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Mahabharata
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UKT: The author of Mahabharata epic
is Vyasa (यास्क)
{bya-þa.} - not Krishna Vasudeva commonly referred to as Lord Krishna .
Hindus [UKT:
Hindu-religionists] traditionally hold that Vyasa categorised the primordial
single Veda into four. Hence he was called Veda Vyasa, or "Splitter of the
Vedas," the splitting being a feat that allowed people to understand the
divine knowledge of the Veda. The word vyasa means split, differentiate, or
describe.
It has been debated whether Vyasa was a single person or a class of
scholars who did the splitting. --
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyasa#Veda_Vyasa 121124
[Rishi] Vyasa is
traditionally known as author of this epic. But he also features as an
important character in it. His mother [UKT: In Mahabharata - the word
"father" can mean: the official but not the genetic father. But the "mother"
means the genetic mother] later married the king of Hastinapura, and had two
sons.
His mother was Matsyakanya-Satyavathi Devi -- who as Matsyakanya
had the odour of "fish", but became sweet-smelling as Satyavathi
-- UKT from: Wikipedia &
www.hindupedia.com/en/Maharshi_Vyasa 121124
Introduction
Textual history and structure
Accretion and redaction
Historical references
The 18 parvas
Historical context
Synopsis
The older generations
The Pandava and Kaurava princes
Lākṣagrha
(The House of Lac) : UKT: Lac presumably is
'sealing wax' - the exudate of the Lac tree. It softens
and burns fiercely.
Marriage to Draupadi (polyandrous common wife)
Indraprastha
The dice game
Exile and return
The battle at Kurukshetra
The end of Pandavas
Versions, translations, and derivative works
Critical Edition
Modern interpretations
English translations
Abridged versions
Jain version
Kuru family tree
Cultural influence
Passages worthy of note in this file:
• After going through this file, and others especially
with some Sanskrit-Devanagari words, I can now accept
Krishna Vasudeva (1000 years before Christ) as a historical
religious figure on par with the Gautama Buddhist (500
years before Christ), Jesus Christ (central figure in my
rough time line), and Mohamed (500 years after Christ).
- UKT101112
• Niyoga (Skt-Devan: नियोग --> Pali-Myan:
{ni.yau:ga.}
is the precursor of the modern "artificial insemination". Though, actual coitus
is involved it is said that "The act will be seen as that of
Dharma ... not passion nor lust. [The man is just the donor of the sperm.]
... the woman will accept it only to bear the
child for herself and her husband."
In Niyoga, the bodies were covered with "ghee" 'butter' to prevent lust entering
the minds of participants. The child is considered not to be the offspring of
the donor. - UKT101117
UKT notes
• Krishna Vasudeva in the Mahabharata
• niyoga ("artificial" insemination) •
Parāśara
{pa.ra-Sa.ra.}
• purushartha 'life's purpose'
• Satyavati
• Vyāsa
{bya-þa.}
Contents of this page
The Mahabharata (Skt: Mahābhārata
महाभारत , IPA:
[məɦɑːˈbʱɑːrətə]
is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India,
the other being the
Rāmāyaṇa. The epic is part of the
Hindu itihāsa (or "history").
UKT:
इतिहास(:)
(itihaasa(H)
Skt: history; epic - OnlineSktDict
Skt-Devan: इतिहास
- itihāsa h. chronicle. m.
history - SpkSkt
Pal-Lat: itihāsa, m. legendary lore,
tradition - UPMT-PED042
Pal-Myan:
{I.ti.ha-þa.}
-
UHS-PMD0192
Besides its epic narrative of the Kurukshetra War and
the fates of the Kauravas and the Pandavas, the
Mahabharata contains much philosophical and
devotional material, such as a discussion of the four
"goals of life" or
purusharthas (12.161) (see my note).
The latter are enumerated as dharma
(right action), artha (purpose),
kāma (pleasure), and moksha
(liberation). Among the principal works and stories that
are a part of the Mahabharata are theBhagavad Gita
-- [See
Gita.htm] ,
the story of
Damayanti, an abbreviated version of the
Ramayana, and the
Rishyasringa, often considered as works in
their own right.
• purushartha 'life purpose' : पुरुषार्थ
= प ु र ु ष ा र ् थ
--> {pu.ru.Saar-hta}
[UKT transcription-translation]
Skt-Devan: पुरुषार्थ
"that which is sought by man; human purpose,
aim, or end" - Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puru%E1%B9%A3%C4%81rtha 101116
• dharma 'right action' : धर्म
= ध र ् म --> {Dar ma.}
[UKT transcription]
Skt-Devan: धर्म dharma adj.
dharma-knowing.
m. practice, nature, attribute, observance, religious merit,
moral merit, duty, propriety of
conduct, religion, virtue,
usage, law, righteousness, custom, manner - SpkSkt
Pal-Myan:
{Dam~ma.} -
- UHS-PMD0495
• artha 'purpose' : अर्थ
= अ र ् थ --> {ar hta.}
[UKT transcription]
Skt-Devan: अर्थ artha
m. object, material object, sake, meaning,
concerns, respectful person, thing, purpose,
true sense, matter,
affair, sense, object of desire, occurrence
(event), profit, wish,
desire, aim, wealth.
m.n. reason, motive, advantage, utility,
use, cause - SpkSkt
Pal-Myan:
{ût~hta.} -
- UHS-PMD0037
• kāma 'pleasure' : काम
= क ा म --> {ka-ma.}
[UKT transcription]
Skt-Devan: काम kāma
m. wish, affection, will, pleasure, desire,
enjoyment, love [erotic, sexual], longing [erotic,
sexual]
n. semen virile, object of desire - SpkSkt
Pal-Myan:
{ka-ma.} -
- UHS-PMD0306
• moksha 'liberation' : मोक्ष
= म ो क ् ष --> {mauk~Sa.}
[UKT transcription]
[fricative sibilant
{Sa.} is further changed into non-fricative
{hka.}] -->
{mauk~hka.} ]
Skt-Devan: मोक्ष
moksha m. release from rebirth,
deliverance,
settling a question, salvation, riddance,
release from, liberation,
discharge of debt, freedom, release,
solution (of a problem),
solution, absolution, redemption,
emancipation -- SpkSkt
Pal-Myan:
{mauk~hka.} -
-
UHS-PMD0788
Traditionally, the authorship of the Mahabharata
is attributed to
Vyasa व्यास,
vyāsa {bya-þa.} (See my note). There
have been many attempts to unravel its historical growth
and compositional layers. The earliest parts of the text
are not appreciably older than around 400 BCE.
[1]
The text probably reached its final form by the early
Gupta period (ca. 4th c. CE).
[2]
The title may be translated as "the great tale of the
Bhārata dynasty". According to the
Mahabharata itself, the tale is extended from
a shorter version of 24,000 verses called simply
Bhārata.
[3]
With about one hundred thousand verses, long prose
passages, or about 1.8 million words in total, the
Mahabharata is roughly ten times the length of the
Iliad and
Odyssey combined, or about four times the length of the
Rāmāyaṇa.
[4] [5]
Contents of this page
The epic is traditionally ascribed to Vyasa, who is
also a major character in the epic. The first section
of the Mahabharata states that it was
Ganesha who, at the request of Vyasa, wrote down
the text to Vyasa's dictation. Ganesha is said to have
agreed to write it only on condition that Vyasa never
pause in his recitation. Vyasa agreed, provided Ganesha
took the time to understand what was said before writing
it down.
The epic employs the story within a story structure,
otherwise known as frame-tales, popular in many Indian
religious and secular works. It is recited to the King
Janamejaya who is the great-grandson of
Arjuna, by
Vaisampayana, a disciple of Vyasa. The recitation of
Vaisampayana to Janamejaya is then recited again by a
professional storyteller named
Ugrasrava Sauti, many years later, to an assemblage
of sages performing the 12 year long sacrifice for
King Saunaka Kulapati in the
Naimisha forest .
Jaya, the core of Mahābhārata is structured
in the form of a dialogue between Kuru king Dhritarashtra and
Sanjaya, his advisor and chariot driver. Sanjaya narrates
each incident of the Kurukshetra War, fought in 18 days, as
and when it happened. Dhritarāshtra sometimes asks
questions and doubts and sometimes laments, knowing about the
destruction caused by the war, to his sons, friends and
kinsmen. He also feels guilty, due to his own role, that led
to this war, destructive to the entire Indian subcontinent.
In the beginning Sanjaya gives a description of the various
continents of the Earth, the other planets, and focuses
on the Indian Subcontinent and gives an elaborate list of
hundreds of kingdoms, tribes, provinces, cities, towns,
villages, rivers, mountains, forests etc. of the (ancient)
Indian Subcontinent (Bhārata Varsha). He also explains
about the 'military formations adopted by each side on each
day, the death of each hero and the details of each war-racings.
Some 18 chapters of Vyasa's Jaya constitutes the Bhagavad
Gita [sermon of
Krishna Vasudeva
(my rough timeline: 1000 BCE, or 500 years before Gautama Buddha).
See my note.], the sacred text of the Hindus. Thus, this work
of Vyasa, called Jaya deals with diverse subjects like
geography, history, warfare, religion and morality. According
to Mahabharata itself, Vaisampayana's Bharata expanded
on the story, with Vyasa's Jaya embedded within it. Ugrasrava
eventually composed the final Mahabharata, with both Vyasa's
Jaya and Vaisampayana's Bharata embedded within the epic.
Contents of this page
UKT: When were spoken Indian languages put to written
forms? The oldest or earliest written script was found
on Asoka pillars, and is now known as the Brahmi script.
Since this script was based on sound phonemic principles
it is now known as an alph-syllabic aka abugida script.
Research on the Mahabharata has put an enormous effort
into recognizing and dating various layers within the text.
The background to the Mahabharata suggests a time "after the very early
Vedic period" and before "the first Indian
'empire' was to rise in the third century B.C.," so
"a date not too far removed from the eighth or ninth
century B.C." [7]
It is generally agreed, however, that "Unlike the Vedas,
which have to be preserved letter-perfect, the epic was a
popular work whose reciters would inevitably conform to
changes in language and style."
[7]
The earliest surviving components of this dynamic
text are believed to be no older than the earliest
external references we have to the epic, which may
include an allusion in
Panini's
{pa-Ni.ni.} fourth century BCE grammar (Ashtādhyāyī
4:2:56). [1]
[7]
It is estimated that the Sanskrit text probably reached
something of a "final form" by the early
Gupta period (about the 4th century CE).
[7]
Vishnu Sukthankar, editor of the first great critical
edition of the Mahabharata, commented: "It is useless
to think of reconstructing a fluid text in a literally
original shape, on the basis of an archetype and a
stemma codicum. What then is possible? Our objective
can only be to reconstruct the oldest form of the text
which it is possible to reach on the basis of
the manuscript material available."
[8]
That manuscript evidence is somewhat late, given its
material composition and the climate of India, but
it is very extensive.
The Mahabharata itself (1.1.61) distinguishes a core
portion of 24,000 verses, the Bharata proper, as
opposed to additional secondary material, while the
Ashvalayana Grhyasutra (3.4.4) makes a similar
distinction. At least three redactions of the text are
commonly recognized: Jaya (Victory) with 8,800
verses attributed to Vyasa, Bharata with 24,000
verses as recited by
Vaisampayana, and finally the Mahabharata
as recited by
Ugrasrava Sauti with over 100,000 verses.
[9]
[10]
However, some scholars such as John Brockington, argue that
Jaya and Bharata refer to the same text, and
ascribe the theory of Jaya with 8,800 verses to a
misreading of a verse in Adiparvan (1.1.81).
[11]
The
redaction of this large body of text was carried out
after formal principles, emphasizing the numbers 18
[12] and 12. The addition of
the latest parts may be dated by the absence of the
Anushasana-parva and "Virat-parva" from
MS Spitzer, the oldest surviving Sanskrit
philosophical manuscript dated to Kushan Period (200 CE),
[13]
that contains among other things a list of the books in
the Mahabharata. From this evidence, it is likely
that the redaction into 18 books took place in the first
century. An alternative division into 20 parvas appears
to have co-existed for some time. The division into 100
sub-parvas (mentioned in Mbh. 1.2.70) is older, and most
parvas are named after one of their constituent sub-parvas.
The
Harivamsa consists of the final two of the 100
sub-parvas, and was considered an appendix (khila)
to the Mahabharata proper by the redactors of the
18 parvas.
According to what one character says at Mbh. 1.1.50, there
were three versions of the epic, beginning with Manu
(1.1.27), Astika (1.3, sub-parva 5) or Vasu
(1.57), respectively. These versions would correspond to
the addition of one and then another 'frame' settings of
dialogues. The Vasu version would omit the frame
settings and begin with the account of the birth of Vyasa.
The astika version would add the sarpasattra
and ashvamedha material from Brahmanical literature,
introduce the name Mahabharata, and identify Vyasa
as the work's author. The redactors of these additions were
probably
Pancharatrin scholars who according to Oberlies (1998)
likely retained control over the text until its final
redaction. Mention of the
Huna in the Bhishma-parva however appears
to imply that this parva may have been edited around
the 4th century.
The Adi-parva includes the snake sacrifice
(sarpasattra) of
Janamejaya, explaining its motivation, detailing why
all snakes in existence were intended to be destroyed, and
why in spite of this, there are still snakes in existence.
This sarpasattra material was often considered
an independent tale added to a version of the Mahabharata
by "thematic attraction" (Minkowski 1991), and
considered to have a particularly close connection to
Vedic
(
Brahmana) literature. The
Panchavimsha Brahmana (at 25.15.3) enumerates
the officiant priests of a sarpasattra among
whom the names Dhrtarashtra and Janamejaya, two main
characters of the Mahabharata's sarpasattra,
as well as Takshaka, the name of a snake in the
Mahabharata, occur.[14]
The state of the text has been described by some early
20th century
Indologists as unstructured and chaotic.
Hermann Oldenberg supposed that the original poem must
once have carried an immense "tragic force", but
dismissed the full text as a "horrible chaos."
[15] The judgement of other
early 20th century Indologists was even less favourable.
Moritz Winternitz (Geschichte der indischen
Literatur 1909) considered that "only unpoetical
theologists and clumsy scribes" could have lumped
the various parts of disparate origin into an unordered whole.
Contents of this page
The earliest known references to the Mahabharata and its core
Bharata date back to the
Ashtadhyayi (sutra
6.2.38) of Pāṇini
(fl. 4th century BCE), and in the
Ashvalayana Grhyasutra (3.4.4). This may suggest that the core 24,000
verses, known as the Bharata, as well as an early version of the extended
Mahabharata, were composed by the 4th century BCE.
The Greek writer
Dio
Chrysostom (ca. 40-120)
reported, "it is said that Homer's poetry is sung even in India, where they have
translated it into their own speech and tongue. The result is that...the people
of India...are not unacquainted with the sufferings of
Priam, the
laments and wailings of
Andromache
and Hecuba, and
the valor of both
Achilles
and Hector: so
remarkable has been the spell of one man's poetry!",[16]Despite
the passage's evident face-value meaning — that the
Iliad had
been translated into Sanskrit — some scholars have supposed that the report
reflects the existence of a Mahabharata at this date, whose episodes Dio
or his sources
syncretistically identify with the story of the Iliad.
Christian Lassen, in his Indische Alterthumskunde, supposed that the
reference is ultimately to Dhritarashtra's sorrows, the laments of Gandhari and
Draupadi, and the valor of Arjuna and Duryodhana or Karna.[17]
This interpretation, endorsed in such standard references as
Albrecht Weber's History of Indian Literature, has often been
repeated without specific reference to what Dio's text says.[18]
Several stories within the Mahabharata took on separate identities of their
own in
Classical Sanskrit literature. For instance,
Abhijñānashākuntala by the renowned Sanskrit poet
Kālidāsa
(ca. 400 CE), believed to have lived in the era of the
Gupta
dynasty, is based on a story that is the precursor to the Mahabharata.
Urubhanga,
a Sanskrit play written by
Bhāsa who is
believed to have lived before Kālidāsa, is based on the slaying of Duryodhana by
the splitting of his thighs by Bhima.
The copper-plate inscription of the
Maharaja
Sharvanatha (533-534 CE) from Khoh (Satna
District,
Madhya Pradesh) describes the Mahabharata as a "collection of 100,000
verses" (shatasahasri samhita).
Contents of this page
The division into 18 parvas is as follows [UKT: Wikipedia gives the parvas in
tabular form, which I have reformatted]:
Parva #01.
Adi Parva (The Book of the Beginning) : sub-parva 1 - 19
How the Mahabharata came to be narrated by Sauti to the assembled rishis at
Naimisharanya. The recital of the Mahabharata at the sarpasattra of
Janamejaya by Vaishampayana at
Takṣaśilā. The history of the Bharata race is told in detail and the
parva also traces history of the Bhrigu race. The birth and early life of the
Kuru princes. (adi means first)
Parva #02.
Sabha
Parva (The Book of the Assembly Hall) : sub-parva 20 - 28
Maya Danava erects the palace and court (sabha), at
Indraprastha. Life at the court, Yudhishthira's Rajasuya Yajna, the game of
dice, and the eventual exile of the Pandavas.
Parva #03.
Vana Parva also Aranyaka-parva, Aranya-parva (The Book of the Forest)
: sub-parva 29 - 44
The twelve years of exile in the forest (aranya).
Parva #04.
Virata
Parva (The Book of Virata) : sub-parva 45 - 48
The year in incognito spent at the court of
Virata.
Parva #05.
Udyoga
Parva (The Book of the Effort) : sub-parva 49 - 59
Preparations for war and efforts to bring about peace between the Kurus and the
Pandavas which eventually fail (udyoga means effort or work).
Parva #06.
Bhishma Parva (The Book of Bhishma) : sub-parva 60 - 64
The first part of the great battle, with
Bhishma as
commander for the Kauravas and his fall on the bed of arrows.
Parva #07.
Drona
Parva (The Book of Drona) : sub-parva 65 - 72
The battle continues, with
Drona as
commander. This is the major book of the war. Most of the great warriors on both
sides are dead by the end of this book.
Parva #08.
Karna
Parva (The Book of Karna) : sub-parva 73
The battle again, with
Karna as
commander.
Parva #09.
Shalya
Parva (The Book of Shalya) : sub-parva 74 - 77
The last day of the battle, with
Shalya as
commander. Also told in detail is the pilgrimage of Balarama to the fords of the
river Saraswati and the mace fight between Bhima and Duryodhana which ends the
war, since Bhima kills Duryodhana by smashing him on the thighs with a mace.
Parva #10.
Sauptika Parva (The Book of the Sleeping Warriors) : sub-parva 78 - 80
Ashvattama, Kripa and Kritavarma kill the remaining Pandava army in their
sleep. Only 7 warriors remain on the Pandava side and 3 on the Kaurava side.
Parva #11.
Stri Parva (The Book of the Women) : sub-parva 81 - 85
Gandhari, Kunti and the women (stri) of the Kurus and Pandavas lament
the dead.
Parva #12.
Shanti Parva (The Book of Peace) : sub-parva 86 - 88
The crowning of
Yudhisthira as king of Hastinapura, and instructions from
Bhishma for
the newly anointed king on society, economics and politics. This is the longest
book of the Mahabharata (shanti means peace).
Parva #13.
Anushasana Parva (The Book of the Instructions) : sub-parva 89 - 90
The final instructions (anushasana) from Bhishma.
Parva #14.
Ashvamedhika Parva (The Book of the Horse Sacrifice)
[19] : sub-parva 91 - 92
The royal ceremony of the
Ashvamedha
(Horse sacrifice) conducted by Yudhisthira. The world conquest by Arjuna. The
Anugita is told by Krishna to Arjuna.
Parva #15.
Ashramavasika Parva (The Book of the Hermitage) : sub-parva 93 - 95
The eventual deaths of
Dhritarashtra,
Gandhari and
Kunti in a forest fire when they are living in a hermitage in the Himalayas.
Vidura
predeceases them and Sanjaya on Dhritarashtra's bidding goes to live in the
higher Himalayas.
Parva #16.
Mausala Parva (The Book of the Clubs) : sub-parva 96
The infighting between the
Yadavas with maces
(mausala) and the eventual destruction of the Yadavas.
Parva #17.
Mahaprasthanika Parva (The Book of the Great Journey) : sub-parva 97
The great journey of Yudhisthira and his brothers across the whole country and
finally their ascent of the great Himalayas where each Pandava falls except for
Yudhisthira.
Parva #18.
Svargarohana Parva (The Book of the Ascent to Heaven) : sub-parva 98
Yudhisthira's final test and the return of the Pandavas to the spiritual world (svarga).
Parva # khila.
Harivamsa
Parva (The Book of the Genealogy of Hari) : sub-parva 99 - 100
Life of Krishna
which is not covered in the 18 parvas of the Mahabharata.
Contents of this page
The historicity of the
Kurukshetra War is unclear. Some historians like A L Basham estimate the
date of the Kurukshetra war to
Iron Age India of the
10th century BCE.[20]
Other historians like M Witzel have corroborated that the general setting of
the epic has a historical precedent in Iron Age (Vedic)
India, where the
Kuru kingdom was the center of political power during roughly 1200 to 800
BCE.[21]
A dynastic conflict of the period could have been the inspiration for the
Jaya, the foundation on which the Mahabharata corpus was built, with a
climactic battle eventually coming to be viewed as an epochal event.
UKT note of 101112: After going through this file, and others especially
with some Sanskrit-Devanagari words, I can now accept Krishna Vasudeva (1000
years before Christ) as a historical religious figure on par with the
Gautama Buddhist (500 years before Christ), Jesus Christ (central figure in
my rough time line), and Mohamed (500 years after Christ).
Puranic
literature presents genealogical lists associated with the Mahabharata
narrative. The evidence of the Puranas is of two kinds. Of the first kind, there
is the direct statement that there were 1015 (or 1050) years between the birth
of Parikshit (Arjuna's grandson) and the accession of Mahapadma Nanda, commonly
dated to 382 BCE, which would yield an estimate of about 1400 BCE for the
Bharata battle.[22]
However, this would imply improbably long reigns on average for the kings listed
in the genealogies.[23]
Of the second kind are analyses of parallel genealogies in the Puranas between
the times of Adhisimakrishna (Parikshit's great-grandson) and Mahapadma Nanda.
Pargiter accordingly estimated 26 generations by averaging 10 different dynastic
lists and, assuming 18 years for the average duration of a reign, arrived at an
estimate of 850 BCE for Adhisimakrishna, and thus approximately 950 BCE for the
Bharata battle.[24]
B. B. Lal
used the same approach with a more conservative assumption of the average reign
to estimate a date of 836 BCE, and correlated this with archaeological evidence
from
Painted Grey Ware sites, the association being strong between PGW artifacts
and places mentioned in the epic.[25]
Attempts to date the events using methods of
archaeoastronomy have produced, depending on which passages are chosen and
how they are interpreted, estimates ranging from the late 4th to the mid 2nd
millennium BCE.[26]
The late 4th millennium date has a precedent in the calculation of the Kaliyuga
epoch, based on planetary conjunctions, by
Aryabhata
(6th century). His date of February 18 3102 BCE has become widespread in Indian
tradition (for example, the
Aihole inscription
of
Pulikeshi II, dated to Saka 556 = 634 CE, claims that 3735 years have
elapsed since the Bharata battle.[27])
Another traditional school of astronomers and historians, represented by
Vriddha-Garga,
Varahamihira (author of the
Brhatsamhita) and
Kalhana
(author of the
Rajatarangini), place the Bharata war 653 years after the Kaliyuga
epoch, corresponding to 2449 BCE.[28]
Contents of this page
The core story of the work is that of a dynastic struggle for the throne of
Hastinapura, the kingdom ruled by the
Kuru clan. The two collateral branches of the family that participate in the
struggle are the
Kaurava and the
Pandava.
Although the Kaurava is the senior branch of the family,
Duryodhana,
the eldest Kaurava, is younger than
Yudhisthira, the eldest Pandava. Both Duryodhana and Yudhisthira claim to be
first in line to inherit the throne.
The struggle culminates in the great battle of Kurukshetra, in which the
Pandavas are ultimately victorious. The battle produces complex conflicts of
kinship and friendship, instances of family loyalty and duty taking precedence
over what is right, as well as the converse.
The Mahabharata itself ends with the death of
Krishna, and
the subsequent end of his dynasty and ascent of the Pandava brothers to heaven.
It also marks the beginning of the Hindu age of
Kali (Kali
Yuga), the fourth and final age of mankind, in which great values and noble
ideas have crumbled, and man is heading toward the complete dissolution of right
action, morality and virtue.
Arshia Sattar states that the central theme of the Mahabharata, as well as
the Ramayana, is respectively Krishna's and Rama's hidden divinity and its
progressive revelation.[29]
Contents of this page
Janamejaya's
ancestor
Shantanu, the king of
Hastinapura, has a short-lived marriage with the goddess
Ganga and has a son, Devavrata (later to be called
Bhishma), who
becomes the heir apparent. [UKT¶]
UKT: The son Devavrata (later to be called Bhishma) devoted to his
father, took the vow of lifelong celibacy to fulfill his father's sexual
desire for a fisherman's daughter who was not even a virgin: she already had
a son, Vyasa, by a wandering
Rishi
Parashara. Vyasa,
who later became the author of Mahabharata, was born in secret on an island in the
river Yamuna. -
UKT101112
Many years later, when King Shantanu goes hunting, he sees
Satyavati,
the daughter of a fisherman, and asks her father for her hand. Her father
refuses to consent to the marriage unless Shantanu promises to make any future
son of Satyavati the king upon his death. To resolve his father's dilemma,
Devavrata agrees to relinquish his right to the throne. As the fisherman is not
sure about the prince's children honouring the promise, Devavrata also takes a
vow of lifelong celibacy to guarantee his father's promise.
Shantanu has two sons by Satyavati,
Chitrangada and
Vichitravirya. Upon Shantanu's death, Chitrangada becomes king. He lives a
very short uneventful life and dies. Vichitravirya, the younger son, rules
Hastinapura. Meanwhile, the King of
Kāśī arranges a
swayamvara
for his three daughters, neglecting to invite the royal family of Hastinapur. In
order to arrange the marriage of young Vichitravirya, Bhishma attends the
swayamvara
of the three princesses Amba, Ambika and Ambalika, uninvited, and proceeds to
abduct them. Ambika and Ambalika consent to be married to Vichtravirya.
The oldest princess Amba, however, informs Bhishma that she wishes to marry
Shalvaraj (king of Shalva) whom Bhishma defeated at their swayamvar. Bhishma
lets her leave to marry Shalvaraj, but Shalvaraj refuses to marry her, still
smarting at his humiliation at the hands of Bhishma. Amba then returns to marry
Bhishma but he refuses due to his vow of celibacy. Amba becomes enraged and
becomes Bhishma's bitter enemy, holding him responsible for her plight. Later
she is reborn to King
Drupada as
Shikhandi
(or Shikhandini) and causes Bhishma's fall, with the help of
Arjuna, in the
battle of Kurukshetra.
Contents of this page
When
Vichitravirya dies young without any heirs, Satyavati asks
her first son Vyasa to
niyoga
[father children with] the widows. The eldest, Ambika,
shuts her eyes when she sees him, and so her son
Dhritarashtra is born blind. Ambalika turns pale and
bloodless upon seeing him, and thus her son
Pandu is born pale and unhealthy (the term Pandu
may also mean 'jaundiced'
[30]).
Due to the physical challenges of the first two children, Satyavati asks Vyasa
to try once again. However, Ambika and Ambalika send their maid instead, to
Vyasa's room. Vyasa fathers a third son,
Vidura, by the
maid. He is born healthy and grows up to be one of the wisest characters in the
Mahabharata. He serves as Prime Minister (Mahamantri or Mahatma) to King
Pandu and King Dhritarashtra.
UKT: Though the title "king" was given to
Dhritarashtra, he was not given the throne. The throne
was given to Pandu. However, when King Pandu abdicated
the throne was eventually given to the blind man. Only
then he could be rightfully called King Dhritarashtra.
When the princes grow up, Dhritarashtra is about to be
crowned king by Bhishma when Vidura intervenes and uses
his knowledge of politics to assert that a blind person
cannot be king. This is because a blind man cannot control
and protect his subjects. The throne is then given to Pandu
because of Dhritarashtra's blindness. [UKT¶]
Pandu marries twice, to
Kunti and
Madri. Dhritarashtra marries
Gandhari, a princess from Gandhara, who blindfolds
herself so that she may feel the pain that her husband
feels. Her brother
Shakuni is enraged by this and vows to take revenge
on the Kuru family. [UKT¶]
One day, when Pandu is relaxing in the forest, he hears
the sound of a wild animal. He shoots an arrow in the
direction of the sound. However the arrow hits the sage
Kindama, who curses him that if he engages in a sexual
act, he will die. Pandu then retires to the forest along with
his two wives, and his brother Dhritarashtra rules thereafter,
despite his blindness.
Pandu's older queen Kunti, however, had been given a boon
by Sage Durvasa that she could invoke any god using a
special mantra. Kunti uses this boon to ask
Dharma the god of justice,
Vayu
the god of the wind, and
Indra the lord of the heavens for sons. She gives
birth to three sons,
Yudhisthira,
Bhima, and
Arjuna, through these gods. Kunti shares her mantra with the younger queen
Madri, who bears
the twins Nakula
and Sahadeva
through the
Ashwini twins. However, Pandu and Madri indulge in sex, and Pandu dies.
Madri
dies on his funeral pyre out of remorse. Kunti raises the five brothers, who
are from then on usually referred to as the
Pandava
brothers.
Dhritarashtra has a hundred sons through
Gandhari, all born after the birth of Yudhishtira. These are the
Kaurava
brothers, the eldest being
Duryodhana,
and the second
Dushasana.
Other Kaurava brothers were Vikarna and Sukarna. The rivalry and enmity between
them and the Pandava brothers, from their youth and into manhood, leads to the
Kurukshetra war.
Contents of this page
After the deaths of their mother (Madri) and father (Pandu), the Pandavas and
their mother Kunti return to the palace of Hastinapur. Yudhisthira is made Crown
Prince by Dhritarashtra, under considerable pressure from his kingdom.
Dhritarashtra wanted his own son Duryodhana to become king and lets his ambition
get in the way of preserving justice.
Shakuni, Duryodhana and Dusasana plot to get rid of the Pandavas. Shakuni
calls the architect Purvanchan to build a palace out of flammable materials like
lac and ghee. He then arranges for the Pandavas and the Queen Mother Kunti to
stay there, with the intention of setting it alight. However, the Pandavas are
warned by their wise uncle,
Vidura, who
sends them a miner to dig a tunnel. They are able to escape to safety and go
into hiding. Back at Hastinapur, the Pandavas and Kunti are presumed dead.[31]
Contents of this page
During the course of their hiding the Pandavas learn of a
swayamvara
which is taking place for the hand of the
Pāñcāla princess
Draupadī. The Pandavas enter the competition in disguise as Brahmins. The
task is to string a mighty steel bow and shoot a target on the ceiling, which is
the eye of a moving artificial fish, while looking at its reflection in oil
below. Most of the princes fail, many being unable to lift the bow. Arjuna
succeeds however. The Pandavas return home and inform their mother that Arjuna
has won a competition and to look at what they have brought back. Without
looking, Kunti asks them to share whatever it is Arjuna has won among
themselves. Thus Draupadi ends up being the
wife of all five brothers.
Contents of this page
After the wedding, the Pandava brothers are invited back to Hastinapura. The
Kuru family elders and relatives negotiate and broker a split of the kingdom,
with the Pandavas obtaining a new territory. Yudhishtira has a new capital built
for this territory at
Indraprastha. Neither the Pandava nor Kaurava sides are happy with the
arrangement however.
Shortly after this, Arjuna elopes with and then marries Krishna's sister,
Subhadra.
Yudhishtira wishes to establish his position as king; he seeks Krishna's advice.
Krishna advises him, and after due preparation and the elimination of some
opposition, Yudhishthira carries out the rājasūya yagna ceremony; he is
thus recognised as pre-eminent among kings.
The Pandavas have a new palace built for them, by
Maya the
Danava.[32]
They invite their Kaurava cousins to Indraprastha. Duryodhana walks round the
palace, and mistakes a glossy floor for water, and will not step in. After being
told of his error, he then sees a pond, and assumes it is not water and falls
in. Draupadi
laughs at him and ridicules him by saying that this is because of his blind
father
Dhritrashtra. He then decides to avenge his humiliation.
Contents of this page
Shakuni, Duryodhana's uncle, now arranges a dice game, playing against
Yudhishtira with loaded dice. Yudhishtira loses all his wealth, then his
kingdom. He then even gambles his brothers, himself, and finally his wife into
servitude. The jubilant Kauravas insult the Pandavas in their helpless state and
even try to disrobe Draupadi in front of the entire court, but her honour is
saved by Krishna who miraculously creates lengths of cloth to replace the ones
being removed.
Dhritarashtra, Bhishma, and the other elders are aghast at the situation, but
Duryodhana is adamant that there is no place for two crown princes in
Hastinapura. Against his wishes Dhritarashtra orders for another dice game. The
Pandavas are required to go into exile for 12 years, and in the 13th year must
remain hidden. If discovered by the Kauravas, they will be forced into exile for
another 12 years.
Contents of this page
The Pandavas spend thirteen years in exile; many adventures occur during this
time. They also prepare alliances for a possible future conflict. They spend
their final year in disguise in the court of
Virata, and are
discovered just after the end of the year.
At the end of their exile, they try to negotiate a return to Indraprastha.
However, this fails, as Duryodhana objects that they were discovered while in
hiding, and that no return of their kingdom was agreed. War becomes inevitable.
Contents of this page
The two sides summon vast armies to their help, and line up at
Kurukshetra for a war. [UKT¶]
The Kingdoms of
Panchala,
Dwaraka, Kasi,
Kekaya,
Magadha,
Matsya,
Chedi,
Pandya,
Telinga, and the
Yadus of
Mathura and some other clans like the
Parama Kambojas were allied with the
Pandavas. [UKT¶]
The allies of the
Kauravas included the kings of Pragjyotisha,
Anga,
Kekaya,
Sindhudesa (including
Sindhus,
Sauviras and Sivis), Mahishmati,
Avanti in
Madhyadesa, Madra,
Gandhara,
Bahlikas,
Kambojas
and many others. [UKT¶]
Prior to war being declared,
Balarama, had expressed his unhappiness at the
developing conflict, and left to go on pilgrimage, thus
he does not take part in the battle itself. Krishna takes
part in a non-combatant role, as charioteer for Arjuna.
Before the battle, Arjuna, seeing himself facing his great
grandfather Bhishma and his teacher
Drona on the other side, has doubts about the battle
and he fails to lift his Gāndeeva bow. Krishna wakes
him up to his call of duty in the famous
Bhagavad Gita section of the epic.
UKT: This Wikipedia article does not give correct family
relationships making the story unnecessarily confusing.
For example, phrases like "great grandfather Bhishma"
is misleading because Bhishma had undertook a vow of celibacy
at the beginning of the story. See
The older generations
on this page. A phrase like "great grandsire Bhishma"
would have been better. - UKT101116
Though initially sticking to chivalrous notions of
warfare, both sides soon adopt dishonourable tactics.
At the end of the 18-day battle, only the Pandavas,
Satyaki, Kripa, Ashwathama, Kritavarma, Yuyutsu and
Krishna survive.
Contents of this page
After "seeing" the carnage,
Gandhari who had lost all her sons, curses Krishna
to be a witness to a similar annihilation of his family,
for though divine and capable of stopping the war, he had
not done so. Krishna accepts the curse, which bears fruit
36 years later.
The Pandavas who had ruled their kingdom meanwhile,
decide to renounce everything. Clad in skins and rags
they retire to the Himalaya and climb towards heaven
in their bodily form. A stray dog travels with them. [UKT¶]
One by one the brothers and Draupadi fall on their way. As each one stumbles,
Yudhishitra gives the rest the reason for their fall:
• Draupadi was partial to Arjuna,
• Nakula and Sahadeva were vain and proud of their looks,
• Bhima and Arjuna were proud of their strength and
archery skills, respectively.
• Only the virtuous Yudhisthira, who had tried everything
to prevent the carnage, and the dog remain. [UKT¶]
UKT: I find it strange not to include "gambling
with dice" as a vice. - UKT101113
The dog reveals himself to be the god Yama (also known as
Yama Dharmaraja), and then takes him to the underworld where
he sees his siblings and wife. After explaining the nature
of the test, Yama takes Yudhishthira back to heaven and
explains that it was necessary to expose him to the underworld
because (Rajyante narakam dhruvam) any ruler has to visit
the underworld at least once. Yama then assures him that his
siblings and wife would join him in heaven after they had
been exposed to the underworld for measures of time according
to their vices.
Arjuna's grandson
Parikshit
rules after them and dies bitten by a snake. His furious son, Janamejaya,
decides to perform a snake sacrifice
(sarpasattra)
in order to destroy the snakes. It is at this sacrifice that the tale of his
ancestors is narrated to him.
Contents of this page
Many regional versions of the work developed over time, mostly differing only in
minor details, or with verses or subsidiary stories being added. These include
some versions from outside the Indian subcontinent, such as the
Kakawin Bharatayuddha from
Java. The plays of
the
Tamil street theatre,
terukkuttu,
use themes from the Tamil language versions of Mahabharata, focusing on Draupadi.[34]
Contents of this page
Between 1919 and 1966, scholars at the
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute,
Pune, compared the
various manuscripts of the epic from India and abroad and produced the
Critical Edition of the Mahabharata, on 13,000 pages in 19 volumes,
followed by the Harivamsha in another two volumes and six index volumes. This is
the text that is usually used in current Mahabharata studies for
reference.[35]
This work is sometimes called the 'Pune' or 'Poona' edition of the Mahabharata.
Contents of this page
The
Tamil writer
S. Ramakrishnan has written a critically acclaimed book based on the
Mahabharata called "Uba Paandavam". It discusses the story in a non-linear
manner from a traveller's point of view.
The
Kannada novelist
S.L. Bhyrappa wrote a novel in Kannada (now translated into most Indian
languages and English) titled
Parva,
giving a new interpretation to the story of Mahabharata. He tried to understand
the social and ethical practices in these regions and correlate them with the
story of Mahabharata.
Malayalam writer
M. T. Vasudevan Nair's novel
Randamoozham (English:
Second
Turn) tells the Mahabharata from
Bhima's point of
view. Mrityunjay (English: Triumph Over Death) written by
Shivaji Sawant is a novel with
Karna as the
central character of Mahabharata.
In
Indian cinema, several film versions of the epic exist, dating back to 1920.[36]
The internationally acclaimed
parallel
Bengali film director
Satyajit Ray also intended to direct a theatrical adaptation of the epic,
but the project was never realized.[37]
In the late 1980s, the
Mahabharat TV series, directed by Ravi Chopra,[38]
was televised and shown on India's national television (Doordarshan).
In the
Western world, a well-known presentation of the epic is
Peter
Brook's nine-hour play, which premiered in
Avignon in
1985, and its five-hour movie version
The Mahabharata (1989).
[39]
Among literary reinterpretations of the Mahabharata is
Shashi Tharoor's major work entitled
The Great Indian Novel, an involved literary, philosophical, and
political novel which superimposes the major moments of post-independence
India in the 20th
century onto the driving events of the Mahabharata epic.
Mahabharata was also reinterpreted by
Shyam
Benegal in
Kalyug. Kalyug is a modern-day replaying of the Mahabharata.
[40]
Western interpretations of the Mahabharata include
William Buck's Mahabharata and
Elizabeth Seeger's Five Sons of King Pandu.
Contents of this page
The first complete English translation was the Victorian
prose version by
Kisari Mohan Ganguli,
[41] published between 1883 and 1896 (Munshiram Manoharlal
Publishers) and by M. N. Dutt
(Motilal Banarsidass Publishers). Most critics consider
the translation by Ganguli to be faithful to the original text.
The complete text of Ganguli's translation is in the
public domain and is available online.
[42]
Another English prose translation of the full epic, based on the Critical
Edition, is also in progress, published by
University Of Chicago Press, initiated by Chicago
Indologist
J. A. B. van Buitenen (books 1-5) and, following a 20-year hiatus caused by
the death of van Buitenen, is being continued by D. Gitomer of
DePaul University (book 6), J. L. Fitzgerald of Brown University (books
11-13) and
Wendy
Doniger of the University of Chicago (books 14-18).
A poetic "transcreation" (author's own description) of the full epic into
English, done by the poet
P. Lalsince
1968 in monthly fascicules is incomplete following his death on 3 November 2010.
In 2005 a completely revised edition began being published by
Writers Workshop, Calcutta. The P. Lal translation is a non-rhyming
verse-by-verse rendering, and is the only edition in any language to include all
slokas in all recensions of the work (not just those in the Critical Edition).
Sixteen of the eighteen volumes are now available. The Moksha-dharma parva of
the Shanti Parva and the entire Anushasana Parva are left untranscreated.
A project to translate the full epic into English prose, translated by
various hands, began to appear in 2005 from the
Clay Sanskrit Library, published by
New York University Press. The translation is based not on the Critical
Edition but on the version known to the commentator
Nīlakaṇṭha. Currently available are 15 volumes of the projected 32-volume
edition. This project has run out of funds.
Indian economist
Bibek
Debroy has also begun an unabridged English translation in ten volumes.
Volume 1: Adi Parva was published in March 2010.
Contents of this page
Many condensed versions, abridgements and novelistic prose retellings of the
complete epic have been published in English, including work by
William Buck,
R.K. Narayan,
C. Rajagopalachari,
Krishna Dharma, Romesh C. Dutt, Bharadvaja Sarma and J.D.Smith (Penguin,
2009).
A Kawi version is found on the Indonesian island of Bali and was translated
by Dr.
I. Gusti Putu Phalgunadi. Of the eighteen parvas, only eight Kawi
manuscripts remain.
Contents of this page
UKT: Jainism is not Hinduism, and does not accept
the notion of a Creator. And the account who goes
to heaven and who to hell are bound to different from
that of the Hindu version. -- UKT101117
Jain
version of Mahabharata can be found in the various
Jain texts like Harivamsapurana (the story of Harivamsa)
Trisastisalakapurusa Caritra (Hagiography of 63 Illustrious persons),
Pandavacaritra (lives of Pandavas) and Pandavapurana
(stories of Pandavas).
[43]
From the earlier canonical literature, Antakrddaaśāh
(8th cannon) and Vrisnidasa (upangagama or
secondary canon) contain the stories of
Neminatha (22nd
Tirthankara), Krishna and Balarama.
[44]
Prof.
Padmanabh Jaini notes that, unlike in the Hindu Puranas, the names Baladeva
and Vasudeva are not restricted to Balarama and Krishna in Jain puranas. Instead
they serve as names of two distinct class of mighty brothers, who appear nine
times in each half of time cycles of the
Jain cosmology and rule the half the earth as half-chakravartins. Jaini
traces the origin of this list of brothers to the Jinacharitra by
Bhadrabahu swami (3-4 century BCE).
[45]. [UKT¶]
According to
Jain cosmology Balarama, Krishna and Jarasandha are the ninth and the last
set of Baladeva, Vasudeva, and Partivasudeva.
[46]
The main battle is not the Mahabharata, but the fight between Krishna and
Jarasandha who is killed by Krishna. Ultimately, the Pandavas and Balarama take
renunciation as
Jain monks and are reborn in heavens, while on the other hand Krishna and
Jarasandha are reborn in hell.
[47]
In keeping with the
law of karma, Krishna is reborn in hell for his exploits (sexual and
violent) while Jarasandha for his evil ways. Jaini admits a possibility that
perhaps because of his popularity, the Jain authors were keen to rehabilitate
Krishna. The Jain texts predict that after his karmic term in hell is over
sometime during the next half time-cycle, Krishna will be reborn as a Jain
Tirthankara and attain
liberation.
[46]
Krishna and Balrama are shown as contemporaries and cousins of 22nd Tirthankara,
Neminatha.
[48]
According to this story, Krishna arranged young Neminath’s marriage with
Rajamati, the daughter of Ugrasena, but Neminatha, empathizing with the animals
which were to be slaughtered for the marriage feast, left the procession
suddenly and renounced the world.
[49]
Contents of this page
Notes
• a:
Santanu was a king of the Kuru dynasty or kingdom, and was some
generations removed from any ancestor called
Kuru. His marriage to
Ganga preceded his marriage to
Satyavati.
• b: Pandu and
Dhritarashtra were
niyoga fathered by
Vyasa after
Vichitravirya's death. Dhritarashtra, Pandu and Vidura were the sons of
Vyasa with Ambika, Ambalika and a maid servant respectively.
• c: Karna was born to
Kunti through
her invocation of Surya, before her marriage to
Pandu.
• d: The
Pandavas
were acknowledged sons of
Pandu but
were begotten by Kunti's invocation of various deities. They all married
Draupadi
(not shown in tree). In particular:
¤ Yama or
Dharma
(Dharmadeva), for
Yudhishtira
¤ Vayu,
for Bhima
¤ Indra
for Arjuna
¤ The twins,
Nakula
and Sahadeva were born to
Madri
through her invocation of
The
Ashvins
• e:
Duryodhana and his siblings were born at the same time, and they were of
the same generation as their
Pandava
cousins.
The birth order of siblings is correctly shown in the family tree (from left
to right), except for
Vyasa and
Bhishma whose birth order is not described, and Vichitravirya who was born
after them. The fact that
Ambika and
Ambalika
are sisters is not shown in the family tree. The birth of Duryodhana took place
after the birth of Karna, Yudhishtira and Bhima, but before the birth of the
remaining Pandava brothers.
Some siblings of the characters shown here have been left out for clarity;
these include
Chitrangada, the eldest brother of Vichitravirya.
Vidura,
half-brother to Dhritarashtra and Pandu.
Contents of this page
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and
prince and elaborates on different
Yogic[50]
and
Vedantic philosophies, with examples and analogies. This has led to the Gita
often being described as a concise guide to
Hindu philosophy and a practical, self-contained guide to life.[51]
In modern times,
Swami Vivekananda,
Bal Gangadhar Tilak,
Mahatma Gandhi and many others used the text to help inspire the
Indian independence movement.[52][53]
UKT: End of Wikipedia article.
Contents of this page
From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna_in_the_Mahabharata 101112
Within the Indian epic Mahabharata, Krishna was the son of the
Yadava chief
Vasudeva
and his wife Devaki.
Hence he was known as Vasudeva Krishna or Vasudeva.
UKT: Not to get confused,
it might be better to refer to Krishna as Krishna Vasudeva in modern fashion. --
UKT101112
Krishna as a political reformer
Krishna was the key political figure, in overthrowing
Kamsa or Kansa,
the king of
Surasena Kingdom. The kingdom of Surasena was the native kingdom of
Yadava clans constituted by the Andhakas, Vrishnis and Bhojas. By
overthrowing Kansa, Krishna re-established the old king
Ugrasena on
the throne and stabilized the kingdom, from collapse due to factional fighting
within the kingdom.
The next threat came from outside the country, from the Magadha Kingdom. The
ruler of Magadha,
Jarasandha,
attacked Surasena many times and weakened its military. Krishna and other Yadava
chief tried all their best to hold on. At last they had to flee from their
native kingdom to the south and to the west.
Later, with the initiative of Krishna, the Yadavas who fled from Surasena
formed a new kingdom called
Dwaraka. Its capital was
Dwaravati a city well protected by mountains on all sides, in an island, not
far from the Gujarat coast. This made it immune to attacks from land. The
kingdom prospered by sea trade, with sea-faring kingdoms.
Krishna also established a tie-up of Yadavas with the
Pandavas, a faction of
Kurus, who were
fighting against the established
Kuru
Kingdom. This tie up also benefited the Yadavas, strategically. With the
help of the Pandavas they overthrew the Magadha king
Jarasandha
who was their biggest enemy. For this assistance, Krishna in turn helped the
Pandavas to win the
Kurukshetra War against the Kurus headed by
Duryodhana.
Thus the rule of the
Pandava
Yudhisthira was re-established by Krishna at
Indraprastha, the modern-day (Delhi).
However, The Yadava chiefs fought the
Kurukshetra War, on both sides, and even after the war ended, the enmity
among the Yadava leaders continued. After 36 years, since the Kurukshetra War,
another war broke among the Yadavas, in their own kingdom. This resulted in the
absolute destruction of the Yadava kingdom in Dwaraka, with Balarama and Krishna
also departing due to grief. This fight among Yadava is also attributed to curse
from
Gandhari, mother of
Duryodhana
to Krishna.
But the help Krishna extended to the
Pandava
Yudhisthira, paid off. When the rule of Yudhisthira ended, he established
the Yadava prince Vajra on the throne of Indraprastha along with the Kuru prince
Parikshit,
at
Hastinapura. Thus the royal lineage of the Yadavas continued through the
prince Vajra.
Parikshita was the son of
Abhimanyu
and the grandson of
Arjuna and Vajra was the grandson of Krishna[1]
was also grandson to Yudhisthara, son of Draupadi's daughter Sutanu and Asva,
Krishna 's son by Jambavati. Similarly, Satyaki's daughter's son Bhuti who was
grandson of Bhima and founder of Malavas was made king of Saraswat nagar.
Krishna and Rukmini 's daughter was married to Bali, son of Kritavarma, whose
son Andhaka got Mrittivakata. Bali was nephew to Yudhisthara and Duryodhana,
married to their sister. Another son of Jambavati, Samba 's son, cousin to these
three founded Moolsthana or Multana. Pradyumna, Krishna 's son, Krishna 's
brother Gada and Samba had married three daughters of Vajranabha and shared his
kingdom. What is the source for the reference to Draupadi's daughter and
Satyaki's daughter's son as grandson of Bhima and Rukmini's daughter marrying
Kritavarma's son who also married Duryodhana's sister? Late Sri. Kulapati
K.M.Munshi's famous narration of the life of Lord Krishna, Krishnavatara
(Volumes 1 to 8) published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is a very good read into
the political aspects of Lord Krishna, painting Krishna not as the God Almighty
but as a human Hero and a Great Leader. A very interesting read between the
lines into the inner aspects of politics by Krishna as a human being.
The following sections shows glimpses of Krishna's political life, as a
supporter of the Pandava cause, and as a mediator among his own kinsmen.
Pacifying his kinsmen when Arjuna eloped with the Yadava Princess Subradra
(Mahabharata, Book 1, Chapter 223) Even this is my opinion: go ye cheerfully
after Dhananjaya and by conciliation stop him and bring him back. If Partha goes
to his city after having vanquished us by force, our fame will be gone. There is
no disgrace, however, in conciliation.
Preparations for the Kurukshetra War
(Mahabharata, Book 5, Chapter 5) As we are desirous of adopting a politic
course, this is, no doubt, our first duty; a man acting otherwise would be a
great fool. But our relationship to both the Kurus and the Pandus is equal,
howsoever these two parties may behave with each other. If that chief of the
Kuru race should make peace on equitable terms, then the brotherly feelings
between the Kuras and the Pandus will sustain no injury. If on the other hand,
the son of Dhritarashtra should wax haughty and from folly refuse to make peace,
then, having summoned others, summon us too, for war.
Offer of aid in war for both Arjuna and Duryodhana
(Mahabharata, Book 5, Chapter 7) There is a large body of cowherds numbering ten
lakhs [1 million], rivalling me in strength and known as the Narayanas, all of
whom are able to fight in the thick of battle. These soldiers, irresistible in
battle, shall be sent to one of you and I alone, resolved not to fight on the
field, and laying down my arms, will go to the other. You may, first select
whichever of these two commends itself to you.
Peace mission to prevent the Kurukshetra War
(Mahabharata, Book 5, Chapter 83) I will go to king Dhritarashtra, desirous
of accomplishing what is consistent with righteousness, what may be beneficial
to us, and what also is for the good of the Kurus.
Politics within the Yadava Chiefs
(Mahabharata, Book 12, Chapter 80) I never behave with slavish obsequiousness
towards my kinsmen by flattering speeches about their prosperity. I give them
half of what I have, and forgive their evil speeches. As a fire-stick is ground
by a person desirous of obtaining fire, even so my heart is ground by my kinsmen
with their cruel speeches. Indeed those cruel speeches burn my heart every day.
Might resides in Sankarshana (Balarama); mildness in Gada; and as regards
Pradyumna, he surpasses even myself in beauty of person. Although I have all
these on my side yet I am helpless. Many others among the Andhakas and the
Vrishnis are possessed of great prosperity and might, and during courage and
constant perseverance. He on whose side they do not range themselves meets with
destruction. He, on the other hand, on whose side they do range themselves,
achieves everything. Dissuaded (in turns) by both (viz., Ahuka and Akrura,) I do
not side either of them. What can be more painful for a person than to have both
Ahuka and Akrura on his side? What, again, can be more painful for one than not
to have both of them on his side I am like the mother of two brothers gambling
against each other, invoking victory to both. I am thus, afflicted by both.
Conquest of Eastern Kingdoms of Pragjyotisha and Shonitapura
The epic Mahabharata describes many battles fought by Krishna, and his
conquest of various kingdoms. He defeated the king Naraka of
Pragjyotisha the modern day
Guwahati,
in Assam state of
India. He was known as Bhumiputra (the son of the Earth) belonging to the
Bhauma clan of kings. His kingdom was called
Kamarupa.
UKT: Though Assam and Burma (Myanmar) have common borders, the Indians
seemed to avoid entering Myanmar. My question was why. - UKT101112
He also conquered Bana or Vana of
Shonitapura (Shonitpur
of Assam), to the
east of Pragjyotisha. However they became allies, as Krishna's grandson
Aniruddha
married Usha, the daughter of Bana. He belonged to the Daitya clan of
Asuras.
In (Mahabharata, Book 5, Chapter 62), Krishna is described as the slayer of
Vana and Bhumi's son (Naraka)
(Mahabharata, Book 5, Chapter 130) He hath slain Jarasandha, and Vakra, and
Sisupala of mighty energy, and Vana in battle, and numerous other kings also
have been slain by him. Of immeasurable might, he vanquished king Varuna and
also Pavaka and Indra and Madhu and Kaitabha and Hayagriva)
Conquest of Vidarbha, Gandhara and Pandya
Krishna married
Rukmini, his
first wife, by abducting her on her request from the
Vidarbha Kingdom, defeating her brother Rukmi. He also won in a contest and
married a
Gandhara princess, Satya, in the same manner. Krishna also attacked and
conquered the
Pandya Kingdom in the south.
(Mahabharata, Book 5, Chapter 48)...that Vaasudeva (Krishna), viz.,
who having mowed down in battle by main force all the royal warriors of the
Bhoja race, had carried off on a single car Rukmini of great fame for making her
his wife.
(Mahabharata, Book 7, Chapter 11) Krishna, vanquishing all the kings
at a self-choice, bore away the daughter of the king of the Gandharas. Those
angry kings, as if they were horses by birth, were yoked unto his nuptial car
and were lacerated with the whip. The contest at swyamvara was chaining a set of
bulls to plough.
(Mahabharata, Book 7, Chapter 23) The Pandya King Sarangadhwaja's country
having been invaded and his kinsmen having fled, his father had been slain by
Krishna in battle. Obtaining weapons then from
Bhishma and
Drona, Rama and
Kripa, prince Sarangadhwaja became, in weapons, the equal of Rukmi and
Karna and
Arjuna and
Achyuta. He then desired to destroy the city of
Dwaraka and subjugate the whole world. Wise friends, however, from desire of
doing him good, counselled him against that course. Giving up all thoughts of
revenge, he ruled his own dominions.
Kishna as a philosopher
Krishna's philosophical conversation with his friend and cousin
Arjuna during
the
Kurukshetra War later became known as the famous
Bhagavad Gita, the holy book of Hindus. How he amassed this great knowledge
is revealed in the
Anugita
chapters of Mahabharata, which states that he got this knowledge by interactions
with many learned men, and by his own meditations.
The following was what Krishna told to Arjuna when later told to repeat what
he discoursed as Bhagavat Gita, in the midst of the Kurukshetra War.
(Mahabharata, Book 14, Chapter 16) I made thee listen to truths that are
regarded as mysteries. I imparted to thee truths that are eternal. Verily, I
discoursed to thee on Religion in its true form and on all the eternal regions.
It is exceedingly disagreeable to me to learn that thou didst not, from folly,
receive what I imparted. The recollection of all that I told thee on that
occasion will not come to me now. Without doubt, O son of Pandu, thou art
destitute of faith and thy understanding is not good. It is impossible for me, O
Dhananjaya (Arjuna),
to repeat, in detail, all that I said on that occasion. That religion about
which I discoursed to thee then is more than sufficient for understanding
Brahma. I cannot discourse on it again in detail. I discoursed to thee on
Supreme Brahma,
having concentrated myself in
Yoga.
The probable source of Krishna's knowledge
Krishna mentions about the knowledge he obtained from a certain Brahmana
(Mahabharata, Book 14, Chapter 16) On one occasion, a Brahmana came to us. Of
irresistible energy, he came from the regions of the Grandsire. He was duly
reverenced by us. Listen, to what he, said, in answer to our enquiries. The
Brahmana said, That which thou askest me, O Krishna, connected with the religion
of Moksha
(Emancipation), led by thy compassion for all creatures and not for thy own
good, -- that, indeed, which destroys all delusion, O thou that art possessed of
supreme puissance I shall now tell thee duly. Do thou listen with concentrated
attention as I discourse to thee.
Extracts from Bhagavat Gita the Philosophy of Krishna
(Mahabharata, Book 6, Chapter 26) There is no objective existence of anything
that is distinct from the soul; nor non-existence of anything possessing the
virtues of the soul. This conclusion in respect of both these hath been arrived
at by those that know the truths of things. Know that the soul to be immortal by
which all this [universe] is pervaded. No one can compass the destruction of
that which is imperishable. It hath been said that those bodies of the Embodied
soul which is eternal, indestructible and infinite, have an end.
(Mahabharata, Book 6, Chapter 26) As a man, casting off robes that are worn
out, putteth on others that are new, so the Embodied (soul), casting off bodies
that are worn out, entereth other bodies that are new. Weapons cleave it not,
fire consumeth it not; the waters do not drench it, nor doth the wind waste it.
It is incapable of being cut, burnt, drenched, or dried up. It is unchangeable,
all-pervading, stable, firm, and eternal. It is said to be imperceivable,
inconceivable and unchangeable.
(Mahabharata, Book 6, Chapter 26) All beings (before birth) were unmanifest.
Only during an interval (between birth and death), O Bharata, are they manifest;
and then again, when death comes, they become (once more) unmanifest.
(Mahabharata, Book 6, Chapter 27) In this world, two kinds of devotion; that
of the Sankhyas through knowledge and that of the yogins through work.
(Mahabharata, Book 6, Chapter 29) Arjuna said, -- Thou applaudest, O Krishna,
the abandonment of actions, and again the application (to them). Tell me
definitely which one of these two is superior. The Holy One said — Both
abandonment of actions and application to actions lead to emancipation. But of
these, application to action is superior to abandonment. He should always be
known to be an ascetic who hath no aversion nor desire. For, being free from
pairs of opposites, he is easily released from the bonds of action.
(Mahabharata, Book 6, Chapter 29) He who is wise never taketh pleasure in
these that have a beginning and an end.
Evidence of early worship of Krishna's personality
The cult of Krishna Vasudeva (IAST
kṛṣṇa vāsudeva "Krishna, son of
Vasudeva") is historically one of the earliest forms
of worship in
Krishnaism and
Vaishnavism. This tradition is considered separately
to other traditions that led to amalgamation at a later stage
of the historical development, that form the basis of current
tradition of monotheistic religion of
Krishna.
[2]
[3]
Some early scholars would equate it with
Bhagavatism,
[4]
and the founder of this religious tradition is believed to be
Krishna, who is the son of Vasudeva, thus his name
is Vāsudeva, and according to them his followers
called themselves Bhagavatas and this religion had formed by the
2nd century BC (the time of
Patanjali), or as early as the 4th century BC according
to evidence of Pāṇini
{pa-Ni.ni.} and that of
Megasthenes and in the
Arthasastra of
Kautilya, when Vāsudeva was worshiped
as supreme Deity in a strongly monotheistic format, where
the supreme Being was perfect, eternal and full of grace.
[5]
In many sources outside of the cult, devotee or
bhakta is defined as Vāsudevaka.[6]
Harivamsa,
a later addition to
Mahabharata as well as
Bhagavata purana speak about his childhood in the village of
Vrindavana, where Krishna passed his childhood and teenage days.
UKT: End of Wikipedia article.
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UKT: Niyoga (Skt-Devan: नियोग -->
Pali-Myan:
{ni.yau:ga.} is the precursor of the modern
"artificial insemination". Though, actual
coitus is involved it is said that "The act will
be seen as that of Dharma ... not passion nor lust.
[The man is just the donor of the sperm.] ... the woman
will accept it only to bear the child for herself and
her husband." In Niyoga, the bodies were covered
with "ghee" 'butter' to prevent lust entering
the minds of participants. The child is considered not
to be the offspring of the donor. - UKT101117
Skt-Devan: नियोग niyoga
Pal-Myan:
{ni.yau:ga.} -
-
UHS-PMD0538
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niyoga 101116
Niyoga (Skt: नियोग ) is
an ancient Hindu tradition [also found in other cultures],
in which a woman (whose husband is either incapable of
fatherhood or has died without having a child) would request
and appoint a person for helping her bear a child. According
to this Hindu tradition the man who was appointed must be
or would most likely be a revered person. There were
various clauses associated with this process, as follows:
1. The woman would agree for this only for the sake of
rightfully having a child and not for pleasure.
2. The appointed man would do this for
Dharma, considering it as his duty to help the woman
bear a child and not for pleasure.
3. The child thus born would be considered the child of
the husband-wife and not that of the appointed man.
4. The appointed man would not seek any paternal
relationship or attachment to this child in the future.
5. To avoid misuse, a man was allowed a maximum of three
times in his life time to be appointed in such a way.
6. The act will be seen as that of Dharma and while
doing so, the man and the wife will have only Dharma in
their mind and not passion nor lust. The man will do it
as a help to the woman in the name of God, whereas the
woman will accept it only to bear the child for herself
and her husband.
In Niyoga, the bodies were to be covered with "ghee" (so that lust may not take
root in the minds of participants but actual act may take place for conception).
Similar traditions are referred to in the Old Testament as
levirate marriages see
[1] and the
Spartans.
Niyoga in Mahabharata
The most famous examples of Niyoga occurred in the
Mahabharata.
Dhritarashtra,
Pandu and
Vidura were the three children born by this process when
Rishi
Vedavyasa was the
appointed man. Later
Pandu himself was incapable of producing children. The five
Pandavas,
Yudhishthira,
Bhima, Arjuna,
Nakula and
Sahadeva
were the offspring born out of Niyoga, the respective biological fathers being
various
Devas.
Niyoga in Manusmṛti
In the
Manusmṛti, niyoga is prescibed in IX.59-63, but the practice
is also condemned in IX.64-68. This text (IX.167) describes the child
born by niyoga as a kshetraja child of the husband-wife.[1]
UKT: More in Wiki stub.
UKT: Practices similar to niyoga were present in societies other than in
ancient India. e.g.:
In the Hebrew Bible
When brothers live together, and one of them dies childless, the
dead man's wife shall not be allowed to marry an outsider. Her husband's
brother must cohabit with her, making her his wife, and thus performing a
brother-in-law's duty to her. The first-born son whom she bears will then
perpetuate the name of the dead brother, so that his name will not be
obliterated from Israel. -- Deuteronomy 25:5-6 .
UKT quote from:
http://forums.sulekha.com/forums/philosophy/levirate-marriages-indian-equivalent-niyoga-system-of-begetting-a-son-126598.htm
101116
The following is from Niyoga system of fertilization by Seva (Subhash
C. Sharma)
http://www.hindunet.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/73891/Niyoga_system_of_fertilization.html
101116
To have a healthy baby long ago (several thousand years ago), especially when
the mortality rate for infants and young children used to be very high, was a
social need to keep the race and family going (genealogically), as well as a
personal need to ensure that there would be someone later (grown up son etc.) to
look after the aging parents and other family members (a kind of old age
security). Moreover, the offspring might be needed anyway when the male spouse
was incapable of impregnating his female counterpart.
Thus the religion (Hinduism) and society's elders devised a system, Niyoga,
giving seven (or more) choices of men -- starting with immediate family members
(husband's brothers etc.) and lastly the outsiders (learned brahmins etc.) -- to
a childless woman (including a widow) so that she could obtain the seed (from
these men, in order of priority) to bear a child, if she so wished. Note that
the basis for Niyoga was to get pregnant to have a child and not the sexual
gratification.
Since having an offspring might be very important to a childless woman or a
couple, from societal and personal considerations (as indicated above), Niyoga
system of fertilization, sanctioned by religion and society, was perhaps the
most practical, humane and easy to employ.
Note that the system, even though practiced long ago, is now becoming quite
popular around the world (in a slightly different form) as more and more single
women and childless couples go for having babies through artificial
insemination etc. by using sperm (seed) from outside males. In that sense,
Niyoga seems to have been an ultra modern and liberal system of fertilization.
There are even rumors that something similar to Niyoga was used by royalty
outside India not long ago, with positive outcome.
Incidentally, in the Mahabharata, king Vichitravirya died suddenly leaving two
young widowed queens (Ambika and Ambalika) behind without any heir. Then
Satyavati (Vichitravirya’s mother and Bhishma’s stepmother) asked Bhishma to do
the right thing as Vichitravirya’s half-brother and impregnate Ambika and
Ambalika to get a child (heir) so that their family and kingdom would continue.
But Bhishma, having taken earlier the vow of celibacy and to never father a
child, declined this request from his stepmother. Satyavati then had to ask
another male, as sanctioned by Niyoga, to carry out the act of fathering
children with Ambika and Ambalika, which took place and led to the births of
Dhritarashtra (from Ambika) and Pandu (from Ambalika).
Needless to say, it seems from the above example in Mahabharata that Hindu
widows long ago did not commit sati or shave their heads and move to remote
places (temples) after their husbands' deaths. The widows like Ambika and
Ambalika even had children by another man after their husband died. Moreover,
another widow (Satyavati) lived at home in her palace and made important
decisions for the family and kingdom. All these rights and privileges to women,
including widows, were in agreement with the society and religion.
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UKT: The name
Parāśara [assumed to be IAST] on transliteration gives: पराशर (needs
to be checked) can be further transcribed to
{pa.ra-þa.ra.} (changing the sibilant /ʃ/ --> thibilant /θ/). The name could
also be
{pa.ra-Sa.ra.} (changing the sibilant /ʃ/ --> another sibilant /s/). It is
necessary to do this to relate the name to an astrological text for further
work. I am waiting for input from my peers. -- UKT101117
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parashara 101116
Parāśara is a
Rigvedic
Maharishi and author of many ancient Indian texts. Parāśara was the grandson
of
Vasishtha, the son of Shakti-muni, and the father of
Vyasa. There are
several texts which give reference to Parāśara as an author/speaker. Modern
scholars believe that there were many individuals who used this name throughout
time whereas others assert that the same Parāśara taught these various texts and
the time of writing them varied. The actual sage himself never wrote the texts,
he was known as a traveling teacher, and the various texts attributed to him are
given in reference to Parāśara being the speaker to his student.
Genealogy
According to vedas which is the word of GOD The Supreme personality of Godhead
Lord Krishna,
Brahma created
Vasishtha who with Arundhati had a son named Shakti-muni who sired Parāśara.
[UKT¶]
UKT: Words and phrases like "GOD",
"The Supreme personality of Godhead Lord Krishna"
had confused me. I am now (101116) looking at the authors of
Mahabharata and BhagavaGita as humans and
"historical figures" and am identifying them
together with their father's names in the modern fashion.
Thus the names of the authors of Mahabharata is
Vyasa Parāśara, and that of BhagavaGita is
Krishna Vasudeva and that they had lived at least 500 years
before the Gautama Buddha or 1000 before Jesus Christ.
-- UKT101116
With
Satyavati [fisherman's daughter], Parāśara
fathered Vyasa [in secret on an island]. Vyasa niyoga-sired
Dhritarashtra, Pandu and Vidura through his dead half-brother's
wives. [UKT¶]
UKT: I have used my own term "niyoga-sire" to
show that Vyasa was the sperm donor in "artificial"
insemination. And therefore it is not correct to refer to him
as the "father" and the word "sired"
is incorrect. The father of Dhritarashtra, Pandu and
Vidura was Vichitravirya.
He sired
Śuka through his wife, Jābāli's daughter
Pinjalā (Vatikā)
[1].
Thus Parashara was the great-grandfather of both the warring
parties of the Mahābhārata, the Kauravas and the
Pāndavas.
Life
Parāśara Muni was raised by his grandfather,
Vasishtha, because he lost his father at an early age.
His father, Shakti-muni, was on a journey and came across
an angry Rakshasa (demon)
{yak~hka.} who had once been a king but was turned
into a demon feeding on human flesh as a curse from
Vishwamitra. The demon devoured Parāśara’s father.
In the
Visnu Purana, Parāśara speaks about his anger from this:
[2]
"I had heard that my father had been devoured by
a Rakshasa employed by
Vishwamitra: violent anger seized me, and I commenced
a sacrifice for the destruction of the Rakshasas: hundreds
of them were reduced to ashes by the rite, when, as they
were about to be entirely exterminated, my grandfather
Vasishtha said to me: Enough, my child; let thy wrath
be appeased: the Rakshasas are not culpable: thy father's
death was the work of destiny. Anger is the passion of fools;
it becometh not a wise man. By whom, it may be asked, is
any one killed? Every man reaps the consequences of his
own acts. Anger, my son, is the destruction of all that
man obtains by arduous exertions, of fame, and of devout
austerities; and prevents the attainment of heaven or of
emancipation. The chief sages always shun wrath: be not
subject to its influence, my child. Let no more of these
unoffending spirits of darkness be consumed. Mercy is the
might of the righteous.”
Sage Parashara, on one of his travels across the country, halted for the
night in a little hamlet on the banks of the river Ganga. He was put up in the
house of the village chief. When dawn broke, the chief asked his daughter,
Satyavati, to ferry the sage to his next destination. When in the ferry,
Parashara was offended by the stench of raw fish. According to legend, the Ganga
has no fish within her waters. He asked Satyavati as to from where the foul
stench was emanating. Satyavati was a fisherman's daughter, and pursued the same
occupation. It was from her the stench emanated. Realising this, Parashara gave
her the epithet "Matsyagandha", meaning "one with the smell of fish". Satyavati
was thoroughly ashamed. Parashara felt sorry for his cruelty, and instantly
granted her the boon, that the finest fragrance may emit from her person.
Parashara grew attached to Satyavati, and desired to perform coitus with her.
But Satyavati was terrified of him and gave an excuse that there were many
people present on either sides of Ganga. So Parasara Muni, with his mystic
power, created a dense sheet of mist around the boat. He then took her to an
island on Ganga and in due course, they had a son, by name Vyasa. But
Parashara's wandering ascetic life did not suit Satyavati, and the couple
separated. While parting, Parashara granted Satyavati another boon; that she may
have her lost virginity back. Satyavati returned to her father after this, and
in due course, married Shantanu.
Parāśara was known as the "limping sage". He had his leg wounded during the
attack of his ashram. When a rishi dies he merges back into an element or an
archeype, Sage Jaimini was trampled by wild elephants, Sage Gautama was eaten by
Cannibals, etc. When Sage Parāśara was walking through a dense forest he and his
students were attacked by wolves. He was unable to get away in his old age with
a lame leg he left this world merging into the wolves
[3].
UKT: Does "merging into the wolves" mean 'eaten by wolves'. - UKT101116
The birth place of Parashar Muni is believed to be at
Panhala fort
in Kolhapur
district of Maharashtra. A cave supposed to be of Parashar Muni is present at
the fort.
Rigveda
In the Rigveda, Parāśara, son of Sakti-Muni (Parāśara Śāktya), is the seer of
verses 1.65-73 which are all in praise of
Agni (the sacred
fire), and part of 9.97 (v.31-44) which is in praise of
Soma. Below is
1.73.2
devo na yaḥ savitā satyamanmā kratvā nipāti vṛjanāni viṣvā
purupraṣasto amatirna satya ātmeva Sevo didhiṣāyyo bhūt
He who is like the divine Sun, who knows the truth (of things), preserves
by his actions (his votaries) in all encounters; like nature, he is
unchangeable and, like soul, is the source of all happiness: he is ever to
be cherished.[4]
Texts attributed to Parāśara
• Author of verses in the Rigveda:
recorded as the author of
RV
1.65-73 and part of
RV
9.97.
• Parāśara Smriti (also called Parāśara Dharma Samhita): a code of laws which
is stated in the text (1.24) to be for
Kali Yuga.[5]
• Speaker of Visnu Purana considered by scholars as one of the earliest
Puranas.[6]
• Speaker of the
Bṛhat Parāśara Horāśāstra, also written as BPHS. It is considered
a foundational text of
astrology. The Sanskrit in which it is composed dates to the 7th or 8th
centuries CE .
• Speaker of the Vrikshayurveda ("the science of life of trees"), one
of the earliest texts on
botany. [1]
This text was considered to be an ancient botany primer for students of
Traditional
Indian Medicine.
UKT: End of Wikipedia article.
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From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puru%E1%B9%A3%C4%81rtha 101116
In Hinduism,
puruṣārtha (Skt: पुरुषार्थ: "that which is sought by man; human
purpose, aim, or end") refers to a goal, end or aim of human existence.[1]
There are generally considered to be four such puruṣārthas, namely:
• Dharma:
"(religious, social and/or moral) righteousness, both spiritual and ritual"
• Artha:
"(material and/or financial) prosperity as well as pursuit of meaning"
•
Kāma: "(sensory and/or sexual) pleasure as well as spiritual love"
•
Mokṣa: "(spiritual) liberation; or renunciation as well as detachment"
Origins
The notion that proper living entails the pursuit of four goals or ends first
took shape in the literary traditions of the
Dharmaśāstras and the epics
Ramayana
and
Mahabharata.[2]
Early texts treating the goals of human life commonly refer to kāma,
artha and dharma as the "trivarga" or "three categories" of
possible human pursuits. This is generally interpreted as indicating that the
notion of mokṣa as one of the puruṣārthas is a product of a later
age.[3]
As Hiltebeitel (2002) notes, however, this is not necessarily the case: given
that the trivarga focuses on the interests and concerns of the individual
during the householder (grihastha)
stage of life and mokṣa, though to be pursued throughout life, is the
particular goal of the renunciate (sannyasa)
stage, the opposition between the trivarga on the one hand and mokṣa
on the other can be understood as a reflection of the householder-renunciate
opposition as seen in the
aśrama system prevalent in India during the ancient and medieval
periods. In a similar vein, Prasad (2008) argues that the division between the
trivarga and mokṣa is intended to highlight the distinction
between values in the social (trivarga) and personal (mokṣa)
spheres.[4]
While it may remain somewhat unclear as to when it was articulated as a goal of
human life on par with the trivarga, mokṣa was certainly integral
to the matured conception of the puruṣārthas, eventually becoming known
as the caturvarga, the "four-fold set".
Elaboration
Each of the four canonical puruṣārthas was subjected to a process of
examination and elaboration which produced several key works in the history of
Indian philosophy, including the
Kamasutra of
Vātsyāyana
(treating kāma, particularly as "sexual gratification"), the
Arthashastra of
Kauṭilya
(treating artha as "material pursuits"), the
Dharmaśāstras of various authors, most notably
Manu
(treating dharma as "religious, social and personal ethics") and the
principle sūtras of the six orthodox schools of philosophy or
darśanas,
all of which are principally concerned with the attainment of mokṣa,
often referred to as the parama-puruṣārtha or "chief end of human life".[5]
Puruṣārthas and the Varnāśrama system
There is a popular correspondence between the four puruṣārthas, the four
stages of life (Skt.:
āśrama :
Brahmacharya [student life],
Grihastha
[household life],
Vanaprastha [retired life] and
Sannyasa
[renunciation]) and the four primary castes or strata of society (Skt.:
varna :
Brahmana
[priest/teacher],
Kshatriya
[warrior/politician],
Vaishya
[landowner/entrepreneur] and
Shudra
[servant/manual labourer]). This, however, has not been traced to any primary
source in early Sanskrit literature.[6]
UKT: End of Wiki article.
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UKT: Satyavati ,
Skt-Devan: सत्यवती
= स त ् य व त ी --> {þût-ya. wa.ti}
?
For transcription into Pal-Myan, I divide the word into two: {þût-ya.} and {wa.ti}.
Transcription unreliable - UKT101117
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyavati 101111
Satyavati
(Skt: सत्यवती) was the queen of the
Kuru king
Shantanu and the great-grandmother of the
Pandava and
Kaurava
princes, principal characters of the
Mahābhārata, one of the principal texts in
Hindu mythology. According to the
Puranas, she
was born to the
Chedi
king Vasu (also known as Uparichara Vasu) and a fish, who was actually an
Apsara, Adrika.
But she was nevertheless brought up as a commoner, an adopted daughter to a
ferryman or fisherman or a daseyi (a dasa aboriginal princess).[1][2].
She was also known as Matsyagandha (one who has the smell of fish) in her
earlier life and yojanagandha in her later life. Her another name was
Kali.
As a young woman, she met the wandering
Rishi
Parashara,
by whom she had a son, Vyasa. His birth took place in secret on an island in the
river Yamuna.
This island in the shallow river Yamuna exists even today, and is enigmatic to
say the least. At this point, the east-flowing river actually flows towards the
west, giving the locale it's local name --- Pachmani ( Paschim being West). This
situation has existed for thousands of years, over a vast plain where there is
no reason for the Yamuna to flow a tortuous path, rather than straight ahead. No
hills or mountains cause the extreme meandering of the flow, and even the times
of great floods have failed to alter the path of the river in this area. This
strip of land surrounded by water on all sides is ideally located from safety
point of view and is known as Manchodri in local parlance.
Later, King
Shantanu of
Hastinapura saw her and asked her to marry him. Her father allowed her to
marry on condition that their children would inherit the throne. Their children
were
Chitrāngada and
Vichitravirya. After Santanu's death, she with her princely sons ruled the
kingdom. Although both these sons died childless, she arranged for her first son
Vyasa to niyoga-father the children of the two wives of Vichitravirya (Ambika
and Ambalika).
UKT: The original Wiki article states "... she arranged for her first son
Vyasa to father the children ..." Since, the process was the ancient
"artificial insemination" aka niyoga, I have changed it to "niyoga-father".
Vyasa was the sperm donor and not the father. The father was Vichitravirya.
Go back Satyavati-note-b
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Vyāsa -
{bya-þa.}
UKT: Skt-Devan व्यास vyāsa
= व ् य ा स --> Pal-Myan {wya-þa.}. Since it is common for
{wya.} to become {bya.}, the name could be {bya-þa.}. I will tentatively use the
name
{bya-þa.}.
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyasa 101110
Vyasa (Skt: व्यास,
vyāsa) [UKT: व्यास
= व ् य ा स --> {wya-þa.}. Since it is common for
{wya.} to become {bya.}, the name could be {bya-þa.}] is a central
and revered figure in the majority of Hindu
traditions. Vyasa is conflated by
Vaishnavas with Badarayana, the author of the Vedanta Sutras. He is
also sometimes called Veda Vyasa (वेद व्यास, veda vyāsa), (the one
who compiled the
Vedas) or Krishna Dvaipayana (referring to his complexion and
birthplace). He is considered to be the scribe of both the Vedas, and the
supplementary texts such as the
Puranas. A
number of
Vaishnava traditions regard him as an
avatar of
Vishnu.[1]
Vyasa is also considered to be one of the seven
Chiranjivins (long lived, or immortals), who are still in existence
according to general Hindu belief.
The festival of
Guru
Purnima, is dedicated to him, and also known as Vyasa Purnima as
it is the day, which is believed to his birthday and also the day he divided the
Vedas.[2][3]
In the Mahabharata
Vyasa appears for the first time as the author of, and an
important character in the Mahābhārata. He was
the son of
Satyavati (also known as Matsyagandha), daughter of
a ferryman or fisherman
[4], and
the wandering sage
Parashara.
He was born on an island in the river Yamuna. The place
is named after him as Vedvyas . He was dark-complexioned
and hence may be called by the name Krishna (black),
and also the name Dwaipayana, meaning 'island-born'.
Vyasa was grandfather to the
Kauravas and
Pandavas. Both
Dhritarashtra and
Pandu, adopted as the sons of Vichitravirya
by the royal family, were fathered
by him. He had a third son, Vidura, by a serving
maid.
UKT: The above needs a rewrite. Vyasa was the sperm donor
of niyoga ["insemination"] to the mothers of
Dhritarashtra, Pandu, and Vidura. The correct names (modern
fashion using the father name as surname) were:
Dhritarashtra Vichitravirya and
Pandu Vichitravirya. Since "serving maids" can
very well be concubines of Vichitravirya, Vidura may also be
Vidura Vichitravirya. However, the title "Prince"
would not be attached to his name while we can say Prince
Dhritarashtra Vichitravirya (father of Kauravas) and Prince
Pandu Vichitravirya (father of Pandavas). I am waiting for
input from my peers. -- UKT101117
... ... ...
Author of Mahabharata
Vyasa is traditionally known as author of this epic. But he also features as
an important character in it. His mother later married
Shantanu, the king of
Hastinapura, and had two sons. Both sons died without an issue and taking
recourse to an ancient practice called
Niyoga where a
chosen man can father sons with the widow of a person who dies issueless, she
requests Vyasa to produce sons on behalf of her dead son
Vichitravirya.
UKT: The ancient practice of Niyoga was the precursor of modern
artificial insemination - the difference is "actual" instead of "artificial"
involving coitus. -- UKT101116
Vyasa fathers [UKT: The word "fathers" is not culturally correct. Vyasa was
just the "donor of the sperm". - UKT101116] the princes Dhritarashtra and Pandu by
Ambika and
Ambalika, the wives of the dead king Vichitravirya. Vyasa told them that
they should come alone near him. First did Ambika, but because of shyness and
fear she closed her eyes. Vyasa told Satyavati that her child would be blind.
Later this child was named Dhritarāshtra. Thus Satyavati sent Ambālika and
warned her that she should remain calm. But Ambālika's face became pale because
of fear. Vyasa told her that child would suffer from anaemia, and he would not
be fit enough to rule the kingdom. Later this child was known as Pāndu. Then
Vyasa told Satyavati to send one of them again so that a healthy child can be
born. This time Ambika and Ambālika sent a maid in the place of themselves. The
maid was quite calm and composed, and she got a healthy child later named as
Vidura. [UKT¶]
UKT: The "culturally correct" names of the fathers of warring factions
were:
• Dhritarāshtra Vichitravirya - being the son of queen Ambika should be
called Prince Dhritarāshtra Vichitravirya
• Pāndu Vichitravirya - being the son of queen Ambalika should be
called Prince Pāndu Vichitravirya
• Vidura Vichitravirya - being the son of a commoner cannot be called
"Prince".
Vyasa was just the "donor of the sperm".
Vyasa had [While these are his sons, UKT overwrite 101116] another son
Śuka, born of his
wife, sage Jābāli's daughter Pinjalā (Vatikā),[5]
is considered his true spiritual heir. He was thus the [genetic] grandfather of both the
warring parties of the Mahābhārata, the Kauravas and
the
Pāndavas. Vyasa makes occasional appearances in the story as a spiritual guide
to the young princes: Kauravas the sons of Dhritarāshtra Vichitravirya, and
Pandavas the sons of Pāndu Vichitravirya .
UKT: The above para needs a re-write. - UKT101116
In the first book of the Mahābhārata, it is described that Vyasa asked
Ganesha to aid him in writing the text, however Ganesha imposed a condition that
he would do so only if Vyasa narrated the story without pause. To which Vyasa
then made a counter-condition that Ganesha must understand the verse before he
transcribed it.
Thus Lord VedVyas narrated the whole Mahābhārata and all the
Upanishads
and the 18
Puranas, while Lord Ganesha wrote.
Vyasa is supposed to have meditated and authored the epic by the foothills of
the river Beas (Vipasa)
in the Punjab region.
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