Bruhat Katha kosha

Author(s): Harishen Acharya,
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Page 40

INTRODUCTION
Bșhatkatha, Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa, the first in Paiści Prākrit and the remaining two in Sanskrit. The Brhatkathā of Guņādhya is lost beyond recovery, there being available only three summaries of it in Sanskrit; and the basic nucleus of the last two, as it was originally shaped by their respective authors, is almost beyond recovery, though attempts are being made by critical scholars in this direction, because these texts have reached mighty magnitude with interpolations and alterations effected by talented and propagandistic redactors, each one working in his own way in different parts of India for centuries together. The Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa have already received the designation of 'epic', while the first also, despite its romantic and fairy elements, must have had the magnitude and dignity of an epic. The growth of the two epics is a problem by itself, and very good results are reached by critical investigators.
The primary kernel of the Mahābhărata is a heroic tale belonging to the Kuru cycle of legends, especially dealing with the great Kuru battle. But this secular event is imposed on with the grandiose superstructure of an encyclopaedic literature showing clear-cut strata of different types and ages. This extraneous matter includes religious legends of theo-cosmological contents ; independent stories such as those about Karma's birth, Yudhisthira's escape from sins by giving gifts to Brāhmaṇas, destruc.ion of the Yādava race etc.; religio-philosophical and ethical sections including maxims on polity and social behaviour; fables, parables and didactic narratives; and lastly a good deal of ascetic poetry. The entire work, in parts and as a whole, has passed through the hands of many redactors; and all sorts of topics are admitted into the body of the text irrespective of inconsistency and mutual contradiction. The Mahabharata text, as it stands today, is moulded into its present shape, according to the opinion of competent authorities, under very strong and direct Bhārgava influence. This must have been preceded and followed by many a sectarian attempt of this nature. Many long and short Akhyānas etc. are simply added without much connection with the main story. In any way the Mahābhārata contains a substantial stock of narratives of all sorts which have influenced later authors in their choice of topics.
The Rāmāyana does not contain so much heterogeneous matter as the Mahābhārata, though this text also has grown in the hands of professional rhapsodists who wanted to meet the demands of popular taste. The story of Rāma has found a place in the Mahābhārata and bears close resemblance with that in the Dasaratha-Tātaka. The first and the last books of the Rāmāyaṇa, which have been pronounced by critics as later addition, definitely betray the redactor's attempt to glorify god Vişņu who is claimed to have been incarnated as Rāma. Thus the sectarian hand has worked on a purely popular tale. Some of the characters developed in the Rāmāyaṇa are really interesting. Sītā has been looked upon as a typical ideal of Indian womanhood
1
V. S. Sukthankar: The Bhrgus and the Bhārata, Annals of the B.O. R. I., Vol. XVIII, part i, pp. 1-76.