ITIHASA = The Great Epics, the Real form of Indian History

                                                

The period of the Epics stands in mid-way between the Vedic and Classical period of Sanskrit literature.  The term Itihasa has etimological sense, Iti-ha-aasa, meaning thereby “It happened like this”.  So the Itihasa presents the account of an occurrence that took place long ago.  The Akhyana refers to the narration of an old story.

Of the two Epics, Ramayana and MahaBharata, Ramayana is the old.  The heroes of the Epic Ramayana are mentioned in the MahaBharata epic, but not a single character of MahaBharata Epic found mentioned in the Epic Ramayana.  The Ramayanopakhyana in the Vana-Parva of MahaBharata was narrated to console Yudhishthira to overcome from the impediments.

Ramayanam

Ramayanam is said to be the first Kavya and its author Valmiki is called as Adikavi. It is one the most interesting and elevating Kavyas.  Narada narrated the story of Rama on the request of Valmiki. After sometime Valmiki proceeded to the river Tamasa. On the way he saw a hunter killing the mate of a Kraunca bird couple. This disturbed the feelings of Valmiki. Having merged into the universal compassion he pronounced a curse on the hunter and that came in the form the following verse:

'maa inaYaad p`itYzaM %vaM Agama: SaaSvatI: samaa:. ya%ËaOHcaimaqaunaadokM AvaQaI: kamamaaoihtma\..’

  Valmiki could not believe himself as the author of this verse. Brahma appeared before him and explained to him the process of composing poetry. He requested Valmiki to continue this art by recording the story of Rama. He also blessed him that he would know the secret happenings in the life of Sri Rama. Valmiki who was experiencing an immeasurable grief on seeing the death the Kraunca bird decided to compose the long history of Sri Rama’s life in the same sentiment. This is evidenced in the statement of Kaidasa ‘Slaaok%vamaapVt yasya Saaok:’. 

  Ramayana as it is available today consists of seven Kandas. They are baala¹AyaaoQyaa¹ AarNya¹ikiYknQaa¹saundr¹yauw¹]<ar¹kaNDs. It is said to contain 24000 verses. It is called as 'kavyama\Ê puravaR<ama\Ê Aa#yaanama\Ê [ithasa:Ê,,, saMihta . As it is recited with the accompaniment of instruments it is also called as Geetham.

Ramayanam has become a popular book at the hands of all the people of India high and low, Prince and peasants, Noble men and artisans. All of them are quite familiar with the characters and the story of this great epic. It is held in great esteem by the Hindus. It is used for daily recitation by the pious. The following are the causes for its popularity.

MAHABHARATAM

This great epic Mahabharatam is 8 times bigger than the Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey put together. It is said to have been written by the great poet Vyasa. But the lack of homogeneity, historical anachronisms, internal and external evidences, varying styles, stories that do not have any direct link with the main plot, the description on the various branches of learning, the philosophical explanation and various other factors prove that the original work has been amplified. At present we see Mahabharatam consisting of nearly one lakh verses including the supplement Harivamsa. It is divided into 18 sections called ‘pva-’ (Parva). The 18 Parvas are ‘Aaid’ ‘saBaa’ ‘vana’ ‘ivaraT’ ‘]Vaoga’ ‘BaIYma’ ‘d`aoNa’ ‘kNa-’ ‘Salya’ ‘saaOiPtk’ ‘s~I’ ‘Saaint’ ‘AnauSaasana’ ‘ASvamaoQa’ ‘AaEamavaaisak’ ‘maaoxa’ ‘mahap`sqaana’ ‘svagaa-raohNa’ – pva-s. Among them the ‘Saantipavra-’ is the longest Parva containing about 14700 verses and the last one is the shortest one with 200 verses.  After composing the Mahabharatam it is believed that Vyasa had taught the same to his disciples. The theme of the work was a war between two cousin brothers over the kingship of a large territory. But in the present volume of Mahabharatam we have a number of queries raised by Janamejaya and other sages and answers given by Vaisampayana and others. This is evidenced in the prefixes like ‘vaOSaMpayana ]vaaca’ ‘?Yaya }cau:’ ‘janamaojaya ]vaaca’ etc. How can these questions and their answers have formed part of the original text composed by Vyasa?  Hence we must accept that the work must have been amplified later. This is proved by various statements still preserved in Mahabharatam itself by oversight or owing to the absence of motives to expunge them. Even according to traditions there are three beginnings in Mahabharatam. There are also statements giving different lengths of the work, different types of division and different names.

(This blog post is a part of Blogchatter's #BlogchatterA2Z2023)