MAHABHARATA SERIES BOOK#1: The Forest of Stories (Mba) Page 3

  And yet, why else had he felt compelled to come directly here from Janamajaya’s sarpa ceremony if not to start his avowed mission of retelling the epic poem to all those who would listen? For that had been Mahaguru Vyasa’s last wish, that this immense compendium of knowledge and narration be passed on to as many as possible across the civilized world, that all might know how the greatest war of all had come to pass, and might be warned against future wars waged against their own neighbours and brothers. For that was the only purpose of a tale of war: to ensure that, by hearing of the horrors and heartbreaks of that most awful of human endeavours, future generations may be persuaded against attempting it themselves. And what better place in which to start the cycle of narration than in the heart of this war-haunted wood where so many had lost their lives. Yes, perhaps the souls of the dead would gather round to listen, and in listening, find the peace that had eluded them for so long. He could sense their uneasy energies as they crowded the darkness at the fringe of the firelight’s circle, murmuring restlessly in the back of his mind.

  He addressed his next words not only to the sages and acolytes seated before him, but to the forest at large.

  ‘Will you hear the tale?’ he asked. ‘The song which the great preceptor called Jaya, and which I have come to refer to as The Great Bharata epic? Before you answer, I must inform you: It is a compendious work, massive in scope, unrivalled in ambition, and unequalled in length. Not till the end of mankind’s days upon this earth in this cycle of the Ages will this work be rivalled. No person hearing it and imbibing its virtues will ever be found wanting in spiritual prowess. While it is called the Fifth Veda, it is at once equivalent to all the Vedas. Indeed, it is an education in itself.’

  He paused, locking eyes with each one of his listeners in turn, ensuring that they understood the pact they were about to make. ‘To begin The Mahabharata is to pledge fealty to it to the very end. This is a task that once begun, ought not to be left unfinished. Such is the pact I must demand of each one of you before I begin. Let me also tell you that it took my esteemed colleague Vaisampayana and Mahagura Vyasji twelve long years to recite it in its entirety to Maharaja Janmajeya. No doubt that was often interrupted by the necessary daily duties of running a kingdom as well as the rituals of the sarpa sacrifice itself, not to mention countless other minor or major distractions. I do not know how long it shall take me to repeat it here, and can only pledge that, once begun, I will not brook even a fragment of a part remaining untold. It is my sworn vrata, my sacred vow taken at Ved Vyasa’s samadhi itself, that I would recite only the full, unabridged tale in its entirety. If you would hear it told thusly, I shall be greatly desirous of reciting it. Tell me, does it please you to have me do so?’

  The answer to his query came not only from the lips of the mortal listeners seated before him, but, it seemed, also from the forest itself. The excited but soft acquiescence was echoed by a fervent sibilance from the darkness bounding their circle of light.

  ‘Yes,’ the entire ashram of brahmans said, resoundingly, without an instant’s hesitation.

  ‘Yesssss . . .’ the forest seemed to echo, the sound carrying round and round until whirled by the wind to fill the entire forest itself, reverberating deep within those murky woods.

  Sauti resisted the urge to shiver despite the warmth of the log fire.

  ‘So,’ he said, ‘It is decided. It is given unto me, Ugrasrava Lomharsana Sauti, to deliver unto you this vast assemblage of itihasa. Know ye that this vast work is as infinite as human history itself, for it is in fact human history in its entirety. What is not within it is to be found nowhere else. And all that is elsewhere is here.

  ‘Let us then begin by invoking the sacred name of Ganesha, Lord of Beginnings and Scribes, and Remover of Obstacles.’

  And without further ado, he said simply: ‘Here is the tale known now as Mahabharata.’

  ||Paksha Two||

  THE BOOK OF CREATION

  ||One||

  In the beginning all was darkness.

  Light itself did not exist, not a single ray was visible on any side. From the darkness emerged a Great Egg.

  Resplendent.

  Brilliant.

  Indescribable.

  This was the Seed of all Creation at the beginning of all Yugas.

  The inexhaustible Brahman, upon which all things rest, the fount of all worlds, basis of all matter, eternal, true and beautiful beyond description.

  In perfect balance, carrying the inscrutable laws that govern all existence, it was the most perfect manifestation of purest energy.

  That which is and is not.

  Paramatman.

  From this great Egg of Brahman was born the only true Creator, the sole Lord Prajapati, Brahma Suraguru—Preceptor of the dynasty of the Suras, whom you know now as Devas, the race of the Gods—therefore Guru to the Gods themselves, also known as Sthanu Manu: the primordial Man, Ka, and Parmesthin.

  From Brahma the Creator sprang Daksha, son of Prachetas. Then Daksha’s seven sons.

  Then the twenty-one prajapatis, lords of creation.

  There also came the Maha Aatma. That Being of immeasurable soul whom all the seers and sages know, whose depths can never be fathomed and whose infinite bounds remain beyond the measure of mortal minds, and who is to us mere mortals the Universe eternally expanding.

  Then were birthed the Vishwa Devas, the Adityas, the Vasus and the Ashwins.

  Also the Yakshas, Saddhyas, Pisacas, Guhyakas and the Pitris, our forefathers.

  After them came the wise and learned Brahmarishis. Brahmins who spread knowledge and praise of the eternal force Brahman and almighty Brahma.

  Then came the Rajarishis, royal seers of Kshatriya birth who acquired knowledge of all-pervasive Brahman through their diligent study and are living proof of the ability to transcend one’s mortal station through acquisition of knowledge.

  The primordial elements were created: Water, Heaven, Earth, Wind, Sky, the cardinal and lesser directions and the earthly forces that govern them, the years, seasons, months, fortnights, and days and nights in turn, and all else that was witnessed by the world.

  As it was in the Beginning, so shall it be at the End.

  All that now exists, movable and immovable, shall be drawn together again at the end of Existence, when the decay of Entropy overcomes all.

  As one season begins and ends, thus at the beginning of each era, all is destroyed and created again anew.

  Thus the Great Wheel of Existence turns endlessly as it has always turned without any beginning to its motion, bringing about the ceaseless cycle of Creation and Destruction.

  This is the sum of all Creation: Thirty-three thousand, thirty- three hundred and thirty-three gods were created: 33,333.

  Here is their accounting in summary:

  From the son of the sky, the great Surya, Vivasvat, source of the eye’s light, the resplendent one, came many sons who are themselves no less than the sun himself: their names are Savita, Richika, Brihadbhanu, Chakshus, Atma, Vibhavasu, Arka, Ashavaha— Bringer of Hope, Ravi, and Mahya. Of these, Mahya was the youngest son and his son was Devabhrata—He Who Shone Like a God, hence also known as Subhraja, the Shining One. Subhraja had three sons who gained great fame in their time, named Dashajyoti, Shatajyoti and Sahasrajyoti, each of whom gave birth to great numbers of offspring. Great-spirited Dasajyoti had ten thousand sons. Self-possessed Shatajyoti fathered ten times ten thousand sons. And Sahasrajyoti had ten times that number.

  From them were descended the dynasties of the Kurus, the Yadus, the Bharatas, Yayati, Ikshwaku and all the Rajarishis. Many other lineages were also birthed as well as diverse living beings in abundant diversity, each a house unto themselves.

  Then were born the three mysteries of knowledge: Veda, Yoga and Vignyana.

  Veda is the coded repository of all knowledge gleaned through direct and indirect means.

  Yoga is the communion between our mortal souls and the Paramatman Brahman.

  Vignyan
a is knowledge gained through self-realization.

  Then was created the threefold path: Dharma, Artha and Kama. These are set out in various shastras that explain the application

  of the principles of Dharma, Artha and Kama to provide a code of conduct for worldly affairs.

  And the Puranas, the ancient itihasa with their nirukta, their commentaries and the shruti, texts of secret revelations.

  All this immeasurable wealth of knowledge is contained here, within this great epic itihasa named Mahabharata.

  The sage Krishna Dweipayana-Vyasa has distilled all this knowledge, and made a summary and index of it all, for the convenience of those who wish to memorize its salient features, as well as the unabridged exposition for those who desire to imbibe the whole rich erudition.

  After immense penance and austerities, the son of Satyavati divided the eternal Veda into four distinct parts. For this epic endeavour he is known as Ved Vyasa, Classifier of the Vedas. Once this was accomplished, he then set out to compose this holy history. Rising every morning for three years, he wrote daily until it was complete and in the form we now possess. Most remarkable of all is the author’s own role within the great epic. The learned brahmarishi, son of Parashar, at the behest of his mother Satyavati, matriarch of the Kuru dynasty, and her stepson Bhishma, son of Ganga, acting under law, ploughed the field of Vichitravirya to reap the heirs of the Kurus—to put it another way, he sired three sons by the wives of Vichitravirya.

  These three Kurus were Dhritarashtra, Pandu and Vidura. They blazed with the heat of three fires.

  His part accomplished, the great sage Krishna Dweipayana retired to his ashram to continue his life of austere existence. Only after the three sons sired by him were birthed, grew to adulthood, lived out their lives and eventually departed on their last journey, did the great seer unveil The Bharata to the world of mortals.

  It was at the bidding of King Janamajaya and thousands of brahmins attending the twelve-year course of the sarpa-yagna that the great seer recited this composition for the first time. His shishya Vaisampayana was present at the sacrifice and from time to time, he took up the narrative at his guru’s urging. Thus, both master and pupil recited in turns. Vyasa faithfully recited the genealogy of the Kurus in detail, the dharmic virtues of Gandhari, the sagacity of Vidura and the equanimity of Kunti. The blessed sage also extolled the magnanimity of Krishna Vasudeva, the trustworthiness of the Pandavas, the unscrupulous acts of the Kauravas—Vyasa said it all.

  First, he composed his poem in twenty-four thousand shlokas, without the minor narratives. This core work he called The Bharata. It is the heart of the epic. He then summarized and indexed all the events, contents and individual parvas in one hundred and fifty shlokas. He taught this index first to his own son Suka, later passing it on to other shishyas he deemed fit for the task. Sage Narada recited it to the Devas, the sages Asita-Devala to the elders, the pitris and Suka to the gandharvas, yakshas and rakshasas.

  Let me now describe the primary characters of this wondrous epic with an analogy. This great Bharata itihasa is as a tree of history to future generations who shall be the inheritors of its plentitude:

  To the Kauravas, Duryodhana was the passionate tree itself, Karna its trunk, Sakuni the branches, Duhshashana its abundant fruit and blossoms, the blind king Dhritarashtra its root.

  To the Pandavas, Yudhishtira was the tree of dharma, Arjuna its trunk, Bhima its branches, Nakula-Sahadeva its plentiful blossoms and fruits, Brahma and the brahmin race its root.

  Now let me summarize the central events of The Bharata proper, the original tree from which spread the forest of stories that is now the epic Mahabharata:

  After a lifetime of war and conquest, Pandu retired to the forest with his wives, intending to live amongst the rishis of the woods, spending the rest of his days in the pursuit of his favourite pastime, the hunt. This very passion became his undoing when he cruelly killed a stag while it was in the act of mounting its mate. Cursed by the hapless doe, Pandu was forbidden to perform the conjugal act himself on pain of death. Resorting to boons from the devas and in keeping with the law, his wives Kunti and Madri conceived sons from the gods Dharma, Vayu, Indra, and the twin Ashwins. Raised by their mothers and the holy sages of the forest, the five sons of Pandu grew to manhood. While they were still brahmacharyas with tufted hair, the rishis decided of their own accord to take them to Dhritarashtra and introduced them as ‘the sons of Pandu, your sons, brothers, acolytes and friends’. Whereupon the sages of the forest vanished. On seeing the five Pandavas, an excited outcry rose from the assembled people of Hastinapura. Some insisted that these could not possibly be sons of Pandu since Pandu had long since been dead and had produced no offspring. Others insisted they were and must be welcomed with due ceremony. Voices were heard across the city, clamouring loudly as the Pandavas entered the city. An enormous rejoicing arose, not just from the people of the city but from invisible multitudes, raising their voices in a tumultuous explosion of sound. Flowers showered down from the skies, delicious fragrances filled the air, and the auspicious music of conchshells and kettledrums sounded from all four directions. The controversy over their parentage was drowned out in the hue and cry as the people rose up to welcome the Pandavas whose fame spread rapidly and widely.

  From that day on, the Pandavas lived at Hastinapura without threat from anywhere or anyone, continuing their studies of the holy Vedas and other shastras. They were honoured, respected and loved by all. The dharmic strength of Yudhishtira, the resoluteness of Bhima, the bravery of Arjuna, the discipline of the twins and Kunti’s immaculate behaviour toward her elders grew famous throughout the known world. Years passed.

  At the swayamvara of a princess who shared the same birth name—Krishna—for she was as beautifully dark-skinned as he, Arjuna performed a gigantic feat to best all challengers and was chosen by her as husband. That day he won a name for himself as a great archer, a reputation he would uphold and enhance over time as he conquered every king and champion who challenged him, and became as difficult to face in the battlefield as the sun in his domain. Thus did he pave the way for his elder brother Yudhishtira to perform the Rajasuya sacrifice and lay claim to declare himself monarch of the known world. On the advice of Vasudeva Krishna and flanked by the strength and valour of his brothers Bhima and Arjuna, Yudhishtira then went forth and slew Jarasandha and the prideful Sisupala, king of Chedi, thus earning the right to initiate the Rajasuya and reap a rich reward of treasure. When his stepbrother Duryodhana attended the sacrifice and saw the immense wealth the Pandavas had acquired—the sacrificial offerings, the rich bounty of victory, precious gems, gold, jewels, cows, elephants, and untold treasure, a mighty anger born of envy rose within him. When he saw the magnificent Sabha Hall designed to resemble a gargantuan celestial chariot by the brilliant Maya, architect to the gods, Duryodhana’s jealousy knew no bounds. Even as he seethed and fumed, he stumbled due to his ill-contained emotions and at the sight of his pratfalls, Vasudeva Krishna and Bhima laughed and mocked him as being one of common birth.

  It came to Dhritarashtra’s ears that his eldest son and heir had turned wan and yellow and was wasting away. Out of fatherly concern for his son’s well-being, the blind king granted Duryodhana his wish to enter into a gambling match with the Pandavas. When Vasudeva Krishna came to hear of this, he grew angry. But despite his displeasure, he did nothing to halt the fatal game and looked on as a succession of unjust and undesirable events transpired, even as the quarrel between the Pandavas and Kauravas escalated into a full-blown conflict. Indeed, despite the best efforts of Vidura, Bhishma, Drona and Kripa to play the part of peacemakers, it was Vasudeva Krishna himself who was solely responsible for encouraging the two halves of the Kuru dynasty to slaughter one another in the great war that ensued.

  Later when he received the news that the last of his sons had perished and the war was ended, at terrible cost to the Kuru race, Dhritarashtra poured out his heart in a long tormented lament to Sanjaya, son
of Gavalgana, and expressed his desire to give up his life at once. Then did Sanjaya console him with wise and significant words.

  Krishna Dweipayana has composed a work that is no less than a holy Upanishad. Those who acquire knowledge of even a single line of a single shloka of The Bharata epic are absolved of all sins. Here are extolled the performers of great deeds, the devas, the deva-rishis or divine seers, the brahamarishis and the rajarishis, one and all, as also the Yakshas and great Nagas. The Eternal One, Vasudeva Krishna, is lauded here as well, for he is the amaranthine everlasting truth, the essence of dharma personified, and the immortal light. He is the boundless fount of Brahman, wellspring of all that is and is not, that which shall continue unto infinity as well as the unstoppable force of entropy, the Beginning and the End of all things. In this itihasa is described the sacred spirit who embodies the five elements of earth, water, energy, wind and sky, the three qualities of sattva, rajas and tamas, and who transcends the very idea of that which is manifest and who can never be described as un-manifest. The reader who follows the path of dharma without wavering and reads this work shall be eternally blessed. The true believer who reads this first chapter of the Bharata from the very beginning shall never suffer from obstacles. Anyone who reads any part of this introductory chapter at the time of sandhyavandana in the morning or evening shall be cleansed of any sin acquired the preceding night or day. As butter is the cream of the curd, as the cow is the choicest of four-footed beings and brahmins are the best of two-footed beings, and as the ocean is the greatest of all bodies of water, thus in the Bharata, this introductory chapter is like the cream, the truth and the ambrosial amrit. He who offers a brahmin a single shloka of this great work at a funeral ceremony shall find his offerings of food and drink to the ancestors multiplied infinitely. It is said that the Vedas should be complemented by a thorough study of the Puranas and the two Itihasas. But the Vedas are wary of those of little knowledge, lest that knowledge be flawed. But this Veda composed by Krishna Dweipayana, once read by a person of learning, shall lead to infinite gain. Even the ultimate sin of killing an embryo within the womb can be nullified by reading this work. A pure person who reads this chapter sincerely at the turn of every moon phase will acquire the auspicious worth of having read the epic entire. That person who reads it daily shall attain long life, fame, and entrance to heavenly realms. In eons past, the devas and rishis once placed the four Vedas on one side of a scale and the Bharata on the other side. The Bharata proved heavier. For it is superior in substance and content and thus came to be known as Maha-Bharata. You who persist and understand its true meaning shall be freed of sin forever. The froth of tapasya, the froth of rote- learning, the sacred laws of the Vedas, these are not sins. They only become sins when abused.