Mahabharata Vol. 6 (Penguin Translated Texts)

Volume 6

(Sections 67 to 72)

Translated by
Bibek Debroy

PENGUIN BOOKS

About the Translator

Dedication

Family Tree

Map of Bharatavarsha

Introduction

SECTION SIXTY-SEVEN
ABHIMANYU-VADHA PARVA
Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna and Subhadra, penetrates the chakra vyuha that Drona constructs and is killed by Jayadratha

SECTION SIXTY-EIGHT
PRATIJNA PARVA
Arjuna vows to kill Jayadratha

SECTION SIXTY-NINE
JAYADRATHA-VADHA PARVA
Arjuna kills Jayadratha

SECTION SEVENTY
GHATOTKACHA-VADHA PARVA
Karna kills Ghatotkacha with the spear that he has saved for Arjuna

SECTION SEVENTY-ONE
DRONA-VADHA PARVA
Bhima kills an elephant named Ashvatthama and Bhima and Yudhishthira tell Drona that Ashvatthama has been killed; when Drona casts aside his weapons, he is killed by Dhrishtadyumna

SECTION SEVENTY-TWO
NARAYANA ASTRA MOKSHA PARVA
Angry at Drona’s death, Ashvatthama invokes the naryana astra which is countered by Krishna and Arjuna

Acknowledgements

Copyright Page

Bibek Debroy is an economist and is Research Professor (Centre of Policy Research) and a columnist with
Economic Times
. He has worked in universities, research institutes, industry and for the government. He has published books, papers and popular articles in economics. But he has also published in Indology and translated (into English) the Vedas, the Puranas, the Upanishads and the Gita (Penguin India, 2005). His book
Sarama and her Children: The Dog in Indian Myth
(Penguin India, 2008) splices his interest in Hinduism with his love for dogs. He is currently translating the remaining volumes of the unabridged Mahabharata.

‘The modernization of language is visible, it’s easier on the mind, through expressions that are somewhat familiar. The detailing of the story is intact, the varying tempo maintained, with no deviations from the original. The short introduction reflects a brilliant mind. For those who passionately love the Mahabharata and want to explore it to its depths, Debroy’s translation offers great promise in the first volume.’

—
Hindustan Times

‘[Debroy] has really carved out a niche for himself in crafting and presenting a translation of the Mahabharata … The book takes us on a great journey with admirable ease.’

—
The Indian Express

‘The first thing that appeals to one is the simplicity with which Debroy has been able to express himself and infuse the right kind of meanings … Considering that Sanskrit is not the simplest of languages to translate a text from, Debroy exhibits his deep understanding and appreciation of the medium.’

—
The Hindu

‘Overwhelmingly impressive … Bibek is a truly eclectic scholar.’

—
Business Line

‘Debroy’s lucid and nuanced retelling of the original makes the masterpiece even more enjoyably accessible.’

—
Open

‘The quality of translation is excellent. The lucid language makes it a pleasure to read the various stories, digressions and parables.’

—
The Tribune

‘Extremely well-organized, and has a substantial and helpful Introduction, plot summaries and notes. The volume is a beautiful example of a well thought-out layout which makes for much easier reading.’

—
The Book Review

‘The dispassionate vision [Debroy] brings to this endeavour will surely earn him merit in the three worlds.’

—
Mail Today

‘This [second] volume, as voluminous as the first one, is expectedly as scholarly … Like the earlier volume, the whole book is an easy read.’

—
The Hindu

‘Debroy’s is not the only English translation available in the market, but where he scores and others fail is that his is the closest rendering of the original text in modern English without unduly complicating the readers’ understanding of the epic.’

—
Business Standard

‘The brilliance of Ved Vysya comes through [in Volume 3], ably translated by Bibek Debroy.’

—
Hindustan Times

For Suparna

Ardha bhāryā manuṣyasya bhāryā śreṣ
ṭ
hatamaḥ sakhā
Bhāryā mulam trivargasya bhāryā mitram mariṣyataḥ

Mahabharata (1/68/40)

Bharata/Puru Lineage

The Hindu tradition has an amazingly
large corpus of religious texts, spanning Vedas, Vedanta (
brahmana
s,
¹
aranyaka
s,
²
Upanishads,), Vedangas,
³
smriti
s, Puranas, dharmashastras and
itihasa
. For most of these
texts, especially if one excludes classical Sanskrit literature, we don’t
quite know when they were composed and by whom, not that one is looking for single
authors. Some of the minor Puranas (Upa Purana) are of later vintage. For instance,
the Bhavishya Purana (which is often listed as a major Purana or Maha Purana)
mentions Queen Victoria.

In the listing of the corpus above
figures itihasa, translated into English as history. History doesn’t
entirely capture the nuance of itihasa, which is better translated as
‘this is indeed what happened’. Itihasa isn’t myth or
fiction. It is a chronicle of what happened; it is fact. Or so runs the belief. And
itihasa consists of India’s two major epics, the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata. The former is believed to have been composed as poetry and the latter
as prose. This isn’t quite correct. The Ramayana has segments in prose and
the Mahabharata has segments in poetry. Itihasa doesn’t quite belong to
the category of religious texts in a way that the Vedas and Vedanta are religious.
However, the dividing line between what is religious and what is not is fuzzy. After
all, itihasa is also about attaining the objectives of
dharma
,
⁴
artha
,
⁵
kama
⁶
and
moksha
⁷
and the Mahabharata includes Hinduism’s most important spiritual
text—the Bhagavad Gita.

The epics are not part of the
shruti
tradition. That tradition is like revelation, without any
composer. The epics are part of the
smriti
tradition. At the time they were
composed, there was no question of texts being written down. They were recited,
heard, memorized and passed down through the generations. But the smriti tradition
had composers. The Ramayana was composed by Valmiki, regarded as the first poet or
kavi
. The word kavi has a secondary meaning as poet or rhymer. The
primary meaning of kavi is someone who is wise. And in that sense, the composer of
the Mahabharata was no less wise. This was Vedavyasa or Vyasadeva. He was so named
because he classified (
vyasa
) the Vedas. Vedavyasa or Vyasadeva
isn’t a proper name. It is a title. Once in a while, in accordance with
the needs of the era, the Vedas need to be classified. Each such person obtains the
title and there have been twenty-eight Vyasadevas so far.

At one level, the question about who
composed the Mahabharata is pointless. According to popular belief and according to
what the Mahabharata itself states, it was composed by Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa
(Vyasadeva). But the text was not composed and cast in stone at a single point in
time. Multiple authors kept adding layers and embellishing it. Sections just kept
getting added and it is no one’s suggestion that Krishna Dvaipayana
Vedavyasa composed the text of the Mahabharata as it stands today.

Consequently, the Mahabharata is far
more unstructured than the Ramayana. The major sections of the Ramayana are known as
kanda
s and one meaning of the word kanda is the stem or trunk of a
tree, suggesting solidity. The major sections of the Mahabharata are known as
parva
s and while one meaning of the word parva is limb or member or
joint, in its nuance there is greater fluidity in the word parva than in kanda.

The Vyasadeva we are concerned with had
a proper name of Krishna
Dvaipayana. He was born on an island
(
dvipa
). That explains the Dvaipayana part of the name. He was dark.
That explains the Krishna part of the name. (It wasn’t only the
incarnation of Vishnu who had the name of Krishna.) Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa was
also related to the protagonists of the Mahabharata story. To go back to the
origins, the Ramayana is about the solar dynasty, while the Mahabharata is about the
lunar dynasty. As is to be expected, the lunar dynasty begins with Soma (the moon)
and goes down through Pururava (who married the famous apsara Urvashi), Nahusha and
Yayati. Yayati became old, but wasn’t ready to give up the pleasures of
life. He asked his sons to temporarily loan him their youth. All but one refused.
The ones who refused were cursed that they would never be kings, and this includes
the Yadavas (descended from Yadu). The one who agreed was Puru and the lunar dynasty
continued through him. Puru’s son Duhshanta was made famous by Kalidasa in
the Duhshanta–Shakuntala story and their son was Bharata, contributing to
the name of Bharatavarsha. Bharata’s grandson was Kuru. We often tend to
think of the Kouravas as the evil protagonists in the Mahabharata story and the
Pandavas as the good protagonists. Since Kuru was a common ancestor, the appellation
Kourava applies equally to Yudhishthira and his brothers and Duryodhana and his
brothers. Kuru’s grandson was Shantanu. Through Satyavati, Shantanu
fathered Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. However, the sage Parashara had already
fathered Krishna Dvaipayana through Satyavati. And Shantanu had already fathered
Bhishma through Ganga. Dhritarasthra and Pandu were fathered on
Vichitravirya’s wives by Krishna Dvaipayana.

The story of the epic is also about
these antecedents and consequents. The core Mahabharata story is known to every
Indian and is normally understood as a dispute between the Kouravas (descended from
Dhritarashtra) and the Pandavas (descended from Pandu). However, this is a distilled
version, which really begins with Shantanu. The non-distilled version takes us to
the roots of the genealogical tree and at several points along this tree we confront
a problem with impotence/sterility/death, resulting in offspring through a surrogate
father. Such sons were accepted in that day and age. Nor
was
this a lunar dynasty problem alone. In the Ramayana, Dasharatha of the solar dynasty
also had an infertility problem, corrected through a sacrifice. To return to the
genealogical tree, the Pandavas won the Kurukshetra war. However, their five sons
through Droupadi were killed. So was Bhima’s son Ghatotkacha, fathered on
Hidimba. As was Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu, fathered on Subhadra.
Abhimanyu’s son Parikshit inherited the throne in Hastinapura, but was
killed by a serpent. Parikshit’s son was Janamejaya.

Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa’s
powers of composition were remarkable. Having classified the Vedas, he composed the
Mahabharata in 100,000 shlokas or couplets. Today’s Mahabharata text
doesn’t have that many shlokas, even if the Hari Vamsha (regarded as the
epilogue to the Mahabharata) is included. One reaches around 90,000 shlokas. That
too, is a gigantic number. (The Mahabharata is almost four times the size of the
Ramayana and is longer than any other epic anywhere in the world.) For a count of
90,000 Sanskrit shlokas, we are talking about something in the neighbourhood of two
million words. The text of the Mahabharata tells us that Krishna Dvaipayana finished
this composition in three years. This doesn’t necessarily mean that he
composed 90,000 shlokas. The text also tells us that there are three versions to the
Mahabharata. The original version was called Jaya and had 8,800 shlokas. This was
expanded to 24,000 shlokas and called Bharata. Finally, it was expanded to 90,000
(or 100,000) shlokas and called Mahabharata.

Krishna Dvaipayana didn’t rest
even after that. He composed the eighteen Maha Puranas, adding another 400,000
shlokas. Having composed the Mahabharata, he taught it to his disciple
Vaishampayana. When Parikshit was killed by a serpent, Janamejaya organized a
snake-sacrifice to destroy the serpents. With all the sages assembled there,
Vaishampayana turned up and the assembled sages wanted to know the story of the
Mahabharata, as composed by Krishna Dvaipayana. Janamejaya also wanted to know why
Parikshit had been killed by the serpent. That’s the background against
which the epic is recited. However, there is another round of recounting too. Much
later, the sages assembled for a sacrifice in Naimisharanya and asked Lomaharshana
(alternatively, Romaharshana) to recite what he had
heard at
Janamejaya’s snake-sacrifice. Lomaharshana was a
suta
, the sutas
being charioteers and bards or raconteurs. As the son of a suta, Lomaharshana is
also referred to as Souti. But Souti or Lomaharshana aren’t quite his
proper names. His proper name is Ugrashrava. Souti refers to his birth. He owes the
name Lomaharshana to the fact that the body-hair (
loma
or
roma
)
stood up (
harshana
) on hearing his tales. Within the text therefore, two
people are telling the tale. Sometimes it is Vaishampayana and sometimes it is
Lomaharshana. Incidentally, the stories of the Puranas are recounted by
Lomaharshana, without Vaishampayana intruding. Having composed the Puranas, Krishna
Dvaipayana taught them to his disciple Lomaharshana. For what it is worth, there are
scholars who have used statistical tests to try and identify the multiple authors of
the Mahabharata.

As we are certain there were multiple
authors rather than a single one, the question of when the Mahabharata was composed
is somewhat pointless. It wasn’t composed on a single date. It was
composed over a span of more than 1000 years, perhaps between 800
BCE
and 400
ACE
. It is
impossible to be more accurate than that. There is a difference between dating the
composition and dating the incidents, such as the date of the Kurukshetra war.
Dating the incidents is both subjective and controversial and irrelevant for the
purposes of this translation. A timeline of 1000 years isn’t short. But
even then, the size of the corpus is nothing short of amazing.

Familiarity with Sanskrit is dying out.
The first decades of the twenty-first century are quite unlike the first decades of
the twentieth. Lamentation over what is inevitable serves no purpose. English is
increasingly becoming the global language, courtesy colonies (North America, South
Asia, East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa) rather than the former colonizer.
If familiarity with the corpus is not to die out, it needs to be accessible in
English.

There are many different versions or
recensions of the Mahabharata. However, between 1919 and 1966, the Bhandarkar
Oriental Research Institute (BORI) in Pune produced what has come to be known as the
critical edition. This is an authenticated
text produced by a
board of scholars and seeks to eliminate later interpolations, unifying the text
across the various regional versions. This is the text followed in this translation.
One should also mention that the critical edition’s text is not invariably
smooth. Sometimes, the transition from one shloka to another is abrupt, because the
intervening shloka has been weeded out. With the intervening shloka included, a
non-critical version of the text sometimes makes better sense. On a few occasions, I
have had the temerity to point this out in the notes which I have included in my
translation.

It took a long time for this critical
edition to be put together. The exercise began in 1919. Without the Hari Vamsha, the
complete critical edition became available in 1966. And with the Hari Vamsha, the
complete critical edition became available in 1970. Before this, there were regional
variations in the text and the main versions were available from Bengal, Bombay and
the south. However, now, one should stick to the critical edition, though there are
occasional instances where there are reasons for dissatisfaction with what the
scholars of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute have accomplished. But in all
fairness, there are two published versions of the critical edition. The first one
has the bare bones of the critical edition’s text. The second has all the
regional versions collated, with copious notes. The former is for the ordinary
reader, assuming he/she knows Sanskrit. And the latter is for the scholar.
Consequently, some popular beliefs no longer find a place in the critical
edition’s text. For example, it is believed that Vedavyasa dictated the
text to Ganesha, who wrote it down. But Ganesha had a condition before accepting.
Vedavyasa would have to dictate continuously, without stopping. Vedavyasa threw in a
counter-condition. Ganesha would have to understand each couplet before he wrote it
down. To flummox Ganesha and give himself time to think, Vedavyasa threw in some
cryptic verses. This attractive anecdote has been excised from the critical
edition’s text. Barring material that is completely religious (specific
hymns or the Bhagavad Gita), the Sanskrit text is reasonably easy to understand.
Oddly, I have had the most difficulty with things that Vidura has sometimes said.
Arya has today come to connote ethnicity. Originally,
it meant
language. That is, those who spoke Sanskrit were Aryas. Those who did not speak
Sanskrit were mlecchas. Vidura is supposed to have been skilled in the mlechha
language. Is that the reason why some of Vidura’s statements seem obscure?
In similar vein, in popular renderings, when Droupadi is being disrobed, she prays
to Krishna. Krishna provides the never-ending stream of garments that stump
Duhshasana. The critical edition has excised the prayer to Krishna. The never-ending
stream of garments is given as an extraordinary event. However, there is no
intervention from Krishna.

How is the Mahabharata classified? The
core component is the couplet or shloka. Several such shlokas form a chapter or
adhyaya
. Several adhyayas form a parva. Most people probably think that
the Mahabharata has eighteen parvas. This is true, but there is another 100-parva
classification that is indicated in the text itself. That is, the adhyayas can be
classified either according to eighteen parvas or according to 100 parvas. The table
(given on pp. xxiii–xxvi), based on the critical edition, should make this
clear. As the table shows, the present critical edition only has ninety-eight parvas
of the 100-parva classification, though the 100 parvas are named in the text.