Mahabharata opening sloka

[P.K.Ramakrishnan]

My thanks to Ajit Gargeswari for introducing the first sloka of Mahabharata.

I have a printed book in which this sloka is given as -

नारायणं नमस्कृत्य नरं चैव नरोत्तमम् /

देवीं सरस्वतीं व्यासं ततो जयमुदीरयेत् //

Can someone figure out who are the nara and narottama.

I shall explain later what jaya implies.

 

-----------------------------------
P.K.Ramakrishnan
http://peekayar.blogspot.com

[seshadri nadhan]

here the uttama nara is Arjua......seshadri

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[Hnbhat B.R.]

The above is the relevant portion of the commentary भावप्रदीपिका of Sri Neelakantha.

The meaning of जय is explained in the text itself:

जयो नामेतिहासोऽयं श्रोतव्यो विजिगीषुणा। (1-62-22a 1-62-22b.) (also in 5-136-18a 5-136-18b. )

महीं विजयते क्षिप्रं श्रुत्वा शत्रूंश्च मर्दति ।।  

 

Nilakantha explains nara and narottama in terms of Advaita Vedanta.

[lino bercelli]

śiva speaking to arjuna said:
03041001a naras tvaṁ pūrvadehe vai nārāyaṇasahāyavān

and yama added:
03042018a pūrvarṣir amitātmā tvaṁ naro nāma mahābalaḥ

lino

[sundar.vijaya]

I have a doubt. Was this first shloka composed by Vyasa or Lord Ganapati ? If it was Vyasa why should he say " Saraswatim Vyasam " ?