'Mahabharata' (Pt. 3)

The very first book depicts the society of the Vedic period in India. Called the Adi Parva it depicts the caste system and how class and society works in the Middle Vedic Era. If we were to take this as how the text depicts a historical era, we look at the fact that it is the middle of the Vedic era and that these castes have been established since the beginning of both sides of the war, especially the Puranas. The beginning of the Vedic era starts with the establishment of the Kuru Kingdom and, by the height of its political power—it would be well established into the families mentioned within the text. Thus, it shows historical accuracy and can be placed within that particular time period.

Another aspect of the Adi Parva is the changes it underwent before it was physically written down in its entirety. Parts and chapters of the text had seen to have been doubled, tripled and quadrupled in length before the entire book was actually committed to writing in the first millennium BCE. But, this may also make us question the actual historical accuracy of the text since it has gone through, what we call, text corruption. How do we know this? Well, because in the oldest text surviving of its type is only seven percent of its current length.

It is in the second book where we get that game of dice. The second book named the Sabha Parva is where the story really gets underway and we're not looking at just a genealogy anymore.

This is also where we meet Krishna, the charioteer for the Pandava Family.

We have a quotation about the person telling this story as well, let's see how this links with the historicism we've already looked at:

"...there came Narada,

The celestial Rishi who was learned in the Vedas and the Upanishads, who was worshipped by the celestials." (Mahabharata, Book II)

This is an example of the ancient Indian philosophy we looked at to do with the six systems. The storyteller here is knowledgeable in that sixth system, placing him in the same era as the story and therefore, adding a dimension to the possible truth behind it.

But, the problem with this is that when we look at the number of chapters written in Sanskrit in this book from a newer, fully written CE edition, there are more chapters than there are in any older BCE editions. This suggests that over the course of some time during the first millennium BCE, some chapters may have been added into the text as myths or legends.

Whether the added material or cut material were truths or not remains fairly unknown, but far less has been edited from the Sabha Parva than the first book, the Adi Parva.

The third book is one of the longest of the 18 books in the text. The Aranya Parva literally translates into "the forest book" and deals with the exile of the Pandava family and how their characters are built.

The characters we find out most about are the five husbands of Draupadi. A lot less is known about Draupadi than we would actually like and most of our knowledge of her historically comes from the text itself. But, when we come to the genealogy of the Pandava Brothers, more is known about them. We have evidence from the PGW that suggests they existed because of various inscriptions and idols, but whether they actually did at the time they did is fairly unknown. The only way we can suggest that this would be true is if we followed the genealogy of the Kuru Kingdom through the Pandava, which is very difficult to do accurately. Historical evidence here, seems to be failing the text.

The fourth book, named the Virata Parva, deals with the 13th year of the 12-year exile that the Pandava brothers and Draupadi received for losing the dice game. They remain hidden and live in the court of Virata, hence the term "the book of Virata." What we know of the history behind the Mahabharata will considerably lessen throughout the story until the physical war.

What we know of the Virata court is next to nothing, but what we do know is geographically about the forest and the location. The location of this part of the text is nearer to the Ganges river, where the storyteller resides and the five brothers reside. The fact that the exile is set around here tells us that not only is it not very far from where they were before, but that the Virata Court is probably part of the same kingdom. Thus, it shows that there were probably no horses and the Pandava brothers made their way into the forest on foot having given up all worldly possessions in a gamble.

The fifth book is where the war is prepared for. The Pandava Family return from exile and ask for their half of the kingdom. When the Kaurava Family refuses, the Pandava prepare for an all out war with the opposing family. The book is normally called the "Udyoga Parva"—which roughly translates as "the Book of Preparation" or in some cases "the Book of Effort." Textual evidence suggests that this is probably only a few months before the war physically breaks out—whereas, historical evidence gives us reason to believe that this part of the book is probably set a few years before the war breaks out.

Again, we could never actually know and the PGW do not give many clues as to the years or time frame of preparation. We can therefore, only go by what is in the text.

In terms of philosophy, it offers a large array of evidence for the reader to believe it was set in the Indian Early Iron Age. The Viduraniti is a section in which the laws of a virtuous or the most virtuous human beings are dictated. All of these rules correlate or depend on the six systems mentioned in Ancient Indian Philosophy. But the main piece of ancient Indian philosophy that it concentrates on is possibly the most famous and wrongly-used of all time; the philosophy of karma.

Therefore, there are some reasons to believe that the correlation between fames philosophical views and textual accuracy in history have a vague connection. But without any real source, we cannot say exactly where to place the epic in accuracy.

The sixth book is named the Bhishma Parva. This is probably the most philosophically heavy book in the entire text as it includes the famed Bhagavad Gita. Like the Iliad and Odyssey after it, this book seemingly splits up the war across chapters—even though the physical aspect of it didn't last very long.

In physicality, the Kurukshetra War is only 18 days long, but the consequences and preparations are far longer. This book covers the first ten days and deals with the idea of contemplation. This contemplation is taken directly from the same philosophy we looked at earlier. The main quotation which shows us this comes in the middle of this book in which Krishna looks at the Karma of war:

"Success that is obtained by negotiations and other means is the best.Success which is secured by creating disunion amongst the enemy is temporary.Success secured by battle is the worst."

This is basically the "one slip up and it's all gone" rule. The idea that anything obtained by battle or by ill means will be quickly taken away. This is an idea repeated throughout the text and suggests it has something to do with the dice game played at the beginning of the story.

It is an idea that will be repeated, revisited and prompted until the very last line of the entire text, making the sub-text of the Gita very important to the entirety of the meaning of the Mahabharata.

The next book is the Drona Parva is the next one in the series of texts. As the seventh book and the second part of the battle, it depicts what happens when Drona becomes commander for the Kaurava Army. Here is his debut in the text as a fierce chief commander:

"Millions of foot-soldiers and hundreds of millions of horses were pierced with shafts by Drona alone that night."

As we can see, it is one of those first halves to the karma of a downfall from ill-gotten gains. Drona, although a good soldier and fighter, has disregarded the philosophy of Karma and therefore, will not last long - this may be a foreshadowing to his demise.

There isn't much known about this narrative—but we can assume that the story was written about the same time as the one before it, probably even at the same time since there is a continuation of the battle. But, by the end of this book, many of the great warriors are dead—including Drona.

The Karna Parva is the eighth book in the text and the text in which Karna becomes the new commander for the Kaurava Army. This not only sends everyone into panic, but sends Arjuna into rage - the final confrontation is one of the most famed parts of the epic; the Death of Karna.

For this one, there is an earlier text and a later text, the times of the texts are fairly unknown, the later one is simply longer than the first seeing something like an editing process. When we look at the Death of Karna, we can see that there is definitely a concentration on the Iron Age materials; spears, swords, bows and arrows etc. This is a very Iron Age image and leads us away from the previously thought out Late Bronze Age one.

This is what we get of the same philosophy, meaning they were probably composed in the same time period:

Passion, engagement, skill and policy —these are the means to accomplish objectives.

The next book, the ninth of them—the Shayla Parva, is the one in which we see the next commander and the next part of the war (the final part with mass fighting). It is the showdown between Bhīma and Duryodhana. This is not only an incredible scene which seems to end the actual 18 days of war, but also another one of those famed sections that everyone seems to know.

In terms of historical evidence for this section there's only one thing that tells us that it is a very Iron Age setting. The weapon that Bhīma uses to kill his opponent is a mace. A mace is a long metal rod with a ball of spike or a spearhead at the end. This is probably one of the most used weapons in war apart from the usual bow and arrow or sword.

The tenth book is long, but is only set over one night. It is the night after the 18th Day and the remaining three of the Kaurava army kill the Pandava Army in their sleep. The Pandava Brothers, Krishna and Satyaki were all not present, so were the last ones left alive. Called the Sauptika Parva, it translates as the Sleeping Book.

For this, we have little historical evidence and yet, we want to assume that through the two different texts for this section that it may have been composed by another source or at another time. Nothing else can be assumed by this book.

The next book translates as the "Women's Book" and is the 11th of 18 books and recites the grief of the women after the war.

Again, there are two versions of this, one of which is commonly accepted as having sections inserted into it. We may not know what sections these are, but the fact that they are there means that the historical accuracy of this book is up for debate, also because of the time left between the passage rites and the deaths of the Kaurava army men don't match up with Ancient Indian passage rites being 24 hours after the death at most. The travelling time for the Pandava army to the Kaurava court before the passage rites seems to take time and still, there are hours and hours passing before the rites are given, including the women visiting the battlefield of the war.

The next is the longest book in the entire text, the twelfth of 18 books, it translates as The Book of Peace and is set after the war is completely over. The duties and dharma of a good ruler are recited to him and he is counselled by Bhishma and the rishis. Consider this the wisdom book of ancient India.

There has always been question over whether the text had been inserted at a later date, especially regarding the writing style as being that from India's Early Medieval Era in the Second Millennium AD.

In 1923, a scholar compared different versions of the text from the various different parts of India. Not only were entire sections missing, but some were out of order entirely and some were multiplied in length. Scholars now believe that this book was especially meddled with to suit the answers appropriate for different regions of India during the Medieval Period and is not actually based on historical fact at all.

BUT - since this deals with a new stage in the genealogy, this impacts what has happened before and afterwards and may just suggest that none of this ever took place at all.

Anushasana Parva is the next one and has pretty much the same problem as the one prior to it. Known as the Leviticus of Ancient India, this text is the book of law or instruction. There are high suggestions that this text is much later than all of the others and therefore, probably wasn't an original book of the Mahabharata. But, since nothing really takes place here, we can assume that it wouldn't change the rites and events that pass over the text.

The 14th book translates directly as "the Book of Horse Sacrifice" and stands to show how the treasury of the Pandava is refilled after the war.

There is a section within this book that makes scholars believe that it is not of the original text. This is the fact that Krishna literally recites the Gita for a second time to Arjuna and yet, as a dialogue between two gods. This is, when reading the book, completely pointless to the narrative and seems to stick out as something that was added in to remind people in the Medieval Era of peace and wisdom.

In the next book, literally called The Book of Hermitage—the remaining Kaurava live in a forest whilst there is 15 years of prosperity for the Pandava. After two years and into the third year, the Kauravans pass away in a forest fire, due to the philosophy of Karma when they did not yield against the Pandava cry for sympathy. Also, when they committed the act of revenge.

We see this as a continuation of the book of the horse sacrifice and therefore, emits the need to see this as a book that doesn't fit with the rest. The question over the "lost" years has always raised some eyebrows. The real question is: what happened in those 15 years between then and now?

Maybe we'll never know. But what we do know is that the King followed the rules set by the Gita, if he didn't he would've died in a fire like those who sought revenge.

In terms of scholarly research, many believe this is either a continuation or there is an omitted text that has not yet been found. If so, I wonder what it would say about the textual history of it all. What we're moving away from is the idea that this war took place exactly how it said in the text and the omission is the first way we do that.

The 36th year after the war gives us another reason to believe an omission has taken place, one slightly bigger than before. The "book of clubs" is the 16th book of the epic and explains the death of Krishna and the submersion of his kingdom under the sea. A new war has broken out and causes the Pandava men to renounce their kingdom and begin working towards heaven.

This is quite possibly the most archaeological heavy book in the entire text. Scholars believe that the city of Dwarka, Krishna's Kingdom, if it ever existed, would be near to the Gujarat region in India. The remains of temples found at various sites therein from the 1950s to the 1970s note there were temples carbon dated to the 1st Millennium BCE along with ceramic artefacts praising the sea god and matching up with the style of PGW. They have been dated to be from as early as 1500BCE.

This suggests that not only did it happen, but the Mahabharata's attempt to explain itself is very accurate even in terms of naming the city, on which was seen inscribed on the PGW.

So, unlike some other texts in this book—now it's all true?

The shortest book in the epic is the 17th one. The Book of the Great Journey follows the Pandava through the Himalayas and to heaven upon Mount Sumeru. Draupadi and four of the brothers fall and die on their way up, with only the king reaching the top.

For this book, there seems to be no historical evidence except for the carbon dating on the mountain - which matches almost directly to the chain of events. Although, instead of climbing to heaven, we could suggest they were looking for a new settlement after the war and because of their old age in climbing a mountain, one of the largest, many of them perished.

This is the most obvious of all suggestions to any religious text; maybe the events have been exaggerated.

The last book simply deals with the ascent to heaven for all the Pandava - meeting Krishna as Vishnu and Draupadi as Shakti. There is no historical evidence for this obviously, but it follows the tradition of stories from the time depicting those who visit heaven along with the book of Enoch and the Greek and Roman travels to the underworld.

Now we've dealt with the historicism and the story of the Mahabharata—we are now going to look at how the Kurukshetra War suggests various mediums for history and accuracies to us and what this shows about the text. This will be continued in the next part to this series.