The latter part of Book 8 is full of details about
Karna’s feats in the battle. The descriptions are monotonous and fill several
pages. Hidden between those descriptions are a few episodes and interesting
conversations.
In one of them, Aswatthaman is advising Duryodhana to
make peace with the Pandavas. He says that there are four ways of making
friends: natural, those made by conciliation, those made by wealth and those
made through the use of power.
Later, when the wheel of Karna’s car is stuck in the
mud (through a curse on Karna), he asks Arjuna to give him time to get the car
un-stuck and appeals to Arjuna’s virtues. He points out to Arjuna how it is not
virtuous to kill an enemy who is at a disadvantage. The reply comes to Karna from
Krishna, and not Arjuna. Krishna asks Karna how is it that he (Karna) did not
remember what virtue is at so many times in the past. “How did you not remember
that virtue when you insulted Draupadi in public? How did you not remember virtue when
the kingdom was snatched away from the Pandavas by deceit?”
One other point that caught my attention in this
chapter is the details of flags carried by each warrior. Arjuna’s flag has
Hanuman as the emblem. Krishna’s (Vishnu’s) is Garuda.
The last portion of Karna Parva (Book 8) calls Vishnu,
Agni, Vayu, Soma and Surya as sacrifices (Yagna). The idea that the sacrificer is
the sacrifice and that even Prajapati was sacrificed in Yagna is given in the
Satapata Brahmana. The sage Vyasa gives all the benefits one acquires by
reading or listening to this Section with description of Yagnas.
The importance given to pilgrimage and listening to
puranas (epics) seems to have come about because most ordinary folks could not perform Sacrifices (yagna or yaga). Some of them required to be performed over
several years, and required enormous wealth to be given as gifts (dana) and sacrifice
of scores of animals. Only kings could perform those yagnas. The kings, who
were ksahtriyas needed the brahmins to officiate. Women and those of Vysya and
Sudra castes were not entitled to perform these. In order to help those who
were excluded, it is said that our ancestors established several other methods
for acquiring virtues (punya). They include pilgrimage and listening to epics
(purana).
And, so it is that Ramayana and Mahabharatha came into
being. In the process, Valmiki and Vyasa made esoteric philosophies accessible
and practical for the masses.
No comments:
Post a Comment