Indian Epics (heroic poems)

Epics are heroic poems in an elevated style, which recount great events. In point of fact in this literature only the praise of the heroes is recorded, the darker side being overlooked entirely. The genesis of this hero worship may be traced to the Vedic poems which for instance elevate the God Indra even for his drunkardness. Similarly Yudhishthira in the

Mahabharata is never blamed for having indulged in gambling in dice-playing whereby complete ruin of the family and of the country was brought about. Nor is the hero of the Ramayana critisized for the cruel and unjust banishment of Sita, wherefrom terrible personal miseries and disruption of the kingdom followed. Thus the epics are a kind of histories and as such are concerned more predominantly with 'matter' rather than with 'form,' the 'spirit' being the blind praise of the hero. Sanskrit epic poetry falls into two nain classes. The one class is called Kavya (heroic poem) and the other is known as Itihasa (history), Akhyana (narrative), or Purana (pre-history). The former is represented by the Ranayana and the latter by the Mahabharata. There might have been such other epics which are however, entirely lost. The Ramayana is attributed to the great poet Valmiki. In its present form it must have been in existence before the Gautama Buddha of fifth century B. C. It consists of about 24,000 verses divided into seven books (kanda)¹ where the heroic deeds of Rama, the king of Ayodhya, are described. As an history it contains a a short reference to his predecessors. It is known as the first poem (adikavya). The poetic inspiration of the pcet is ascribed to a pathetic incident of a male bird being killed by an arrow of Rama's father Dasaratha, when the bird was mating with its partner. The spirit of hero-worship reached the climax in the first book where Rama is extolled as an incarnation of God Vishnu. The rest of the poem describes how Rama won Sita by a feat of strength, how he abdicated the throne of Ayodhya in favour of his half brother Bharata in order to redeem the pledge of his father to his step-mother Kaikeyi, and how in banishment Sita was stolen by the demon king Ravana of Lanka (Ceylon), how the ocean was bridged with the help of the monkey forces of the south, how Ceylon was conquered and Sita recovered, how he resumed the throne and banished Sita as his first royal act without any consultation with the elders and ministers, and how ultimately a weaker kingdoni was handed over to Sita's sons born 1 Adi, Ayodhya, Aranya, Kishkindha, Sundara, Lanka, and Uttara.

in banishment at Valmiki's hermitage who, curiously, composed the poem to glorify Rama. The actual author or authors of the Mahabharata are not known. The compiler is known as Vyasa. It is post-Budhistic and later in origin than the Ramayana. The compilation is supposed to have taken a thousand years from B. C. 500 to 500 A. D. Thus it is surmised that at the first stage it consisted of 8800 verses, at the second 20,000 verses and at the third stage 24,000 verses. But in its present form it consists of over 100,000 verses. It is divided into eighteen or nineteen books (parvans).¹ It describes the eighteen days' fight between Duryodhana, the leader of the Kurus, and Yudhishthira, the chief of the Pandus. who were cousins. "Within this narrative frame has come to be included a vast number of old legends about gods, kings, and sages; accounts of cosmogony and theogony; disquisitions on philosophy, law, religion, and the duties of the rulers (kings)." Hence 'the Mahabharata claims to be not only a heroic poem (kavya), but a compendium of teaching, in accordance with the Veda, the four-fold end of human existence (spiritual merit, wealth, pleasure, and salvation), a Smriti or work of sacred tradition, which expounds the whole duty of man, and is intended for the religious instruction of all Hindus." Thus in its final form the epic kernal forms only, about one-fifth of the whole and it is an encyclopedia of moral teaching rather than an epic proper. Besides its language is not so elevated as that of the Ramayana. Thus it deals more with matter than form, and concerns more with the spirit of a scripture. The epic story runs as f.llows. In the country of Bharatas (whence the uame Bharata-varsha arises) known as Kurukshetra (land of Kurus) there lived at the capital Hastinapura two princes, Dhritarashtra and Pandu. The older being blind Pandu succeded to the throne. On the premature death of Fandu the eldest of his five sons, Yudhishthira, was appointed heirapparent by Dhritarashtra. But the five princes had to escape to Panchala to escape from the plots their 1 Adi, Sabha, Vana, Virata, Udyoga, Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Salya (gada), Sauptika, Stri, Santi, Anusisana, Asvamedha, Asrama-vasin, Mausala, Mahaprasthana, and Svargarohana; and the supplement Harivamisa.

hundred cousins led by Duryolhana had made to assasinate them. There the five princes made alliance with the Panchila king by marrying his daughter Draupadi, and with Krishna, the leader of the Yadavas. Thereafter Dhritarashtra recalled the Pandu Pandu princes and divided the kingdom between them and his own sons, the former having their new capital at Indraprastha and the latter retaining the old capital Hastinapura. Then Yudhishthira accepting the challenge to play at dice with Duryodhana lost every thing-his kingdom, his wealth, his army, his brothers (Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva) and the common wife (Draupadi) -and agreed to go into banishment for twelve years and to remain incognito for a thirteenth, after which the lost kingdom was to be returned to them. In the meantime Duryodhana tried further to injure but the Pandavas passed thirteen years successfully and made further alliance with Matsyas and others. The message demanding back their kingdom receiving no answer, they prepared for war. The battle took place at Kurukshera, near present Delhi. The people of Kosala, Videha, Anga, Banga, Kalinga, Sindhu, Gandhara, part of Yadavas, Sakas and and Yavanas joined the Kurus. Panchalas, Matsyas, part of the Yadavas under Krishna, kings of Kasi, Chedi, Magadha and others fought on the side of Pandus. The battle raged for eighteen days till all the Kurus were destroyed. Only the five Pandavas and Krishna escaped alive.. Yuihishthira was crowned king at Hastinapura. Bhishma, the leader of the Kurus, on his death bed, instructed Yudhishthira on the duties of kings and other topics in about 20,000 verses (chap XII-XIII) disclosing the political life of Hindus. But weary of life they enthroned Parikshita, the grandson of Arjuna, and retired to the forest dying as they wandered towards Meru, the abodes of God, which Yudhishthira was able to reach. King Parikshita having died of snake-bite, his son Janmejaya initiatel a great sacrifice to annihilate all serpents. At that sacrifice the epic, Mahabharata, is stated to have been recited by Vaisampayana, who had learnt it from Vyasa who is stated to have composed the epic to elucidate the excellence of the Pandus, the greatness of Krishna, and the wickedness of the Kurus." The supplementary book, Harivamsa, contains an

account of Krishna in 1600 verses which are divided into three sections. The first describes the history of Krishna's ancestors down to the tine of Vishnu's incarnation in him; the second gives an account of Krishna's exploits; and the third treats of the future occupations of the fourth (Kali) age of the world. This brief survey should show that this epic deals more with matter than the form. Besides the language of the Mahabharata is not so poetical and elevated as that of the Ramayana. Moreover the instructions on the royal duties, spiritual merits, wealth, pleasure and salvation for all, and moral teachings in addition to the story do not supply much scope for pcetic imagination. Thus matter being the main object beauties of the form are lacking; even the strict grammatical correctness is also wanting' which became more prominent in the Purana class of literature. The epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, are truly the national poems of everlasting interest and value. They are not produced by any individual authors. Valmiki and Vyasa are not persons like Kalidasa and Banabhatta. Nor they deal with stories concerning heroes of any particular time and locality. They deal with the whole country and the lasting national culture and history. Thus the Ramayana is being read from the time immemorial daily in every household and in every village and town, in the trader's shop and king's palace without any slack of interest. The ideal of national life is indicated by the Ramayana in the garb of the family incidents of king Dasaratha. Unlike Homer's Illiad and oddessy the Ramayana is not intended to show the heorism of Rama in subduing the demon king Ravana It shows the fundamental nature of domestic life (grihastha). It extolls the obedience of sons to parents, sacrifice among brothers, unbreakable attachment between husband and wife, and the ideal treatment of subjects by their rulers Rima was more cruel towards Sita than Ravana showing the human nature of Rama who was not recognised as an incarnation (avatara of God) by Valmiki but as Nara-chandrama (best of men). Thus the Ramayana is daily read as a 1 For instance there is a confus.on between the use of the fifth and sixth case-endings which are associated with two distinct cases, z. ablative (apadina) and possessive (sambodhana).

Dharmasastra (guide book of practical religion) rather than as the Adi-kavya (first poem). The Raghu-vamsa deals with the same story but it is read for poetic beauties of alankara (figure of speech) and rasa (sentiment) of language and not for any religious lesson. Similarly the Mahabharata devotes four-fifths of its one lakh slokas to moral lesson by way of describing the feud between the Kauravas and Pandavas and ends in the gaining of heaven by Yudhishthira alone who is recognised as the Dharmaraja (king of religious ideal). Concerning linguistic beauties, it is, therefore, inferior to the Ranayana not to speak of the Kavya proper like the Raghuvansa and others. In both these epics victory in battles is not the ideal; both ends in renunciation which is our national ileal and cultural aim.