Mahabharatha

Mahabharatha can quite simply be termed as the greatest Indian novel ever. There is always a thin line that seperates fact from fiction and one will never know on which side of that line the story called Mahabharatha resides. This is a territory that, as a mere mortal, I do not wish to trespass.

‘Mahabharata’ or ‘Jaya’, as it was originally called is bound to leave a lasting impression on anyone who reads it, irrespective of the quality or extent of the narration. I am no exception and here I essay the imprints it made on my mind, imprints that will never fade.

1. Doesn't this great work of art show us that God can be much more human than we hope? So can man be much more divine than we believe.

2. Mahabharatha gave us the most tragic hero in the whole wide universe. Oh Karna! Unparalleled as a warrior, equally unparalleled as destiny’s eternal step child. Unfortunately, a warrior as great as Karna will be remembered for reasons, more wrong than right. The tragedy accentuates when one realises that had he known the story of his birth, we would have heard the bards sing an entirely different song. Karna was the first instance of the right man in the wrong party. Read history to know that he was not the last.

3. In history, anonymous was always a woman. Mahabharatha was no different.

4. When one talks about the greatness of Mahabharatha, one should not ignore some great works in literature that Mahabharatha spawned. In Marathi, Shivaji Sawant’s ‘Mrityunjay’ where he glorifies Karna is a classic. In Malayalam, M.T.Vasudevan Nair’s ‘Randamoozham’ where he narrates Mahabharatha from the point of view of Bheem is unforgettable. More recently, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s ‘The Palace of Illusions’ gives a voice to Panchali. Shashi Tharoor’s  ‘The great Indian novel’ in which he draws a parallel between Indian history and Mahabharatha has surprisingly not been recognised for its sheer brilliance.

5. Passionate love is not something that is associated with most of the characters in Mahabharatha. This is an area where the silence in the epic speaks much more than words can ever do. Bheem’s unadulterated love for Panchali, Karna’s longing for Panchali and Panchali’s unexpressed feelings for Karna never found utterances in the epic. There is nothing as tragic as unexpressed love and Mahabharatha poetically chooses to be silent about silent love.

6. In the end, the wicked go straight to the heavens and the righteous are left languishing on earth. This is an unfathomable aspect of the epic and reason enough for me to pick up another translation. With treasure chests of knowledge hidden at every turn, one more journey through the epic can do no harm.

I have always believed that a list is a failed attempt to hide discontinuity of thought. At times like this, I prefer to be truthful about the discontinuity and resort to this much abused form of expression of thoughts.