MAHABHARAT

[Surjeet Nagpal]

Mahabharat is a Holy Book and has Great respect in the Hindu Society. Why this is advised not to keep Mahabharat in the house ? even many Acharyas also said the same.

[Ajit Gargeshwari]

Mahabharata is not read from adiparva to the last parva unlike other puranas. I have heard people say not to display painting or picture depicting Krishnas discourse of Bhgavad Gita with armies standing on either sides in ones living room. There are several such beliefs about mahabharta.

Regards

Ajit Gargeshwari

 

From: bvpar...@googlegroups.com [mailto:bvpar...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Surjeet Nagpal
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2016 11:11 PM
To: भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्
Subject: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} MAHABHARAT

 

Mahabharat is a Holy Book and has great respect in the Society. Why this is advised, not only by the ordinary man,  even by Acharyas, not to keep in the house ? 

 

[sunil bhattacharjya]

As the Mahabharata war was the consequences of dispute between two groups of cousins, there is a belief among some (not all) that keeping the Mahabharata in home may lead to such family disputes. Moreover the Mahabharata is not an easy text for all to understand and realizing that Vedavyasa subsequently wrote the Bhagavatam, giving all the essence of the Vedic literature.. The Bhagavatam is caonsidered the vangmayee-roopa of Lord Krishna himself and people generally prefer to keep the Bhagavatm instead.

Regards,

skb

On Fri, Dec 16, 2016 at 9:52 AM, Surjeet Nagpal <nagp...@gmail.com> wrote:

Mahabharat is a Holy Book and has Great respect in the Hindu Society. Why this is advised not to keep Mahabharat in the house ? even many Acharyas also said the same.

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[sadasivamurty rani]

Yes. There is a belief in vogue as said by Sri Ajit ji that Mahabharata should be started reading from Adi Parvan. This belief is popular in Andrha Pradesh also. The reason emphasized upon is that the beginning of the Mahabharata is with the Sarpayaga of Janamejaya and the demise of Parikshit which is considered inauspicious. 

But in fact nothing bad had happened to me though I possess both Devanagari version and Telugu script Version of Vedavyasa's Mahabharata at my home. Even from the times of my grand father and my father they possessed Mahabharata at home. My father gave 27 readings of entire Mahabharata including Harivamsa during his life time who lived for 84 years.  Never any evil took place. 

We cannot deny the validity of belief though nothing had happened. May it be the reason, as said by Sunil ji that we possess The Ramayana, 18 puranas including  Bhagavata Purana (which is said to be the very literary manifestation of Lord Srikrishna) in our personal collection, we are safe in the hands of Lord Srikrishna.  

Let us expect any supporting slokas from the other scholars in support of  either to possess or not to possess it with us. 

Warm Regards,

Prof. Rani Sadasiva Murty

---

From: Ajit Gargeshwari <ajit.gar...@gmail.com>
To: bvpar...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, 16 December 2016 11:27 PM

Subject: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} MAHABHARAT

Mahabharata is not read from adiparva to the last parva unlike other puranas. I have heard people say not to display painting or picture depicting Krishnas discourse of Bhgavad Gita with armies standing on either sides in ones living room. There are several such beliefs about mahabharta.

Regards

Ajit Gargeshwari

 

From: bvpar...@googlegroups.com [mailto:bvpar...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Surjeet Nagpal
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2016 11:11 PM
To: भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्
Subject: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} MAHABHARAT

 

Mahabharat is a Holy Book and has great respect in the Society. Why this is advised, not only by the ordinary man,  even by Acharyas, not to keep in the house ? 

 

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[Ganesh R]

Yes, such belief prevails among the ignorant masses. But me having read the epic several times, have not at all come across such bad situations and this is the same with my close friends too who have had the joy of reading this immortal epic in the original.  I honestly feel that such superstitions should be shunned or ignored at least.  The very epic speaks that one should not see that day which is devoid of the mahasbhaaratam. 

SlOkam vaapyanugRhNeeta tathaa shlOkaardhamEva vaa /paadam vaapi paThEnnityam na ca nirbhaaratO bhavEt

Regards

Ganesh 

On Dec 17, 2016 9:52 AM, "'sadasivamurty rani' via भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्" <bvpar...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Yes. There is a belief in vogue as said by Sri Ajit ji that Mahabharata should be started reading from Adi Parvan. This belief is popular in Andrha Pradesh also. The reason emphasized upon is that the beginning of the Mahabharata is with the Sarpayaga of Janamejaya and the demise of Parikshit which is considered inauspicious. 

But in fact nothing bad had happened to me though I possess both Devanagari version and Telugu script Version of Vedavyasa's Mahabharata at my home. Even from the times of my grand father and my father they possessed Mahabharata at home. My father gave 27 readings of entire Mahabharata including Harivamsa during his life time who lived for 84 years.  Never any evil took place. 

We cannot deny the validity of belief though nothing had happened. May it be the reason, as said by Sunil ji that we possess The Ramayana, 18 puranas including  Bhagavata Purana (which is said to be the very literary manifestation of Lord Srikrishna) in our personal collection, we are safe in the hands of Lord Srikrishna.  

Let us expect any supporting slokas from the other scholars in support of  either to possess or not to possess it with us. 

Warm Regards,

Prof. Rani Sadasiva Murty

---

From: Ajit Gargeshwari <ajit.gar...@gmail.com>
To: bvpar...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, 16 December 2016 11:27 PM
Subject: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} MAHABHARAT

Mahabharata is not read from adiparva to the last parva unlike other puranas. I have heard people say not to display painting or picture depicting Krishnas discourse of Bhgavad Gita with armies standing on either sides in ones living room. There are several such beliefs about mahabharta.

Regards

Ajit Gargeshwari

 

From: bvpar...@googlegroups.com [mailto:bvparishat@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Surjeet Nagpal
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2016 11:11 PM
To: भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्
Subject: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} MAHABHARAT

 

Mahabharat is a Holy Book and has great respect in the Society. Why this is advised, not only by the ordinary man,  even by Acharyas, not to keep in the house ? 

 

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[V Subrahmanian]

In fact the original name of the epic, 'Jaya' signifies victory and positive currents. So no inauspiciousness should be attached to this great epic. 

Such beliefs with relation to having the picture or a particular posture of Hanuman, Lord Ayyappa, etc. at home is also in vogue among some people.

subrahmanian.v 

[Bijoy Misra]

Transforming the epics as religious edicts has been the problem.

They should be treated as marvelous literary compositions depicting

the nature and culture of the society at a time in the past.  The morals

and the empiricism would apply and they would need interpretation.

The scholars have a role to play in this as the inheritors of the scholarly work.

Huge amount of disservice has happened through literal interpretation

possibly begun by the outside invaders to figure out a way to rule.

I would assert that all principal poetic compositions have an angle of education

and analysis than propelled by conservative dogmatism. 

We must be open to celebrate India's own discovery of freedom and truth! 

[sadasivamurty rani]

There is strong reason for such belief among the learned folks in Andhra Pradesh.

Nannayya or Nannaya Bhattaraka, a court poet of Raja Raja Narendra was said to have been the First Classical Poet in the literary history of Andhra (Hence called ADI KAVI in TELUGU). 

He was the poet, who for the first time attempted to translate the Sanskrit Mahabharata in to Telugu in metrical style. He began with Adi Parava. He could successfully complete ADI PARVA, SABHA PARVA and a HALF of VANAPARVA.  The he abruptly died. So the Translation of Mahabharata was left in the middle.

Then Tikkana Somayaji, the court poet of the King Manuma Siddhi of Nellore region took the responsibility. He having left the VANAPARVA part could complete all the remaining from Virataparva to Svarga Arohana Parva. 

Later, Erra Preggada took up the job and finished the VANA PARAVA Part. 

Thus these three were popularly known as "KAVI TRAYA" or the TRIO of POETS. 

Because of the abrupt ending of NANNAYYA this notion of inauspiciousness had ever  since come into existence. 

 

Prof. Rani Sadasiva Murty

---

From: Bijoy Misra <misra...@gmail.com>
To: Bharatiya Vidvat parishad <bvpar...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, 17 December 2016 5:27 PM
Subject: Re: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} MAHABHARAT

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[Vinay Nair]

I happened to do a course under a group of 'intellectual' scientists in the last week who argued that all that happened in Mahabharata was unfair and biased and that Krishna brainwashed Arjuna to fight the war and kill his cousins. They gave many such arguments which was based on their own understanding about Mahabharata. They did not believe in Guru-shishya tradition at all. While this was going on, I saw this thread in the group. The case with them was the lack of a Guru and lot of intellect resulting in misinformation of the text. Now I am wondering, could this have been a possibility (possibility of misinterpretation without the guidance of a Guru) that it was said Mahabharata should not be kept at home?

Regards,

Vinay

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[Ajit Gargeshwari]

The word Guru has to be defined. How does one know  A so called ‘Guru’ is right and all others are wrong. If it confined to one’s personal beliefs I have nothing to add.

 

Good scholars who have made deep studies, subject matter experts are gurus. Why does one need Guru Shishya traditions for Mahabharata study. One can read the Mahabharata and ask for expert clarification with an expert. Each person will have his own view and can have different interpretations based on ones learning.

 

If one needs to make serious studies one will have do away with this guru shishya tradition in which argues for one own gurus view point and consider oneself as the greatest champion if one has outclassed a rival camp.

 

Regards

Ajit Gargeshwari

 

From: bvpar...@googlegroups.com [mailto:bvpar...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Vinay Nair
Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2016 4:47 PM
To: bvpar...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} MAHABHARAT

 

I happened to do a course under a group of 'intellectual' scientists in the last week who argued that all that happened in Mahabharata was unfair and biased and that Krishna brainwashed Arjuna to fight the war and kill his cousins. They gave many such arguments which was based on their own understanding about Mahabharata. They did not believe in Guru-shishya tradition at all. While this was going on, I saw this thread in the group. The case with them was the lack of a Guru and lot of intellect resulting in misinformation of the text. Now I am wondering, could this have been a possibility (possibility of misinterpretation without the guidance of a Guru) that it was said Mahabharata should not be kept at home?

 

Regards,

 

Vinay

 

[Nagaraj Paturi]

Dear Vdwan Vinayji,

Let us look at it this way.

If there is a belief that the book Mahabharata should not be kept at home, how old could that be?

Before print, before the paper manuscripts, there were palm leaf manuscripts. How many households could have had those manuscripts at home? If having the manuscripts at home itself is such a rare possibility, how widespread a belief that the book should not be kept at home have been?

Possibility of many 'literate' 'educated' people having a copy at home itself is very much recent. So the belief itself must be of a recent origin.

Then the source of the belief: one way of looking at the book is as a story of a severe split in a joint family, leading to a world war scale war. In the early days of printing, joint families were widespread. There was a scope for a superstition that the story of infight in a joint family could bring a similar result. Already, joint families have broken up in a big way. Even if joint families continued , a superstition, a recently born one is a superstition.

Yes, the role of right guidance, nullifying such superstitions , to which you gave the good name of Gurusishyaparamparaa , is crucial to avoid such superstitions growing.

These superstitious lot are deluded by too much of faith, whereas the 'intellectuals' that you mentioned are , deluded by the absence (of proper understanding) of it.     

Nagaraj Paturi

 

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.

 

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies

 

FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,

 

(Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )

 

 

 

[Bijoy Misra]

A simple knowledge of Sanskrit grammar would not be enough to interpret the

scriptural texts.  There are nuances of the culture, practice of the language

and the poetic rendition.  Most of the rapid translations that have happened

in the west for the sake of "curiosity" fail on each of these.  I had confronted

one of the major translators last year to ask him what qualifies him to translate

the epic literature of India.  He did not have a response but conveyed indignant 

irritation. Most use dictionaries to make sense and they go for glossy printing.

Apparently there is money in the market.

These artificial translations become the reading material for our university

students who are inbred to be confused about the values of the Indian tradition.

The goal of western tradition is survival (Darwin) and competition.  The ideal

of dharma etc through analysis is a tall order to contemplate.  The families

and the parents shout for "survival."  This process creates the modern "intellectuals"

who cannot but identify themselves of Indian descent but never cultivated 

what that descent entailed.  Unfortunately they become the new teachers.

By sitting here in Boston, I see both back home and my colleagues here.

I sympathize my colleagues since they just do not know and had no opportunity

to know.  They guess and fail royally.  There could a tacit hunger for supremacy

in some low level "scholars".  But I do get appalled when "scholars" back home

comment on the Vedas never having digested the material.  Like my friends

in the local area, "scholars" back home pick up lines for their convenience

or from sources and make up "lectures".  Apparently there is market for such

discourses as we witness in this thread.

We must recover!

BM   

--

[Madhav Deshpande]

Dear Nagaraj-ji,

     I very much like your analysis.  Writing and copying manuscripts was a very expensive business.  The documents from the Peshwa daftar in Pune show many instances of the Peshwas paying large sums of money to have copies of Sanskrit texts made for them.  Such large sums of money were indeed beyond the means of common people, and hence the existence and circulation of manuscripts was limited by the economy of the production of such manuscripts.  Some manuscripts may have been produced by dedicated individuals for their own personal use, as is the case of some of the Vedic manuscripts that I have studied and used in my research, but it it more likely that the large numbers of surviving manuscripts were produced either under royal patronage, patronage by wealthy individuals, or by institutions like the Mutts and Jain and Buddhist Sanghas.  The belief of not keeping the Mahabharata manuscripts at home must be seen on the background of this reality.  My grand mother routinely used to read the pothi of Marathi Pāṇḍava-Pratāpa, a version of the Mahābhārata story, along with other pothis like Harivijaya, Rāmavijaya etc., and I was not aware of this belief of not reading the Mahabharata at home.  Such a belief must have been limited to certain regions or communities.

Madhav Deshpande

[Nagaraj Paturi]

"Such a belief must have been limited to certain regions or communities."

                                                    ---- Prof. Deshpande

I don't know, whether this belief exists in other parts of the country or not; but here in Telugu speaking areas, it is believed that purāṇa pravachana  or narrative performance of virāṭa parva brings rains.

Beliefs about positive benefits of reading or reading out or narrative performance of different specific portions of Mahabharata do exist.

The belief mentioned in the initiating post of the thread could not have existed, for example, in mādhva families, because mādhvas look at the book as the story with Bhima, the avatāra of vāyu, the jīvōttama as the hero and Hari, the sarvōttama as the facilitator of all the events in the narrative.  

Among the ancients too, the view was variegated.

Anandavardhana viewed it as śāntarasapradhāna: nirvēda or śama as sthāyībhāva .  

There is a Jain adaptation of Mahabharata in Kannada dated 8th century AD. The presentation is with non-violence as message. (In fact, in the Vyasa's version itself, "ahimsā paramō dharmah" occurs a huge number of times. The book can comfortably be read as  an anti-war warning to humanity. (Details may take another thread/post)

My Guruji, Prof. G V Subrahmanyam argued that dharmavīra is the angirasa of the book. (I argued that the theories of śānta as angirasa and dharmavīra as angirasa as mutually reconcilable.)

It is said that in the Indian Army Mahabharata narration is used to instil both a war-ready ( vīra) and war-withstanding (śānta)  mindset among the soldiers.

At least in legends , it is mentioned that Jijiya Bai used Mahabharata and Ramayana to instil vīra bhāva in Shivaji.

This list of perspectives can go on and on and on.  

[Vinay Nair]

I completely agree with what you are saying Nagraj ji. _/\_

[Hnbhat B.R.]

On 18-Dec-2016 5:48 pm, "Bijoy Misra" <misra...@gmail.com> wrote:

A simple knowledge of Sanskrit grammar would not be enough to interpret the

scriptural texts.  There are nuances of the culture, practice of the language

and the poetic rendition.  Most of the rapid translations that have happened

in the west for the sake of "curiosity" fail on each of these.  I had confronted

one of the major translators last year to ask him what qualifies him to translate

the epic literature of India.  He did not have a response but conveyed indignant 

irritation. Most use dictionaries to make sense and they go for glossy printing.

Apparently there is money in the market.

Are these and others reasons you mentioned are the causes of the belief being discussed in this thread?

If so, how these beliefs can be enlightened?

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

The belief about not reading the Mahabharata as one continuous account is present among Tamil families too. When I was a child, my grandmother insisted that I shouldn't read even the abridged English retelling by Rajaji from cover to cover. I remember she made me jump to the Yaksha Prashna after I had read the first thirty pages or so! Her argument was that reading it all in sequence would lead to feuds within the family.

That said, I like Prof. Paturi's take on it too. These attitudes towards printed versions of the itihAsa must have been inherited from other older attitudes about the content of the text itself. 

Best regards,

Vidyasankar

[Nagaraj Paturi]

In Tamil Nadu, the entire Mahabharata at a stretch is performed as a folk-style dance-drama and the performance is called bāradakkūttu (bhārata + kūttu) , performed for several nights. This is associated with the worship of draupadī ammāl̥ ; darmarāchar (Dharmaraja) in folk temples and rituals associated with the worship.

Telugu version of this culture, performance, temples and rituals is found in the Chittoor and Nellore districts  of Andhra Pradesh boerdering with Tamil Nadu.

In Bengaluru one of the huge city-wide fares is the fare of draupadī /dharmarāja temple.

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[Ajit Gargeshwari]

Has this got to to do with the way Mahabharata is supposed to be read

[Bijoy Misra]

Dear Bhatji,

It is difficult to shake people from religious beliefs.  Empowerment through

work is a product of overall well being of people.  While it is the only truth

there is, it can easily appear as a slogan of intellect.  It is easy to look

for truth outside than probing inside.  

My thinking is that beliefs grow when people freeze the physical nature of

books.  This might have come with interaction with the book-oriented

belief systems in the west.  To reduce the natural order of the universe

from the functionality of objects, into regimented order of clans, groups

and cults is possibly the problem.  

I gave an example from Valmiki a few days back about Sampati flight

in space.  The important point that Valmiki makes (that appealed me)

was the discovery that the space has no direction.

  न दिग्विज्ञायते याम्या नाग्नेयी न च वारुणी।

युगान्ते नियतो लोको हतो दग्ध इवाग्निना।।4.61.11।।   

Once we encourage people to read the original texts than following

belief-oriented instructions, I believe people would be more creative

and more empowered which is the goal anyway!

Best regards,

Bijoy Misra

[V Subrahmanian]

What sadly has gone unnoticed is the fact that the feud between the two clans is just the background story that yielded priceless lessons for mankind to shape his life. It is like the amrutamathanam that brought forth immense good.

So, this is a case of the proverbial throwing the baby along with the bathwater.

regards
subrahmanian. V

[Nagaraj Paturi]

In Tamil Nadu, the entire Mahabharata at a stretch is performed as a folk-style dance-drama and the performance is called bāradakkūttu (bhārata + kūttu) , performed for several nights. This is associated with the worship of draupadī ammāl̥ ; darmarāchar (Dharmaraja) in folk temples and rituals associated with the worship.

was a response to

The belief about not reading the Mahabharata as one continuous account is present among Tamil families too

[Subrahmanyam Korada]

नमो विद्वद्भ्यः

They did not believe in Guru-shishya tradition at all. While this was going on, I saw this thread in the group. The case with them was the lack of a Guru and lot of intellect resulting in misinformation of the text. Now I am wondering, could this have been a possibility (possibility of misinterpretation without the guidance of a Guru) that it was said Mahabharata should not be kept at home?

                                             ------ Vidvan Vinay Nair

Do not fall in the company of such people , even if  they have वैरभक्ति as per भागवतम् ।

गुशब्दस्त्वन्धकारः स्यात् रुशब्दः तन्निवारकः ।

......

गुरुरुपायः - शिवसूत्रम् 2-6

गृणाति उपदिशति तात्त्विकम् अर्थम् इति गुरुः -- शिवसूत्रविमर्शिनी

महाभारतम् / जयः -  is an इतिहास ।

तैत्तिरीयारण्यकम् (2-13) clearly says that  वेदाः , इतिहासाः , पुराणानि etc are helpful in attaining स्वर्ग and मोक्ष --

..... यद्ब्राह्मणानीतिहासान् पुराणानि कल्पान् गाथा नाराशग्ंसीः मेदाहुतयो देवानामभवन् ताभिः क्षुधं पाप्मानमपाघ्नन् अपहतपाप्मानो देवाः स्वर्गं लोकमायन् ब्रह्मणः सायुज्यमृषयो’गच्छन् । 

What is इतिहास ?

Kaiyata under क्रतूक्थादिसूत्रान्ताट्ठक् (पा 4-2-60) -- 

भाष्यम् - 

आख्यानाख्यायिकेतिहासपुराणेभ्यश्च - explains --

ऐतिहासिक इति । इतिह - शब्दः उपदेशपारम्पर्ये वर्तते । इतिह आस्यते अस्मिन् इति - इतिहासः। " हलश्च ’ इति घञ् । मयूरव्यंसकादित्वात् समासः , ततः ठक् ।

नागेशः -- इति हास्यते इति । उपदेशपारम्पर्येण आस्यते - निश्चयबुद्ध्या स्थीयते अस्मिन् इत्यर्थः ।

So , in spite of some interpolations , the इतिहास , which is handed down , is प्रमाणम् । 

अविच्छिन्नगुरुशिष्यपरम्परा is there in the उपदेश ।

गुरु can be any elderly person who conforms to the above definitions --

स राज्यं गुरुणा दत्तम्  ( रघु - ४) -- गुरुः = पिता  । नाटकेष्वपि - गुरुजनः इत्यादि ।

One should not keep the text of महाभारतम् etc -  is an अन्धविश्वास ।

Even great scholars and poets are not above such superstitions .

The parents and गुरु should have good knowledge and carefully train the children .

We do not have any such blind faith .

The eighth house (from लग्नम्)  in the horoscope tells the longevity and शनैश्चर , who is आयुष्कारक as well .

Some people , depending on पूर्वजन्मकर्मफल , may have अल्पायुर्दाय , others मध्यायुर्दाय , and still others पूर्णायुर्दाय ।

No other factor can influence आयुर्दाय ।

अरक्षितं  तिष्ठति दैवरक्षितं सुरक्षितं दैवहतं विनश्यति ।

जीवत्यनाथो’पि वने विसर्जितः कृतप्रयत्नो’पि गृहे न जीवति ॥ (हितोपदेशे)

As far as interpretation of इतिहासौ is considered the less spoken the better .

महाभारत is पञ्चमवेद  -- the पुरुषार्थs that are dealt with in वेद are difficult to understand and follow for a common man . So the same meaning that is there in वेद is put in लौकिकशब्दs . Therefore , one who wants to understand / interpret the इतिहास should first study / understand the concepts such as धर्म , मोक्ष etc , that are embedded in वेद , with the help of वेदाङ्गानि and दर्शनानि ।

अङ्गानि वेदाश्चत्वारः मीमांसा न्यायविस्तरः --- याज्ञवल्क्यस्मृतिः ।

इतिहासौ - are grossly misinterpreted .

Many people do not know the meaning of - भारतम् ( तद्धितवृत्तिः) ---

सङ्ग्रामे प्रयोजनयोद्धृभ्यः ( पा 4-2-55) , अण् , ’ सो’स्य ’ अनुवृत्तिः । भरता योद्धारः अस्य सङ्ग्रामस्य भारतः । 

The Armageddon of  भरतs .

The आख्यानम्  that is written following भारतयुद्धम् is उपचारात् / ’अधिकृत्य कृते ग्रन्थे’ , भारतम् । महच्चेदं भारतम् महाभारतम् ।

महत्त्वात् भारवत्त्वाच्च महाभारतमुच्यते ।

धन्यो’स्मि

Dr.Korada Subrahmanyam
Professor of Sanskrit, CALTS,
University of Hyderabad,
Ph:09866110741(M),91-40-23010741(R),040-23133660(O)

Skype Id: Subrahmanyam Korada

Blog: Koradeeyam.blogspot.in 

[Dr BVK Sastry]

Namaste

 

Thanks to Professor Korada, who has illustrated clearly and with source references on SOME CRITICAL points, which  may be lost sight of in skimmed reading of this post.  

 

According to the post, there are critical governing frameworks to be used to  understand Samskruth Word-Meaning which  govern the Word-Usage.  In this case, illustration coming for two words-   itihAsa, Mahabharata.  

 

I am placing my follow  questions alongside the post extract:

 

1. How to approach Mahabharata :Research Studies  where ‘ Mahabharata is currently studied as a ‘ Document detailing the Land and People / History of ‘ Bharath that has become India’ ?

 

Post Extract: As far as interpretation of इतिहासौ is considered the less spoken the better .   …. महाभारत is पञ्चमवेद  -- the पुरुषार्थs that are dealt with in वेद are difficult to understand and follow for a common man . So the same meaning that is there in वेद is put in लौकिकशब्दs . Therefore , one who wants to understand / interpret the इतिहास should first study / understand the concepts such as धर्म , मोक्ष etc , that are embedded in वेद , with the help of वेदाङ्गानि and दर्शनानि । ….. अङ्गानि वेदाश्चत्वारः मीमांसा न्यायविस्तरः --- याज्ञवल्क्यस्मृतिः ।  …  इतिहासौ - are grossly misinterpreted .

 

Many people do not know the meaning of - भारतम् ( तद्धितवृत्तिः) ---     सङ्ग्रामे प्रयोजनयोद्धृभ्यः ( पा 4-2-55) , अण् , ’ सो’स्य ’ अनुवृत्तिः । भरता योद्धारः अस्य सङ्ग्रामस्य भारतः ।   The Armageddon of  भरतs .

 

The आख्यानम्  that is written following भारतयुद्धम् is उपचारात् / ’अधिकृत्य कृते ग्रन्थे’ , भारतम् । महच्चेदं भारतम् महाभारतम् ।    महत्त्वात् भारवत्त्वाच्च महाभारतमुच्यते ।

 

Follow up Question :   What is the border line point, where ‘ Indian Academia willingly  embraced the  shift  from ‘Traditional Spiritual Anchor of understanding the text’  to the ‘Socially oriented colonial thought, leading to a deviant study of  ‘ Mahabharata as a  Document of Land- People History  of Bharath,  that has become India’ ? What is the precise marker  for the shift in ‘Word- Meaning of   itihAsa’  to ‘ Land –People-History’ ?  to be studied as  ‘Bharata – itihAsa’ / Bharateeya itihAsa’ ?

 

2.  What is ‘ itihAsa’ ? What is the purpose and application of  Mahabharata as ‘itihAsa’ ?  

 

Post Extract  :  महाभारतम् / जयः -  is an इतिहास । …   तैत्तिरीयारण्यकम् (2-13) clearly says that  वेदाः , इतिहासाः , पुराणानि etc are helpful in attaining स्वर्ग and मोक्ष --   …  ..... यद्ब्राह्मणानीतिहासान् पुराणानि कल्पान् गाथा नाराशग्ंसीः मेदाहुतयो देवानामभवन् ताभिः क्षुधं पाप्मानमपाघ्नन् अपहतपाप्मानो देवाः स्वर्गं लोकमायन् ब्रह्मणः सायुज्यमृषयो’गच्छन् ।

 

 

Follow up Question:   What is the border line point, where ‘ Indian Samskruth studies  willingly  embraced the colonial Lexicons as overruling authority  on traditional pedagogic resources and  tolerated the ‘ deviant interpretations’ ?  cutting asunder the ‘ Veda umbilical chord to understand Mahabharata, Puranas’ ?   Is it due to  divorcing of ‘Spiritual and Social Streams of understanding the Classical (God’s) language ?  

 

Regards

BVK Sastry

 

 

From: bvpar...@googlegroups.com [mailto:bvpar...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Subrahmanyam Korada

Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2016 12:34 PM
To: bvpar...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} MAHABHARAT

[govindapoduval k]

Sir,

There are many slokas giving phalasruti of reading theMahabharatha.So it was really intended to be recited at home. Many historical evidence to prove that endowments

were made in temples for daily recitation of TheMahabharatha.Anecdotal evidence in connection with MelputhurNarayanaBhattathiri and AmbalapuzhaKing also suggests daily reading of TheMahabharatha.There is also a belief that for overcoming of obstacles in daily life Mahabharatha is best suited for here SriKrishna comes to our help

the way He helped ThePandavas.Now to end I have a question.Eventhough TheMahabharatha contain a mode of recital ie during the period of chathurmasya there may be other modes of recital.Books on karmakanda may throw light on this.You are requested to help me.I completed one re citation in 280hours.

  KGPoduval. 

Kunnath Illam

POMundalur.09496423542

[Rajkumari Trikha]

Namaskaram and happy new year to all.
This thread is very interesting.

I myself have full text of the MBh. in my home. I have gone through it several times and have written three books on the Mahabharata.
1.महाभारत में योगविद्या
2. महाभारत में विज्ञान दर्शन और समाज
3. महाभारत की बोध कथाएँ
  
Nothing inauspicious happened.

About the common beliefs

I feel it takes a longer time to do its parayana as compared with other holy books , bhagawat/Ramayana. May be its public katha sessions were disturbed by frequent foreign invasions, and so it was believed that Mahabharata's reading is inauspicious.

Secondly, disputes of kuru family can trigger disputing mentality. Vastu  also advises to keep those things in forefront, which direct mind for positive thinking. It is all psychological.

On Dec 16, 2016 11:11 PM, "Surjeet Nagpal" <nagp...@gmail.com> wrote:

Mahabharat is a Holy Book and has great respect in the Society. Why this is advised, not only by the ordinary man,  even by Acharyas, not to keep in the house ? 

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