Week 14: Buck's Mahabharata (pp. 307-412)Assignments - Reading Guide A - Reading Guide B - Mahabharata Resources |
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Your Reading B for this week is Buck's Mahabharata, pp. 351-412. You might want to read over the previous reading guide to remind yourself of what has happened so far.
The frametale. As Buck brings his version of the story to
a close, he reminds you of the setting: Śaunaka is
listening to the story told by his friend Sauti the
storyteller. Sauti has been in Hastinapura,
where he heard the Mahabharata recited
by Vaiśampayana.
Vaiśampayana is a disciple of
Vyasa, who composed
the Mahabharata and taught it to Vaiśampayana. Vaiśampayana recited the Mahabharata
to King Janamejaya,
whom Vaiśampayana addresses as Bharata (because all the Pandavas and the
Kauravas are descendants of a distant ancestor, Bharata - which is why this
epic is called the "Mahabharata"
- the "Big Bharata"). Janamejaya is the son of Parikshit, whose birth
story is told at the end of the Mahabharata. Parikshit was killed by the naga lord Takshaka, and Janamejaya had called a snake sacrifice in order to destroy
all the nagas. Astika, who was half-human and half-naga, had come to Janamejaya
to stop the sacrifice. Janamejaya agreed to Astika's request, and released
the serpent Takshaka. Vyasa rejoiced that the serpent Takshaka went free, and
then Janamejaya asked Vyasa to tell him the story
of his ancestors. Instead of telling the story himself, Vyasa asked his Vaiśampayana,
to recite the Mahabharata. As Buck's book reaches to a close, you see all these
different narratives "frames" closing up (the story is over, Vaiśampayana
finishes his recitation to Janamejaya, which means that Sauti finishes repeating
it to Śaunaka).
p. 353. The death of Bhishma. After the battle, Bhishma is
still alive, waiting to choose the moment when he will die.
Satyaki takes Krishna and
the Pandavas to see Bhishma.
Dhritarashtra,
together with Vidura and
Vyasa, also come to attend Bhishma's death, along with Yuyutsu,
Dhritarashtra's only surviving son.
Bhishma puts no curse on Yudhishthira for
having led the army against him and he has no anger at anyone. He speaks his
last words to Krishna, and dies at the moment of the winter solstice (the shortest
day of the year). When Bhishma dies, the scars and wounds vanished from his
body.
They burn Bhishma's body on a pyre and pour his ashes into the Ganges. Ganga is
grief-stricken over the death of her son Bhishma.
p. 357. Yudhishthira's dream. Yudhishthira is in despair
that he had brought about the deaths of so many people.
Krishna harshly rebukes Yudhishthira for his despair, and Bhima tries
to cheer him up. Yudhishthira continues to despair. In a dream, he sees himself,
his brothers, and Draupadi on
a journey. They are accompanied by a dog. Along the way, Draupadi and his brothers
all die. Yudhishthira continues going onward, together with the dog.
Indra descends in his chariot to Yudhishthira. Indra offers to take Yudhishthira
to heaven, but he must leave the dog.
Yudhishthira refuses to abandon the dog that is under his protection.
The dog turns out to be Lord Dharma, who has been testing his Yudhishthira.
Because of his compassion for the dog, Yudhishthira gains entrance to heaven
while still in his bodily form.
Yudhishthira sees Duryodhana, Śakuni and Duhśasana in heaven, but he cannot
find his brothers.
A gandharva takes Yudhishthira into the depths of hell, where he sees the horrifying
river
Vaitarani. In hell, he hears the voices of his brothers and Draupadi calling
to him.
Yudhishthira curses the gods when he sees his brothers and Draupadi in hell.
When Yudhishthira awakens from his dream he finds Draupadi beside him on the
field of Kurukshetra. He feels restored, and goes ahead with the coronation
ceremony.
p. 373. King Yudhishthira. Yudhishthira goes to "The City of Elephants,"
Hastinapura, to declare that the war is officially over.
Among the brahmans who greet Yudhishthira at Hastinapura there is a rakshasa disguised as a hermit. This is Charvaka, who had been Duryodhana's
friend.
When Yudhishthira enters Hastinapura, Charvaka insults and curses him.
The brahmans of Hastinapura utter a mantra which kills Charvaka.
Yudhishthira is made king at Hastinapura in an elaborate ritual ceremony.
Dhritarashtra participates in the ritual ceremony, and
Yudhishthira tells the people of Hastinapura to treat Dhritarashtra with respect.
Meanwhile, Princess Uttara, the daughter of King Virata, gives birth to Parikshit,
but he is born dead. With Parikshit dead, this is the end of the Pandava
line, since all the other sons of the Pandavas, and the sons of their sons,
have been killed in the great war.
Parikshit had been injured by the Brahma
weapon launched by Aśwatthaman, and
although Krishna had brought him to life in the womb, he did not survive his
birth. Krishna is not present when Parikshit is born, but the prayers reach
him and he is able to restore the child to life. Parikshit will go on to become
king, and he will be succeeded by his son, Janamejaya.
Indra sends a huge but harmless storm to earth in order to celebrate Parikshit's
birth, since Parikshit descended from Indra by way
of Arjuna. [Note
that Buck makes Parikshit the son of Arjuna rather than the son of Arjuna's
son, Abhimanyu; Buck has omitted the character of Abhimanyu from his retelling.]
p. 379. The festival. Yudhishthira proclaims a festival
with bountiful food and gifts for fall. At
the festival, Yudhishthira meets a mongoose who is golden colored on half
of his body. The mongoose explains that he acquired this color from rolling
in the grains that a poor family had offered to Yama, when Yama visited the
family disguised as a starving traveler. Their generosity in sharing their
food had made the mongoose's coat turn gold. The mongoose would like to become
gold all over, but he has not found such generosity anywhere else. Yudhishthira
thanks the mongoose for telling him the story and gives him gifts of food
and red silk for his mongoose-wife.
p. 389. Dhritarashtra in the forest. Dhritarashtra decides to go live a life of meditation in
the forest. Gandhari and Kunti go with him, as do Vidura and Sanjaya. Vyasa
finds a retreat for them deep in the forest.
Yudhishthira, together with his brothers and a large entourage, go to find
Dhritarashtra in the forest.
Vidura enters into Yudhishthira's body, leaving his own body behind, lifeless.
Vyasa explains that Vidura and Yudhishthira were both one, because they
were both Dharma.
Bhima prepares a feast for them in the forest. Some time later, Dhritarashtra,
Gandhari and Kunti die in a forest fire.
p. 401. Krishna. The asura Maya has
transformed Krishna's chariot into a work of amazing beauty.
At first Krishna is not happy with the beautiful new chariot because he
does not want something ostentatious. Subhadra,
Krishna's sister, persuades him to accept the chariot.
While traveling from Kurujangala to
his home in Dwaravati,
Krishna meets the sage Uttanka in
the desert.
Uttanka thinks that the great Krishna must have put a stop to the
war but Krishna tells Uttanka that he could not alter
destiny, and so he was not able to stop the war.
Uttanka asks Krishna for water, and Krishna tells Uttanka to think of him
whenever he needs water. Later, Uttanka asks for water, and a filthy outcaste
hunter approaches, offering him water polluted with
urine.
Uttanka is outraged and refuses the hunter's offer of water. Krishna then appears,
bringing water, but he explains that Uttanka should have taken the water offered
by hunter: Uttanka had been fooled by appearances, much to Krishna's disappointment.
Krishna then goes to his home at Dwaravati which is located on the sea.
Ugrasena, the
king in Dwaravati, greets Krishna happily.
p. 407. The end. When Arjuna goes to Indraprastha, he meets the god Agni who burns Arjuna's
weapons to ashes.
Arjuna finds that the Khandava forest has grown up again and that Indraprastha
is in ruins.
Yudhishthira, his brothers, and Draupadi abandon the world and head towards
the north. A flood which drowns the city of Dwaravati, and only Balarama and
Krishna survive.
When the serpent Śesha withdraws his energy from Balarama, Balarama dies. (Just
as Krishna is considered an incarnation of the god Vishnu, his elder brother
Balarama is considered to be an incarnation of the divine serpent Śesha - although
some consider Balarama to also be an incarnation of Vishnu.)
Jara the hunter accidentally kills Krishna, shooting him with an arrow when
he mistakes the sole of Krishna's foot for the face
of a deer. Then, as the recitation of the Mahabharata comes to a close,
Takshaka the Naga lord takes Astika with him into the Naga kingdoms under
the world.
[Important note: Buck takes the journey of Yudhishthira to heaven and makes it into a dream sequence. It is not presented as a dream sequence in the Sanskrit text. You can read the original version in a literal translation at Sacred Texts Archive: the journey is described in the Mahaprasthanika-parva and the Svargarohanika-parva tells what Yudhishthira saw in heaven and in hell. At the end, Dharma appears to Yudhishthira and tells him that the vision of hell was an illusion designed to test him, just as the dog was a test. Yudhishthira bathes in the Ganges and ascends to heaven where he finds his brothers and Draupadi, along with Karna, Bhishma, and all the other warriors.]
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Modern Languages MLLL-4993. Indian Epics. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D. The textual material made available at this website is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You must give the original author credit. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. No claims are made regarding the status of images used at this website; if you own the copyright privileges to any of these images and believe your copyright privileges have been violated, please contact the webmaster. Page last updated: January 15, 2005 1:35 AM |