MAHĀBHĀRATA: The Epic of India

Language can be a powerful tool which can build individuals up but it can also tear them down. When reading Literature through a post-colonial lens it can give us the needed tools to provide or grasp the information in order to reveal the bigger picture in the story. “Post-colonialism examines the manner in which emerging societies grapple with the challenges of self- determination.” (Aladren, 2013) In one way we can see that approach of colonist being conveyed through the native tongue which tends to be taught to its subjects. Such examples can be seen in Shakespeare’s The Tempest (Act1 & 2) and the The Epic of Gilgamesh which illustrates how a “savage” can be domesticated simply by learning the imperialist language. As the subjects Caliban and Enkidu encounter these dominating issues due to the situation they face once they are introduce to oppressors culture.

The oppression of women has plagued society for many centuries. Many cultures face despotism in various forms due to their cultures’ customs and beliefs. These cultures have set standards for women that have limited them in their abilities and choices. It is a problem that, to this day, women encounter. In literature, many authors have attempted to highlight the difficulties that women are faced with through their stories. Mahasweta Devi, author of “Giribala”, and Rabindranath Tagore, author of “Punishment” both discuss the issues of empowerment over women through the themes presented in their story; the liberation of women is a costly endeavor. Devi and Tagore both display a distinct idea of what liberation means, and how such freedom can be obtained with a cost through the depiction of two main characters who strive to gain their own freedom, and in the process, find themselves. Seeking and gaining complete freedom is a difficult task to fulfill. One must go to extreme lengths to escape the inequality that they are faced with.

There is additionally Bharata, the child of Daśaratha's reallyyouthful wife Kaikeyi, lastly there is Śatrughna, who is as dedicated to Bharata as Lakshmana is to rama. The other epic, the Mahabharata,was written by Ved Vyas. Originally, it was written in Sanskrit and contained 8800 versesand was called “Jaya” or the collection dealing with victory. These were raised to 24,000and came to be known as Bharata, named after one of the earliest Vedic tribes. The finalcompilation brought the verses to 100,000, which came to be known as the Mahabharataor the Satasahasri Samhita. It contains narrative, descriptive and didactic material, relatingto conflict between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. The Mahabharata and the Ramayanahave several renderings in different Indian languages. The Mahabharata contains the famousBhagavad Gita which contains the essence of divine wisdom and is truly a universal gospel.Though it is a very ancient scripture, its fundamental teachings are in use even today.In a few ways, the whole story of the Mahabharata is a clarification of how our reality, the universe of the Kali Yuga, appeared, and how things got the chance to be as awful as they seem to

An ancient literary monument that incorporates a rational perspective and approach towards life helps a person resolve infinite conceivable questions, unlock morals and ethics, and approach enlightenment. The Ramayana, a relic with sacred relevance not only to India, but all of humanity, consolidates the innumerable queries by humans, answers them with morality, principals, and philosophical beliefs. This Indian heroic epic poem, comprises of approximately 24,000 verses, is mostly written using the sloka meter and is divided into 7 books, each containing 500 chapters. It provides a narrative allegory of Rama 's life and other characters who have become fundamental people in Hinduism. They also express the responsibilities of people in relationships. Overall, the Ramayana presents Hindu teachings from ancient sage Hindus with philosophical concepts which has inspired religion, beliefs, ideas, humanity, and principals of life.

The Mahabharata can be rewritten from the points of Eklavya, Karan or Druyodhan (Suyodhan). It will not only strike at the very root of the casteism but will expose the latent fact to not only in literary circle but to a common man.

“Literature of a nation is the mirror of the land. It speaks about its past and present, positive and negative aspects. It throws the light on the dark corners of the land and brings to the world its real self.” (Dr. Mamta K Buch, Bhakti and Philosophy)

Abstract: The nineteen-thirties were the most confused years in Indian history. It was the time of Indian thrash about for sovereignty and everyone was effected by the blow of this even poetry, drama and novel too. So Anand could not stay uninfluenced by it. He suffered a lot so this made him abhorrence imperialism. He was conscious of the sufferings of our community from dearth and nastiness. No one in India had yet written the classic on this suffering effectively because the realities were too rudimentary for a writer like Tagore. Mulk Raj Anand an immense Indian novelist draws our consideration through his immortal characters Munno and Bakha, from existent civilization. As a novelist he speaks on pragmatism, variance, humanism and exploitations. Anand wrote about real natives whom he knew quite intimately. Mulk Raj Anand awakens social principles by his works. He arouses compassionate sensation of readers for the subjugated and under-privileged, who suffer a lot.

Girish Karnad is a product of cross cultural fertilization. Marathi is his mother tongue. Kannada is the language of his childhood that became the language of the writer. English is his academic language in which he has acquired proficiency. Besides these he knows Hindi and Sanskrit, too. On the one hand he inherited Indian tradition of drama and on the other he acquired modern techniques of drama. He makes good use of Indian mythology in his plays to find parables for the contemporary situations. He picks up stories and characters from Indian mythology and history and through them he dramatizes the contemporary realities. While preparing for his first trip to England he was in an intense emotional turmoil and to escape from it he took up the Mahabharata for casual reading. The story of Yayati strikes him and he finds himself writing a play. Yayati. He wonders how precisely the myth relflects his anxieties and his resentment with all those who expected him to sacrifice his future for his family in India. He admits- “the myth and enabled me to articulate to myself a set of values that I had been unable to arrive at rationally”. (Introduction 3) Karnadbelives that he has no dramatic structure in his own tradition to which he can relate himself. That’s why in Yayati the language and the theme are Indian but from is drawn not from the Indian mythology but from the western playwrights whom he had read. Yayati was published in 1961. It is a retelling of the Hindu myth on the

The Mahabharata reached its final form somewhere between 300 BCE and 300 CE. It is generally thought that it was initially a simple folk story. With each retelling, it was “appropriated, Sanskrit-ized, and sanitized by Brahmins”. Earlier the book was known as Jaya, with 8,800 verses, attributed to Vyasa; Bharata with 24,000 verses as recited by Vaisampayana, and finally the Mahabharata as told by Ugrasrava Sauti exceeding 100,000 verses.

Of all literary forms, if drama is the most dependent upon and sensitive to its immediate audience, Poetry is what matters most to a contemporary mind. I.A. Richards once said, Poetry is the revelation of scholarship in men who constitute the intellectual upper limit of a generation. Whatever may be the elements of truth in it, this much is certain that fifty years before when science and technology did not make a rapid headway, Poetry was treated as the be all and end all of intellectual activities of man. In terms of poetry the scholarship of a nation was measured and assessed. The literary milieu in which Dr. Jayanta Mahapatra impinged was a milieu that was imbued with a classical scholarship. Myth, legend and folkore dominated the intellectual

The “Mahabharata,” an Indian work attributed to Vyasa, written between 400 BCE and 200 CE , it is a poem-structured narrative that contains political, historical, geological, theological and philosophical principles. It tells the story of two groups of cousins, the Pandavas and Kauravas, who fight for the sovereignty of lands. The narrative involves the interaction of mythological figures and human beings, and the central theme subdivides itself along the chapters so the remaining building ideas can be introduced. The various codes of conduct serve as

This book is considered as the masterpiece of Bhyrappa, written in Kannada based on the Indian epic Mahabharata. It gives us an interpretation of the of Mahabharata from a modern perspective acclaimed to be a modern classic. Bhyrappa spent five years researching the cultuaral, social and economic details of the period and came up with a Mahabharata removing the mythological elements and the whole theme and characters being placed in the historical time of 12th century BC in

His mythical magnificence adds fuel to the poetic flames of a number of poetry lovers in India and abroad. The mythical superiority of his poetry becomes a literary infantry for the crown of mythical samarat in Indian English poetry.The mythical essence of his poetic flamers approves the crown of mythical monarch in Indian English poetry . He is the founding father of Indianised version of sonnets in Indian English poetry . Indian and western mythical episodes that brings to light the cultural senesce justify the crown of the mythical samara of Indian masses in general and choudhary in particular.The mythical and cultural prosperity of his poetry that elicits the supremacy of Indian mythical messiahs justifies the crown of the mythical messiah in Indian English

Indian literature in English is not only part of Commonwealth literature, but also occupies a

The Mahabharata is an epic created around the time of fourth century BCE to fourth century CE by Krsna Dvaipayana. The story follows a generation of family in “northen India” (Dvaipayana, 1235). The main part of the story begins with Dhrtarastra, Pandu, and Vidura. Dhrtarashtra is denied his kingship for being blind, therefore the kingdom of Hastinapur falls into the hands of Pandu (1236). However, Pandu is cursed to die if he touches any of his two wives with lust after killing a sage and his wife while mating in the form of deer (1242). For her husband’s desire to have children, Kunti invokes a mantra she learned when she was young and conceives three babies with gods and gifts the power to Madri, the second wife of Pandu, to bear twins (1242). Together the brothers are called Pandavas. After Pandu’s death and Dhrtarastra’s ascension to the throne, the matter of kingship goes into a huge conflict, since Gandhari, wife of Dhrtarastra, bears hundred sons and a daughter (1240). The children of Dhrtarastra are called Kauravas. Having legitimacy to the throne on both sides of the family, the quarrel for power ends with a war at the end of the book which culminates in destruction of families on both sides (1238). Through its epic scale of narrative, the book tries to answer fundamental questions about war, rule, and human life. However, the subtle presence of political propaganda in the book hampers its perfection as a