My days with the Mahabharata

The Mahabharata, the most widely read book of the world both as a literary piece and as religious scripture, has had a deep-rooted influence on my life. Though its religiosity has never been important to me, this acclaimed book has imprinted itself hugely on me for many different aspects --- heroism, wisdom, narrative, characterization and so on and so forth. The Mahabharata is a book that can never be completely read; and this is the mystery for which writers of forthcoming generations, after its creation in Sanskrit, have always felt encouraged to remake its episodes, translate the longest poem in newer forms and reproduce it in novel mediums. In my later forties, this gem creates a halo around me and hope.
When in my boyhood I first listened to the story of Avhimanyu, a sixteen year old boy killed in the Chakravyuha by the seven great warriors of the Kauravas in the Kurukshetra War, did I dream of being a hero like him? Or is it general human psychology to identify oneself with great heroes? Was it the cause for which once Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Spartacus came across as heroes to me? The truth is some of them turned pale with the passage of time, keeping the place of Avhimanyu in great nourishment.
During those years a village dadu had regular entry to my kindly mother's kitchen veranda during lunch. Finishing his full belly dal-bhat he would spend the lazy afternoons reading out from the Mahabharata. One day came the story of Avhimanyu, the son of Arjuna, and Subhadra, Krishna's sister and reduced this young reader to tears. Was it the genesis of all my love for this great epic, the Mahabharata, and its writer Krishna Dwaipayana Veda Vyasa and his other writings?
The Mahabharata a huge book, with so many characters, comprising so many episodes, encompassing so many unbelievable events! But how many people did I get to speak in favour of the book, having one hundred thousand slokas (verses)? Like many others, I have also heard many bitter criticisms of this epic, which has become inextricably linked with Bangla literature with its translation by Kashidasa and Kaliprasanna Singh.
My father, the late Baidyanath Das, tried to convince me this way or that when I would raise my voice against this so-called heavenly book. His views based on religious fervour could not satiate this young mind. And thus, at one time, it went out of my mind for the book being out of my sight. I got engaged in academic courses, like many others; later on in my career became a teacher, and at last started trying to write and thus gradually the Mahabharata came forth. It began to appear and reappear on my reading table along with the texts in Bangla and English, prose and verse, shorter and extended, and sometimes with detailed annotations in its newer editions.
Which part of the book do I like most? Which part do I dislike? All these questions intermingle with one another along with their answers while I go through it. Is it really possible to give a to-the-point answer when the question is related to the Mahabharata? The reason for which an episode seems insignificant soon proves significant because multidimensional interpretations may be put forward in favour of those episodes too. And thus it has become a most favourite book for millions of readers around the world.
I enjoy going through the conversation between Yudhisthira and Yaksha or Dharma in the 'Vana Parva' for the brilliance implanted in it. How could a book written some five thousand years back incorporate such wisdom? I am sure many readers will certainly enjoy it if I share some questions and answers with them:
Q: What is grief? A: Ignorance is grief.
Q: What is real ablution? A: It consists in washing the mind clean of all impurities.
Q: What is weightier than the earth itself? A: The mother has more weight than the earth.
Q: What is higher than heaven? A: The father.
Q: What is the greatest mystery? A: Everyday people around us are dying, but we think ourselves immortal.
How many questions were actually thrown at Yudhisthira? When someone runs through the questions, he realises the philosophical height of the classic. The way Yudhisthira shapes his answers and the patience he shows give us clues to why he and not Arjuna, or Korna or Bhishma or even Drona should be considered the true hero of this monumental work. And such question-answer episodes occur in the Mahabharata time and again.
My recent awakening of interest in the book drove me to the internet and, to my great surprise, I discovered hundreds of articles related to the Mahabharata. Even insignificant characters or places or events could be looked up there. My joy knew no bounds when I found entries like Satyaki, Chakrabyuha, Yuyutsu, Hastinapur because printed books and journals on the epic are so rare in Bangladesh that sometimes it becomes difficult to have a clear idea of the genealogies of the protagonists, or the participants of the war, or the speakers of some particular philosophical thoughts.
Readers of the Mahabharata are well aware that the Gita or Bhagavad Gita is originally part of the epic. Just before the war Arjuna declines to fight on the ground that fighting against his relatives and friends seems to him pointless. Then to encourage Arjuna to fight, Krishna speaks out some seven hundred verses. Since Hindus consider Krishna as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, they take these wise words of Krishna as being heavenly. Even ignoring the religious aspects of this great book a reader can be soothed by the philosophical heights of it. Note the following lines from the Gita, translated by R .C. Zaehner of Oxford University?
From attachment springs desire,
From desire is anger born.
From anger comes bewilderment,
From that the wandering of mind (smrti)
From this the destruction of the soul;
With soul destroyed the man is lost. (2.62-63)
or, For the protection of the good,
For the destruction of evildoers,
For the setting up of righteousness,
I come into being, age after age. (4.8)
Thus my reading of the Mahabharata never stops. Whenever I come across any Bangla or English work on it, or a newer reproduction of the Mahabharata stories, I feel elated. Therein am I enlightened.

Subrata Kumar Das, a teacher and writer, can be reached at [email protected] .