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126
Secondary Tales of the two Grear Eples
. Of course, we can speak of such movement of the narrative only in a broad sense, for here and there, many divergencies in the broad outline will be observed. But once we perceive this basic principle of arrangement, the deviations from it can more easily be spotted and their causes or the functions they are intended to serve can be reasoned out more accurately.
Thus, for example, the Janamejaya-story-cycle providing a sacrificial frame to the epic is formally completed in Adhyaya 53, and Ādivamśāvatarana parvan is said to begin from Adhyâya 54. Yet the first four Adhyāyas, viz. 54-57, are taken up by more-or-less prefatory matter. Adhyāya 54 makes a formal announcement of Vyāsa's arrival in Janamejaya's sacrifice. Adhyāya 55 gives an index-like summary of the epic-events the proper significance of which we have already seen above in Ch. I. i. Adhyāya 56 presents a formal statement of the great importance of the epic, as it were, by giving a semi-mythical account of his extra-ethical origin. Incidentally, the births of the other main characters are also briefly enumerated since, in this case, the mother of the epic-author also happens to be the arch-queen-mother of the epic-heroes. Divine or incarnative origins of some of the characters like Bhīşma, Vidura, Karna, Kșsna 206 and the five Pandavas are referred to; but a more proper account of their origin, based on the well-known principle of incarnation is found only after the tale of Genesis. Some references to the divine or incarnative origins of the epic-characters are bound to be repeated from the first into this second list207 which is intended to be exhaustive, which applies the principle of incarnation systematically to all the characters of the epic :(which the first enumeration does not do) and which finds justification, coming as it does after it, from the tale of Genesis.
The tale of Genesis, the purāņic account of the origin of living beings, and a systematic and exhaustive application of the theory of incarnation to the epic-characters envelop the epic-tale in a different atmosphere. They lend, as it were, a different viewpoint to the principal story, put the tale on an ethical plane, raise it to the cosmic level. They add, as it were, a fresh dimension to the epic tale. It should be noted that throughout the Adivamśāvataraņa-parvan, the Purāņic atmosphere prevails and it is this sub-parvan which puts the tale on an ethical plane. The fact that in the next sub-parvan, called the Sambhava-parvan, the style and atmosphere become quite different in tone, become very classical, marks out the Adivamšāvatarana-parvan as unitary in character, authored by some Purānic scholar, rather than some bardic poet, with a clear intention to give the story an ethical dimension. It is noteworthy that the unitary characteristics of such singular subparvans are also retained. The fact leads to a possibility that the division into sub-parvans may not be arbitrary; it may reveal some stylistic and functional peculiarities.
The fact that the Sambhava-parvan falls more clearly into the pattern of the movement indicated above lends a sort of prefatory character to the entire Adivamsa
206 respectively at Adip. 57.76, 77-81, 82, 83-87 and 97-98. 207 respectively again at AdiP. 61.69, 79, 89, 90 and 84-85.
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