Satyavati’s Ambition

Although we get to meet many fascinating characters and several important incidents related to the main story happen much earlier than even the first mention of Satyavati, but I would like to start the analytical part of this blog by first introducing and analyzing the character of Satyavati. Also it makes sense to start with her for the simple fact that the element of drama is introduced only when she comes into the picture. Before she arrives on the scene everything is happening pretty much the way it was supposed to happen. Ganga descends on earth and marries Shantanu, she drowns the first seven of her eight children because it was pre-ordained that they would be relieved from a miserable life on earth with Ganga’s assistance. But things start to change the moment Satyavati makes an appearance.

Satyavati is also very important for another reason. Contrary to the popular perception, Mahabharat is not the story of a war between the descendents of the great Kuru king Bharat, the Kuru bloodline ended with Bhishma. The generation after Bhishma which is Dhritrashtra and Pandu are the sons of Sage Vyas who was the son of Satyavati and Sage Parashar. Hence from the moment Satyavati enters the Kuru household, the Chandravanshi dynasty becomes Satyavati’s dynasty even though the following generations of the family are called Kurus (see the story of Chandrama and Tara) but they are not of the Kuru blood and hence Satyavati is the grand matriarch of this new dynasty that she started. She was also the mother of Ved Vyas, the author of Mahabharat.

Even though Satyavati is the progenitor of the race of Kurus who are the primary players as the story progresses but in the epic itself we don’t get a lot of time with her. The following is her story in brief:

 

The Displacement of Dharma

Janmajeya’s Snake Sacrifice

Krishna: My crooked God

Coming soon….

Setting the stage

Hinduism believes in the cyclical nature of all that exist, including time and age. That everything has a beginning, reaches a crescendo and then dies a natural death, only to be replaced again by the next cycle.

Yuga in Hindu Philosophy is the name of an ‘epoch’ or ‘era’ within a cycle of four ages. These are Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and finally Kali Yuga. According to Hindu cosmology, life in the universe is created and destroyed once every 4.1 to 8.2 billion years, which is one full day and night for Brahma. The lifetime of a Brahma Himself may be 311 trillion and 40 billion years. The cycles are said to repeat like the seasons, waxing and waning within a greater time-cycle of the creation and destruction of the universe. Like Summer, Spring, Winter and Autumn, each yuga involves stages or gradual changes which the earth and the consciousness of mankind goes through as a whole. Each of these Yuga had their own set of ethos and problems and in each of these Yuga Vishnu takes an Avatar to help human beings make sense of the world around them. The end of each Yuga is marked by an immense battle between the forces of Good and Evil that lays down the lessons for the next Yuga.

According to Hindu mythology it is said that when unrighteousness had reached its peak in Dwapar Yug (the third of the four Yugas), the Goddess Earth or Bhoo Devi takes the form of a cow and approached Vishnu to be her cowherd and to lighten her burden (the population apparently had reached unsustainable levels) as the greed of men had become unbearable and they were not only plundering her resources but had also become morally corrupt and had started hurting each other. It is therefore from this point itself that we know that an apocalyptic war is to take place, however this war would contain lessons for generations to come so that they may know about the futility of war.

It was therefore decided that many gods, celestial beings, asuras along with Vishnu will descend upon earth to play a part in this war. The following are some of the major incarnations:

Krishna: 9th (and thus far the most complete) Incarnation of Vishnu (Narayana)
Rukmini and Krishna’s other wives: Partial incarnations of Goddess Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu
Balaram: Sheshnag (the celestial multi hooded cobra that Vishnu rests on, In Ramayan Sheshnag played Lakshman, Ram’s younger brother)
The 5 Pandavs: The 5 Indras
Draupadi: Sachi (the wife of Indra)
Yudhishthira: one of the Indras born through Dharma
Bhimasena: one of the Indras born though Varuna, the god of Wind
Arjun: Nara the eternal companion of Narayan, Indra himself
Nakula and Sahadeva: Indras, born through the twin Aswins
Ganga: As Herself
Bhishma: Dyaus (A Vasu, cursed to live a painful life on earth)
Drona: Brihaspati (the Guru of the Gods)
Vidura: Dharma (The God of Duty, Righteousness and Justice)
Kripacharya: Rudra (Rudra is a minor manifestation of Shiva, and hence there can be many Rudra)
Dhritrashtra: Hansa, the son of Rishi Arishta
Duryodhana: Kali (the embodiment of the next yuga, Kaliyuga)
Shakuni: Dvapara (the embodiment of the Yuga of Mahabharat, Dvaparyuga. He is the one who incites Duryodhana’s reckless ambition and envy)
Ashwatthama: Rudra
Dhrishtdyumna: Agni (the Fire god)
Abhimanyu: Varchas (the son of one of the minor deities who was destined to live on earth for only 16 years)
Kansa: Kalnemi, an Asura
Jarasandha: Viprachitti
There are many other such incarnations listed in the original Mahabharat text which can be read here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01068.htm

And thus the stage was set for the Gods to descend upon earth to play their parts in the grand drama (Leela) that is Mahabharat.

Notes:

The start of this entry and the explanation for Yugas has been taken from Wikipedia. You can read more about the Yugas on this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuga

Yuga or Time inspired the number system in India. Zero, the Hindu Arabic Number System and the Decimal Point System are among India’s important contributions to the world civilization, without which modern mathematics and science as we know them would not have been possible. The Hindu concept of Time is what seems to have given birth to 0 (also the philosophy that “Nothing contains within itself Everything”) and the decimal points system as they were trying to ascertain the age of the Universe itself. They needed therefore not only very large numbers but also very small numbers, giving birth to fractions and the idea of Zero as something that not only means Nothing but also that which can be used to create everything. You can read more about them on the following links:
Hindu units of time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrics_of_time_in_Hinduism
The Hindu Arabic Number System: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu%E2%80%93Arabic_numeral_system
Hindu Cosmology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_cosmology

A documentary by Carl Sagan, one of the greatest scientific minds in the field of Astrophysics and Cosmology, I would recommend this as a must see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugyrzr5Ds8o
Full version of the documentary (do watch if you have the time): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A37xDlhQCbw

Krishna is considered the 9th Avatar of Vishnu, a more complete incarnation. It is believed that the Avatars of Vishnu grew and ‘evolve’ according to the changing Yugas and that the evolution of Vishnu Avatars is a metaphor for evolution on this planet itself. Very apt, considering that He is the God responsible for the preservation of Life on the planet. Since we are dealing with Krishna, a Vishnu Avatar, the readers of this blog might also be interested in Hindu view of the evolution. You can read more about this on the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_creationism

Jaya and Vijaya: The nature of victory

Mahabharat is roughly understood to mean ‘the story of the clan of Bharat’. India is called Bharat by Indians in the honour of the great King Bharat. Vyas, however, had called this body of work Jaya. Jaya explored the nature of morality and what it means to be human. Mahabharat is just one of a 60 part series that Vyas had narrated. The other 59 are lost.

Although Jaya and Vijaya, both mean victory, they both represent very different kind of victories. Vijaya is the victory over material things, adversaries, external situations. Vijaya always leads to a situation when one person wins and the other loses, it’s a 0 sum game. Whereas Jaya means victory over self. Jaya leads to victory for everyone, it leads to a more just society. We find Yuddhishthir contemplating on the nature of Jaya and Vijaya when the war is over and he finds peace only when he fully understand that Jaya is far superior to Vijaya. MB/Jaya is therefore not the story of a war rather the futility of war. It is about how morality is a subtle art. It is a moving treatise on conquering the self before one decides to conquer the world or how even conquering the world will not bring one any peace and happiness unless The Self is won. More on this later.

But like all Hindu philosophy, this bit of philosophy comes in the form of a story. It is said that Jaya and Vijaya were the divine guards at the gate of Vaikuntha Dhaam, the celestial abode of Vishnu. Once the Sanat Kumars (sages portrayed as 4 little boys) wanted to meet with Vishnu but Jaya and Vijaya repeatedly stopped them from going in. Incensed at the repeated insult, the Sanat Kumars told them that Vishnu was always available to meet His devotees and cursed Jaya and Vijaya to forever be antagonized with their Lord whom they were guarding so diligently. The curse meant that Jaya and Vijaya would forever be on the side opposed to Vishnu. Lord Vishnu gets to know what happened and realizing that it was no one’s fault apologized to the Sanat Kumars on the behalf of his guards. But the curse had been spoken so Vishnu resolves to take Avatars to redeem Jaya and Vijaya in each of their births. He offers to Jaya and Vijaya two choices one of taking seven births on earth and live out their lives in the same miseries and happiness as all humans or second to take only 3 births each as the enemies of Vishnu and to be delivered by Him at the end of their time. To everyone’s surprise Jaya and Vijaya chose the second option. Their logic? One: This would mean fewer births, and second and more importantly even enimity is a relationship that involves and consumes both parties. Jaya and Vijaya replied “It is better O Lord to perhaps be connected with you even if this be the means rather than to not know you at all. If we can’t be related to you in any other way but this, then we will take this too for atleast in this manner, you will constantly think of us. Everyone who is born has to die and what better way to go than to be relieved of the earthly existence by You, our Lord”. It is to be noted however that to “be delivered by a God or a Goddess” is not considered the same as any other killing in Hinduism. For one, the bad guys are not killed, they merely move from one plane of reality to another. They are mostly asurs or danavs who let their own baser instincts get the better of them. Since everyone has to die, by being delivered by the hands of a God or Goddess they are supposed to forever be relieved of the endless cycle of births and rebirths. Their ‘sacrifice’ is also seen as serving the need to establish lessons for other human beings. In most cases they know what is coming their way and placidly accept it when it does. I guess that’s also the reason why Hinduism takes a surprisingly kind view of its mythological villians. The most prominent of these examples I think is Ravana. Ravana (mentioned above) was the king of Lanka and the sworn enemy of Ram. Scriptures say that he was also a very intelligent man, a very capable ruler, a great devotee of Shiva and perhaps much stronger than Ram. He is still respected in Hinduism as a very capable man and a sad example of what can happen if you take just one unwise decision in life. The Shiva Tandav Strotam (a very moving poem on the glory of Shiv) is said to have been written by Ravana in the honour of Shiv and Parvati. Towards the end of the Shiv Tandav Strotam, Ravana in a very touching manner asks Shiv when his miseries will come to an end. Why is a man who rules over a city of gold be unhappy? Why indeed when he is widely respected as the most powerful and intelligent king in the world, has a very beautiful and wise wife and everything that someone could ever want? Perhaps what he is looking for is far greater than what he has in the material world, maybe he is looking for redemption.

The legend of Jaya and Vijaya is thematically the same as the legend of Lucifer I think (maybe my christian friends could correct me if I am wrong, the fallen angel), and reflects the idea of those who for some reason have forgotten about their divine origins. Therefore Jaya and Vijaya manifest as the ‘bad guys’ in 4 of Vishnu Avatars. When Jaya was Hiranyaksha, Vishnu redeemed him as Varahavatar. When Vijaya was Hiranyakashyap, Vishnu came to him as Narsingh. When Vishnu was Ram, Jaya and Vijaya were Ravana and Kumbhakaran. When Krishna was born they were Dantavakra and Shishupal.

Another legend associates Jaya and Vijaya as the ladies in waiting to Parvati, Vishnu’s little sister and a very powerful Goddess in her own right.

Mahabharat and Ganesh: An auspicious beginning

Mahabharat and Ganesh: An auspicious beginning

Ved Vyas is the narrator of and also a character in the Mahabharat. The actual Mahabharat as well as Peter Brook’s dramatic movie version starts with an introduction to Vyas and a reference to Ganesh. The actual Mahabharat starts with Brahma praising Vyasa’s efforts and recommending Ganesh as his scribe for Mahabharat.

Vyasa, when he was born was called Krishna Dwaipayan, which means ‘The dark child born on a river island’. We will revisit his story when we talk about Satyavati and her children. Krishna Dwaipayana came to be known as Ved Vyasa because he compiled the Vedas, Ved Vyas literally means ‘He who compiled the Vedas’. Prior to Vyas the Vedas, Upanishads and various other Hindu text was an oral tradition. It is said that having compiled the Vedas which are essentially metaphysical text, Vyasa wanted to write something that every one could connect with. Realizing that the Vedas were a very complicated text, Vyas wanted to express the wisdom of life in the form of a human story so that everyone could understand and appreciate it and this is how Mahabharat came to be.

So Vyasa approaches Ganesh himself, the God of wisdom and the remover of obstacles, for writing down the text as Vyas narrated it. Ganesh said he would happily do the job as long as Vyas would narrate it continuously without any pause. This was difficult, as the Mahabharat is essentially a poem and prolific as Vyas was but he still would have needed some time to compose the next verse. So Vyas makes a counter proposal that Ganesh would only write down a verse if he completely understood it in all possible contexts. Ganesh agrees not realizing how complex the philosophy contained in Mahabharat would be. As the narration progressed, Ganesh had to stop several times to discuss the ideas, actions and motives of the characters of the epic. This again brings out the nature of complexity of the epic and the need to discuss it rather than just hear it as a story or take it word for word.

Another legend related with Mahabharat and Ganesh is how during the course of narration, Ganesh’s quill broke. Not wanting to waste time in looking for another quill, Ganesha broke one of his tusks to write down the epic. This is the reason why most Ganesh idols show him with just one tusk. This incident also serves as an example of how no sacrifice is a big enough sacrifice for the attainment of knowledge.

Mentioning Ganesh at the start of the epics fits in nicely with the Hindu tradition of invoking Ganesh at the start of any auspicious activity. We do it in the hope that He would guide us with his wisdom and would remove all obstacles from the path of our goal. As I start writing about Mahabharat and its characters I hope He would make this a joyous and enlightening journey for me too.

Vakratunda mahakaya, Surya koti samah prabah.

Nirvighnam kurume Deva, Sarve karyeshu sarvada.

(To Him: O Lord, you with the curved trunk and of a large body, resplendent like a thousand suns, I request your grace in accomplishing all my tasks, without any obstacles, always.)

Matsya Nyay Pranali

 

Loosely translated Matsya Nyay Pranali means ‘The Law of the Jungle’ in English.

Matsya means Fish and Nyay Pranali means law. It refers to how the natural world operates where the small are eaten by the big. The phrase is also closely associated with the first Avatar of Vishnu, the Matsyavatar.

Matsyavatar is quite close to the legend of Noah’s Ark. Before the advent of civilized code of conduct, people lived without a sense of law. The world could not function like this, therefore the Trinity (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiv) decided to dissolve the world to start it afresh. They however needed a righteous man who could help set up civilization again. King Manu was such a man.

To test Manu, Vishnu took the form of a small fish and approached Manu as he was offering his morning prayers standing in a river. The tiny fish approached Manu and asked him to save its life. The law of nature has no place for such a request. A small fish exists to be fodder for a bigger fish. Manu however was overcome by compassion so he took the little fish in his palm and took it back to his palace where it was promptly put in a jar. Over night the fish grew and the pot became too small for it. Manu ordered the fish to be transferred to a bigger tank, the fish outgrew this as well in a matter of hours. The fish was then transferred to a pond, then a river and eventually to a sea. Realizing that this was no ordinary fish, Manu requested it to reveal its true form to him. Vishnu appears before Manu and tells him that a great flood would soon engulf the earth. To ensure the continuation of the world, he was told to collect seeds of all kinds and a pair of all kinds of animals and build a great ark within 7 days. On the 8^th day it started raining heavily. Vishnu appears again in the form of a giant fish and towed the ark away to the top of Himalaya which was the only piece of land not submerged in water. Manu becomes the progenitor of humanity. By showing compassion and using his power of intellect to discriminate between situations, Manu had shown himself to be an apt person for the establishment of codes of a more civilized world. A world where the weak could live without fear, a civilized world which unlike the natural world would give protection even to the weakest

There is a catch however. The moment the fish was big enough to not be threatened by other fish, Manu should have stopped giving it protection. By his incessant support to the fish, Manu had inadvertently brought the flood to happen. The Pralaya or Deluge came to pass because it had to, but there was an important lesson here for Manu. Only the weak need to be protected. When the weak no longer remain weak any support only goes on to feed the natural hunger for power and privilege all humans have. To know when to stop is very important. This theme is revisited when we analyse the ambition of Duryodhana and Dhritrashtra. To begin with it seems that Dhritrashtra has been unjustly not allowed to become the king, but as he is accommodated further, his insatiable lust for power infects his son and eventually leads to the Kurukshetra war.  

Another reason why I have mentioned this story here is because as the God responsible for the preservation of the world, Vishnu keeps on taking avatars. Matsyavatar was the first Vishnu Avatar and Krishna was the 9^th Vishnu Avatar. Also the instance  

Although Matsya Nyay Pranali is used elsewhere in Hindu philosophy too but I would like to acknowledge Devdutt Pattnaik’s explanation on this. I found a better understanding of the concept through reading his work.

Karma

Another important word to understand before one goes on to understand Mahabharat is Karma.

The literal meaning of the word is Deeds or Action. This words doubles as both a verb and also a philosophy in Hinduism. The west already interprets Karma as “What goes around, comes around.” While this is quite close to how we see it, yet the word Karma holds far more depth in Hinduism.

In Hinduism it is a widely held belief that everything is connected with everything else in the Universe. That a universal consciousness binds us all. Therefore what we do (or don’t do) has consequences not just for us but also for the world around us. Another way to understand this therefore is to think of it as Butterfly Effect or a cycle of cause and effects.

Although the earliest text in Hinduism concentrates only Karma and its effects in the manifested world, the later text seems to have incorporated the theory of re-incarnation in the theory of Karma. Essentially it meant that if one has done bad deeds in one life time he may have to pay for it in the next life time. That their Karma or their deeds will eventually catch up with them. This Karmic debt is played out in the form of boons and curses in Mahabharat. This explains why some people have to live through pain and misery or why fate is unkind to them. The most prominent example that comes to mind is Bhishma.

The human condition according to Mahabharat is the result of one’s actions and also Fate. Fate could be things beyond our control and also the Karma / actions of others. Any crop, for example, is the result of both the efforts of the farmer (Karma) and the possibility of rains (fate). Karna best exemplifies this situation. His life long struggle to be recognized is due to the actions of his mother Kunti, who abandons him at birth. His mother’s abandonment therefore becomes Karna’s fate. Kunti, of course, pays for her negative Karma later on.

Then there are the plain cases of “you shall reap what you sow.” Duryodhana and Dhritrashtra best exemplify this type of Karma. We know they are doomed from the beginning because they can’t control their own ambitions and no low is too low for them to stoop to as long as it serves their purpose. Flashes of guilt notwithstanding, Dhritrashtra, sows the seeds of ambition that results in Duryodhana.  

The need to be mindful of one’s actions is a recurrent theme in Mahabharat. Krishna often poses the question “What did you do?” to the characters to bring them face with their own actions AND inactions and the effects of these deeds. I am reminded of the words of Edmund Burke “All evil needs to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” So true. When Arjun refuses to fight against his loved ones, this is the strongest argument used by Krishna.

The epic also explores the nature of our own understanding of our actions. Can we ever be sure of the results of what we are doing? Whatever we believe to be a good deed today, will it play out to be so in future? And will it be good for every one? We will revisit these themes when we look at the choices made by Bhishma, Gandhari, Kunti and other minor characters like Yuyutsu and Vikarna.

Dharma

 

The one word that will be used again and again in Mahabharat is Dharma, yet this is one of those words that defy an accurate description. But since atleast a rudimentary understanding of the word is important to understand Mahabharat, I will try to make an effort towards explaining it nonetheless.

When I was watching the Mahabharat on Youtube, I literally cringed every time they translated Dharma as ‘Religion’. This was quite shocking as the Hindi dialogues were quite beautiful and this kind of literary lapse was really not expected from the production house that had done an exemplary job of writing the original dialogues.

Peter Brooks was a far wiser man in this regard I guess, as rather than looking for any one word that could be used in place of Dharma, he used the word as is and left it to the viewers to do their own research about what Dharma means. Quite a bold move, given that the entire point of Mahabharat is the quest to understand Dharma.

For those not familiar with Dharma, they can substitute it with Righteousness when watching the series. However Dharma has a far deeper meaning than that and of all the things it can mean, ‘religion’ is the very last on the list and a fairly new meaning of the word.

Dharma is quite a mixture of many ideas; Righteousness, duty, that which upholds the universe, the reason for being are the more important ones. In the last 80 odd years it has also come to be used to mean Religion however there is no word in Hindi, Sanskrit or any other Indian languages that has the same meaning as Religion has for western religions.

Dharma in Hindu context means the sacred and righteous duty of every one that helps in maintaining order in the Universe. It is therefore the raison d’être of everything that exists and contributes to the world. By this definition even a tree can have a Dharma while it obviously can’t have a Religion. Its Dharma would be to provide fruit and shade to others. It may not pursue it actively but that’s the reason why the tree exists.

Sometimes Dharma was a set of duties that we are either born into or acquire as we find our place in the world. Kshatriya Dharma or the Dharma of a warrior would be to protect his country and the society he is responsible for.

While everyone who exists must have a Dharma, Dharma itself is not contained within individuals only. It also means natural justice or the Eternal Law That Uphold The Universe or Sanatan Dharma. Which is why the word Hindu is not found in any sacred Hindu text but Sanatan Dharma does. Sanatan means eternal. So this means that when one says that ‘the Dharma of a warrior is to uphold Dharma’ it would mean that ‘the sacred duty of a warrior is to ensure that the sense of justice is protected.’

One’s Dharma in ancient Indian society depended on several things like what family one is born into, one’s stage in life, their chosen profession etc. This clear demarcation of duties meant that people knew exactly what the society expected of them. This helped in the smooth functioning of society and that’s how Dharma ‘upheld the universe’, “Prithvim Dharman Dhritam” (Dharma upholds the World – Atharva Veda).

It is difficult to provide a single concise definition for “Dharma”.

A common manner of describing Hinduism among its adherents is as a way of life, as “Dharma.” It defies dogma and thus seeks to instead align the human body, mind, and soul in harmony with nature.

Our very limitation is guided under a universal understanding, that of Dharma. The Atharva Veda, the last of the four books of the Vedas, utilizes symbolism to describe dharma’s role. That we are bound by the laws of time, space and causation is only a finite reality, a limitation imposed by the self-projection of the infinite Brahman as the cosmos. Dharma is the foundation of this causal existence, the one step below the infinite. Indeed, dharma is the projection of divine order from Brahman, and as such Dharma is what upholds the Universe and its axis or fulcrum.

The Upanishads saw dharma as the universal principle of law, order, harmony, all in all truth, that sprang first from Brahman. It acts as the regulatory moral principle of the universe. It is sat, truth, a major tenet of Hinduism. This hearkens back to the conception of the Rig Veda that “Ekam Sat,” (Truth Is One), of the idea that Brahman is “Sacchidananda” (Truth-Consciousness-Bliss). Dharma has imbibed the highest principles of Truth, and as such is the central guiding principle in the Hindu conception of existence. Dharma is not just law, or harmony, it is pure Reality.

Dharma is still more complicated but I think this should help most people to understand the basic premise of what all is covered under Dharma.