Secondary Tales of the Two Great Epics

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

Page 66

The Tales in Rāmāyana
53
and cons of the father's order. Quite a lot of time passed in this pondering during which the father, when his wrath subsided, realised the impropriety of his order and returning to the hermitage, was actually happy to find his son still hesitant and indecisive regarding the execution of his order. The tale is clearly an attempt to examine critically but indirectly both the tales given above. The motif of transgression and the name of sage Gautama remind one of the Ahalyā-tale, but the nature of punishment immediately shifts our attention to the Bhārgava-episode. And the deliberation-part of the story is clearly intended to gloss over the propriety of Jamadagni's order to his son to execute the deviating woman. The writer narrates the episode in the name of Gautama merely to escape the wrath of the Bhārgava brāhmins, most probably because, as Sukthankar has shown, 122 their influence upon the epic in the stage of its final redaction was very strong. But the tale very effectively shows not only that the act of Paraśurāma was criticised even in the ancient days but that there also was a differnce of opinion in the matter of taking the woman's fault for granted. Another interesting aspect of the tale is that it seeks to criticise the Bhārgava tale by changing some of the details, and by bringing in some motifs and details from some other tale with the similar central motif. It is an attempt at criticism by reshuffling of the motif-structure - an interesting method of folk-criticism.
The Analyā tale is nowhere fully narrated in the MBh. But from the stray references123 we realise that the MBh-redactors know the tale in this form. On the other hand, there is no knowledge of the tale in Vedic literature, where we find Indra being addressed with some epithets having some bearing on the tale, that too only in the Brahmaņa literature. 124 In the Subrahmanya litany, Indra is invoked thus;
Subrahmanyom subrahmanyom subrahmanyom/ indrăgaccha hariva āgaccha medhatitheh/ mesa vrşanaśvasya mene/ gaurāvaskandinn ahalyāyai jāra/ kauśika brāhmaṇa gautama bruvāņa iti
This is quoted as given in Taittiriya Aranyaka of the Black Yajurveda, since it is in its purest form. The Brāhmaṇas break up the invocation into different epithets and intersperse them with explanations-arthavada. Satapatha Brāhmaṇa says : Indra is invoked since he is the god of the sacrifice. Then, the epithets upto 'Ahalyāyai Jāra' are addressed to Indra to wish him joy in those affairs of his. The last epithet
122 "The Bhrgus and the Bhärata : A Text-Historical Study in Critical Studies etc. See
above fn. 119. pp. 278-337. 123 Like UdyP. 12.6. 124 See : Satapatha Brahmana III. iii, 4. 18-19.
Jaiminiya Brahmana II. 79-80 Ed. Lokesh Chandra, Nagpur 1950, Şadvinsa Brahmana I. i. 19-24. Ed. W. H. Julius, Leiden, 1908 and Taittiriya Aranyaka I. 12.