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The Tales in Mahabharata
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The genealogy, however, is not a bare enumeration of the names. Occasionally it also alludes briefly to the outstanding achievements of these great ancestors of the epic-heroes. Purūravas is said to have stayed with Urvaśī in the Gandharva region and brought the three-fold fire for ceremonies. Nahușa made even sages pay the taxes, made them, like animals, carry him on their back, and having defeated gods became Indra. The story of the Yayāti-Devayāni-Sarmisthā triangle is also briefly alluded to. The allusion to this last story, however, appears to be slightly more detailed - to rouse Janamejaya's interest, we suspect, who intervenes with a request for a detailed narration. So, the famous Yayati-story is narrated in the next ten Adhyayas (71-80) and a sequel called 'uttara-yāyātam' in the further eight Adhyāyas (81-88),
The Yayāti tale has been one of the few tales of India which have remained popular through the ages. One of the reasons of its popularity is the deduction of that famous maxim : "Desire is, indeed, never satiated with the enjoyment of the worldly pleasures. It is only aggravated like fire fed with butter". 212 The maxim is pronounced by Yayāti while returning the youth of his son Puru which, he, after the curse of Sukrācārya, had borrowed in order to enjoy the worldly pleasures to his heart's content.
The three parts of the tale are very obvious : (1) The legend of Kaca (Adhy. 71-72), (2; The story of Yayāti's marriage with Devayānī, his attraction for Sarmisthā, the five sons, sukrācārya's curse, Yayāti's accepting and returning the youth of his youngest son Puru, (3) Yayāti's return from the heavens and his regaining them on the strength of his grandson's merits.
S. A. Dange has fully dealt with the first part of the tale which he proves to be entirely mythical. He shows that “The main motif in the legend of Kaca is the swallowing and the disgorging of the initiate by the preceptor, with the gaia of new life on the part of the initiate. The legend represents a fine blending of the sacrificial rite of consecration described in the Brāhmaṇas and the initiation rites of the savages",213 In the conclusion of his study of this legend, he again says : "The legend of Kaca mainly imbibes the main features of sacrificial consecration and initiation or Upapayana... The same motif of swallowing, disgorging and the gain of new knowledge can be seen in the initiation-rites of the savages, and this gives additional support to the contention that the Kaca legend is the legend of initiation"21 4
Regarding the second part also, it has often been observed that the names of the five sons of Yayāti are actually the names of five tribes. "In the Purānas tribal 212 The passage is famous, though relegated to footnote on text-critical grounds. Cf. Adip.
693* and 840 * i na jātu kān:aḥ kāmānām upabhogena śămyati, havişā krşnavartmeva bhūya
evābhivardhatell 213 Legends in the Mahabharata, 1969. p. 155. 214 ibid. p. 236.
S.T. 17
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