The Mahabarata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa - BOOK XI – STRI-PARVA
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The Mahābhārata is one of the great works of world culture and the pinnacle of Sanskrit literature. It is also by some distance an epic of extraordinary length and breadth. Whilst there are many versions the longest is in the order of 1.9 million words across 200,000 lines of verse. In context if you combined both the Iliad and the Odyssey they would run to a mere quarter of its length.
Within this sweep lies the Kurukṣetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pāṇḍava princes. Woven within this are many devotional and philosophical offerings, including much on the four "goals of life" or puruṣārtha; Dharma (righteousness, moral values), Artha (prosperity, economic values), Kama (pleasure, love, psychological values) and Moksha (liberation, spiritual values).
Also enclosed within it are other well-known stories such as the Bhagavad Gita, the story of Damayanti, an abbreviated version of the Rāmāyaṇa, and the story of Ṛṣyasringa. These are also considered as complete works in their own right.
Turning to the issue of authorship it has traditionally been attributed to Vyāsa (also known as Veda Vyāsa, or Krishna Dvaipāyana) who is also a character within it. Despite much scholarly detective work to unravel and reveal its history absolute certainty is difficult. The oldest preserved parts of the text are thought to be from around 400 BCE, although it is believed that its origin lies several centuries earlier perhaps as far back as the 9th century BCE and much of this was of oral tradition.
The final version of the text probably reached its finished form by the early Gupta period (around the 4th century CE).
The title ‘Mahābhārata’ may be best translated as "the great tale of the Bhārata dynasty".
Kisari Mohan Ganguli, known also as K. M. Ganguli has translated this version of all eighteen books from Sanskrit into English between the years 1883 and 1896.
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The Mahabarata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa - BOOK XI – STRI-PARVA - Krishna Dvaipāyana Vyasa
The Māhabhārata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa
BOOK XI – STRI-PARVA
The Mahābhārata is one of the great works of world culture and the pinnacle of Sanskrit literature. It is also by some distance an epic of extraordinary length and breadth. Whilst there are many versions the longest is in the order of 1.9 million words across 200,000 lines of verse. In context if you combined both the Iliad and the Odyssey they would run to a mere quarter of its length.
Within this sweep lies the Kurukṣetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pāṇḍava princes. Woven within this are many devotional and philosophical offerings, including much on the four goals of life
or puruṣārtha; Dharma (righteousness, moral values), Artha (prosperity, economic values), Kama (pleasure, love, psychological values) and Moksha (liberation, spiritual values).
Also enclosed within it are other well-known stories such as the Bhagavad Gita, the story of Damayanti, an abbreviated version of the Rāmāyaṇa, and the story of Ṛṣyasringa. These are also considered as complete works in their own right.
Turning to the issue of authorship it has traditionally been attributed to Vyāsa (also known as Veda Vyāsa, or Krishna Dvaipāyana) who is also a character within it. Despite much scholarly detective work to unravel and reveal its history absolute certainty is difficult. The oldest preserved parts of the text are thought to be from around 400 BCE, although it is believed that its origin lies several centuries earlier perhaps as far back as the 9th century BCE and much of this was of oral tradition.
The final version of the text probably reached its finished form by the early Gupta period (around the 4th century CE).
The title ‘Mahābhārata’ may be best translated as the great tale of the Bhārata dynasty
.
Kisari Mohan Ganguli, known also as K. M. Ganguli has translated this version of all eighteen books from Sanskrit into English between the years 1883 and 1896.
Index of Contents
BOOK XI – STRI-PARVA
Chapter I - XV - Jalapradanika-Parva
Chapter XVI - XXVII - Stri-Vilapa-Parva
THE MĀHABHĀRATA
BOOK XI (of XVIII) – STRI-PARVA
CHAPTER I
Jalapradanika-Parva
OM! Having bowed down unto Narayana and Nara, the foremost of male beings, and unto the goddess Sarasvati, must the word Jaya be uttered.
Janamejaya said, After Duryodhana had fallen and after all the warriors also had fallen, what, O sage, did king Dhritarashtra do on receipt of the intelligence? What also did the high-souled Kuru king Yudhishthira, the son of Dharma, do? What did the three survivors of the Kuru army viz. Kripa and the others do? I have heard everything about the feats of Ashvatthama. Tell me what happened after that mutual denunciation of curses. Tell me all that Sanjaya said unto the blind old king.
Vaishampayana said, After he had lost his century of sons, king Dhritarashtra, afflicted with grief on that account, cheerless, and looking like a tree shorn of its branches, became overwhelmed with anxiety and lost his power of speech. Possessed of great wisdom, Sanjaya, approaching the monarch, addressed him, saying, 'Why dost thou grieve, O monarch? Grief does not serve any purpose. Eight and ten Akshauhinis of combatants, O king, have been slain! The earth hath become desolate, and is almost empty now! Kings of diverse realms, hailing from diverse quarters, united with thy son for aiding him in battle have all laid down their lives. Let now the obsequial rites of thy sires and sons and grandsons and kinsmen and friends and preceptors be performed in due order.'
Vaishampayana continued, "Destitute of sons and counsellors and all his friends, king Dhritarashtra of great energy suddenly fell down on the earth like a tree uprooted by the wind.
Dhritarashtra said, 'Destitute as I am of sons and counsellors and all my friends, I shall, without doubt have to wander in sorrow over the earth. What need have I now of life itself, left as I am of kinsmen and friends and resembling as I do a bird shorn of its wings and afflicted with decrepitude? Shorn of kingdom, deprived of kinsmen, and destitute of eyes, I cannot, O thou of great wisdom, shine any longer on earth like a luminary shorn of its splendours! I did not follow the counsels of friends of Jamadagni's son, of the celestial rishi Narada, and of island-born Krishna, while they offered me counsel. In the midst of the assembly, Krishna told me what was for my good, saying,
A truce tense to hostilities, O king! Let thy son take the whole kingdom! Give but five villages to the Pandavas! Fool that I was, for not following that advice, I am now obliged to repent so poignantly! I did not listen to the righteous counsels of Bhishma. Alas, having heard of the slaughter of Duryodhana whose roars were as deep as those of a bull, having heard also of the death of Duhshasana and the extinction of Karna and the setting of the Drona-sun, my heart does not break into pieces. I do not, O Sanjaya, remember any evil act committed by me in former days, whose consequences, fool that I am, I am suffering today. Without doubt, I committed great sins in my former lives, for which the Supreme Ordainer has set me to endure such a measure of grief. This destruction of all my kinsmen, this extermination of all my well-wishers and friends, at this old age, has come upon me through the force of Destiny. What other man is there on earth who is more afflicted than my wretched self? Since it is so, let the Pandavas behold me this very day firmly resolved to betake myself to the long way that leads to the regions of Brahman!'
Vaishampayana continued, "While king Dhritarashtra was indulging in such lamentations, Sanjaya addressed him in the following words for dispelling his grief, 'Cast off thy grief, O monarch! Thou hast heard the conclusions of the Vedas and the contents of diverse scriptures and holy writ, from the lips of the old, O king! Thou hast heard those words which the sages said unto Sanjaya while the latter was afflicted with grief on account of the death of his son. When thy son, O monarch, caught the pride that is born of youth, thou didst not accept the counsels offered unto thee by thy well-wishers. Desirous of fruit, thou didst not, through covetousness, do what was really for thy benefit. Thy own intelligence, like a sharp sword, has wounded thee. Thou didst generally pay court to those that were of wicked behaviour. Thy son had Duhshasana for his counsellor, and the wicked-souled son of Radha, and the equally wicked Shakuni