhārata, it has been the theory of additions and nor. mal revisions which has held the field in onc form or another. Such a theory has, indecd, an initial advantage in that it is fully supported by the ancient Indian literary tradition. Moreover, as has been already pointed out, there is a clear mention in the epic itself that it was narrated on three different occasions and accordingly has three different beginnings and three different forms. It was, therefore, safe to start with the assumption that the Mahabharata, as we know it, was the result of a long process of growth. All that one was then expected to do nas to trace the various stages of that growth and to rationalise it, if possible, by offering some culture-historical motivation for it. LASSEN himself is of the opinion that the present recension of the cpic, which he calls the Saunala recension because Sauti gave a recita! of it at a sacrifice performed by Saunaka, is the second recension of the Mahabharata. It is, according to that scholar, this recen. sion, which is referred to in the Assalajana-Grhja-Sutra (III.4) where a Mahābhārata is mentioned by the side of a Bhārala. The ASGS, which is ascribed by LASSEN to about 350 B. C., thus knew of the two recensions of the epic—the Mahābhārata recen sion and the Bhārata recension. Jt can be presumed that by the Mahābhārata recension Afvalāyada actually meant the Saunaka recension, for, as LASSEN argues, Āśvalāyana is traditionally known to have been a pupil of Saunaka. The Saunaka recension must, accordingly, have come into being before about 350 B. C. LASSEN further adds that all Krsnaite interpolations are later than the Saunaka recension, that is later than the 4th century B.C. It will be easily seen that LASSEN’s datiog of the AGS in the 4th century B, C. as also his identification of Saunaka, the teacher of Āśvalāyana, with Saunaka, who performed the sacrifice at which the Mahābhārata was recited, are quite hypothetical Further it is not clear why LASSEN should regard the Krsnaite elements in the epic as belonging to a period later 13. C. LASSEN, ZEIT 1, Indische Altertumskunde, I-II, THE MAHABHARATA : ORIGIN AND GROWTH 275 than the 4th century B. C. Pānini’s reference to Vāsudeva and Arjuna clearly presupposes the existence of the Bhagavata cult, and Panini is certainly older than the 5th century B.C. Through his apalysis of the Mahabhārata, WEBER has tried to discover Vedic sources for the epic material.14 But he cannot be said to have succeeded in discovering any direct organic connec tions between the Veda and the epic. LUDWIG follows,1s to a certain extent, the lead given by WEBER. But his main contri bution to the Mahabharata-problem must be said to be the emphasis which he has put on the two-fold motif of the epic–the historical and the mythical. The historical kernel of the epic is, according to him, the fact of the capture of the Kuruksetra on the banks of the Sarasvati by the Bharatas, who are already celebrated in the Veda in connection with the daśarajña battle. The character of the Paodavas is by no means strictly historical. As a matter of fact, LUDWIG suggests that each of the five Pândava brothers must have originally belonged to a different tribe and that the concept of the five Pāņdava brothers implies only a confederation of five tribes (again a reminder of the ten kings’ of the dāśarājña). On these scanty and perhaps mutually unrelated historical foundations the epic-poet built up an entire superstructure embodying a seasonal myth. Some of the pointers to this seasonal myth are, according to LUDWIG, the blindness of Dhrtarāstra ( which stands for the powerlessness of the winter sun ), the polyandrous marriage between the Pandavas and Krsnā (which implies the contact of the rays of the pale sun [ Pandu ) with the dark earth ), and the self-imposed blindfolded ness of Gaodhāri ( which indicates that the consort of the winter sun was covered with clouds ) 150 Without examining all this at any length I shall only say that this method of telescoping natural 14. A. Weber, Indische Literalurgeschichte, pp. 179 fr 15 A LUDWIG, ADL BGI VI, pp 1 ff; Sizb BGIV IX, pp 15 ff. 15 In recent years, G Dostézit has expressed the vicW (117 3 (1959), I ff that the main plot of the Mahabharata is nothing but a transposition in human cvents of a mythology which, in some of its cssential features, us more archaic than the Vedic mythology He seems to have drawn this con (Continued on the next page) 276 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY phenomena into mythology, which had once been very common, now fails to convince any critical student. Even the protagonists of this method would find themselves at loose ends, should they attempt to go the whole hog with it! Perhaps the most detailed elaboration of this analytical method is seen in HOPKINS’s famous book about the great epic." He speaks of the four stages of the growth of the Mahabhārata ex tending from 400 B.C. up to 400 A.D.–the stages, that is to say, of the Bharata lays, of the Mahabharata tale with the Pandavas as heroes, of the didactic interpolations, and of the later additions. The suggestions of HOPKINS, so far as they go-and they do go far enough , certainly have the great merit of clearing the ground for a proper approach to the Mahabhārata problem, I may now briefly state my own view in the matter : I believe that, in a sense, the beginnings of the Alahābhārata, viewed as a whole, have to be traced back, both from the points of view of cultural history and literary history, to a period before the Vedic tās came into existence. A critical student will find that Indian literature are characterised by two distinct literary traditions, which, for the sake of convenience, I have chosen to call the süta-tradition and the mantra-tradition. It will be easily realised that both these literary traditions were oral traditions; but there were certain essential differences bet. ween them. Broadly speaking, the sūta-tradition related to what may be described as secular matters and the doings of human heroes. The sūtas or bards, who were mainly responsible for this tradition, sang of the achievements of human heroes and kings, and of the normal life of the common people. In their ballads and popular folk songs, traditional legends and historical (Continued from the previous page) clusion from the theory expounded by S. WIKANDER in his “Pandavasaga och Mahabharata mytiska forutsattningar”, Religion och Bibel, Nathan Soderblantie Sallskapets Arsbol 6 (1947), 27 ff. M BIARDEAU endorses the IVIKANDER Duwezit hypothesis (EMH 2, 97 ). 16 E W. HOPKINS, The Great Chic of India, Its character and Onigin, NC York, 1901. THE MAHABHARATAT: ORIGIN AND GROWTH 271 Darratives, one finds represented several aspects of the secular life of the ancient Indians. The sūta-tradition thus comprised quite a large amount of popular, bardic, legendary, and historical material. The mantra-tradition, on the other hand, related to what is generally understood by the terms, religious thought and practice. It consisted of the prayers, panegyrics, and magical incantations of the ancient Vedic Indians, their ritual fomulas and imprecations, and their spiritual yearnings and philosophical speculations. It may be safely presumed that these two literary traditions - one secular-historical and the other mythological-ritualistic- both of which, must have, for obvious reasons, been originally fluid in character, had been growing side by side. In course of time, the very nature of the contents of the mantra-tradition demanded that the literature produced in that tradition should be properly organised and given a fixed literary form. For, in the matter of religious thought and practice, the poet-priests and the ritual priests of those days, as indeed of all times, brooked no elasticity. It is verily a universal phenomenon that some kind of rigidity and woodeoness soon begins to prevail in religious practice and correspondingly in religious literature. The literature produced in the mantra-tradition, accordingly, came to be collected and consolidated at a very early date, and, as the result of this, the Veda, as we know it, came into being. The sūta-tradition, on the other hand, continued to remain in a fluid and floating condi tion. This fact has given rise to the interesting paradox, namely, that, though many aspects of the contents of the sūta-tradition chronologically refer to a period perhaps earlier than the ope’ to which the contents of the mantra-tradition refer, the literary monuments, as such, of the sūta-tradition, which have come down to us, are distinctly later than those of the mantra-tradition. The advantages of being reduced to a fixed literary form at an early stage of growth are self-evident. For one thing, it must have certainly facilitated the preservation of the mantra-tradition in a more or less perfect condition. On the other hand, a very large portion of the literature produced in the süla-tradition must278 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY have drifted along and eventually been lost. But there is also a serious disadvantage, from the culture-historical point of view, from which the mantra-tradition must have suffered. On accouat of the very fact that it was reduced to a fixed litorary form at aa early stage of its growth, the literature in the mantra-tradition was bound to become more or less static. It must have also soon lost its capacity to be responsive to the various vicissitudes in the life of the people at large. The sūta-tradition, on the other hand, remained dynamic and reacted and responded to the changing conditions The result of all this was that the sūta tradition assimilated into itself various elements belonging to both the Vedic Aryan and the non-Vedic proto-Indian cultures, while the tendencies represented in the mantra-tradition were, to a very large extent, priestly-hieratic. The literature in the mantra. tradition was essentially the literature of a limited section of the community while the sūta-tradition necessarily possessed a far wider popular appeal. One thing. However, must be emphasized in this connection. In spite of its general fluid and floating condition, the existence of the sūta-tradition was recognised by the mantra-tradition. For, in several texts belonging to the latter tradition, we come across frequent references to what was then known as itthâsa-purāna. As a matter of fact, such references have led some scholars to assume that, side by side with the literary monuments belonging to the mantra-tradition, there must have been in existence actual literary monuments belonging to the siita-tradition also. But there is not much evidence to support such an assumption. All that we can say in this respect is that the süla-tradition had certainly been in existence and recogoised at that time, but that that tradition had not then come to be con. solidated so as to manifest itself in the form of fixed literary monuments. There is another point to which attention may be drawn in this connection. Apart from the frequent mention of itihasa. purāna in the literature belonging to the mantra-tradition, several clements of the süta-tradition had actually found their way in that literature. This was, indeed, inevitable. But, whic TIIL MALIIDUĀRATA : ORIGIN AND GROWTH 279 adoptiog such clements in their literature, the sponsors of the mantra-tradition gave thosc clements an essentially priestly bias. The real purpose of thc sūkias rclatips to the battle of the ten lings, for instance, is not so much to celebrate the exploits of the Bharatas as to glorify the magical potency of the pricst-craft of Vasiṣṭha. The clements of the süla-tradition have been pre served in the literature of the niantra.tradition in various forms. In the Samhitas we come across hymns, which are essentially human-historical in character, such as, for instance, those relating to the historical cvents like the dã Sarajna or those containing the praise of the libcrality of patrons (danassulis). Each of the Brāhmaṇa.texts can be pormally divided into tho parts, namely, the vidhi part and the artharada part. The vidhi part mainly deals with the theory and practice of somc Vedic sacrifice, whilc the arthavada part is gencrally devoted to the glorification of that Vedic sacrifice. By way of such glorification, the authors of the Brāhnanas very often quotc historical or mythical instances, which confirm the promised cslicaciousness of that particular sacri fice as a whole or of a specific item or detail of that sacrifice. Presumably many of these stories originally belonged to the literary tradition of the sūtas. Then there are a number of gärhās (or floating stanzas of popular wisdom) quoted in the Brälmaņa literature—and these too have to be traced back to the süta-tradition. Finally, there is a prescriptive provision made in some Vedic sacrifices for the recitals of ancient mythological and historical legends, which arc technically known as pāriplaas and nāraśasis. But, as has been indicated above, all these elements of the sūta-tradition were exploited for purely priestly purposes and must be said to have accordingly lost their essential sautic character. In the history of ancient Indian literature we can thus visua lise the growth of two principal literary traditions. One of them, namely, the mantra-tradition, soon came to be consolidated, so to say, on account of its avowedly priestly-religious purpose and con sequently began to manifest itself in fixed literary forms. The sūļa-tradition, on the other hand, continued to remain fuid, for a 280 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY pretty long time, presumably because its sponsors had not found any central motif or any adequate literary nucleus which would serve as a unifying factor for its many and varied elements In due course, however, such a motif for the unification and con solidation of the sautic material offered itself in the form of an important event in the history of ancient India As the result of the famous Vedic battle of ten kings, the clan of the Bharatas had attained a kind of sovereignty over the other states and prin cipalities - both Aryan and non-Aryan The scions of this great clan seem to have held sway over a major portion of Northern India, more or less unchallengedly, until some time round about the 13th and the 12th centuries B, C, when an apparently minor domestic quarrel among them happened to loom large on the poli tical horizon of the nation as a whole 164 The story of the con flict between the Kauravas and their cousins, the Pandavas, is too well known to need recounting That conflict arose out of the claim which the Pandavas advanced for a share in the blind king Dhrtarāstra’s sovereign kingdom of Hastinapura By virtue of the preeminent position which the house of these scions of the Bharatas held in Indian politics of the time, what should have normally been an ordinary family feud soon assumed the proportions of a national crisis Kings and chieftains from all over the country arrayed themselves into two belligerent camps in accordance with their respective loyalties An epoch making war was fought on the famous battle-field of Kuruksetra This war continued just for eighteen days, but those eighteen days shook the whole country Entire armies on both sides - comprising mostly the flower of Indian youth-were laid low on the earth Eventually the Pandavas came out as victors in the war, which, very appro. priately, came to be called the Bharata war It is perfectly understandable that an event of such great magaitude and national significance should have stirred the imagi 162 This date may have to be brought a little further down. For recent views on this and allied questions see Mah bhurata Afyth and Reality Dufting Vuws, ed SP, GUPTA and S RAMACHANDRAN, Delhi, 1976. “THE MAHABHARATA : ORIGIN AND GROWTH 281 nation of the bards of that time.168 Numerous ballads and songs must have been produced by the bards patronised both by the Kauravas and the Pandavas - the same episodes in the conflict being perhaps sometimes described with the Kaurava bias as well as the Pandava bias. After the dust raised by this national catastrophe bad settled down and a comparatively more peaceful era had been ushered in, all those ballads must have come to be welded together into a single unified literary work with a common central motif, namely, the victory of the Pandavas over the Kauravas 16c During this process of literary unification efforts must have paturally been made to revise many of the older ballads so as to bring them in line with the general trend of glorifying the victors, though, as can be easily realised, the results of such tendentious revision could not have been other than superficial. It may also be presumed that, in redacting these ballads, many ancient bardic and legendary elements were grafted, more or less organically, upon the historical elements relating to the Bhārata war. It is not unlikely that, in many cases, this operation substantially changed the original complexion of per sonalities and events, But with all this, one thing must be conce ded, namely, that the central motif was never lost sight of in this redaction and that, ultimately, a homogeneous literary with a more or less fixed literary form, was brought into being. This work claimed to constitute a historical poem with its central theme developed through the three stages of bheda (dissension ), rājyayınāśa (loss of the kingdom), and jaya ( victory): 16b It needs to be pointed out that the Bhārata war could certainly not have been an affair of such gigantic proportions as described in the Maha. Bharala, It is also doubtful whether the war had any nation-wide repercussions as such. Presumably, it assumed the importance which it did on account of the vital position of the Bharatas, the Kurus, the Pancalas, etc, in that period of the history of ancient Iodia. The factor of bardıc magnification and cxaggcration must also have come into play profusely. Incidentally, GONDA regards such double ethnic names as Kuru-Bharata, Kuru Pancāla, etc, as being indicative of the preference of the early Indian for bipartitions, complc. mentary oppositions, and other forms of duality conceived as unity (VIF 12, 120-27). 16c. See foot-note 12a. 282 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY eram ciat pururritam jesami ahlistahanıpām bhedo rajyarınaśaś ca jajaśca jay atam sara 17 This historical cpic poem, which dealt with the Bhārata war and which was very appropriately called Jaya ( - Victory), must, indeed be regarded as the first literary monument belonging to the suta tradition As a matter of fact, this poem facilitated, to a great extent, the crystallisation of further sautic material For, once a literary nucleus was created, it was easy to rally round it various other elements of the fluid sura tradition Accordingly, many ancient bardıc lays - more particularly those which cclebra ted the exploits of the Bhärata clan - must have been added to the Jaja in such a manner that they soon came to form an integ ral part of that historical poem While more and more material belonging to the suta tradition was thus becoming consolidated, the historical poem, Jaya, was being gradually transformed into the epic Bharala But such transformation of the Jaja into the Bharata seems to have received perhaps a stronger impetus from another quarter In order to discover the source of that impetus, we shall have to turn to the religious history of ancient India While, on the one hand, the sūta tradition had just begun to become crystalli sed in a fixed literary form the literature belonging to the mantra tradition, which, as we have seen, had got an earlier start in the matter of crystallisation, had, on the other hand, already passed through at least three distiact periods of its history - the saminta period, the brahmana period, and the upanısad period On an earlier occasion, I have tried to show how the conditions created during the upanı sad period resulted in bringing about 2 virtual break in the continuity of the Vedic (or Brahmanic) way of life and thought 18 The interregoum following the upanıṣan period, indeed, proved to be exceedingly eventful from the point 17 18 Yolume I 55 43 See Cultural background of the Veda published clsewhere in this THE MAHĀBHĀRATA : ORIGIN AND GROWTH 283 of view of the religious history of India. The natural reaction to the conditions created by the upaniṣads manifested itself mainly in four forms - firstly, the rise of the heterodox systems of thought; secondly, the comprehensive movement, intiated in the sütra-yedārga-period, for the resuscitation and consolidation of the Vedic way of life and thought this movement having been started as a counterblast against the heterodox movements); thirdly, the development of new ideals in polity and statecraft (as seen in the arthasistra); and fourthly, the steady growth of a popular religion - a religion, which had its roots in the thought and practices of the indigenous population of India but which had not altogether forsworn the Vedic Aryan influences. It is the last two aspects - and, more particularly, the fourth aspect - of the reaction, which seems to have operated most fundamentally in the matter of the consolidation of the epic Bhārata. The comprehensive movement started for the revival of Brahmanism, which found its literary expression in the stītras and the vedārgas, did, no doubt, serve as an efficient counterblast against the heterodox religious movements. But, as it happened, the sūtra vedāriga-movement could not free itself from the spell of the fastidious ritualism and exclusive social order sponsored by the earlier Brahmanism. It could not, therefore, command a truly popular appeal. Indeed, what started as a popular Vedic movement to counteract the influence of heterodox religions, reverted, in a sense, to the exclusiveness which was characteristic of the brahmana-period. As against this, another popular reli gious movement, which, as a matter of fact, started with a kind of opposition to certain features of Brahmanic religion but which, in the long run, claimed to owe allegiance – howsoever nominal and superficial – to the Veda, proved remarkably effective in arresting the onslaught of the pop-Vedic religions. This popular religious movement seems to have started mainly among the Vrṣnis and the Sātvatas and to have soon spread among other tribes such as those of the Abbiras, the Yādavas, and the Gopālas. All these tribes belonged to and ruled over various parts of the middle and western India. The principal teacher and leader of 284 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY this new religious movement was Krsna, who, in course of time, came to be associated, in one way or another, with the various tribes mentioned above. As is but natural in such cases, he soon became their tribal hero, and, later, their tribal god.188 There were four main planks in Kççna’s religious platform. The first of these pertains to the goal of spiritual life. The goal of spiritual life as enunciated in the upanıṣads is ātmajñana (= realisation of the self). The spiritual emancipation of an individual consists, according to the upanısads, in his realisation that the individual soul (ja) is, in the ultimate analysis, identi. cal with the universal soul (brahman). As the result of nescience, the universal soul, which is the only reality, becomes conditioned by the limitations of the physical body, the sense-organs, and the intellect, and thereby the illusion of the individual soul is cres ted. Through true knowledge, the individual shakes off his 10 dividuality, which is after all unreal and temporary, and becomes conscious of his real nature. The upanıṣads also emphasise that the phenomenal world is essentially unreal and that, therefore, so long as an individual remains involved in its various operations, he has no chance of attaining his spiritual goal. By thus deny ing the reality of the world and by making the individual the centre of their speculations, the Upanisadic teachings have, in a sense, divested themselves of all social value. The individual is, indeed, encouraged to run away from his social responsibilities and bury himself within himself. As against this individualistic, abstract, and more or less negative concept of spiritual life, Krsna taught that the true spiritual life consisted in loka-sangraha - that is to say, in the promotion of the stability and solidarity of society. Society, as a whole, can function properly only on the princi ple of ethical interdependence of its various constituents. Every individual must, indeed, regard himself as an essential constituent of society and must make his contribution towards its building up, preservation, and progress. Krsna thus gave a distinctly 18a. For details, sce“ Hinduism : retrospect and prospect” and “ Vaiba vism and Saivista " in DANDEKAR, Insights into Hinduism, THE MAHĀBHĀRATA : ORIGIN AND GROWTH 285 social orientation to the thought relating to spiritualism. The upanisadic ideal of atmajñāna necessarily presupposes a complete renunciation from this-worldly life. In the new popular religion of Krṣna, with its goal of Toka-sangraha, an empty life of renunciation had no place whatsoever. In the place of sannyāsa, therefore, Krṣna taught the doctrine of harmayoga. Every person has got to perform his social duties as best as he can. But this does not necessarily imply that he should indulge in all kinds of activities and thus neglect his personals piritual emancipation. In karmayoga, Krṣna has struck the most remarkable compromise between the metaphysical ideal of individual emancipation and the ethical ideal of social responsibility. It is not action, as such, which constitutes a bar to individual emancipation; it is the attitude in which apy particular action is done, which determines whether or not that action would constitute such a bar. It is, indeed, possible, according to Krsna, to combine the ethical advantages of activism with the spiritual advantages of reduncia tion by adopting a way of life, in which one fulfils his social obligations through proper actions which he performs in an attitude of renunciation so far as his own personal interest in those actions is concerned. The goal of one’s life should not be Werely to attain one’s own emancipation; it should rather be to continue to work even after attaining personal emancipation, with a view to securing the emancipation of his fellow-men. In his religious teaching, Krsna may be said to have thus reinter preted the upanisadic ideals of sannjäsa and moksa in terms of social ethics. The third aspect of Kssna’s teaching pertains to religious practice. The Brahmanic ritualism, as we have seen on another occasion,19 could not, for obvious reasons, become a truly popular religious practice. It also implied some kind of social and intellectual exploitation. With a view, therefore, to counter acting the inevitable exclusiveness engendered in religious matters by the cult of sacrifice, Kęṣa replaced that cult with the cult of 19. Sce the paper mentioned in foot-note 18. 286 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY bhaktı And as is very well known, in the religious history of India, nothing indeed has proved so successful in bringing about a truly democratic spiritual brotherhood among men as the cult of bhaktı It may, however, be incidentally pointed out that, so far as ritualism is concerned, Krsna has not altogether given up the concept of sacrifice Like the concepts of moksa and samnyasa, he has rather reinterpreted it in the light of social ethics And finally, the popular movement of Krsna is characterised by its emphasis on religious and philosophical synthesis The Brahmanic teachers as we know from the brahmanas and the upanisads had been rather opinionated in their speculations relating both to ritualism and spiritualism As a shrewd leader of men Krsna realised that religious and philosophical dogmatism often tended to divide the people while synthesis united them Without, therefore, sponsoring any particular system of thought exclusively he tried to discover the possible similarities among the various systems and to represent them as but different points of view and different ways of approach - all in the ultimate analysis, having the realisation of the one and the same supreme reality as their common goal This new teaching characterised by its bold emphasis on loka samgraha instead of atmañana, karmayoga instead of samnjasa bhaktı instead of ritualism, and philosophical synthesis sostead of dogmatism naturally appealed to all strata of society It served a two fold purpose On the one hand through its drastic departure from the Brahmanic teachings it made up for the inevitable weakness of the Brahmanic way of life and thought, and, on the other, while doing so, it took care to create the impression that the Brahmanic way of life and thought was not being altogether abjured The rise of Krsnaism on the religious horizon of ancient India synchronised with the partially accomplished process of the enlargement of the historical poem, Jaja, into the epic, Bharald This newly emerging literary monument of the suta tradition THE MAKĀBHĀRATA : ORIGIN AND GROWTH 287 had instantly caught the imaginotion of the people. What wonder then that the practically-minded sponsors of Krsnaism should have thought of employing this popular epic as a vehicle for propagating their religious teaching? They, accordingly, redacted the partially completed epic, Bharata, in such a way as to make it serve their own purpose. They started by associating the heroes of the epic, namely, the Pandavas, with Kțsoa. Krsna came to be represented as a relative of the Pandavas, indeed, as their friend, guide, and philosopher. The Pandavas, in their turn, came to be represented as being fully conscious of the god-head of Krsna. It came to be suggested that Krsna was really res ponsible for all that the epic heroes were enabled to achieve. In short, Krsna soon became the central figure of the epic - the pivot round which all persons and events in the epic revolved. And as Krsna’s personality grew in divinity, the cpic correspond ingly grew in its extent. New legends were produced or old legends modified with the sole purpose of confirming and glorify ing the divinity of Krsna. And these legends were introduced in suitable contexts in the older epic, and where such contexts did not exist they were artfully created. All credit is, indeed, due to the remarkable ingenuity and resourcefulness of the Krsnaite redac tors, who brought about these basic changes in the older epic in such a manner as not to give any cause for even a faint suspicion that the character of Kțsaa was really extraneous to the original epic. But the real cornerstone of this Kęsnaite superstructure must be said to be the Bhagavadgita. The Bhaga vadgitā epitomises, in the most perfect manner, the religious, ethical, and metaphysical teachings of Krsna, which have been briefly outlined above.19a This work, indeed, gave quite a new complexion to the whole epic. The Krsnaite redactors, who seem to have been creat literary artists, conceived a very dramatic back ground for this Lord’s Song so as to render it more appealing to the people. In a sense, it made tbe people realise that philo sophising was not something to be practised in isolation by a select 192. Also see" linduism and the Bhagavadgitt" in Insights into Hinduism.288 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY few; philosophy rather dealt with the problems which confronted a common man in his normal life. One may, therefore, say that, just as the Bharata represented the literature of the people, the Bhagavadgitā represented the philosophy of the people.19) Broadly speaking, the epic Bhārata is thus the result of the operation of the processes of bardıc enlargement and Krsnaite redaction on the bistorical poem, Jaya. The heroes of this historical poem were Ksatriyas; the large amount of bardic and legendary material which came to be added to that poem was also mostly related to the Ksatriya warriors; even the religious teach ings which came to be propagated through the epic were derived from the non-Brahmanic sources. In short, the epic, in this form, showed a distinct Ksatriya - non-Brahmanic - imprint. In the reli gious history of India, two movements, originating in two distinct ideologies, seem to have been jointly responsible for stemming the growth of the heterodox systems of thought, which had streng thened their position during the interregnum following the upani ṣadic period. They were the sūtra-vedānga-Brahmanism and Hinduism-Krsnaism. By its very nature, however, it was the latter which held the field after the decline of the heterodox religions But once the danger of the avowedly anti-Brahmanic religions was past, the sponsors of Brahmanism again began gradually to assert themselves They knew that, though Krsnaism represented, in some respects, a definite reaction against Brahmanism, it was not avowedly anti-Brahmanic. It was, therefore. possible to bring THE MAHABHARATA : ORIGIN AND GROWTH 289 regarded as an authentic Krsnajte document. They introduced into the epic-sometimes in place, but, more often, out of place-a large amount of material relating to Brahmanic learning and culture. Whole tracts dealing with Brahmanic religion and philo sophy, law and ethics, cosmology and mysticism, and social and political theories found their way into the epic. New legends with a distinct Brahmanic bias now came to be inserted into the epic. In most of these legends, the heroes of the epic came to be represented as the defenders of Brahmanic faith and culture. In this context, it may be incidentally pointed out that, in comparison with the methods of the Krsņaite redactors, those of the Brahmanic redactors were obviously gross. As a matter of fact, the activity of the sponsors of Brahmanism ought to be described not as artistic redaction but as flagrant interpolation. In this process of brahmanisation a significant change was effected also in the character of Krṣna himself. The personality of Kșṣma had by that time already become essentially syncretic, for, there were assimilated into it elements derived from various socurces - elements, for instance, relating to Vasudeva-Kssaa, the tribal hero of the Vrsnis; Gopāla-Kțsna, the tribal god of the cowherds; Bhagavān-Kļṣna, the teacher of Krṣgaism as embodied in the Bhagavadgitā; and Yādava-Krṣoa, the mentor of the Pandavas. As the result of the Brahmanic revision, Kysna now came to be regarded as an avatāra of the All-God, Viṣnu, and, ultimately, even as being ideoticat with the uponisadic Brahman.196 The elements relating to Brahmapic dharma and niti were superimposed upon the bardic-historical elements derived from the sūta-tradition and the religio-ethical elements derived from Krsnaison - and eventually the Bhārata became transformed into the Mfahābhārata. It is possible to derive, from thc Mahābhārata itself, certain clues which would help us in formulatiog a hypothesis regarding the identity of the train Brahmanic redactors of the epic. A critical cxamipation of the legends and doctrines, which have been in 19c. Scc “Vaitcasion and Saivist " mentioned in foot note 18a. 37 290 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY serted into the epic during the brahmanising process, would reveal that a majority of them showed an unmistakable bias in favour of the family of the Bhārgavas.20 The Bhārgavas have, no doubt, played a very significant role in the cultural history of ancient India. But when we take into consideration the fact that they did not have the remotest connection with the kernel of the epic, the other fact, namely, that the largest number and the greatest variety of legends in the Mahābhārata relate to them, assumes a special significance in connection with the growth of the epic. The tendency to bhrguise the epic, so to say, becomes manifest in several ways. Just consider the very beginning of the Nahā. bhārata. It is well known that the famous Bhārata war was fought at Kuruksetra. But the sūta, Ugraśravas, who recited the epic at the sacrificial session of Saunaka, refers to the scene of the war not as Kuruksetra but as Samantapancaka. This then gave the epic redactors an opportunity to glorify an outstanding event in the career of one of the most intriguing personalities among the Bhārgavas, namely, Paraśurāma For, on being asked by the sages, assembled at Saunaka’s sacrificial session, why the place was called Samantapaficaka, the sūta narrates the story of how, between the tretā and the dräpara ages, Parasurama extir. pated the entire race of the Ksatriyas, collected their blood into five pools, and offered that uncanny oblation to his pitars. Indeed, this exploit of the total annihilation of the Ksatriyas, which is said to have been repeated by Parasurama twenty-one times, has itself been referred to over and over again in the epic. Bhargavarama is further glorified by being represented as the preceptor of several Mahabharata warriors – Drona and Karna being the most outstanding among them. And lest one might feel inclined to doubt how Bhārgavarāma, who had lived between the tretā and the dräpara, could at all have been the guru of the epic warriors, who are believed to have lived between the dvāpara and the kalı ages, the epic redactors have forestalled such a doubter 20. V.S. SUKTILANKAR, " The Bhrgus and the Bhirata : a text historical study”, ABORI 18, 1-76. 21. I. 2.3 ff. THE MAHABHARATA : ORIGIN AND GROWTH 291 by already proclaiming that it was quite possible since Rāma Bhargava was ciramjiva ( = long-lived). The inclusion of Paraśurāna in the list of the sixteen kings in the sodaśa-räjakiya section of the Dronaparvan,22 which recounts the heroic deeds of sixteen illustrious kings of antiquity, when, actually, Parasurama was no king at all; the reference, in the Bhagavadgitā, to the three Bhārgavas, namely, śukra (kavinām uśanā kavih),23 Paraśurāma (rāmah sastrablirtām ahan),24 and Bhrgu ( maharṣınām bhgur tham )25 as the vibhūtis of the All-God; the mention of Bhigu as having been born directly out of the heart of Brabmā (brahmano hrdayan bhittvã nińsrto blagavān blirguh)28-and this in close proximity to the celestials, - these are some of the other instances of a tendentious revision of the epic by bold Brahmanic redactors with strong Bhargava leanings. The Bhārgavas are often repre sented in the epic as great teachers of dharma and niti. This is, indeed, a claim to which they seem to be entitled, for, is the expert knowledge of the Bhargavas in the field of dharma and niti, also not otherwise confirmed,- for instance, by such facts as that the Manusmrtı is traditionally knows also as the Bhrgusam htā? Even the normal life of the people has not escaped the influence of the Bhārgavas. There occurs in the Mahabhārata an interesting legend explaining how two things, which later became quite familiar in every-day life, namely, sandals and umbrella, came to be introduced the person responsible for this introduc tion, of course, being a Bhārgava.27 All these and similar other facts would thus lead one to the irresistible conclusion that it must have been the Bhargavas who were primarily responsible for the brahmanisation of the epic. As a matter of fact the brahmani sation of the epic not infrequently amounted also to its bhrguisation. [First published : UCR 12, 1954, 65-85.] 22. VII, App. I (No. 8). 24, BG X. 31. 26. I. 60.40. 23. BG X. 37. 25. BG X. 25. 27. XIII, adhy. 95,