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136
SANATSUGÂTIYA.
can have no place. For this is how the matter stands. In the course of the negotiations for an amicable arrangement? between the Påndavas and the Kauravas, Sangaya, on one occasion, came back to Dhritarashtra with a message from the Pandavas. When he saw Dhritarashtra, however, he said that he would deliver the message in the public assembly of the Kauravas the next morning, and went away after pronouncing a severe censure on Dhritarashtra for his conduct. The suspense thus caused was a source of much vexation to the old man, and so he sent for Vidura, in order, as he expresses it, that Vidura might by his discourse assuage the fire that was raging within him. Vidura accordingly appears, and enters upon an elaborate prelection concerning matters spiritual, or, perhaps, more accurately quasi-spiritual, and at the outset of the Sanatsugåtiya he is supposed to have reached a stage where, as being born a Sûdra, he hesitates to proceed. After some discussion of this point, between Vidura and Dhritarashtra, it is determined to call in the aid of Sanatsugåta, to explain the spiritual topics which Vidura felt a delicacy in dealing with; and Sanatsugata is accordingly introduced on the scene in a way not unusual in our epic and purânic literature, viz. by Vidura engaging in some mystic process of meditation, in response to which Sanatsugata appears. He is received then with all due formalities, and after he has had some rest, as our poem takes care to note, he is catechised by Dhritarashtra ; and with one or two exceptions, all the verses which constitutc the Sanatsygåtiya are Sanatsugata's answers to Dhritarashtra's questions
This brief statement of the scheme of this part of the Mahabharata shows, as already pointed out, that the connexion of the Sanatsugåtiya with the central story of that epic is very loose indeed ; and that it might have been entirely omitted without occasioning any æsthetical or other defect. And therefore, although there is nothing positive
See p. 3 supra. • After this dialogue is over, the dawn breaks, and Dhritarabaru and the Kaurava princes meet in general assembly.
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| SR No. | 007671 |
| Book Title | Zend Avesta Part 01 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | James Darmesteter |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1895 |
| Total Pages | 2695 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 49 MB |