Secondary Tales of the Two Great Epics

Author(s): Rajendra I Nanavati
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 40

Introductory
27 But we must readily accept that all the evidences adduced above to prove the secondary nature of the Jarāsandha-vadha-episode are more or less subjective. The arguments about the style and the natural order of events are clearly more like personal opinions than objective facts, and the evidence of the similarity of pattern is certainly not conclusive in itself. On such grounds we can neither properly build up any hypothesis, nor do we intend to. But it helps us at least to see the implications of the term 'Secondary in their proper dimensions. Many incidents of the principal tale (as we have it) can be shown in a similar manner to possess a debatable claim to originality, but such discussions are bound to remain more opinionated than objective, and any insistance on such points would be more dogmatic than scholarly. We shall, therefore, merely point out the inherent probabilities of the term 'Secondary' and rest content with it.
iv. The Definition of Secondary
It will be seen from above that various interpretations of the term 'Secondary' are possible. (1) That tale which is not original is secondary. (2) That tale which does not narrate the events in the life of the heroes is secondary. (3) That tale which is not essentially connected with the central event of the epic is secondary. (4) That episode which occurs in the course of the central theme, but does not in any way further the central theme, which shows stylistic differences, which creates internal contradictions, or unnecessary repetitions, in the sequence of events of the principal tale, is secondary. This shows that no single definition of the term "Secondary' is possible, because, in the context of our two great epics, the term original itself is undefinable.
In these circumstances, we must come to some compromise as to the connotation of the term 'Secondary tale'. We propose that we shall treat that tale as secondary which is complete in itself, independent of the principal tale. So far as some judicious restriction in the material of study is concerned, we shall confine ourselves mostly to the AdiP, SabP, BK and UK, since these have been observed to represent nearly all significant varieties of tales.