The Glorification of Vyasa

The Glorification of Vyasa [vyasamahima] / Compiled with notes by Shri Anand Swarup Gupta / 217-221

vyasa-mahima (Mahabharata, Critical Edition, Adi-Parvan, Adhyaya 1) namah krsnadvaipayanaya || * 151 jayati parasarasunuh satyavatihrdayanandano vyasah | yasyasya kamalakose vanmayamamrtam pibati lokah || 1* pitamahadyam pravadanti sastham maharsimaksayya vibhutiyuktam | narayanamsajamekaputram dvaipayanam vedanidhi namami || 3* vyasam vasisthanaptaram sakteh pautramakalmasam | parasaratmajam vande sukatatam taponidhim || 7* acaturavadano brahma dvibahura [ paro harih ? ] | abhalalocanah sambhurbhagavan badarayanah || 8* vyasaya visnurupaya vyasarupaya visnave | namo vai brahmanidhaye vasisthaya namo namah || 11* abhrasyamah pingajatabaddhakalapah pramsurdandi krsnamrgatvakparidhanah | saksallokan pavayamanah kavimukhyah | parasaryah parvasu rupam vivrnotu || 18* maharseh pujitasyeha sarvaloke mahatmanah | pravaksyami matam krtsnam vyasasyamitatejasah || 23 tapasa brahmacaryena vyasya vedam sanatanam | itihasamimam cakre punyam satyavatisutah || 52 punye himavatah pade medhye giriguhalaye | • visodhya deham dharmatma darbhasamstaramasritah || || sucih saniyamo vyasah santatma tapasi sthitah |, bharatasyetihasasya dharmenanviksya tam gatim | pravisya yogam jnanena so'pasyat sarvamantatah || 22

218 puranam - PURANA parasaratmano vidvan brahmarsih samsitavratah [Vol. IX., No. 2 maturniyogad dharmatma gangeyasya ca dhimatah || ksetre vicitraviryasya krsnadvaipayanah krsnadvaipayanah pura | trinagniniva kauravyanjanayamasa viryavan ||53-54 tesu jatesu vrddhesu gatesu paramam gatim | abravit bharatam loke manuse'smin mahanrsih || 56 lokanam ca hitarthaya karunyanmunisattamah | 65* atropanisadam punyam krsnadvaipayano'bravit | 191 ab tapovisistadapi vai vasisthanmunipumgavat | manye sresthatamam tva'dya rahasyajnanavedanat | janmaprabhrti satyam te vidma gam brahmavadinim | tvaya ca kavyamityuktam tasmat kavyam bhavisyati | jadandhavadhironmattam tamobhutam jagad yadi jnanahutasena tvaya nojjvalitam bhavet | | bhavet | tamasa'ndhasya lokasya vestitasya svakarmabhih | jnananjanasalakabhirbuddhinetrotsavah krtah | dharmarthakamamoksarthaih samasavyasakirtanaih | tvaya bharatasuryena nrnam vinihatam tamah | puranapurnacandrena srutijyotsna prakasina | nrnam kumudasaumyanam krtam buddhiprabodhanam | | itihasa pradipena mohavaranaghatina | lokagarbhagrham krtsnam yathavat samprakasitam | (Appendix 1. 1. Lines 31.46) krsnadvaipayanam vyasam viddhi narayanam vibhum | ko hyanyah pundarikaksanmahabharatakrd bhavet | matimanthanamavidhya yena vedamaharnavat | jagaddhitaya nanito mahabharatacandramah stutyam tasyasti kim canyat sarvalokahitaisinah |

July, 1967] vyasamahima vedah vyastah krtam tena mahabharatamadbhutam | sarve tarantu durgani sarvo bhadrani pasyatu | ityuktva sarvavedarthan (rthah )bharate tena darsitah || (Appendix I. 3. Lines 1-8) 219 The great sage Vyasa who is known as the arranger of the Vedas and the original author of the Mahabharata and the eighteen Maha-Puranas, has been rightly glorified and even defied in the Mahabharata as well as in the Puranas. His various epithets mentioned in the great epic and the Puranas are expressive of his supreme qualities of heart, head and soul. Vyasa stands as the unique figure in the whole history of the Sanskrit literature. No author has ever excelled him in the authorship of so vast and varied a literature. Nothing that is essential and useful for the human society has escaped his versatile genius. We owe much to Maharsi Vyasa for what is best and richest in the Indian religion and culture. We can never be able to discharge this debt of the sage; still we can sing the glory of Vyasa in the very words of his great works, Mahabharata and the Puranas. Here we have begun with the Mahabharata for which it is said that 'dharme carthe ca kame ca mokse ca bharatarsabha | yadihasti tadanyatra yanne- hasti na tatu kacit || In fact, the Mahabharata does not appear to be a work of the human brain, and so its author Vyasa has been regarded as an Avatara of Narayana, for who else can be the author of this great work 'krsnadvaipayanam vyasam viddhi narayanam vibhum | ko hyanyah pundarikaksanmahabharatakrd bhavet | What greater glorification can ever be of Vyasa than the fact that he composed the Mahabharata and explained and illustrated in it all the topics of the Vedas for the good of the man-kind :- stutyam tasyasti kim canyat sarvalokahitaisiranah | veda vyastah krtam tena mahabharatamadbhutam || sarve tarantu durgani sarvo bhadrani pasyatu | ityuktva sarvavedarthan (rthah ?) bharate tena darsitah || laque In this instalment of the Vyasa-Mahima the slokas and the epithets glorifying Maharsi Vyasa have been compiled from

220 puranam - PURANA [Vol. IX., No. 2 the critical text, critical footnotes, and the appendix of the Mahabharata, Cr. Edn., Poona, Adi-Parvan, Adh. 1. The slokas whose numbers are marked with a star are those not adopted in the critical text, but given in the critical footnotes, where these sloka numbers are given in the beginning of these slokas. Although many of the slokas given here have already been printed in the 'Purana'-Bulletin, yet they are again included here, as all these slokas are contained in the first Adh. of the AdiParvan which we have drawn upon in this instalment. In slokas 3* and 7* the genealogy of Vyasa has been mentioned, which is as follows:Vyasa is descended from the Pitamaha or Brahma from whom he is the sixth in generation (g). Thus :- pitamaha ( brahma or svayambhu ) svayambhuva manu vasistha (One of the ten Prajapatis produced by S. Manu; cf. Manu Smrti 1.34-35) sakti 1 parasara vyasa (It may also be possible here that the Vasistha produced by Svayambhuva Manu might have been a different person from the Vasistha who was the great grand father (f) of our Vyasa ; and the two Vasisthas might have been confused as one and the same person later on. The fact that Vasistha was produced from S. Ma is not mentioned here. But the Manu Smrti, I suppose, supplies this lacuna). His physical appearance has been described in the sloka- ***'-(13*). He is dark like a cloud, with a tied tauny jata or braided hair, and with a tall body. He holds a staff in his hand and wears the hide of a black antelope. He has been conceived here as an avatara of Visnu. Not only this, he has

July, 1967] vyasamahima 221 been even made the embodiment of the three Deities-Brahma, Hari, and Sambhu.-(8*). He, the son of Satyavati, after a continuous life of tapas and brahmacarya, arranged the Vedas and then composed this holy Itihasa (Mahabharata).-(52). He after purifying his body by means of austerity and observation of other religious rules sat on a Kusa-seat in a cave in the holy Himalaya, and by means of yoga or meditation realised the real essence of the dharma in his own inner self and then composed this Itihasa (Bharata).-(22). He produced in the wife of Vicitravirya three sons of Kuru-family, like the three fires, and when they grew old and passed away, this great sage composed the Mahabharata in the oral form, out of the compassion for the world.-(53, 54, 56, 65*). From the ocean of the Vedas he produced the moon in the form of the Mahabharata for the welfare of the world.- (Appendix 1.3). The following epithets have been used here for Maharsi Vyasa: aksayyavibhutiyukta (having imperishable glory or superhuman power), vedanidhi (the treasure or repository of the Vedas), brahmanidhi ( = vedanidhi ), kavimukhya (the foremost of poets), sarvalokapujita (worshipped and honoured by all the worlds), HT (the great and noble soul), sramitatejah (of immeasurable or unlimited splendour), dharmatma (the soul or embodiment of dharma or piety), HT (of peaceful and calm mind), vidvan (the learned) samsitavrata (of rigid vows) ; viryavan (of manly vigour), mahan rsi (the great sage), munisattama (the best of the Munis) and (the well-wisher of the whole world). N.B.-The future instalments of Vyasa-Mahima, will also be from the Mahabharata, after which the Puranas will be taken up. -A. S. GUPTA