assignment on mahabharata

Stories of Mahabharata Submitted to – Professor Ganesh Devy, DAIICT Course – Epics and Epistemy Submitted by – Navkar Samdaria (200501174)

Epics and Epistemy: Stories of Mahabharata

2 Navkar Samdaria -200501174

Contents

1) Narrative Structure of Mahabharata ---------------------------- 3

2) Story1 – Bhishma and Amba (Adi Parva)----------------------- 4

• Highlights of the story ------------------------------------- 6

3) Story2 – Karna (Adi Parva) ---------------------------------------- 7

• Highlights of the story ------------------------------------- 9

4) Story3 – Drona (Adi Parva) ---------------------------------------- 10

• Highlights of the story -------------------------------------- 12

5) References ------------------------------------------------------------- 13



Narrative Structure of Mahabharata

Mahabharata is one of the greatest Indian epic. It narration is breathtaking in its poetic and intellectual quality. The Mahabharata belongs to the genre of “Itihasa”, which in hindi means history. In Sanskrit “Itihasa”, it mean “so indeed it was”. The Mahabharata narrative structure matches its complexity and depth of philosophy. The technique of narration is that of a story inside another story. Stories in Mahabharata state various responses to a specific problem which adds to the comprehensive dimension of the text. The base of the narration stands on “dialogues”, which bring out various view points on a particular situation. Every character in Mahabharata has its own stand and ideologies, but the narration is done so beautifully that no view point is stated best or superior than the other. The text leaves the interpretations to be done by the reader. Everyone answers according to their dharma and the reader has to choose according to his dharma. This style of narration makes Mahabharata a text of debates. Though the structure of Mahabharata is complex in style, its language is so free flowing and rhythmic that it makes the hardest philosophy to look simple.

In this text I have chosen three stories from Mahabharata and tried to narrate my stand on them. I have chosen all the three stories from “Adi Parva” – 1) Bhishma and Amba, 2) Karna and 3) Drona.



Story-1: Amba and Bhishma Chitrangada, the son of Satyavati, was killed in battle with a Gandharva. As he died childless, his brother, Vichitravirya, was the rightful heir and was duly crowned king at a very younger age. Bhishma governed the kingdom in his name till Vichitravirya came to age. When Vichitravirya became adolescence, Bhishma started to think about his marriage and began to look around for suitable bride. Soon he heard that the king of Kashi was holding a swayamvara for his three daughters. Since Vichitravirya himself was too young and weak to stand any chance of being chosen by the young women, Bhishma raided the swayamvara and forcibly abducted the three brides – Amba, Ambika and Ambalika, against their will and set out for Hastinapur.

But before he had gone far, Salva, the king of the Saubala country who was attached to Amba, stopped and opposed him. For that princess had mentally chosen Salva as her husband. After a bitter fight Salva accepted defeat. On the request of Amba, Bhishma spared his life and returned to Hastinapur with the three princesses. Arriving in Hastinapur with the princesses, Bhishma made preparations for their marriage to Vichitravirya. When all were assembled for the marriage, Amba smiled at Bhishma and said “At heart I had chosen the king of Saubala for my husband. He had, in his heart, accepted me for his wife. This was also approved by my father. At the self-choice ceremony also I would have chosen him as my lord. Knowing all this, do as you like”. Bhishma admitted the force of her objection and sent her to Salva with proper escort. The marriage of Ambika and Ambalika, the two younger sisters, with Vichitravirya was duly performed.

Amba went to Salva and narrated the complete episode and said “I have mentally chosen you as my husband from the very start. Bhishma has sent me to you. Marry me according to the sastras". Salva however rejected her because of his humiliation in defeat to Bhishma and told her “Go back to Bhishma and do as he commands”. Amba returned to Hastinapur and narrated her predicament to Bhishma who then asked Vichitravirya to marry the third sister Amba too. But Vichitravirya roundly refused to marry a woman whose heart had already been given to another. Amba attacked Bhishma rebuking him that he and his offensive ways were the cause of all her troubles. ``Marry me,'' she said, ``set things right.'' Bhishma, of course, had taken the vow of Brahmacharya and insisted on preserving his celibacy intact. He told her there was no way left to her but to go again to Salva and seek to persuade him. After staying for a long time in Hastinapur, Amba went to Salva in mere hope of acceptance but Salva refused her. She spent the next six years in baffled hope and bitter rage towards Bhishma.

Amba went from warrior to warrior, seeking someone who would fight Bhishma on her behalf. None came forward; such was the fear that Bhishma evoked in the minds of men. At last, she resorted to hard austerities to get the grace of Lord Subrahmanya. He appeared before her and



gave her a garland of fresh flowers, saying that he wearer of the garland will become enemy of Bhishma. She again went from warrior to warrior with the garland, but no one had the courage to accept it and fight for her against Bhishma. Finally, she went to King Drupada who also refused to grant her prayer. She then hung the garland at Drupada's palace gate and went away to the forest. Some ascetics whom she met in the forest heard her dreadful tale and suggested her to meet Parasurama for help. She followed their advice and went to Parasurama. After hearing her story Parasurama was moved and asked her “What do you want?” He said he can ask Salva to marry if she wanted. Amba no longer had the desire to marry Salva; she only wanted revenge on Bhishma.

Parasurama was moved with her pain and fought against Bhishma. The fight continued for a long time but at last Parasurama accepted the defeat. He said to Amba that it is all he could do for her, now she must obey Bhishma. Filled with grief and rage for Bhishma, she started worshiping lord Shiva. Shiva appeared before her and granted her a boon, that in her next birth she would kill Bhishma. She was impatient for rebirth and wanted to satisfy her thirst for revenge quickly, so she made a pyre and plunged into the fire.

By the grace of Lord Siva, Amba was born as the daughter of King Drupada. A few years after her birth, she saw the garland of never-fading flowers that still hung at the palace gate and had remained there untouched by anyone through fear. She put it round her neck. Her father Drupada feared that temerity of her daughter against Bhishma can become a cause for suffering. So he sent her daughter in exile out of the capital to forests. She practiced austerities in the forest and in time was transformed into a male and became known as the warrior Sikhandin.

With Sikhandin as his charioteer, Arjuna attacked Bhishma on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Bhishma knew that Sikhandin was born as female, and true to his code of chivalry he would not fight him under any circumstance. So it meant that Arjuna could fight screened by Sikhandin and conquer Bhishma.

On the other side at Hastinapur, Ambika and Ambalika were married to Vichitravirya. However, soon after the marriage, Vichitravirya died, producing no heir to the throne. Hastinapur was left with two widowed queens, a widowed queen mother and a regent; but no king. Hence Satyavati asked Bhishma to break his vow of chastity and accept the widow queens, but Bhishma refused. Therefore, Vyasa, the son born to the queen-mother out of wedlock, was summoned to father sons from out of the widowed queens. Pandu and Dhritarashtra were born of that loveless copulation - one was pale with anemia and the other was born blind.



Highlights of the story:

Mahabharata is considered to be text of debates; its narrative structure is formulated in such a way that each dialogue provides a meditative moment to characters to explore various moral options available to them for a given situation.

• A couple of interesting themes come up in this part of the story. One is the use of ambiguous sexualities. The other is the fine line between love and hate. It is possible that Amba’s time in the forest led to love for Bhishma, which converted as intense hatred. Killing him was also a favor done to him by releasing him from his self-forced bachelorhood.

• It might have been a common practice among the princes of those days to take brides by force, if necessary. But, Bhishma captured the brides to be, not for himself but for his half-brother, still a boy, and incapable of winning a wife for himself. No kshatriya princess would love to or even care to marry a man who cannot win a wife for himself.

• If we look throughout the Mahabharata the Bharata seemed to have fallen into a habit of bringing home brides by force, much against their will. It started with Satyavati, then Ambika and Ambalika. Similar was the story with Gandhari and Madri. Bhishma could be credited with bringing brides for three generations of the Bharatas – for his father, for his half-brother, and for his nephews, though he himself remained unmarried. None of those women had a happy life; they were angry and hurt all their life.

• The purpose of all the mess created by Bhishma like abducting the princess of Kashi etc. was to uphold the Bharata lineage. However no Bharata blood ran in the veins of Dhritarashtra or Pandu or even in the sons of Pandu.

• The concept of marrying the widows of brother was introduced in Mahabharata, with Vyasa fathering son through the widows of his half-brother. This concept is further extended into the epic and became a base for the relationship between Pandu and his wives, Kunti and Madri. Pandu’s cursed life forced his wives to beget children from someone else.

• Women in Mahabharata had only one major role to play i.e. to produce children on demand of his husband. This may also be reason why there is no description of impotent women in Mahabharata as no one understood the significance of women other than a machine which produces children. At that time loyalty of women towards husbands was treated secondary as it was customary to acquire a son begotten by another man on one’s own wife, if one happened not to have an heir.



Story2-Karna

Karna, the son of Kunti and Surya the sun god was abandoned by Kunti as she was unwilling to face the world as a unwedded mother. At the time of his birth Surya gave him an armour ('Kavacha') and a pair of earrings ('Kundala') which dipped in Amrit, which were attached to him from birth.

The child Karna was borne down the river and picked up by King Dhritarashtra charioteer, Adhiratha, a sudra. Karna was raised by him and his wife. As he grew into adulthood, Karna sought to be a warrior. He approached Dronacharya, who at that time had established his school and was training the Kuru princes, requesting admission into his school. Drona refused to teach him, as he was a 'sutaputra' or the son of a charioteer. Karna realized his caste would continue to be a barrier in his quest for knowledge. He decided eventually to approach Parashurama, who was known to teach Bramhins alone. Karna appeared to Parashurama as a Brahmin and wanted to learn the arts of war from Parashurama and would use them to maintain order as Parashurama had done, and was accepted as his student. Parashurama trained him to the point where Parashurama declared Karna to have surpassed him in the arts of war.

As Karna's training came to completion, Parashurama learnt the truth about Karna's origin. After knowing that Karna has concealed the truth from him that he was a sudra, Parasurama felt cheated and cursed Karna, stating that when he required an astra (divine weapon) the most, he would be unable to recall its incantation or spell. Karna plead for pardon but Parasurama said his curse was irreversible, but he gifted him Vijaya, his personal bow. After this he left the ashram and after returning home he told his family about his training. He subsequently decided to seek out a position in the Hastinapur court.

At the same time all the princes returned to Hastinapur after completing their studies at Drona's ashrama. They grew into healthy and powerful adults. All were trained in various branches of knowledge including statesmanship, diplomacy, economics, sociology, and so on. Moreover, everyone excelled in one particular skill of war-game. The Pandavas and the Kauravas learnt the practice of arms first from Kripacharya and later from Drona. A day was fixed for a test and exhibition of their proficiency in the use of arms in the presence of the royal family and as the public had also been invited to witness the performance of their beloved princes. There was a large and enthusiastic crowd.

In particular, the skills of Arjuna in archery like bringing rains after hitting the clouds and building a bridge of arrow, etc. surprised and immensely impressed the spectators. Duryodhana's brow was dark with envy and hate.

At the close of the day, there came suddenly from the entrance of the arena a sound, loud and compelling like thunder the sound made by the slapping of mighty arms in challenge. All eyes



turned in that direction as karna entered the arena. Karna addressed Arjuna in a voice deep as rumbling thunder: "Arjuna, I shall show greater skill than you have displayed."

With Drona's leave, Karna the lover of battle, then and there duplicated all of Arjuna's feats with careless ease. Great was Duryodhana's exultation. He threw his arms round Karna and said: "Welcome, O thou with mighty arms, whom good fortune has sent to us. I and this kingdom of the Kurus are at your command."

Said Karna: "I, Karna, am grateful, O king. Only two things I seek, your love and single combat with Partha (Arjuna)."

Arjuna accepted the challenge, and with Drona's permission, hastily embraced his brothers and stood ready for combat. While Karna, taking leave of the Kuru brothers, confronted him weapon in hand.

When Kunti saw Karna, she knew him as her first born and fainted away. Vidura instructed the maidservant to attend upon her and she revived. She stood amazed with anguish not knowing what to do.

As they were about to join in battle, Kripa, well-versed in the rules of single combat, stepped between them and refused Karna his duel, asking first for his clan and kingdom - according to the rules of dueling, only a prince may challenge Arjuna who is a prince of the Kuru house. Duryodhana, the oldest of the Kauravas, offers Karna the throne of Anga, so that Karna would be a king and thus be more than eligible to duel his cousin.

At that moment, as the combat between the youthful heroes seemed about to commence, the old charioteer Adhiratha, who was the foster-father of Karna, entered the assembly, staff in hand and quaking with fear. The old man called him son, embraced him with his thin and trembling arms, and wept with joy.

At this sight, Bhima roared with laughter and said: "O he is after all only the son of a charioteer! Take up the driving whip then as it suits his parentage. He is not worthy enough to have death at hands of Arjuna and neither is he eligible to become king of Anga."

But Duryodhana broke in indignantly and said: "It is unworthy of you, O Vrikodara, to speak thus. Valor is the hallmark of a kshatriya. Nor is there much sense in tracing great heroes and mighty rivers to their sources. I could give you hundreds of instances of great men of humble birth and I know awkward questions might be asked of your own origin. Look at this warrior, his godlike form and bearing, his armor and earrings, and his skill with weapons. Surely there is some mystery about him. For how could a tiger be born of an antelope? Unworthy of being king of Anga, didst thou say? I verily hold him worthy to rule the whole world." In generous wrath, Duryodhana took Karna in his chariot and drove away.



Indra foresaw that a supreme contest was inevitable between his son Arjuna and Karna. And he put on the garb of a brahmana and came to Karna, who was reputed for his charity and begged of him his earrings and armor (gifted to him by his father Surya). The Sun god had already warned Karna in a dream that Indra would try to deceive him in this manner. Still, Karna could not bring himself to refuse any gift that was asked of him. Hence he cut off the earrings and armor with which he was born and gave them to the brahmana.

Indra, the king of gods, was filled with surprise and joy. After accepting the gift, he praised Karna as having done what no one else would do, and, shamed into generosity, bade Karna ask for any boon he wanted.

Karna replied: "I desire to get your weapon, the Sakti, which has the power to kill enemies." Indra granted the boon, but with a fateful proviso. He said: "You can use this weapon against but one enemy, and it will kill him whosoever he may be. But this killing done, this weapon will no longer be available to you but will return to me." With these words Indra disappeared.


The story mentioned above was of great importance as it compiles the forthcoming events of Mahabharata. The style of narration and story itself portrays many things; let us look at them one by one.

• One point is clear from the narration that framework of society at that time was rigid as war studies was only allowed to Kshatriya and Brahmins. Karna being a sudra was not allowed to learn art of war. It appeared throughout the Mahabharata that caste became a barrier for him which restrained him from many things across is life.

• The bond between Karna and his foster family was one of pure love, respect and affection despite the lack of blood relationship. Adhiratha was honored by Karna in front of all the warrior kind, and Karna lovingly performed his duties as a son and brother within his foster family, despite his rise as king of Anga and the eventual revelation of his true birth.

• The complete episode at the arena, like any other key event of Mahabharata is too small, fast moving and dramatic. It ends before one is well aware of what is happening. It adds an edge to the conflict and drives the later part of the Mahabharata. The complete episode at the arena turns out to be disaster for Karna and also portrays him as a weak and narrow minded person. If we look at the narration of Mahabharata and place the events in their chronological order, it becomes obvious that Karna was much elder than Arjuna. Being elder and a Kshatriya (as he always wanted to be), he must have restrained his anger. This event shows that despite gaining the complete knowledge and skills of Kshatriya, he was



not able to understand its true value. These weaknesses in the character Karna are exploited many times throughout the story.

• As a suta Karna was not allowed to learn art of war, so he went in face of a Brahmin and learned skills from Parasurama. When Parasurama came to know about his cheating, he cursed him saying he will forget what he learned. It was because of the curse that at the crisis of his last fight with Arjuna, Karna was not able to recall the Brahmastra spell, though he had remembered it till then.

• The one thing which Karna took from the arena was friendship with Duryodhana. But it is ambiguous to state the relationship between Duryodhana and Karna as ‘friendship’. A true friendship is not done in need, while at that time both have their needs. Duryodhana wanted someone to stand with him in his protest against Pandavas and Karna wanted someone who could understand his situation and help him identifying himself. This was collaboration between them and was in no way a friendship. It is mentioned in Udogaparva that not only he, his children were also married in suta family. This reflects that Duryodhana despite giving so much respect to Karna treated him more like a servant and not even thought of improving his status. Mahabharata also states that friendship is only possible between two people who are equal in power and skills.

• This story portrays the first attempt of Karna to reveal his identity which turned out as a failure. Throughout the Mahabharata he is trying to reveal himself, and each time he is entangled into greater confusion.

Story3-Dronacharya

Drona belong to a poor Brahman family. He was the son and student of Bharadwaj rishi. He and his friend Drupada who was the prince of Panchala were among very good students. In Ashram Prince of Panchala promise him to be his friend always even though he will become the king. Drupada, in his boyish enthusiasm, used often to tell Drona that he would give him half his kingdom when he ascended the throne. After ashram life they got separate and walked away on their respective path.

After completing his studies, Drona got married to Kripi, sister of Kripacharya, the main Priest and teacher for Hastinapur royal family. As Drona was always very ambitious and energetic he was never satisfied with ordinary jobs. Once he listened that Parasurama is giving up his belongings to other Brahman. He also rushed to him. But he was too late as Parasurama had already given away all his wealth and was about to retire to the forest. Parasurama said "You are quite late. I already gave my all belongings except these weapons which no Brahman wants to take". Responding to this Drona said "I will be grateful to you if you give your weapons and



their working technique to me". Parasurama was happy to teach his and in no time Drona became a great archer and unrivalled master of military art.

When he returned home, he saw his son crying and asking for milk. Kripi gave him mixture of rice powder and water. She was not able to provide normal milk to Ashvatthama, her son. Ashvatthama threw the pot and said that he wants the milk as all his friends drink. Kripi was not able to stop tears in her eyes.

Meanwhile, Drupada had ascended the throne of Panchala on the death of his father. Remembering their early intimacy and Dhrupad’s expressions of readiness to serve him, even to the extent of sharing his kingdom, Drona went to him in the confident hope of being treated generously. But he found the king very different from the student. When he introduced himself as an old friend, Drupada, far from being glad to see him, said "Who are you”. "I am your friend Drona. We were in the same ashram under Bharadwaj rishi." Drona replied. "I don't remember you. How you can be my friend? I am a king, you are a poor man. Only a king could be a friend of a king. If you want some money, take and go away." Drupada said in very insulting tone.

Drona felt very humiliated and said I will remember your words always. Next time when we will meet, we will be equal. Drona left the court in anger with a mental vow to punish the arrogant king for this insult and his repudiation of the sacred claims of early friendship. His next move in search of employment was to go to Hastinapur, where he spent a few days, in retirement, in the house of his brother-in-law Kripacharya.

It is very important for the Kshatriya that is the warrior clan to be proficient in archery and sword fencing. We already know that the Pandav and the Kaurava were being and brought up together by Bhishma. He always showed keen interest in their education and proficiency in warfare. He therefore wanted the best among the tutors to train Pandav and Kaurava in archery and sword fighting.

One day all the princes were playing the ball game together and the ball as well as Yudhishthira’s ring fell into a broken well. How to take out the ball and the ring was their problem. Just at that time, they spotted a Brahman. He was a thin person but his bright eyes and the glow on his face indicated a brilliant man. The Brahman listened to the children and said in a teasing voice, you are from a warrior race and still you do not know how to take out the ball from the well!" The children were surprised. What is the relationship between the ball and the warrior race, they wondered. They raised this doubt with the Brahman. He replied, "Let me show you."

The Brahman was not an ordinary person. He pulled out a blade of grass and after chanting a mantra, threw it into the well. The grass hit the ball with lot of force and the ball bounced out of the well. The princes realized that he was an extraordinary man. They wanted to know his name. But Brahman smiled and said "Go to your grandfather Bhishma and narrate this incident to him. He will know who I am".



From the description given by the princes, Bhishma knew that the Brahmin was none other than the famous master Drona. He decided that Drona was the fittest person to impart further instruction to the Pandavas and the Kauravas. So, Bhishma received him with special honor and employed him to instruct the princes in the use of arms. All the princes felt happy and proud that they were Dronacharya's disciples.

Among all the princes, Arjuna was Dronacharya's favorite disciple. Arjuna always aimed his bow very well. He always respected his Guru. And though the other princes received good training from their master, it was Arjuna who excelled himself in archery.

Dronacharya thoroughly taught all of them. He never forgot the incident happened in Dhrupad’s court. Ever science this incident, Drona waited for an opportunity to teach lesson for Dhrupad’s arrogance. With brave Arjuna and Duryodhana who was good at the mace, with the powerful Bhima and with courageous Yudhishthir as students, Drona felt that the time was right for him to seek his revenge against Drupada. So, first of all, he ordered Duryodhana to wage a war against the Panchala king. But Duryodhana was no match for Drupada and was easily defeated by him. Disappointed Drona entrusted this task to Arjuna.

It did not take long for Arjuna to defeat Drupada. Since Drupada was defeated in the war, Drona had the right to claim the entire kingdom as his own. But he was an unselfish person. So he told Drupada "My friend, let one half of the kingdom is with you. I will retain the other half so that both of us can be equals. Then you will have no hesitation in accepting me as your friend."

This generous attitude of Drona made Drupada feel all the more humiliated. But instead of being grateful to him, a feeling of revenge grew strong in Drupada.


• If we study the story at a shallow level, it looks like a simple tale of two childhood friends Drona and Drupada. The power and possession gathered by one ruins the friendship and makes them enemies. Bu if look the story from different perspective, then we can say that the story reflects the conflict between two communities Kshatriya and Brahmins. If we examine the Mahabharata there exist two major communities, Kshatriya and Brahmins. The relation between these major classes portrays rivalry as well as mutual dependence. The Kshatriya needed the services of the Brahmins for propitiating the gods, officiating at the life-cycle rituals and performing the great sacrifices proclaiming their victories, glory and munificence. All the Brahmins, barring a very few, needed this sort of patronage and protection from the Kshatriya. The few Brahmins who were known as great teachers and maintained forest-schools or were great philosophers, though independent to a certain extent, still enjoyed the privileges of Kshatriya patronage.



• The idea of friendship in that time was different as compared to the present day. Friendship in those days was only valid between people having equal status. This idea is further extended in epic and pictured in the so called friendship of Karna and Duryodhana, which can be said as series of favors from both ends, neither Karna nor Duryodhana ever showed a sign of true friendship.

• Despite of the generous attitude shown by Drona towards Drupada, he wanted to take revenge from him. Drupada continues to suffer with feeling of revenge and turned to austerities. Looking at his sacrifices, god blessed him with a son, Dhrishtadyumna, who commanded the Pandava army at Kurukshetra and, helped by a strange combination of circumstances, slew the otherwise unconquerable Drona.

References

[1] C.RajGopalachari, “Mahabharata”

[2] Iravati Karve, “Yuganta”

[3] http://mahabharataonline.com

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