English
The occurrence of titles of literary works like these, has been made use of to prove the existence, at that early period, of the writings which afterwards were designated by the same names. But though the Mab&bh&rata is called an IHhdsa^ and the R&m&yana an Akhydna^ and though many works have in later times become fa- mous under the name of PurdnaSy yet these enume- rations of literary works in the Br&hmanas do not refer to them.^ They contain only general names or 4^Mlfil <*lli^MlPlll ibid. iv. 1, 2., iv. 5. 9.; Satap. Braiim. xi. 7- L; Atharv. Sanliit^ xv. 6.: l^fd'^l^^ HTHP ^ ^TRTT^ ^K^^^W ^^- Aufrecht, Indische Stadien, p. 133. Sftjana himself is Bometimes doubtful, and in his Commentary on the Taittirija-aranjaka, for instance, he sajs that, by purana might be meant the Brahm^da, &c. ; and by itih&sa, the Malia- bharata. This, however, is a mistake, and it would bring Sayana into contradiction with himself. He has fully proved in his Introduction to the Big-veda that in this passage of the Taittiri- yaranyaka, no works separate from the Veda could be understood. Cf. Big-veda sanhita, p. 23. Dr. Weber, in his extracts from Panini (iv. 2. 60.), shows that vyakhyana, akhyana, kath&, akhya* yika, itihasa, and purana, were titles of literary works known at the time of E&tyayana. But he inclines to the opinion that K&^ tyayana did not mean the Mahabharata, Bam&yana, and the Pur- anas, as we now possess them, by these general names. Cf. Indische Studien, i. p. 147. ^ In the later literature also, names like Itihftsa, Akhyana, and Pariba are by no means restricted to the Mahabharata, Bam&yana, and the Pur&nas. The Maliabharata is called Purana, Akhyana, and Itihasa. Cf. M. Bh. i. 17—19. Vyasa himself calls his poem, the Mahabharata, a K&vya ; and Brahma sanctions this as Its proper title. Cf. M Bh. i. 72. This passage modifies Pro- fessor Lassen's opinion as to K&vya being the distinctive title of the Bam&yana. Cf. Indian Antiquities, i. 485. The Mahabharata ^^J'lo 'tween ^AI£ .^Pplied *iin to oeru tradi . ^ ^^'ther :r^** Paw, of Tu '°^-^ ^ ^fowea o71' ^^ the the P,,^ ^'ler-e i §o<la -^0 Of T^er Br^htot *^ ie i^^*^n ^^ -m AS the fp* _., -^^ Wli.-^L . '^Ulia^ _ ^ r^^' ,."l "* .!"*. '^iV J!*'*'^ is"^^*i ^ to "bo ^ar<^ B3 the text ^^^^ding to the JVfgj^J C*- '^ "" '^ > ":::- ^^. h^ Kr.W'*^Z*eroTr,\_^ o.tv xeV, *^^. famish ;rBb&rai^ oxr lSa..\v&.\^\^^vo.^a. ovxg^ ^^ liftsinde^* ^^jquities, tias poxTit^ed out chara.< istcd ^ ^en doxio Toy X*jro-Pessor Lassen, "WIK Indiao '^bic^ *^® mo<iero paT*1;s of theMah^] fliarte^y -pguislie*! from t^he more anclenf- . canbedi ^^pect "to see Iiis jprinciples stjij* may *°**^t i*^* transla.t.ion of" tlie wliole Afurl^ J carried o^^j^ the lielp of sill tbe Sanaktit ^bl t?hic^> ^ i^e*^ BQost carefuJI^ 2:>repared , '^'^^ aries, B* tgfittrned. a.Tid la.bor*lous scbolars of J^ o^ the iao8^ * gamble ^^ ^j^ ^^^ /j-oni tlie Aog-e ®^^^ Xf it ■''®^®.5poetpy, as we no-w 2>ossess it /q ^, ^^^ Xndiaaeipi*^Illtma.yaiia, those cpl<i Tories a5 "^ bliftarata '^cf ^ (gtti M.), the poets of the I^A-vamiaia Cpy, ^ ^ib^7"*'^;tlor8 of tlio 10th and las* Jk£aBdala, who ij^-^ ftDiaA7> *®^t^ and Mataaftktas, autliora oi^ sAort and W ^ * ;(CBhaaT^ comprisea twenty-three invocation^ acc<5^;^^' Tbe *** tary, and they are to be made, ^ben the Bi-ak5^^^- tbe ^^''^ded over the right shoulder Cj>^**"''Jtf> 1^^^ eo*^ ** 1 contM more than twenty-three xiatnes, and it *^ V l>o^^^ot tbaa have been added afterward^J^Ie ot|j^ :^ ^ ***** ^^o be taken collectively. ^u^Tf-e^^fj ^1 ^L* >*^^^. ^ V*^„aeword, in the sense of the le^ authorities ;w 44 mahAbhArata. which must have been living for a long time in the mouth of the people before they were collected, enlarged, arranged, and dressed up by later hands, a rich mine of information would be opened for the ancient times of India, and very likely also for the Vedic age. But the whole frame of the two epic poems as they now stand, their language and metre, as well as the moral and religious system they contain, show that they were put together at a period when the world of the Veda was living by tradition only, and, moreover, partly misunderstood, and partly forgotten. The war between the Eurus and P&ndavas, which forms the principal object of our Mab&bhkrata, is unknown in the Veda, The names of the Eurus and Bhd.ratas are common in the Vedic literature, but the names of the P&ndavas have never been met with. It has been observed S that even in PiLnini's grammar the name P&ndu or P&ndava does not occur, while the Eurus and Bh&ratas are frequently mentioned, parti- cularly in rules treating of the formation of patro* nymics and similar words.^ If, then, A^val&yana * Dr. Weber, Indische Siudien, p. 148. Eatj4jana, however, the immediate successor of Panini, knows not onlj P^du, bat also his descendants, the P&ndjas. > The names of the two wives of Pandu, Kunti and Madri, occur in the commentary on P&nini. (Cf. i. 2. 49^ iv. 1. 65., iv. 1. 176. (text) for Kunti, and iv. 1. 177. for Madn). But both these names are geographical appellatives, Kunti signifying a woman from the country of the Kuntas, Madri a Madra-woman. Prithd^ another name of Kunti, stands in the Gana 6iv&di. As to the proper names of the P^dava princes, we find Yudhishthiroj Pan. vi. 1. 134., vi. 3. 9., viii. 3. 95. (text); Arjuna, Pan. iii. 1. 119., iv. 3. 64., V. 4. 48., vi,2. 131.; Bhima, Pan. vi. I. 205.; Ndkula, Pfin. vi. 3. 75. The name of Sahadeva does not occur ; but his de- scendants, the Sahadevas, are mentioned as belonging to the race of Kuru, together with the Nakulas, Pan. iv. 1. 114. In the same mauAbhAkata. 45 can be shown to have been a contemporary, or at least an immediate successor, of Fd.nini, the Bh&rata which he is speaking of must have been very different from the epic poem which is known to us waj we find the descendants of Yudhislithira and Arjuna men- tioned as members of the eastern Bharatas, Fka. li. 4. 66. Drau- padVa name does not occur in Panini, but Subhadra the sister of Krishna and the wife of Arjuna, is distinctly mentioned, Pan. iv. 2. 56. Another passage in the commentary on Panini (i^. 3* 87.) proves even the existence of a poem in praise of Subhadra, which, if we remember the former mention of a war about Subhadra (iv. 2. 56.), seems most likely to have celebrated this very conquest of Subhadra by Arjuna. In tlie Mahabharata this story forms a separate chapter, the Subhadr^-harana-parva (Adiparva, p. 288.X which may be the very work which Panini, according to his com- mentator, is alluding to. That the chapter in the Mah&bharata belongs to the oldest parts of this epic, may be seen from its l>eing mentioned in the Anukramant of Dhritar&shtra (i. 149.). ** When I heard that Subhadr&, of the race of Madhu, had been forcibly seized in the city of Dvaraka, and carried away by Aijuna, and that the two heroes of the race of Yrishni had repaired to Indraprastha, I then, O Sanjaya, had no hope of success." The Mahabhashya, however, does not explain the former Siitra, (iv. 2. 56.), and for the latter it gives examples for the exceptions only, but not for the rule. The word granthay used in the S(itra, (iv. 3. 87.), is always somewhat suspicious. That some of the Sfktras which now form part of P&nini's grammar, did not proceed from him, is acknowledged by Kaiyyatn, (cf. iv. 8. 131, 132.) ^MlRi^^ei; ^5 lira XjfBU% \^ t^JT^ri *^W^i!t- VasudevOy who is considered as peculiarly connected with the tra- dition of the Pandavas, is quoted as Vasudeva^ of the race of Vrishni (Pan. iv. 1. 114.); as Vasudeva^ together with Siva and Aditya (Pan. v. 3. 99.) ; as Ydsudeva^ together with Aijuna ^iv. 3. 98. text). In the commentary to Pan. iii. 3. 156., and ii. 3. 72., we have proof of Kfishna^a being worshipped as a god ; in i. 4. 92. he is mentioned as a hero. His residence, Dvarakd, however, does not occur in Panini. 46 EPIC TRADITIONS B£MODEI.LED. under the name of the Mah&bh&rata, celebrating the war of the Eurus and P&ndavas.^ In the form in which we now possess the Mah&bhIU rata it shows clear traces that the poets who collected and finished it, breathed an intellectual and religious atmosphere, very different from that in which the heroes of the poem moved.