Recent Russian Publications On Indian Epic

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

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THE ADYAR LIBRARY BULLETIN
Both M and R contain indications as to the existence of versions of different size and to their transmission from singer to singer. G. admits that the first and seventh book of R just as the Anušāsanaparvan and some other sections of M are later in character but he does not consider them as interpolations which are unsupported by tradition and even less as belonging only to the written redaction of the epos. According to him we see here the consequence of a contamination of several versions of the epic narrative which existed parallel to each other although, probably, some of these versions are older as to their origin. G. sees also traces of the combination of several versions in the fact that the fourth chapter of book 1 of M begins with the same sentence as chapter 1. It seems justified to him to consider the text of M which has been transmitted to us as an extension of a narrative which was much shorter and which concentrated on the battle on the Kuruksetra. This shorter version was later enlarged by means of stories and teachings told by Bhārgava-s. G. remarks that the Odyssey also seems to reveal traces of a much shorter version. When the Indian epic was finally written down, the consequences were different for M and R. In M the didactic principle was even more reinforced, but in Rwe observe a transition from the objective epical narrative to a subjective and emotional interpretation, from the poetry of action to the poetry of feeling. The creators of R made a much greater use than earlier poets of all kinds of tropes and rhetorical figures, of lyrical