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SAMBODHI
Bhargava, P.L.: Tetrieval of History from Purānic Myths, D.K.Printworld (P) Ltd., New Delhi, 1996, pp.xiii+ 146, Rs.200/-.
This is the second reised and enlarged edition of the book published in 1984. The book is proposedto be an exposure of late Purāņic myths about some of the great characters of the earliest Indian history.There is special reason for brining out the second edition. A couple of years back a member of the Indian parliament accused Rāma of banishing his wife Sītā, and nobody rose up to point out that theaccusation was wrong. Dr. Bhargava has, therefore, put the chapter, in this second edition, in which he has shown the incoorrectness of this belied first, in violation of the chronology.
The great personages ofthe dim and distant past, who inspired their fellow beings by their sublime thoughts and marvellous deeds, lost their historicity when they were enveloped in myths which ended to grow around their names. But, in fact most Indologists regard, for instance, Sudāsa, the hero of the battle of ten kings celebrated in the Rgveda, as a historical figure. The Purānas and the epics supply copious information about many ofthem, but this information was more and more mythologized with the passage of time. This collated study of the Vedic and Puranic literatures mkes it crystal clear that fiction took th place of fact by graded and perceptible stages. For the present work, the author has chosen eight great men and women of the earliest period of Indian history to illustrate how mythology eclipsed histotry. As regards the three of the characters, viz., Rāma, Vyāsa and Yudhisthira, only some aspects of their stories have been taken up for discussion. They are in due order the genesis of the first and the last books of the Rāmāyana, theorigin of the Purānas and the Mahābhārata, and thedate of the Kuruksetra war. The rest of the five are Viśvāmitra, Paraśurāma, Bhagiratha, Krsna and Vālmīki, who aere studied on the basis of their entire availabl accounts.
The book is divided into ten chapters: (1) The Purāṇas and the Rāmāyana; (2) Dis Rāma Banish his Wife Sita?; (3) Dis Rāma kill Bālin Surreptitiosly? ; (4) Was Viśvāmitra the Father of Sakuntalā ?; (5) Did Parśurāma kill his own Mother?; (6) Did Bhagiratha bring the Gangā from Heaven?; (7) Did Kșsna have a Companion named Rāhā?; (8) Was Yudhisthira Crowned King of Hastinapura in 3102 BC ?; (9) Was Vyās the Author ofthe Traditional Eighteen Purānas? ; and (10) Was Vālmīki a Robber inhiYouth? They are followed by an
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