THE MAHABHARATA
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
Standing on the beautiful fluted column of red sandstone, known as the Kutub Minar, which towers loftily above the lifeless quietude of ancient Delhi, the eye surveys a landscape which embraces one of the most classic regions in Hindustan.
Across the ruin-strewn plain, towards the lordly minarets and cupolas of modern Delhi, the spectator may note, just a little towards the east, the massive remains of thePoorana killa, or old fort, which still preserves, in its traditionary name ofIndrapatorIndraprasta, a suggestion of the glory it enjoyed some fifteen centuries before Christ.
Not only in India and to the Hindus is theIndraprastaa name of reverence; for, away in distant Cambodia, the people believe that they are descended from colonists who immigrated into the southern peninsula from the far-off banks of the Jumna, and the stupendous remains of Angkor and Battambang, near the great lake of Toulé-sap, point unmistakably to Hindu and Buddhist origin, and bear silent witness to the existence, in the remote past, of a powerful and flourishing kingdom of Indian origin.[52]
Delhi, and the great plain north of it, are associated with the most stirring events in both the ancient and modern history of India, and have witnessed the most decisive struggles for empire which have occurred south of the Himalayas.
Perhaps the “Mahabharata” was based on simple Aryan sagas like those of the Norsemen—historical traditions of deeds performed by gallant warriors to whose nervous hands the spear and axe were more familiar than the plough and the pen,[53]but, if so, the poets who have used the materials of the sagas of their ancestors to build up the great national epic, have been not too careful to preserve the strict accuracy of the traditions, and when the narrative of events is interrupted by long disquisitions and endless palavers, we discern unmistakably the hand of the Brahman compiler andhiscontribution to the record. We may, then, as well admit at once that little real history can be gleaned out of the one hundred thousand verses of the “Mahabharata.” Yet a very great deal of valuable matter, that does not fall under the usual denomination of history, may be readily found in this voluminous epic, giving it a high value for all time.
The authorship of the “Mahabharata” is ascribed to the sage Vyasa, or thecompiler, and its production is, at least, as remarkable as that of the “Ramayana” already referred to. We are told in the introduction to the poem itself that, “The son of Satyavati (Vyasa) having by penance and meditation analyzed the eternal Veda afterwards compiled this holy history.” When he had completed the vast epic, without, however,committing any portion of it to writing, he began to consider how he could teach it to his disciples. Sympathizing with his desire to extend to others the benefits of this most sacred and interesting poem, Brahma, the Supreme Being, appeared before the saint. “And when Vyasa, surrounded by all the tribes of Munis, saw him, he was surprised; and standing with joined palms, he bowed and he ordered a seat to be brought. And Vyasa having gone round him, who is called Hiranyagarbha, seated on that distinguished seat, stood near it, and, being commanded by Brahma Parameshti, he sat down near the seat full of affection and smiling in joy” (P. C. Roy).[54]After expressing his entire approval of the poem Vyasa had composed, the Supreme Being said: “Let Ganesa be thought of, O Muni, for the purpose of writing the poem,” and then “retired to his own abode.” Ganesa, the god of wisdom, being invoked by Vyasa, repaired at once to his hermitage and consented to commit the wondrous tale to writing, provided his pen were not allowed to cease its work for a single moment. This condition was agreed to and observed. Thus was the “Mahabharata” recorded, as undying and infallible scripture, from the lips of its inspired bard.
In respect of its importance and sanctity we need only cite the following passages from the poem itself. “There is not a story current in this world, but doth depend upon this history, even as the body upon the food that it taketh.”
“The study of the ‘Bharata’ is an act of piety. He that readeth even one foot believing hath his sins entirely purged away.”
“The man who with reverence daily listeneth to this sacred work acquireth long life and renown and ascendeth to heaven.”
“A Brahmana whatever sins he may commit during the day through his senses, is freed from them all by reading the ‘Bharata’ in the evening. Whatever sins he may commit also in the night by deed, words, or mind, he is freed from them all by reading the ‘Bharata’ in the first twilight (morning).”
What effects such beliefs were likely to have upon the morals of a people we do not stop to inquire.
“Chaque peuple,” says Prévost-Paradol, “a dans son histoire un grand fait, auquel il rattache tout son passé et tout son avenir, et dont la mémoire est un mot de ralliement, une promesse de salut. La fuite d’Egypte, disaient les Juifs; le renversement des Mèdes, disaient les Perses; les guerres Médiques, disent à leur tour les Grecs. On les rappellera à tout propos pour en tirer des arguments, des prétentions politiques, des mouvements oratoires, des encouragements patriotiques dans les grandes crises, et plus tard, les regrets éternels.”[55]
For the Indian people it is the great war ending with Kurukshetra, which is the central event of their history. It closes for them their golden age. Before that was a world of transcendent knowledge and heroic deeds; since then intellectual decay and physical degeneracy. Nor is this merely a sentiment, it is adeeply-rooted belief, which the highly-educated Indian holds in common with his ignorant countryman. I have known an educated Hindu to maintain with much warmth that in the golden age the Rishis and others were well acquainted with the art of aërial navigation, and probably with other rapid modes of locomotion unknown to us moderns. I have heard him assert boldly that even the telephone, microphone, and phonograph had been known to the Hindu sages up to the time when the sciences and arts of the ancient world perished, wholesale andfor ever, with the heroes of the “Mahabharata” on the fatal field of Kurukshetra. However little one might be disposed to import such romantic statements into a sober history of science, they are, at any rate, true as regards the non-existence of anything like even the germs of progressive science among the people of India from a very remote date up to the present time.
Of the one hundred thousand verses of the “Mahabharata” not more than a fourth part is concerned with the main story of the epic—the rest consists of more or less irrelevant, though often beautiful episodes, and of disquisitions on government, morals and theology. It is the main story that I have endeavoured to reproduce in brief outline in this volume, and I have also attempted to preserve, as far as possible, the important doctrinal features of the great epic.