Mahabharata

MAHABHARATA. - The M., "the great epic of the Bharatiḍi," is not only the most extensive epic poem in world literature, but also an encyclopedia of Hinduism (v.). Digressions on mythological, religious, moral, and juridical subjects; philosophical doctrines; reminiscences of historical events and popular tales are skillfully inserted into the epic narrative, which, stripped of its accessory parts, could be reduced to a quarter of its present length. Nevertheless, the hundred thousand stanzas attributed to the poem by tradition are an excessive number. Not even the "textus ornatior," represented by the southern recension, reaches such an extent; the editio princeps (Calcutta 1863) comprises 89,603 stanzas, and the critical edition of Poona, which has reached fascicle XVI, will have about 82,000.

Two brothers, belonging to the dynasty of the Bharatiḍi, Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Pāṇḍu, inherited the territory, roughly comprised between the upper Ganges and the Sūṭudrī (Sutlej), whose capital is Hastināpura. Dhṛtarāṣṭra, born blind, cannot reign; therefore power remains entrusted to Pāṇḍu until his premature death, which forces Dhṛtarāṣṭra to assume the reins of government. Pāṇḍu had left five sons, called, from their father's name, the Panduiḍi; a hundred were the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, called the Kuruiḍi, that is, descendants of Kuru, a famous ancestor who had also given his name to the territory (Kuruṣṭra). Educated at court and instructed in the handling of arms together with their cousins, the Panduiḍi soon surpass them in strength and valor, to the great vexation of the envious Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kuruiḍi. It happens that Arjuna, the second of the Panduiḍi, taking part in a tournament proclaimed by King Drupada to marry his daughter Draupadī to the most valiant archer, wins the contest. And since the Panduiḍi had agreed that every precious thing was to be possessed by them in common, Draupadī becomes the bride of the five brothers. After the marriage, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, desirous of living in peace with his nephews, assigns them half of the kingdom, and the Panduiḍi move to Indraprastha (Indarpat) on the Yamunā, in the vicinity of modern Delhi. But Duryodhana, who was seeking the means to free himself from his hated cousins and to regain the lost territory, having wrung consent from the weak Dhṛtarāṣṭra, has

Yudhiṣṭhira invited to play at dice with Śakuni, a first and a second time. Śakuni represents the Kuruiḍi, Yudhiṣṭhira the Panduiḍi, and the stake of the second game is the voluntary exile of the defeated party for a period of 13 years, and the temporary cession of the kingdom to the winner. Yudhiṣṭhira loses and seeks refuge in the Kamyaka forest with his brothers and his consort. When the thirteen-year exile is over, the Panduiḍi ask Dhṛtarāṣṭra for the peaceful restitution of their share of the kingdom, but Duryodhana, again imposing his will on his father, replies that they would not restore even as much land as the point of a needle could cover. Both sides resort to arms, and the clash takes place on the plains of Kuruṣṭra, where the Panduiḍi and the Kuruiḍi fight, together with their allies, a battle lasting 18 days, in which the Kuruiḍi are defeated. At the beginning of the combat, Kṛṣṇa, cousin and ally of the Panduiḍi, who drives Arjuna's battle chariot, seeing the hero's despondency, since he would wish to renounce fighting so as not to kill his kinsmen, comforts him with the famous theody, called the Bhagavadgītā (v.). The victory, however, does not benefit the victors who, treacherously attacked by night, are almost destroyed. Yudhiṣṭhira survives, with his brothers; he wisely governs the kingdom for thirty-six years and is then taken up into heaven, where his kinsmen have already preceded him.

Ferdinando Belloni Filippi