Coolly Chaotic Mahabharata

[Anindya]

Hey guys, I couldn't wait, so I plunged directly into the online
translation to have a read.

I recommend everyone give it a shot, just to get a taste of what
reading an epic is like.
Its seriously like delving into a chaotic warehouse of antiques, where
you have to keep your eye out for interesting items.

This is what I've already found, for example.

For example, it starts off with an invocation to an "Isana". All I
knew about
Isana is that it's the North-East direction. Didn't quite seem to
match up to
this:
---------------
'Having bowed down to the primordial being Isana, to whom multitudes
make
offerings, and who is adored by the multitude; who is the true
incorruptible
one, Brahma, perceptible, imperceptible, eternal; who is both a non-
existing and
an existing-non-existing being; who is the universe and also distinct
from the
existing and non-existing universe; ' etc etc
----------------------

So, then I found out that Isana is in fact a very old name of Shiva.
Ok better.
*****

Then there's the whole cosmic egg version of the creation of the world
to create the context.
Its usually known as the Hiranyagarbha myth, though they call it
Mahadivya here.
This will, of course, be contradicted later by other creation myths
and the Vishwarupa.
*****

Now how many slokas in the Mahabharat ?
Three contradictory versions within a page or two...

- I am (continued Sauti) acquainted with eight thousand and eight
hundred
verses, and so is Suka, and perhaps Sanjaya.

- Vyasa executed the compilation of the Bharata, exclusive of the
episodes
originally in twenty-four thousand verses; and so much only is called
by the
learned as the Bharata.

- After that he executed another compilation, consisting of sixty
hundred
thousand verses. Of those, thirty hundred thousand are known in the
world of the
Devas; fifteen hundred thousand in the world of the Pitris: fourteen
hundred
thousand among the Gandharvas, and one hundred thousand in the regions
of
mankind.

This is the source for the usual theory that the original version was
an epic, 'Jaya' with 8,800 verses, followed by Bharata with 24,000 and
then the humongous mega-version with 100,000

*******

Then there are two different listings of the Parvas in the Mahabharat.
The first listing ends with Maushalaparva, where Yaduvamsa is wiped
out.
No Mahaprasthan and Swargarohan parva, which are very fantastical, and
do seem like
later additions.

*****************
And then here's the cool, random thing.
You know that old schooltime story of the boy who blocked a breach in
a dam by
lying down there ? That's in the Mahabharat !!

In fact, right here. Its the story of Aruni:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01004.htm

This is the sort of stuff I just love about reading the original

[Anindya]

Going on this same theme, I'm reading through "Astika parva" in the
original.

It starts off talking about Janamejaya's snake-destroying sacrfice.
As a starter, Sauti says that the snakes had been cursed to
destruction by their primal mother, Kadru.

Then he gets asked how that came about, which leads to the story of
Kadru and Vinata, mother of the snakes and Garuda respectively.

One of the elements of this story is that Vinata gets tricked into
becoming Kadru's slave for 500 years, over a bet about the colour of
the heavenly horse, Ucchaihsravaa.

The moment, the horse comes up, someone asks about where it came from,
and we have the whole story of Samudra manthan.

Loop within a loop within a loop !!

I am increasingly impressed by Upendrakishore's achievement. (He is
the author of the "Mahabharata for children", and "Stories of the
Mahabharat" that Pia mentioned).

So far, all the stories I've read are familiar, because they are
neatly disentangled and presented in the latter book. If I'd been
reading MB direct, I'd have been completely at sea !

[Pia & Sanjeev]

What's just staggering is the realization that virtually EVERY darned
story one reads as part of 'Hindu mythology' is somewhere in that book
in a loop within loop ....(isn't the Ramayana also retold in one of
the parvas ?).

Begins to make you realize the appropriateness of the old Bengali
saying "Jaha nai Bharat-e, taha nai Bharat-e" (what is not there in
the 'Bharat is not there in India!).

Looks like a translation of Upendra Kishore's works for next gen of
kids may be highly called for (that way 'Amar Chitra Katha' comics
aren't the only fall-back. Though those can be surprisingly accurate
many of the times!).

Pia