I LECTURE XIII. The Itihasas or Epic Poems-The Maha-bhārata. PASS on now to the Maha-bhārata-probably by far the longest epic poem that the world has ever produced. Its main design is to describe the great contest between the descendants of king Bharata1. He was the most renowned monarch of the Lunar dynasty, and is alleged to have reigned in the neighbourhood of Hastināpur or ancient Delhi, and to have extended his authority over a great part of India, so that India to this day is called by the natives Bharata-varsha. The great Epic, however, is not so much a poem with a single subject as a vast cyclopædia or thesaurus of Hindu mythology, legendary history, ethics, and philosophy. The work, as we now possess it, cannot possibly be regarded as representing the original form of the poem. Its compilation appears to have proceeded gradually for centuries. At any rate, as we have already indicated (pp. 319, 320), it 1 The title of the poem is Mahā-bhāratam, a compound word in the neuter gender, the first member of which, mahā (for mahat), means 'great,' and the second, bhārata, 'relating to Bharata.' The title of a book is often in the neuter gender, some word like kavyam, a poem,' being understood. Here the word with which Mahā-bhāratam agrees may be either ākhyānam, 'a historical poem,' or yuddham, 'war.' It is curious that in the Sangraha-parva, or introductory summary (1. 264), the word Maha-bharata is said to be derived from its large size and great weight, because the poem is described as outweighing all the four Vedas and mystical writings together. Here is the passage:-Ekataś caturo Vedān Bhāratam caitad ekataḥ Purā kila suraiḥ sarvaiḥ sametya tulayā dhṛitam, Ćaturbhyaḥ sarahasyebhyo Vedebhyo hy adhikam yadā, Tadā prabhṛiti loke 'smin [mahatṭvād bhāravatṭvāć-ća] Mahā-bhāratam ućyate. seems to have passed through several stages of construction and reconstruction, until finally arranged and reduced to orderly written shape by a Brāhman or Brāhmans, whose names have not been preserved'. The relationship which the original Brahman compiler bore to the scattered legends and lays of India, many of them orally transmitted until transferred to the Maha-bharata, was similar to that borne by Pisistratus to the Homeric poems. But the Hindus invest this personage, whoever he was, with a nimbus of mystical sanctity, and assert that he was also the arranger of various other celebrated religious works, such as the Vedas and Purāņas. He is called Vyasa, but this is, of course, a mere epithet derived from the Sanskrit verb vy-as, meaning 'to dispose in regular sequence,' and therefore would be equally applicable to any compiler'. 1 Professor Lassen, in his 'Indische Alterthumskunde' (II. 499, new edition), considers that it may be proved from an examination of the Introduction to the Mahā-bhārata that there were three consecutive workings-up (bearbeitung) of that poem by different authors. The first or oldest version, called simply Bhārata, which contained only 24,000 verses, began with the history of Manu, the progenitor of the Kshatriya or military class (Ādi-parvan 3126), and a short section-describing the pedigree of Vyasa, and how he appeared at the Snake-sacrifice, and how, at the request of Janamejaya, he commissioned Vaiśampāyana to relate the story of the strife between the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas (I. 2208, &c.) -might have formed the introduction (einleitung) to this oldest Bhārata. The second reconstruction or recasting of the poem-thought by Professor Lassen to be identical with the Itihasa mentioned in Aśvalāyana's Grihyasūtras, and recited at Saunaka's Horse-sacrifice—took place about 400 B.C. It began with the history of king Vasu, whose daughter Satyavati was mother of Vyasa; and the section called Paushya (I. 661), the antiquity of which is indicated by its being almost entirely in prose, might have served as its introduction. The section called Pauloma (I. 851) probably formed the commencement of the third reconstruction of the great Epic, which he considers must have preceded the era of Aśoka. 2 Vivyāsa Vedān yasmāt sa tasmād Vyāsa iti smṛitaḥ (I. 2417). Similarly the name Homerus ("Oμnpos) is thought by some to come from óμou and apw. It may seem strange that the compilation of wholly different works Many of the legends are Vedic, and of great antiquity; while others, as we have already pointed out, are comparatively modern-probably interpolated during the first centuries of the Christian era. In fact, the entire work, which consists of about 220,000 lines in eighteen Parvans or sections, nearly every one of which would form a large volume, may be compared to a confused congeries of geological strata. The principal story, which occupies little more than a fifth of the whole, forms the lowest layer; but this has been so completely overlaid by successive incrustations, and the mass so compacted together, that the original substratum is not always clearly traceable. If the successive layers can ever be critically analysed and separated, the more ancient from the later composed at very different epochs, such as the Vedas, Mahā-bhārata, and Purāņas undoubtedly were, should be attributed to the same person; but the close relationship supposed by learned natives to subsist between these productions, will account for a desire to call in the aid of the same great sage in their construction. The following passage from the Vedartha-prakāśa of Madhava Acarya (who lived in the fourteenth century) commenting on the Taittiriya Yajur-veda (p. 1), translated by Dr. Muir in his Sanskrit Texts, vol. iii. p. 47, attributes the actual composition of the Mahā-bhārata to the sage Vyasa, and gives a remarkable reason for his having written it-It may be said that all persons whatever, including women and Sūdras, must be competent students of the Veda, since the aspiration after good (ishṭam me syād iti) and the deprecation of evil are common to all mankind. But it is not so. For though the expedient exists, and women and Sūdras are desirous to know it, they are debarred by another cause from being competent students of the Veda. The scripture (sāstra) which declares that those persons only who have been invested with the sacrificial cord are competent to read the Veda, intimates thereby that the same study would be a cause of unhappiness to women and Sūdras (who are not so invested). How then are these two classes of persons to discover the means of future happiness? We answer, from the Puranas and other such works. Hence it has been said: Since the triple Veda may not be heard by women, Sūdras, and degraded twice-born men, the Mahā-bhārata (Bhāratam ākhyānam) was, in his benevolence, composed (kritam) by the Muni.' additions, and the historical element from the purely fabulous, it may be expected that light will be thrown on the early history of India, religious, social, and political -a subject still veiled in much obscurity, notwithstanding the valuable researches of Professor Lassen and others. I now give the names of the eighteen sections or Books which constitute the poem, with a brief statement of their contents: 1. Adi-parvan, 'introductory Book,' describes how the two brothers, Dhrita-rashtra and Pāṇḍu, are brought up by their uncle Bhishma; and how Dhrita-rashtra, who is blind, has one hundred sons-commonly called the Kuru princes-by his wife Gāndhārī; and how the two wives of Pandu-Prithā (Kunti) and Madri-have five sons, called the Pandavas or Pandu princes. 2. Sabhā-parvan describes the great Sabhā or 'assembly of princes' at Hastina-pura, when Yudhi-shṭhira, the eldest of the five Pandavas, is persuaded to play at dice with Sakuni and loses his kingdom. The five Pandavas and Draupadi, their wife, are required to live for twelve years in the woods. 3. Vana-parvan narrates the life of the Pandavas in the Kamyaka forest. This is one of the longest books, and full of episodes such as the story of Nala and that of the Kirātārjunīya. 4. Virata-parvan describes the thirteenth year of exile and the adventures of the Pandavas while living disguised in the service of king Virāṭa. 5. Udyoga-parvan. In this the preparations for war on the side of both Pandavas and Kauravas are described. 6. Bhishma-parvan. In this both armies join battle on Kuru-kshetra, a plain north-west of Delhi. The Kauravas are commanded by Bhishma, who falls transfixed with arrows by Arjuna. 7. Drona-parvan. In this the Kuru forces are commanded by Drona, and numerous battles take place. Drona falls in a fight with Dhṛishtadyumna (son of Drupada). 8. Karna-parvan. In this the Kurus are led by Karna. Other battles are described. Arjuna kills Karna. 9. Śalya-parvan. In this Salya is made general of the Kuru army. The concluding battles take place, and only three of the Kuru warriors, with Duryodhana, are left alive. Bhima and Duryodhana then fight with clubs. Duryodhana, chief and eldest of the Kurus, is struck down. 10. Sauptika-parvan. In this the three surviving Kurus make a night attack on the camp of the Pandavas and kill all their army, but not the five Pandavas. 11. Strī-parvan describes the lamentations of queen Gāndhārī and the other wives and women over the bodies of the slain heroes. 12. Śanti-parvan. In this Yudhi-shṭhira is crowned in Hastina-pura. To calm his spirit, troubled with the slaughter of his kindred, Bhishma, still alive, instructs him at great length in the duties of kings (rājadharma 1995-4778), rules for adversity (apad-dharma 4779-6455), rules for attaining final emancipation (moksha-dharma 6456 to end). 13. Anusasana-parvan. In this the instruction is continued by Bhishma, who gives precepts and wise axioms on all subjects, such as the duties of kings, liberality, fasting, eating, &c., mixed up with tales, moral and religious discourses, and metaphysical disquisitions. At the conclusion of his long sermon Bhishma dies. 14. Aśvamedhika-parvan. In this Yudhi-shthira, having assumed the government, performs an Aśva-medha or 'horse-sacrifice' in token of his supremacy. 15. Āśramavāsika-parvan narrates how the old blind king Dhritarashtra, with his queen Gāndhārī and with Kunti, mother of the Pāṇḍavas, retires to a hermitage in the woods. After two years a forest conflagration takes place, and they immolate themselves in the fire to secure heaven and felicity. 16. Mausala-parvan narrates the death of Krishna and Bala-rāma, their return to heaven, the submergence of Krishna's city Dvārakā by the sea, and the self-slaughter in a fight with clubs (musala) of Krishna's family-the Yadavas-through the curse of some Brahmans. 17. Mahaprasthānika-parvan describes the renunciation of their kingdom by Yudhi-shṭhira and his four brothers, and their departure towards Indra's heaven in Mount Meru. 18. Svargārohanika-parvan narrates the ascent and admission to heaven of the five Pāṇḍavas, their wife Draupadi, and kindred. Supplement or Hari-vansa-parvan, a later addition, recounting the genealogy and birth of Krishna and the details of his early life. The following is a more more complete and continuous account of the story of the poem, which is supposed to be recited by Vaisampayana, the pupil of Vyasa, to Janamejaya, great-grandson of Arjuna. We have seen that the Rāmāyaṇa commences by recounting the genealogy of the Solar line of kings, of whom Rāmā |