Secondary Tales of the Two Great Epics

SR No.: 001566
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Rajendra I Nanavati
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1982
Total Pages: 210
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Literature, Mythology, & Story
File Size: 15 MB

Page 172

The Tales In Mahabharata
159
which are so commonly met(with in the sānti-Anuśāsana-parvans. The general uniformi. ty of the respective groups of tales is noteworthy. The reason of such uniformity lies in the functions these groups are intended to serve. The birth-stories are intended to satisfy the popular curiosity to hear everything from the beginning. The event of birth in itself does not offer much variety, hence the varieties of the birth-stories as we saw in the previous section also serve to break the monotony of the stories having the same basic motif. The tales of the VanP are intended to serve only as pastim.. So any tale is welcome. A wide variety of tales can very naturally be accommodated in the group, the only condition being that the tale must please. The tales of the third and the largest group are, on the other hand, collected with an intention of edifying. The newlycrowned prince Yudhisthira must be instructed in the laws of an ideal statesmanship, to which end, not only Itibāsa-tales but even some fables and parables are employed, just as they are in the Pañcatantra. (It should be noted, that they are very rarely, if at all, employed in the VanP.) The two most important of the functions of poetry as counted by Mammața - namely, to delight and to edify349 - are seen to motivate the two largest collections of tales within the epic.
It is possible to show some further broad sub-patterns even within these large groups. The three main sections of the SanP are the Raja-dharma-parvan, the Apaddharma-parvan and the Mokşa-dharma-parvan. It will be observed that most of the tales in the first section are of the didactic-itihäsa-type.350 The reason is obvious The section is intended to teach the duties of an ideal statesman, and such itihasatales can serve as very convenient containers of the laws to be enupciated, besides adding to them the stamp of a traditional authority. The next section -- that of Apad-dharma - however, abounds in fable-type of tales and reminds one of the Pañcatantra.351 The obvious similarity of function is that both the Apad-dharmasection and the Puñcatantra are intended to teach practical politics, where, pot ideal, but practical, basic, down-to-carth viewpoint must prevail. Hence the majority of the animal-tales. The last section of Mokşa-dharma (including the Nārāyaṇya section) by the very nature of its subjects justifies the profusion in it of the allegorical tales and philosophical dialogues352 of the Upanisadic kind. Anuśasana-parvan has no 349 Kävyaprakāśa of Mammata, I.2. Cf.
Kāvyam yasase'rtha-krte vyavahāravide sivetara-kataye 1
sadyaḥ para-nirvştay c kāntā-sammitatayopadesayuje // 350 e.g. the itibāsa of sage Utathya and king Māndhat(ŚănP., Adhy.91-92), of king Vasu
manas and sage Vämnadeva (Adhy.93-95), of king Vasumanas and Bphaspati (102-104), of Prince Kşemadarsin (105-107), of the origin of Danda (121), of sage Kāmanda and king
Angār iştha (123), of Indra and Prah]āda (124) and so on. 351 Cr. "The most interesting and instructive part of the present Sub-parvan are the beast
fables, the most attractive of them all being that of a tiny little mouse". S. K. Belvalkar,
Introduction to Santiparvan, Cr. Edn, Poona, 1966. p.cxcvi. 352 Many of these like that of Jājali and Tulādhāra (Adhy.253-256) of Prahrāda and sage
Ājagara (Adhy.172), of Bhrgu and Bharadvāja (175-185), of Manu and Bhaspati (194-199), the Guru-sisya-samvăda (203-210,, that of Jaigişavya and Asita-Devala (222) of Indra