The Aryavarta Chronicles Kurukshetra: Book 3 (62 page)

Such a reconstruction also requires political, social and even psychological explanations. For this, I have drawn on ideas from many analytical and creative works, first among them being Irawati Karve’s
Yuganta: End of an Epoch
(Hyderabad: Disha Books/Orient Longman, 1991). Karwe is particularly notable for her critical approach to the question of Dharma Yudhisthir’s father. Buddhadeva Bose in his
Mahabharater Katha/The Book of Yudhisthir
(trans. Sujit Mukherjee, London: Sangam Books/Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 1986) attributes to Dharma Yudhisthir’s character the many frustrations and exasperations that I find likely, and though I am less inclined to glorify Dharma as the protagonist of the epic I cannot deny that I benefitted from reading Bose’s book.

Alf Hiltebeitel’s work on Panchali (
The Cult of Draupadi: Volumes 1 and 2
, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1988, 1991) and Pradip Bhattacharya’s essay on the
Panchkanyas
of lore (‘She Who Must Be Obeyed – Draupadi: The Ill-Fated One’, 2004,
Manushi
, 144–Sep/Oct, pp. 19–30) provides deeper insights into her compelling character and even the intricacies of her relationships. Panchali is symbolically and overtly equated to Sri – the consort of Vishnu in terms of the pantheon and the symbol of nature at a deeper level. This clearly places her as the heroine of a story which has Govinda as its hero; an idealized symmetry that is alluded to in Prathibha Ray’s
Yajnaseni
(trans. Pradip Bhattacharya, New Delhi: Rupa, 1995.)

The tale, however, unfolds in a different way. The consequent asymmetry, anomaly even, is explained away in canon Mahabharata and its derivative tales (many of which speak of Panchali’s preference for Partha) using the concepts of rebirth and divine manifestation. But, if we do away with such interpolated justifications, what might it mean?

I do not have the answer to this riddle, but only a question. Behind the implied and admitted romances, is there a story of affection so obvious that it is easily overlooked? Is it a kind of Freudian transference, whether in the original itself, or perhaps created post-hoc in the interests of sanitizing and legitimizing the epic but nevertheless hinted at by the triangle of three dark-skinned Krishnas – Panchali, Partha and Govinda? Or is the asymmetry itself the story – the tale of a world where many such things are not right? To borrow Govinda Shauri’s words: ‘The world as we know it would not make sense unless Ahalya were turned to stone.’

ALTERNATE MAHABHARATAS

At this point, I shall admit that I was occasionally surprised, perhaps even shocked, at the alternate theories that seemed to suggest themselves, particularly since I had been brought up on strong doses of canon Mahabharata. The ideas, however, were not as ‘alternative’ as I had first thought – I discovered the existence of alternate versions of the Mahabharata, many of which were equally canonical in their own right. These included the Bhil Mahabharata and the Indonesian Kakawain versions, both of which I highlight for a reason – The Bhil Mahabharata was (in my view) the nearest I could get to a subaltern version of the epic, and took a very different view of the socio-political status quo (for variations and tales from the Bhil Mahabharata see Satya Chaitanya’s blog, based on his research of this folklore:
http://innertraditions.blogspot.com
).

The Indonesian Kakawain version (
http://www.joglosemar.co.id/bharatayuda.html
) was equally exciting, since it was possibly shipped out of Aryavarta and to Indonesian islands in a form that was closer to the ‘core’ or original Mahabharata – that is, an epic with fewer interpolations. A list of resources and essays on the Mahabharata variations across Bengali, Bhil, Oriya, Tamil, Malayalam and Rajasthani cultures (to name a few) is available at A. Harindranath’s stunning website: (
http://mahabharata-resources.org
). Essays on the Oriya
Sarala Mahabharata
are available on B.N. Patnaik’s site:
http://saralamahabharat.blogspot.com
.

BUILDING THE WORLD OF THE EPIC

W.G. Archer (
The Loves of Krishna in Indian Painting and Poetry
, New York: MacMillan, 1957) points to the small but immeasurably important link in the Upanishads that has opened the door to a larger story-world that revolves around the group of scholar–sages known as the Angirasas. With that in mind, the Vedic–Upanishad symbolism in the epic pointed out by Alf Hiltebeitel (‘The Two Krsnas on One Chariot: Upanisadic Imagery and Epic Mythology’, 1984,
History of Religions
, 24–1, pp. 1–26) begins to make sense. Many reinterpretations and interpolations fall into place and can be logically identified, keeping in mind the basic symbolic themes, as well as the body of philosophical knowledge that the epic seeks to encompass. Most importantly, the Mahabharata starts becoming a story of technological evolution and the associated social change.

I turned to the broader Vedic and Upanishadic literature in an attempt to decipher what the astra-incantations might have meant in a secular and scientific sense, and to understand the technology that hid behind metaphors. For this, I have relied strongly on Karen Thomson and Jonathan Slocum’s work on ancient Sanskrit, available from the Linguistics Research Centre at the University of Texas at Austin; particularly their translations of Barend A. van Nooten and Gary B. Holland’s version of the Rig Veda (
Rig Veda: A Metrically Restored Text
, Boston: Harvard University Press, 1994). Also deserving reference are Subhash C. Kak’s ‘Science in Ancient India’ (In
Ananya: A Portrait of India
, S.R. Sridhar and N.K. Mattoo (eds.), 1997, AIA: New York, pp. 399–420); Aurobindo’s
The Secret of the Veda
(Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1993) and Shatavadhani R. Ganesh’s audio commentary on the PurushaSuktam and the NarayanaSuktam (K.V. Raman,
Vedic Chanting
, Bangalore: Sagar Music, 1999.)

The Vedic texts have also been of relevance to understanding the socio-political-economic context of the epic itself. For example, M.B. Emeneau and B.A. van Nooten approach the notions of
Niyoga
and polyandry in the Mahabharata from the broader Vedic context (‘The Young Wife and Her Husband’s Brother: Rgveda 10.40.2 and 10.85.44.’, 1991,
Journal of the American Oriental Society
, 111–3, pp. 481–494). Also deserving mention here is Janet Chawla’s feminist reading of the Rig Veda (‘Mythic Origins of Menstrual Taboo in Rig Veda’, 1994,
Economic and Political Weekly
, 29–43, pp. 2817–2827).

LIFE AND WAR IN EPIC TIMES

In terms of setting the descriptive stage for the story, my first stop was Romila Thapar’s
The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to 1300 AD
(New Delhi: Penguin Books/Allen Lane, 2002). City descriptions are based mainly on details in the epic narrative, but I also referred to marine archaeologist S.R. Rao’s
The Lost City of Dvaraka
(Goa: National Institute of Oceanography, 1999); David Frawley’s
Gods, Sages and Kings: Vedic Secrets of Ancient Civilization
(Salt Lake City: Passage Press/Morson Publishing, 1991) and A.S. Gaur, Sundaresh and SilaTripati’s ‘An Ancient Harbour at Dwarka: Study Based on the Recent Underwater Explorations’ (2004,
Current Science
, 86–9, pp. 1256–60) for ideas on the layout of Dwaraka city, particularly its fortifications and defences. Gaur, Sundaresh and Tripati’s ‘Evidence for Indo–Roman trade from Bet Dwarka Waters, West Coast of India’ (2005,
International Journal of Nautical Archaeology
, 35, pp. 117–127) inspired the notion of Dwaraka as a maritime power.

The military history of India, from the
AllEmpires.com
historical information website, Sushama Londhe’s page on war in Ancient India (
http://www.hinduwisdom.info/War_in_Ancient_India.htm
), S.A. Paramahans’s ‘A Glance at Military Techniques in Ramayana and Mahabharata’ (1989,
Indian Journal of History of Science
, 24–3, 156–160) and The Sarasvati Web (
http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/sarasvati
) also deserve reference.

GENEALOGIES

In constructing genealogies, I have relied on the texts of the Mahabharata and Harivamsa mentioned above, as well as the Srimad Bhagavatham. My tables were supplemented and cross-checked against two sources: Desiraju Hanumanta Rao’s genealogical tables of the Yadu and related dynasties (
www.mahabharata-resources.org
) and the tables in Irawati Karve’s
Yuganta
. Vettam Mani’s classic
Puranic Encyclopaedia
(Delhi: Motilal Banarasidas, 1975) has filled many gaps and provided essential details.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF TIME

My approach to Time has been a mix of the literal and the symbolic. Myth suggests that lifespans were much longer in the previous yugas, lasting perhaps up to three or four hundred years in the Dwaparayuga – the era of the Mahabharata. However, these figures take on a different meaning if we apply the notion of ashrama or stages of life. K.N.S. Patnaik (
The Mahabharata Chronology
, Pune: Annual Research J. of the Institute for Rewriting Indian History, 1990) compares how childhood (
baalyam
) lasted forty years in the times of the Mahabharata, whereas it lasts approximately 15 years in the current age of Kali. Similarly, youth or
youvanam
lasted till the age of 120 years in the past, as compared to about 45 years in today’s age. We are, in essence, dealing with a different basis of measurement of time and age.

Time, in the
Chronicles
, is therefore scaled down to contextualize the main actors as the middle-aged individuals they were, relative to the period of the epic. As a result, the age of the characters is given in contemporary terms.

Interestingly, ancient units of measurements ran by seasonal and sidereal time, along with the common solar. The possibility, therefore, of a year as we know constituting a shorter period of time, cannot be discounted. Subash Kak (‘On the Chronological Framework for Indian Culture’,
Indian Council of Philosophical Research
, 2000, pp. 1–24) mentions how one of the bases for variation in the dating of the events of the Mahabharata may be the calendar system used (more precisely, the number of stellar constellations in a given cycle).

LANGUAGE

My work would have been near-impossible but for these amazing dictionaries and glossaries, accessed primarily through the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries website (
http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de
). Included in this database are the well-known Monier-Williams, Apte and MacDonnell dictionaries, as well as Kale’s work on Sanskrit grammar. I also used the simpler but wonderful Spoken Sanskrit Dictionary (
http://spokensanskrit.de
) and relied on the Sanskrit Heritage Site (
http://sanskrit.inria.fr/sanskrit.html
) for grammar reference.

Reproduced from
The Aryavarta Chronicles Book 1: Govinda
.

Acknowledgements

Nearly five hundred thousand words later, only two matter the most: Thank you.

My thanks also to,

In loving memory of Appa, A.R. Udayasankar.

Krishna Udayasankar is a graduate of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore, and holds a PhD in Strategic Management from Nanyang Business School, Singapore, where she presently works as a lecturer.

Govinda
, Krishna’s debut novel, and
Kaurava
, the first two books in the Aryavarta Chronicles series of mytho-historical novels, have received critical acclaim. She is also the author of
Objects of Affection
, a fulllength collection of poetry (Math Paper Press, 2013), and an editor of
Body Boundaries: The Etiquette Anthology of Women’s Writing
(The Literary Centre, 2014).

Krishna lives in Singapore with her family, which includes her bookloving fur-kids, Boozo and Zana.

The Aryavarta Chronicles
Book 3

Kurukshetra

Nothing left to fight for is nothing left to lose...

Emperor Dharma Yudhisthir of the Kauravas and Empress Panchali Draupadi rule over a unified Aryavarta, an empire built for them by Govinda Shauri with the blessings of the Firstborn and by the might of those whom everyone believes long gone – the Firewrights.

Now the Firewrights rise from the ashes of the past, divided as before in purpose and allegiance, and no one, it seems, can stand in the way of the chaos about to be unleashed on the land – not the Firstborn, not the kings of Aryavarta, and not Govinda Shauri.