CAUSES FOR THE EVOLUTION OR ENLARGEMENT OF MAHABHARATAM

 

  Mahabharatam is not only an epic but also is considered as treatise on Dharma Sastra, law, religion, philosophy and a score of other things a man can think in those days. That is why it is declared ‘yaidhaist tdnya~ yannaohaist na tt\ @vaicat\’ – ‘What is found here can be found elsewhere, what is not found here can’t be found anywhere’. It is also called the fifth Veda ‘Baart: pHcamaao vaod:’. T he following are the causes for the enlargement of Mahabharatam.

(1)     The question posed by janamaojaya:, saaOnak: and other sages and the answers given to them by Vaisampayana were incorporated into the text later.

(2)     Store of house of legends: The older national legends of Hindus, their places of worship and mythologies were incorporated into Mahabharatam. These might have had a prior independent existence as ‘gaaqaa s. In this regard the stories of Saraswati Nala, Saavitri, Nahusha etc. may be mentioned.

(3)     Book of knowledge and information: We find all the sciences and subjects being represented in this work. When ‘QaRtraYT/:’ – Dhrutarashtra – the born blind asks ‘saHjaya:’ – Sanjaya- the nature of earth for which so many people are about to fight , we have s whole treatise of Geography. In ‘saBaapva- ’ – Sabha Parva we have an account of political science instructed by Narada to Ydhishtira.

(4)     Book of religion and philosophy: Mahabharatam is treated like a ‘smaRit’ – Smrti cited as an authority in the discussions of philosophy, religion and politics. Bhishma instructs Yudhishtira on law, philosophy, religion and politics. Some of the devotional lyrics like ‘ivaYNausahsa`naamama\’ – Vishnusahasranamam have also been incorporated into Mahbharatam so as to make it a religious book. Bhagavadgita which is considered to be the teachings of Lord Krishna delivered before the start of the battle gives a philosophical stamp for Mahabharatam. Bhagavadgita contains 700 verses and it is divided into 18 chapters. One can’t believe that all the chapters were delivered when the two armies were standing against each other to fight a deadly battle. There might have been some emotional outbursts seen in Arjuna and in order to comfort him Krishna might have advised his responsibility and duty as a ‘xai~ya:’ – Kshatriya. This would have given room to the later day scholars to magnify the theme and elaborately systematise the different aspects of Indian Philosophy.

(5)      Poetical embellishment: The desire to make it run along with the Ramayanam might have made the later day redactors to introduce poetical passages. Even a casual comparison of Ramayanam and Mahabharatam in both expression and description will reveal that Ramayanam is more poetically embellished than Mahabharatam. This made some later day scholars to make Mahbharatam also embellished with poetical imagination and descriptions. Some of the scholars believed that the tricky verses which are supposed to have presented some problems to Vinayaka might have been introduced by Sauti to show his poetical talents.

(6)      Explanation: Some practises which had become obsolete by the time of Sauti have to be explained in the light of new codes of conduct. Thus we have new chapters explaining such things. For example the conversation between Vyasa and Drupada etc.

(7)      Epic tradition: Epics are usually recited before an audience. Hence to satisfy them some topics might have been elaborated and these would have resulted in the enlargement and variations in the text of Mahabharatam.

(8)      Repetition: Repetitions are sometimes usual to stress a subject in the minds of the readers. But they result in the enlargement of the epic. in ‘Aaistkaopa#yaanama\’ descriptions of holy places are found repeated.

(9)      Theory of incarnation: When the concept of trinity of Gods emerged Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma became supreme deities and so passages that declared their divinity were incorporated. In order to give an account of Lord Krishna, a whole new book called Harivamsa was added to Mahabharatam, the traditional scholars have acknowledged this fact.

Incorporation from other traditions: It is stated that all the five disciples of Vyasa to whom ‘Jayam’ was instructed came out with editions of their own. Later when Vaisampayana’s edition started scoring over other editions, some important and relevant points found in other editions might have been included in the recitation by Sauti or by subsequent redactors. These are the factors that have contributed to the enlargement of Mahabharatam.