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The Tales in Mahabharata
107
gation. But, on the strength of the observations we have made here, it is not difficult to see that the epic itself embodies some Nāga-tribal myth which very probably is sought to be reinforced by the Sarpa-satra-frame-story of Janamejaya. Very probably he himself is mythical but the author of the Uttanka-story group tries to identify him with the historical Janamejaya mentioned in the Satapatha Brāhmaṇa. Some contradictions like Indra being the protector of Nāgas, and yet being the progenitor of Arjuna who fights against him in the Khāndava-burning-episode, indicate that there have been repeated attempts to superimpose some fresh interpretations or motivations even after the original myth took the form of the epic-poem.
We may mention here that the historicity of the epic-story or of isolated episodes is often suspected to be dubious by many scholars. Dr. A. D. Shastri, for example, bas expressed an opinion that the entire Virāțaparvan "contains the original nucleus out of which the story of the Mahābhārata itself is developed."94 He also opines that the epic "has the form of a myth which may have its basis in some natural phenomenon”,95 and concludes that the story of Virāļaparvan has a solar myth at its base. In another study he shows that the legend of Vasu Uparicara ('the luminous wanderer-above') "is a combination of various myths, all solar”.96 U. P. Arora shows at another place that similarity of motif-structure of the tale of Bhişma's birth when compared with similar tales from Greek myths reveals an ancient custom of the saca rifice of youth and children.97 G. J. Held has shown that ethnological interpretation of the traditions is preserved by the MBh.98 “Recently a new perspective has been opened by the discoveries of Stig Wikander and Georges Dumezil that Vedic, paraVedic and pre-Vedic mythology has been conserved in the Mahābhārata, where archaic themes and relationships are transposed from the level of myth to that of legend."'99 Alf Hiltebeitel shows “that the great battle of the Mabābhārata, taking place at the end of one yuga and the beginning of another, itself preserves an eschatological myth transposed into epic."100 And, if we now come up with one more possible interpretation that the epic is developed from some myth of the Nāga tri94 Virātaparvan--A Study'. Dr. A. D. Shastri, Bulletin of the Chunilal Gandhi Vidyabhavan,
Surat. No. 4,1957. (pp.31-46). p.39. 95 ibid. pp.39-40. 96 'The Legend of Vasu Uparicara', Dr. A. D. Shastri, BCGVB, Surat. No. 6-7, 1959-60.
(pp.83-86). p.86. 97 "The Gangā-Santanu Legend', U. P. Arora, Journal of the Ganganatha Tha Kendriya Sanskrit
Vidyapeeha, Allahabad, Vol. XXVII, Parts 3-4, July-Oct. 1971, pp.9-19. 98 The Mahābhārata : an Ethnological Study, London, 1935. 99 Quoted from Prāci-Jyoti, Kuruksetra, Vol. IX, 1973, entry No. 167, p.71. This writer regrets:
his inability to consult either of the authors in their original writings. They have also been referred to by Eliade Mircea in his Yoga : Immortality and Freedom, Princeton, (New Jersey, i U.S.A.), 1969. Says he : "Recent studies have elucidated the traces of Vedic mythology discernible in the principal personages, the Pandavas". (p.146). Eliade gives complete reference thus : Wikander, Stig - "La Legende des Pāndava et la substructure m, thique du Mah. bhārata" tr. and annotated in Dumezil, Georges - Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus, IV. Paris, 1948. i
(Bibliotheque de l'École des Hautes Études LXII.) 100 Quoted from Prāci-Jyoti, op.cit.
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