Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

A History of Indian Literature v1.c9: Section II. The Popular Epics and the Purāṇas

A History of Indian Literature v1.c9

Language
English

Contents

Section II. The Popular Epics and the Purāṇas

The Beginnings of Epic Poetry in India

v1.c9.s1.1

We have already seen the first traces of epic poetry in India in the Vedic literature—in the dialogue-hymns of the Ṛgveda as well as in the Ākhyānas, Itihāsas and Purāṇas of the Brāhmaṇas.¹ Moreover we know from the Brāhmaṇas and the ritual-literature, that the recital of such narrative poems formed a part of the religious ceremonies at the sacrificial and domestic festivals.

v1.c9.s1.2

¹ Cf. above pp. 101 ff., 208 ff., 226. The Indians are not consistent in their use of the expressions *ākhyāna*, *itihāsa* and *purāṇa*, for they sometimes use them as synonyms, but at other times to mean various kinds of narratives. The epic "Mahābhārata," in the Introduction, is called alternately *itihāsa*, *purāṇa* and *ākhyāna*. On these terms, *Cf.* also Emil Sieg, Die Sagenstoffe des Ṛgveda und die indische Itihāsatradition, I Stuttgart, 1902, Introduction.

v1.c9.s1.3

Thus the daily recitation of legends of gods and heroes belonged to the preliminary celebration, which lasted a whole year, of the great horse-sacrifice. In a regular succession which repeated itself every ten days, stories of certain gods and heroes were related; and also two lute-players, a Brahman and a warrior, were present, who, in verses of their own composition (*gāthās*), glorified the generosity and the warlike deeds, respectively, of the prince who was celebrating the sacrifice. The lute-players, who sang to the accompaniment of the lute the praises of a real king or of Soma as the king of the Brahmans, had also to be present at the ceremony of parting the hair, which was performed on the expectant mother in the fourth month of pregnancy, with a sacrifice for the prosperity of the fruit of her womb. After a funeral, too, it was an old custom, to whose existence the poet Bāṇa still testifies in the 7th century A.D., for the mourners to sit down in a shady place outside the house and to be diverted and consoled by the recitation of old Itihāsas or Purāṇas. And when, after a death or some other heavy loss, the fire of the hearth had been carried out of the house in order to avert further misfortune, and a new fire kindled in the house by means of the two churning-sticks, then the members of the family, keeping the fire alive far into the silent night, sat listening to the tales of people who had reached a green old age, and Itihāsas and Purāṇas auspicious for the future.¹

v1.c9.s1.4

¹ Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa, XIII, 4, 3; Śāṅkhāyana-Gṛhyasūtra, I. 22, 11 f.; Āśvalāyana-Gṛhyasūtra, I, 14, 6 f., IV, 6, 6; Pāraskara-Gṛhyasūtra, I, 15, 7 f.; Āpastambīy Gṛhyasūtra, 14, 4 f. *Cf.* also A. Weber, Episches im vedischen Ritual (SBA 1891) and H. Lüders, in ZDMG, Vol. 58, pp. 707 ff. At the Puruṣamedha, too, the recitation of Ākhyānas forms part of the ritual, s. Śāṅkhāyana-Śrautasūtra 16, 11.

v1.c9.s1.5

There were not only single ballads (Ākhyānas, Itihāsas) but also cycles of ballads. At least one cycle of this kind has come down to us in the *Suparṇākhyāna*, also called Suparṇādhyāya or Suparṇa.² This is an apocryphal work belonging to the later Vedic literature, the author trying his utmost to imitate the hymns of the Ṛgveda in language, accentuation and external form, so that his work should appear to belong to the Ṛgveda. The date of this work is quite uncertain, but on metrical grounds we may place it approximately in the period of the metrical Upaniṣads, such as the Kaṭha-Upaniṣad.³ It is a cycle of ballads dealing with the legend of Kadrū, the snake-mother, and Vinatā, the bird-mother, and the enmity between Garuḍa and the snakes, a legend which dates far back into Vedic times,¹ and which appears in epic form in the Āstīkaparvan of the Mahābhārata.

v1.c9.s1.6

² The text, which has come down in very bad condition, was first edited by E. Grube, Berlin, 1875 (reprinted in *Ind. Stud.*, Vol. 14); newly edited, translated into German and annotated by J. Charpentier, Die Suparṇasage, Uppsala 1920, pp. 190 ff.; *Cf.* J. v. Negelein in GGA, 1924, pp. 65 ff., 87 ff. J. Hertel considers this work to be a dramatic poem after the style of the Svaṅg described by R. Temple (WZKM 23, 1909, 273 ff.; 24, 1910, 117 ff.; Indische Märchen, pp. 344, 367 f.); and he has translated it into German as a drama (Indische Märchen, Jena 1919, pp. 344 ff.). Cf. Winternitz, Oesterreichische Monatsschrift für den Orient 41, 1915, pp. 176 f., Oldenberg, Zur Geschichte der altindischen Prosa, pp. 61 ff. and NGGW 1919, pp. 79 ff. This Suparṇādhyāya has no connection with the Suparṇa songs belonging to the Khilas of the Ṛgveda, which are also called "Suparṇādhyāya" (s. above p. 60, and Scheftelowitz, ZDMG 74, 1920, p. 203).

v1.c9.s1.7

³ Charpentier, l. c. pp. 196 f., J. v. Negelein (l. c. pp. 196, f.) doubts the justification of Charpentier's conclusions.

v1.c9.s1.8

¹ Charpentier, l. c., pp. 288 ff.; Śatapatha-Br. III, 6, 2.

v1.c9.s1.9

In the later Vedic texts *Itihāsa* and *Purāṇa* are very frequently enumerated beside the Vedas and other branches of learning; the study of them counts as a work pleasing to the gods: in fact the *Itihāsapurāṇa* is actually called "the fifth Veda."² They are generally mentioned immediately after the Atharvaveda, to which they are said to be closely related.³ This has led to the conclusion that, similar to the Vedic Saṃhitās, there existed one or several collections of Itihāsas and Purāṇas, made up of myths and legends, legends of gods and tales of demons, snake deities, old sages (Ṛṣis) and kings of ancient times. There is no proof, however, that such collections actually existed in the form of "books" in Vedic times.⁴ All that we know is that there were professional story-tellers (Aitihāsikas, Paurāṇikas) in very ancient times.

v1.c9.s1.10

² As Chāndogya-Up VII, 1 f. and 7. In the Buddhist Suttanipāta III, 7 (Selasutta), Itihāsa is called "the fifth" after the three Vedas and the Vedāṅgas *Cf.* A. Weber, l. c., and J. Dahlmann, Das Mahābhārata als Epos und Rechtsbuch, Berlin 1895, pp. 281 ff.

v1.c9.s1.11

³ According to Chāndogya-Up III, 3, 4, the magic songs of the Atharvaveda stand in the same relationship to the Itihāsapurāṇa as the hymns (ṛc) to the Ṛgveda, the prayer formulae (yajus) to the Yajurveda, and the melodies (sāman) to the Sāmaveda. According to the Kauṭilīya-Arthaśāstra, p. 7, the Atharvaveda and the "Itihāsaveda" together with the trayī, "the threefold knowledge," form the Vedas. *Cf.* above, p. 126, and M. Bloomfield, SBE., Vol. 42, pp. xxxvi f.

v1.c9.s1.12

⁴ The theory that there was a book called "*Itihāsaveda*" or "*Itihāsapurāṇa*" is advanced by K. F. Geldner, Vedische Studien I, pp. 290 f.; E. Sieg, Die Sagenstoffe des Ṛgveda und die indische Itihāsatradition I, p. 33 and ERE VII, 1914, 461 ff.; J. Hertel, WZKM 23, 1909, p. 295; 24, p. 420, R. Pischel KG 168; H. Oertel, WZKM 24, p. 121; H. Jacobi, SBA 1911, p. 969. But the very passage in Kauṭilīya I, 5, p. 10, which is quoted by these scholars, proves that "Itihāsa" should be interpreted, not as a single work, but as a class of literary productions: for "Veda" only means a certain kind of learning, not a book: Āyurveda is "medical science," Gandharvaveda is "music," Ṛgveda, Sāmaveda, etc., are classes of texts, and not single books. Thus "Itihāsaveda" is not any particular book, but that branch of learning which consists of legends, stories, etc.

v1.c9.s1.13

It is certain, moreover, that as early as the time of Buddha there was in existence an inexhaustible store of prose and verse narratives—Ākhyānas, Itihāsas, Purāṇas and Gāthās—, forming as it were *literary public property* which was drawn upon by the Buddhists and the Jains, as well as by the epic poets.

v1.c9.s1.14

The “songs in praise of men” (*gāthā nārāśaṁsī*)¹ are often mentioned beside the Itihāsas and Purāṇas, among the texts which are pleasing to the gods. These songs are connected on the one hand with the Dānastutis of the Ṛgveda and the Kuntāpa hymns of the Atharvaveda, but on the other hand they are the direct precursors of the actual Heroic Epic itself, for their contents are the glorious deeds of the warriors and princes. These “songs in praise of men” probably soon developed into epic poems of considerable length, *i.e. heroic songs*, and into entire *cycles* of epic songs, centring around *one* hero or *one* great event; for the only two national epics which have come down to us, the *Mahābhārata* and the *Rāmāyaṇa*, represent but the last remnants of a long past period of epic poetry. Long before these two epics existed as such, songs must have been sung of the great combat of nations around which the Mahābhārata centres, and of the deeds of Rāma, the hero of the Rāmāyaṇa. Neither is it conceivable that the battles of the Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas and the adventures of Rāma should have been the only subjects of poetry. Many other heroes and great events in other royal houses also must have been sung. These old heroic songs, whose existence we must take for granted, have not all vanished without trace; in remnants and fragments some of them have been preserved in our two epics.²

v1.c9.s1.15

¹ Śatapatha-Br. XI, 5, 6, 8; Āśvalāyana-Gṛhyas. III, 3. The fact that, in these songs, panegyrics were more important than historical truth, is evident from the Vedic texts themselves, for they declare these Gāthās to be “lies” (Maitrāyaṇī-Saṁhitā I, 11, 5: Kāṭhaka 14, 5).

v1.c9.s1.16

² *Cf.* H. *Jacobi*, Über ein verlorenes Heldengedicht der Sindhu-Sauvīra, in Mélanges Kern, Leide 1903, pp. 53 ff.

v1.c9.s1.17

The authors, reciters and preservers of this heroic poetry were the bards, usually called *Sūtas*, who lived at the courts of kings and recited or sang their songs at great feasts in order to proclaim the glory of the princes. They also went forth into battle, in order to be able to sing of the heroic deeds of the warriors from their own observations. Thus, in the Mahābhārata itself, it is the Sūta Sañjaya who describes to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra the events on the battlefield. These court-singers formed a special caste,¹ in which the epic songs were transmitted from generation to generation. Epic poetry probably originated in the circle of such bards, who certainly were very closely related to the *warrior class*. Besides there were also travelling singers, called *Kuśīlavas*, who memorised the songs and publicly sang them to the accompaniment of the lute,² and to them the circulation of the heroic songs among the *people* was due. Thus it is related in the Rāmāyaṇa, though in a late, interpolated song,³ how the two sons of Rāma, Kuśa and Lava, travelled about as wandering singers and recited in public assemblies the poem learned from the poet Vālmīki.

v1.c9.s1.18

¹ According to the law-book of Manu (X, 11 and 17), the Sūtas are a mixed caste descended from the intermarriage of warriors with Brahman women, while the Māgadhas, who, as well as the Sūtas, are usually called singers, are said to be descended from the intermarriage of Vaiśyas with Kṣatriya women. In war, the Sūtus are also the charioteers of the princes. Originally the Māgadhas were undoubtedly bards from the land of Magadha, and the Sūtas, too, were probably inhabitants of a country situated to the east of Magadha. *Cf.* F. E. Pargiter, Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, London 1922, p. 16. J. J. Meyer, Das Weib im altindischen Epos, Leipzig, 1915, p. 62 note, compares the modern Bhāts of the Rājputs to the Sūtas. On the Bhāts and other kinds of singers in the India of to-day, *cf.* R. C. Temple, the Legends of the Panjâb, Vol. I (1884), p. viii; and A. Baines, Ethnography (Grundriss II, 5, 1912), pp. 85 ff.

v1.c9.s1.19

² *Cf.* A. Holtzmann, Das Mahābhārata 1, p. 54 f., 65 f. H. Jacobi, Das Râmâyaṇa, pp. 67.

v1.c9.s1.20

³ I, 4.

v1.c9.s1.21

But what we know as the popular epics of the Indians, the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa, are not the old heroic songs as those court-singers and travelling minstrels of ancient India sang them, compiled into unified poems by great poets or at least by clever collectors with some talent for poetry, but accumulations of very diverse poems of unequal value, which have arisen in the course of centuries owing to continual interpolations and alterations. Though ancient heroic songs do indeed form the nucleus of both these works, the more devotional Itihāsa literature was included in them to so great an extent, and such long poems of a religious-didactic nature were inserted, that the Mahābhārata, in particular, has almost completely lost the character of an epic.

What Is the Mahābhārata?

v1.c9.s2.1

¹ For information on the contents of the epic, the best help is H. *Jacobi*, Mahābhārata, Inhalts-Angabe, Index und Konkordanz der Kalkuttaer und Bombayer Ausgaben. Bonn 1903. For the problems of the Mahābhārata see especially E. W. *Hopkins*, The Great Epic of India, Its Character and Origin, New York 1901. A rich, though unfortunately not handy, collection of materials, is contained in A. *Holtzmann*, Das Mahābhārata und seine Teile. In 4 vols. Kiel 1892-95. The value of this great work is considerably prejudiced by the untenable theories of the author upon the remodellings of the Mahābhārata. Untenable, too, are the opposite theories upon the origin of the epic as one work, which *Joseph Dahlmann* has upheld in his books "Das Mahābhārata als Epos und Rechtsbuch," Berlin, 1895, "Genesis des Mahābhārata," Berlin 1899, and "Die Sāṁkhya-Philosophie als Naturlehre und Erlösungslehre, nach dem Mahābhārata," Berlin 1902. The first of these books, however, has the great merit of having given new life to studies of the epic; it has given rise to a veritable "Dahlmann-literature." *Cf.* H. *Jacobi* in GGA 1896. No. 1 and 1899, No. 11; A. *Ludwig* in Sitzungsber. der kgl. böhmischen Ges. der Wiss. cl. f. Phil. Prague 1896; C. H. *Tawney*, Asiatic Quarterly Review 1896, pp. 347 ff.; J. *Jolly*, Ind. Ant. 25, 1896, 343 f. A. *Barth* in the Journal des savants, April, June and July, 1897, and RHR, t. 45, 1902, pp. 191 ff. (Oeuvres II, 393 ff.) ; M.*Winternitz* in JRAS, 1897, pp. 713 ff. and WZKM XIV, 1900, pp. 53 ff., E. W. *Hopkins* in the American Journal of Philology, 1898, XIX, No. 1, W. *Cartellieri* in WZKM, 13, 1899, pp. 57 ff.; J. *Kirste* in Ind. Ant., 31, 1902, pp. 5 ff. Among the older literature on the Mahābhārata (it is summarized by *Holtzmann*, loc. cit., IV, pp. 165 ff.) the following deserve special notice: Monier *Williams*, Indian Wisdom, 4th edit. London 1893; Sören Sörensen, *Om Mahābhārata's stilling i den Indiske literatur* (with a "Summarium" in the Latin language), Copenhagen 1893; A. *Ludwig*, Uber das Râmâyaṇa und die Beziehungen desselben zum Mahâbhârata (II. Jahresbericht des Wiss. Vereins f. Volkskunde und Linguistik in Prague 1894). See also *Hopkins*, ERE VIII, 1915, 325 ff. and H. *Oldenberg*, Das Mahabharata, seine Entstehung, sein Inhalt, seine Form, Göttingen, 1922.

v1.c9.s2.2

It is only in a very restricted sense that we may speak of the Mahābhārata as an "epic" and a "poem." Indeed, in a certain sense, the Mahābhārata is *not one* poetic production at all, but rather *a whole literature*.

v1.c9.s2.3

*Mahābhārata*¹ means "the great narrative of the battle of the Bhāratas." The *Bharatas* are already mentioned in the Ṛgveda as a warlike tribe, and in the Brāhmaṇas we encounter Bharata, the son of Duḥṣanta and Śakuntalā, who is regarded as the ancestor of the royal race of the Bhāratas. The home of these Bharatas or Bhāratas was in the country of the Upper Ganges and the Jumnā. Among the descendants of Bharata, a ruler named *Kuru* was specially prominent, and his descendants, the *Kauravas* (Kuruides), were so long the ruling race of the Bhāratas, that the name Kuru or Kaurava in the course of time assumed the character of a name for the tribe of the Bharatas, and their land is that *Kurukṣetra* or "Kuru-land" with which we are already acquainted from the Yajurveda and the Brāhmaṇas.² A family feud in the royal house of the Kauravas leads to a bloody battle, a truly internecine struggle in which the ancient race of the Kurus, and with it the family of the Bhāratas, is almost entirely ruined. The history of this bloody battle, which we shall probably have to regard as an historical event, though we hear of it only in the Mahābhārata, was told in songs, and some great poet whose name has been lost, combined these songs into an heroic poem of the great battle in the field of the Kurus. Thus, as in the Iliad and in the Nibelungen-song, the tragedy of a terrible war of annihilation forms the actual subject of the heroic poem. This old heroic poem forms the *nucleus* of the Mahābhārata.

v1.c9.s2.4

¹ Bhārata means "battle of the Bharatas" (bhārataḥ saṃgrāmaḥ, Pāṇini IV, 2, 56). In the Mahābhārata itself we find mahābhārata-yuddha (XIV, 81, 8) "the great Bharata battle," and Mahābhāratākhyānam (I, 62, 39)," "the great story of the Bharata battle" the title "Mahābhārata" being an abbreviation of the latter.

v1.c9.s2.5

² See above p. 196.

v1.c9.s2.6

In the course of centuries, however, an enormous mass of the most diverse poetry has collected *around this nucleus*. First numerous legends whose connection with the old heroic poem is more or less casual, legends referring to the early history of the heroes, or giving reports of all kinds of adventures of these men, without having any reference whatever to the great battle, were added to the poem. Then, too, fragments of other heroic legends and cycles of legends, which refer to various famous kings and heroes of primeval times, found their way into the poem, even though they had nothing at all to do with the song of the great Kuru battle. How much of this old bard poetry already belonged to the original poem as secondary tales (*episodes*) and how much was only added later, will probably never be determined. We have reason to believe that in ancient times many of these episodes were recited by the minstrels as independent poems.¹ In any case, our Mahābhārata is not only the heroic poem of the battle of the Bhāratas, but at the same time also a *repertory of the whole of the old bard poetry*.

v1.c9.s2.7

¹ It seems that individual bards made a speciality of the recitation of certain poems; for Patañjali (Pāṇini IV, 2, 60) teaches the formation of words like Yāvakrītika, "one who knows the story of Yavakrīta" Yāyātika, "one who knows the story of Yayāti etc. *Cf.* F. Lacôte, Essai sur Guṇāḍhya et la Bṛhatkathā, Paris, 1908, pp. 138 f.

v1.c9.s2.8

However, it is very much more than this. We know that the literary activity of ancient India was for the most part in the hands of the priests, the Brahmans; and we have seen how they brahmanised the old popular magic songs of the Atharvaveda, and how they intermingled with their priestly wisdom, the philosophy of the Upaniṣads which was really foreign, even antagonistic, to the priesthood.² The more the heroic songs grew in favour and the more popular they became, the greater the anxiety of the Brahmans to take possession of this epic poetry also; and they had the art of compounding this poetry which was essentially and purely *secular* in origin, with their own *religious* poems and the whole stock-in-trade of their theological and priestly knowledge. Thus it happens that legends of gods, *mythological narratives of brahmanical origin*, and to a great extent even *didactic sections referring to brahmanical philosophy and ethics and brahmanical law*, were received into the Mahābhārata. This priestly caste welcomed the popular epic as the very medium for the propagation of their own doctrines, and thereby for the strengthening and consolidation of their influence. It was they who inserted into the epic all the numerous myths and legends (Itihāsas)¹ in which wonderful feats are related of the famous seers of ancient times, the Ṛṣis, the ancestors of the Brahmans, how by dint of sacrifices and asceticism, they obtain tremendous power not only over men, but even over the gods, and how, when they are offended, their curse causes the fall of princes and great men, and even of the kings of the gods.

v1.c9.s2.9

² See above pp. 123, and 231 ff.

v1.c9.s2.10

¹ Some of these legends can still be traced. In Brahmanic texts, for instance, the story of Bhaṅgāsvana who was changed into a woman, in Mahābh. XIII, 12, is found in the Baudhāyana-Śrautasūtra; s. *Winternitz* and *Caland* in WZKM 17. 1903, 292 f.; 351 ff.

v1.c9.s2.11

The Mahābhārata was, however, too much of a popular book, too much the property of extensive circles of the people, in particular of the warrior caste, for it ever to have become an actual brahmanical work or the property of any one Vedic school. And it was not so much the Veda-knowing and learned Brahmans who took part in the development of the Mahābhārata; hence the noticeably scanty knowledge of actual brahmanical theology and sacrificial science, which we find even in those parts of the epic in which brahmanical influence is unmistakable. It was the *Purohitas*, the court-priests, who like the Sūtas (bards) were in the service of the kings, and on that account came more into contact with epic poetry. It was this less learned class of priests, too, which later on furnished temple-priests at famous holy places and places of pilgrimage, mostly dedicated to the gods Viṣṇu or Śiva, and devoted itself to the literary cultivation of local myths attached to such sacred spots, and the legends woven around the gods Viṣṇu and Śiva. This, as we shall see, was done chiefly in the Purāṇas, but also in the Mahābhārata, into which crept numerous *local myths in true Purāṇa style*, *Viṣṇu and Śiva myths*, *and Purāṇa-like cosmologies*, *geographical lists and genealogies*.

v1.c9.s2.12

But an epic poetry seems to have been cultivated more in those regions of India where the worship of Viṣṇu as the highest deity prevailed. This accounts for the fact that, in the religious-didactic portions of the Mahābhārata, this god stands so prominently in the foreground, that the work at times gives the impression of a *religious book dedicated to the worship of Viṣṇu*. It is true, *Śiva-legends* and passages referring to the Śiva cult are not wanting, but they are in every case easily recognisable as later additions. They were inserted as the epic was propagated also over regions in which Śiva worship had its home.¹

v1.c9.s2.13

¹ Cf. H acobi in *GGA* 1892, pp. 629 f.

v1.c9.s2.14

But there existed yet other religious circles in India which, already in early times, showed literary activity, and tried partly even more than the Brahmans, to win over the great masses of the people. These were the ascetics, forest-hermits and mendicants, the founders of sects and monastic orders, which at the time of Buddha were already very numerous in India. These, too, had their own poetry; *legends of saints*, *aphorisms*, in which they preached their doctrines of renunciation and contempt of the world, of self-sacrifice and love for all beings, and also *fables*, *parables*, *fairy-tales*, *and moral stories*, which were intended to illustrate the philosophy and ethics of the ascetics by means of examples. This *ascetic poetry*, too, was incorporated into the Mahābhārata to a considerable extent.

v1.c9.s2.15

To such an extent had the Mahābhārata become a compendium of narratives of all descriptions rather than an epic, that even *prose pieces*, brahmanical legends and moral tales, some entirely in prose form and others partly in verse and partly in prose, were incorporated into the epic.¹

v1.c9.s2.16

¹ In the Pauṣyaparvan (Mahābh. I, 3), in the Mārkaṇḍeya section of the Vanaparvan, and in the sectarian Nārāyaṇīya. All these are pieces which are really outside the scope of the epic proper. I therefore cannot agree at all with *Oldenberg* (Zur Geschichte der altindischen Prosa, pp. 65 ff.; Das Mahabharata, pp. 21 ff.) in seeing an earlier stage of the epic in these very pieces. *Cf*. Hopkins, The Great Epic of India, pp. 266 ff.; *Winternitz*, DLZ 1919, No. 44.

v1.c9.s2.17

We find, then, in this the most remarkable of all literary productions, side by side and intermingled, warlike heroic songs with highly coloured descriptions of bloody battle-scenes; pious priestly poetry, with dissertations, which are often tedious enough, upon philosophy, religion and law; and mild ascetic poetry full of edifying wisdom and full of over-flowing love towards man and beast.

v1.c9.s2.18

Therefore the Indians themselves regard the Mahābhārata, though always as an epic, as a work of poetic art (kāvya), but also at the same time as a manual (Sāstra) of morality, law and philosophy, supported by the oldest tradition (smṛti) and hence furnished with incontestible authority; and since more than 1,500 years it has served the Indians as much for entertainment as for instruction and edification.

v1.c9.s2.19

At least 1,500 years ago,² this Mahābhārata was already just as we possess it to-day in our manuscripts and editions—or at least very similar—*one work* which was of about the same extent as our epic of to-day. Like the latter, it already contained a long introduction with a framework, a story of the legendary origin of the poem and a glorification of it as a text-book of religion and morals; it was divided into eighteen books called *Parvans*, to which a nineteenth book *Harivaṃśa* had already been added as a "supplement" (Khila);

v1.c9.s2.20

² See, further on, the chapter on the age and history of the Mahābhārata.

v1.c9.s2.21

and it attained the extent of about 100,000 verses (Ślokas). And up to the present day this gigantic work, in spite of all the diverse elements of which it consists, is regarded by the Indians as a unified work, complete in itself,¹ whose author is the most venerable Ṛṣi *Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana*, also called *Vyāsa*. This same Ṛṣi is also said to be the compiler of the four Vedas² and the author of the Purāṇas. According to the legend, he was not only a contemporary, but also a close relative of the heroes of the Mahābhārata, and occasionally also appears in the action of the poem. His history is told us in great detail in the Mahābhārata.

v1.c9.s2.22

¹ Therefore, too, it is called a *saṃhitā*, *i.e.* "a (complete) compilation," "a connected text," thus Mahābh. I, 1, 21.

v1.c9.s2.23

² Hence his name *Vyāsa* or *Vedavyāsa*, *i. e.* "classifier" "classifier of the Veda This is the explanation of the name given in the Mahābhārata itself (1, 63, 88: Vivyāsa vedān yasmāt sa tasmād Vyāsa iti smṛtaḥ, cf. I, 60, 5; 105, 13).

v1.c9.s2.24

He is the son of a famous ascetic, the Ṛṣi Parāśara. This great saint one day catches sight of Satyavatī, who came into the world in a fish and was brought up by fisherfolk, and is so charmed with her beauty that he desires her love. But she will yield to him only on the condition that, after she has borne him a son, she may regain her maidenhood. The great saint grants her this wish, and also the wish that she may lose her fish-odour and may diffuse a wonderful perfume. Immediately after he has co-habited with her, she gives birth to a son, on an island in the Jamnā, who is named Dvaipāyana, "the island-born." The boy grows up and soon gives himself up to asceticism. When taking leave of his mother, he tells her that he will appear immediately at any time she, needing him, thinks of him. Satyavatī, however, once more a virgin, later on became the wife of the Kuru king, Śāntanu, and bore the latter two sons, Citrāṅgada and Vicitravīrya. After the death of Śāntanu and Citrāṅgada, Vicitravīrya was appointed heir. He died young and childless, but left two wives. In order that the race may not die out, Satyavatī decides to call her illegitimate son Dvaipāyana, so that, according to the legal custom of the Levirate, he may beget descendants by his sisters-in-law. Now although this Dvaipāyana is a great ascetic and saint, yet he is an extremely ugly man with bristly hair and beard and darkly rolling eyes, dark in complexion (hence probably his name Kṛṣṇa, "the black one") and an evil smell emanates from him. Therefore, when he approaches the one princess she cannot bear the sight of him, and closes her eyes: the consequence of this is that her son is born blind. He later became king *Dhṛtarāṣṭra*. The saint then approaches the second lady, and she grows pale at sight of him. As the result of this she gives birth to a son who is pale, and is therefore called *Pāṇḍu*, "the pale one." He is the father of the five principal heroes of the epic. Once again Dvaipāyana is to approach the first woman; but grown wiser, she sends her maid to the saint, who notices nothing of the substitution, and with the maid he begets *Vidura*, to whom in the epic is allotted the part of a wise and well-wishing friend of Dhṛtarāṣṭra as well as of the sons of Pāṇḍu.[^1)

v1.c9.s2.25

This saint, Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana *Vyāsa*, whom legend has made into a kind of grandfather [^2) of the heroes of the epic, is regarded by the Indians, up to the present day, as the author of the whole Mahābhārata. Only after his three "sons" had died, so says the introduction to the Mahābhārata,[^3) did Vyāsa publish among the people the poem composed by him. He imparted it to his pupil *Vaiśampāyana*, and the latter recited the whole poem in the intervals of the great snake-sacrifice of King Janamejaya. On this occasion it was heard by the Sūta Ugraśravas, the son of Lomaharṣaṇa; and our Mahābhārata

v1.c9.s2.26

[^1): Mahābh. I, 63; 100 ff. [^2): According to the law of the Levirate, Vyāsa is only the progenitor, not the father, of Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Pāṇḍu. The deceased husband of the two widows is regarded as their father. [^3): I, 1, 95 ff.

v1.c9.s2.27

commences with the Ṛṣis, who are assembled at the twelve-yearly sacrifice of Śaunaka in the Naimiṣa forest, entreating the Sūta Ugraśravas to tell them the story of the Mahābhārata as he has heard it from Vaiśampāyana. The Sūta declares himself willing, and tells the story of the snake-sacrifice of Janamejaya, before proceeding to the repetition of the narrative of Vaiśampāyana.

v1.c9.s2.28

The fact that the Mahābhārata consists almost entirely of *speeches* is certainly a trait of antiquity.¹ Ugraśravas is the reciter of the outline story, and in the poem itself Vaiśampāyana is the speaker. Within the narrative of Vaiśampāyana innumerable inserted tales are put in the mouth of various persons, this insertion of stories within stories being a very popular device in Indian literature. In most cases the narratives, as well as the speeches of the persons appearing, have no introduction but the prose formulae: "Vaiśampāyana spake," "Yudhiṣṭhira spaken, "Draupadī spake," and so on.

v1.c9.s2.29

¹ "We may observe in the Iliad, too, that the old epics all contain very much dialogue; only in the later epics does this dramatic element recede further into the background ... But the epic poem only reaches completion when, in addition to the speeches, the outline of the narrative, too, is composed in metrical form. The final stage is the withdrawal of the speeches, and the narration of events only in the form of verse." Ernst *Windisch, Māra und Buddha* (Abhandl. der philolog.-histor. Klasse der K. sächsischen Ges. der Wiss. Leipzig 1895), pp. 222 ff. The Mahābhārata is still a long way from that "final stage."

v1.c9.s2.30

Fantastic as is all the information imparted to us in the introduction to the Mahābhārata about its supposed author, yet we find a few noteworthy statements in it. Thus we are told that the Ṛṣi Vyāsa narrated his work in a short summary as well as in detailed presentation; further, that different reciters begin the poem at three different places, and that its length was not always the same. Ugraśravas says that he knows the poem as consisting of 8,800 verses, while Vyāsa declares that he composed the Saṃhitā of the Bhārata poem in 24,000 verses, "and without the secondary stories the Bhārata is recited in this length by the experts." Immediately afterwards it is said, rather fantastically, that Vyāsa also composed an epic of 60 hundred thousand verses, *viz.* 30 hundred thousand for the gods, 15 for the fathers, 14 for the Gandharvas and *one* hundred thousand for man.¹ Of course this only hints at the present extent of the Mahābhārata, which has also acquired for it the designation *śatasāhasrī saṃhitā*, "collection of one hundred thousand verses." One sees from these statements that the Indians themselves, in spite of their firm belief in the unity of the work, have at least retained a recollection of the fact that the Mahābhārata only gradually grew, from an originally smaller poem, to its present extent.

v1.c9.s2.31

¹ Mahābh. I, 1, 51 ff.; 81; 101 ff.

v1.c9.s2.32

What the Mahābhārata means *to the Indians*, the introduction to the work tells us in the most extravagant fashion. It is there said, for example:

v1.c9.s2.33

"As butter excels among curds, as the Brahman excels among Aryans, as the Āraṇyakas among the Vedas, the drink of immortality among medicines, the ocean among all waters, and the cow among four-footed beasts, even so the Mahābhārata is the best of all narrative works (Itihāsas)."
"Whosoever has once heard this story, can no longer take pleasure in any other story though it be well worth hearing; just as he who has heard the song of the kokila² can take no pleasure in the harsh voice of the crow."
"The thoughts of the poets arise from this most excellent of all narrative works, as the three realms of the universe from the five elements."
"Whosoever presents a veda-knowing and deeply learned Brahman with a hundred cows with gilded horns, and he who hears daily the sacred stories of the Bhārata poem—these two acquire equal (religious) merit."
"Verily this narrative work is a song of victory: a king who desires victory, should hear it, and he will conquer the earth and triumph over his enemies."

v1.c9.s2.34

² The Kokila, the Indian cuckoo, is to Indian poets what the nightingale is to our poets.

v1.c9.s2.35

“This is a sacred manual of morals (dharma); it is the best manual of practical life (artha), and Vyāsa, of boundless wisdom, recited it also as a manual of salvation (mokṣa).¹

v1.c9.s2.36

¹ Dharma, “law and custom” or “morality,” artha “utility,” “advantages” “practical life” and *kāma*, “sensual gratification” are the three aims of life, to a certain extent the be-all and end-all of human existence, according to Indian ethics. The final aim of all striving, however, is *mokṣa*, “deliverance,” to which the various sects and philosophical systems indicate different paths.

v1.c9.s2.37

“All sins, whether of thought, word or deed, depart immediately from the man who hears this poem.”

v1.c9.s2.38

“The sage Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana, rising daily (to perform his devotional and ascetic exercises) composed this marvellous story, the Mahābhārata, in three years. What we find in this book relating to morals, relating to practical life, relating to sensual pleasure and relating to salvation, ²) can be found elsewhere; but what is not written therein, can be found nowhere else in the world.” ²

v1.c9.s2.39

² I, 1, 261 f.: 2, 382 f., 393; 62, 20 f., 23, 25, 52 f. To the last verse compare the Bengali saying: “Whatever is not in the Mahābhārata is not to be found in Bharatavarṣa” (*i.e.* in India).

v1.c9.s2.40

*For us*, however, who do not look upon the Mahābhārata with the eyes of believing Hindus, but as critical historians of literature it is everything but a work of art; and in any case we cannot regard it as the work of *one* author, or even of a clever collector and compiler. The Mahābhārata as a whole is a literary monster. Never has the hand of an artist attempted the well-nigh impossible task of combining the conflicting elements into one unified poem. It is only unpoetical theologians and commentators and clumsy copyists who have succeeded in conglomerating into a heterogeneous mass parts which are actually incompatible, and which date from different centuries. But in this jungle of poetry, which scholarship has only just begun to clear, there shoots forth much true and genuine poetry, hidden by the wild undergrowth. Out of the unshapely mass shine out the most precious blossoms of immortal poetic art and profound wisdom. The very fact that the Mahābhārata represents *a whole literature* rather than one single and unified work, and contains so many and so multifarious things, makes it more suited than any other book, to afford us an insight into the deepest depths of the soul of the Indian people.

v1.c9.s2.41

This may be shown by the following survey of the contents of the Mahābhārata and its various component parts.)¹

v1.c9.s2.42

¹ The whole of the Mahābhārata has been translated into English prose by Kisori Mohan Ganguli and published by Protap Chandra Roy (Calcutta 1884-1896), and by Manmatha Nath Dutt (Calcutta 1895-1905). A fine poetical rendering, partly in metrical translations, partly in prose extracts, has been given by Romesh Dutt in his "Maha-Bharata, the Epic of Ancient India condensed into English Verse," London 1899. Extracts from the Mahābhārata will also be found in John Muir's "Original Sanskrit Texts" (1858-1872), and "Metrical Translations from Sanskrit Writers" (London 1879), and in Monier Williams, "Indian Wisdom," 4th ed., London 1893. A Summary of the 18 Parvans has been given by Monier Williams, Indian Epic Poetry, London 1863; an outline of the story and extracts by J. C. Oman, The Great Indian Epics, London 1899, pp. 93 ff. Books I-X have been translated into French by H Fauche, Paris, 1863-1870, a collection of larger extracts by Ph. E. Foucaux, Le Mahābhārata, onze épisodes tirés de ce poème épique, Paris, 1862. Several episodes have been translated into Italian by P. E. Pavolini, 1902, and into German by F. Bopp (Berlin, 1824), by the poet Friedrich Rückert (s. R. Boxberger, "Rückert-Studien," 1878, pp. 84-122 and "Rückert-Nachlese" I, 270; II, 315 ff.), by A. Holtzmann, Indische Sagen, 1845-1847 (new edition by M. Winternitz, Jena, 1912, and 1921), by J. Hertel, Indische Märchen, Jena, 1919, No. 10-14, and by W. Porzig in the series "Indische Erzähler" (Vols. 12 and 15, Leipzig 1923, 192 ff). The philosophical texts of the Mahābhārata have been translated into German by O. Strauss and P. Deussen, Vier philosophische Texte des Mahâbhâratam: Sanatsujâtaparvan, Bhagavadgîtā, Mokshadharma, Anugîtâ, Leipzig 1906.

The Principal Narrative of the Mahābhārata

v1.c9.s3.1

Years ago Adolf Holtzmann (Senior) undertook the bold endeavour "to open up for the first time for German poetry lovers, the essence of the Mahābhārata, the old Indian national epic itself."² He started from the undoubtedly correct point of view that the Mahābhārata is not "*the* Indian epic," but that rather only "the remains, the ruins of the ancient Indian heroic songs ........, after much retouching, extension, and disfigurement, are contained in the Mahābhārata." But with enviable self-confidence he believed himself to be endowed with the ability to reconstruct the *ancient original* heroic poem from these retouched and disfigured "ruins." He thought that by means of omissions, abridgments, and *alterations*, he had created in German verse an Indian heroic poem, which gave a better idea of the actual Mahābhārata as sung by the ancient Indian bards, than a literal translation of the existing original text would probably give. Now Holtzmann, with ingenious insight and deep poetic feeling, certainly often hit upon the right thing, but then he departed so arbitrarily from the Sanskrit text, that his work can only be regarded as a very free recast of the ancient Mahābhārata, but in no case as a faithful representation of it. In fact Holtzmann attempted an impossible task. Every endeavour *to reconstruct* "the ancient Indian national epic itself" in its original shape will always be attended by so great an element of arbitrariness, that it can only have a purely subjective value.

v1.c9.s3.2

² Indische Sagen. Part 2: Die Kuruinge. Karlsruhe 1846.

v1.c9.s3.3

On the other hand, it is comparatively easy to extract *a kernel* from the enormous mass of songs of the Mahābhārata, namely, *the narrative of the battle of the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas*, which in any case formed the subject of the actual epic. This shall be done in the following, necessarily short outline. We trace the story of the great fight, taking into consideration also, as far as possible, the important secondary stories referring to the principal heroes. In this we shall not digress into doubtful hypotheses upon the "original" epic, but faithfully follow *the Mahābhārata text now available to us, leaving aside*, for the present, everything which has no reference to the principal narrative.

The Descent of the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas

v1.c9.s3.t1.1

In the land of the Bharatas there once ruled a king of the house of the Kurus, Śāntanu by name. By the goddess Gaṅgā¹ who had become a mortal woman, this king had a son called *Bhīṣma*, whom he had appointed as his successor to the throne. One day, when the latter had already grown up into a superb hero endowed with all warlike virtues, Sāntanu met the beautiful fisher girl Satyavatī, fell in love with her and desired her as a wife. Her father, the king of the fisherfolk, would, however, only give her to him on condition that the son born by his daughter should inherit the throne. But Śāntanu would not consent to this, though he found it difficult to give up his beloved. Now Bhīṣma soon noticed how depressed his father was, and when he had learned the cause of this depression, he himself went to the king of the fishermen to woo Satyavatī on his father’s behalf. He not only announces his intention to renounce his right to the throne, but takes a vow of chastity, so as to make it impossible for any son of his to claim the throne, whereupon the fisherman gladly gives him his daughter. So Śāntanu marries Satyavatī and has two sons by her, *Citrāṅgada* and *Vicitravīrya*. Soon after this, Śāntanu died and young Citrāṅgada was killed in battle by a Gandharva: then Bhīṣma, as the senior of the family, annointed Vicitravīrya as king. The latter, however, died young and without issue, though he had two wives. In order that the race may not die out, Satyavatī begs Bhīṣma to beget descendants by the surviving widows of Vicitravīrya, in accordance with the ancient usage of the Levirate. But Bhīṣma, mindful of his vow of chastity, declares that though the sun may give up its brilliancy, the fire its heat, the moon may give up the coolness of its rays, the god Indra his bravery, and the god Dharma ¹ his justice, he could never break his promise. Then Satyavatī remembers her illegitimate son *Vyāsa*, and with Bhīṣma’s consent invites him to see to the propagation of the race. And as we have already seen,² the saint Vyāsa begets *Dhṛtarāṣṭra*, *Pāṇḍu* and *Vidura*. As Dhṛtarāṣṭra was born blind, the younger brother Pāṇḍu became king. Dhṛtarāṣṭra married *Gāndhārī*, daughter of the king of Gāndhāra, and she bore him a hundred sons, the eldest of whom was named *Duryodhana*. Pāṇḍu had two wives, *Pṛthā* or *Kuntī*, daughter of a king of the Yādavas, and *Mādrī*, sister of *Śalya*, king of the Madras. Kuntī bore him three sons: *Yudhiṣṭhira*, the eldest, *Arjuna* and *Bhīma*, who was born on the same day as Duryodhana, whilst Mādrī gave birth to the twins *Nakula* and *Sahadeva*.

v1.c9.s3.t1.2

¹ Goddess of the River Ganges.

v1.c9.s3.t1.3

¹ The god of death, and at the same time the god of justice.

v1.c9.s3.t1.4

² See above, pp. 322f.

v1.c9.s3.t1.5

Here the epic relates the following very fantastic story (which could scarcely have belonged to the old poem), according to which these five principal heroes of the epic are supposed to have been begotten not *by*, but *on behalf of Pāṇḍu*. Pāṇḍu killed a pair of antelopes at the time of copulation. In reality, however, it was a ṛṣi who had assumed the form of an antelope in order to enjoy love. This ṛṣi now pronounces a curse that Pāṇḍu shall die during the enjoyment of love. Pāṇḍu therefore determines to lead the life of an ascetic, and to renounce sexual pleasures. In order to provide descendants, however, Kuntī invokes the gods to beget children with her. Dharma, the god of justice, begets Yudhiṣṭhira with her, Vāyu, the god of the wind, begets strong Bhīma and Indra, the king of the gods, begets Arjuna. At Kuntī's request, the two Aśvins cohabit with Mādrī, and beget the twins Nakula and Sahadeva with her.

v1.c9.s3.t1.6

*The Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas at the Court of Dhṛtarāṣṭra.*

v1.c9.s3.t1.7

When Pāṇḍu died soon afterwards, blind Dhṛtarāṣṭra assumed the reins of government. The five sons of Pāṇḍu accompanied their mother Kuntī—Pāṇḍu's second wife Mādrī had thrown herself on to his funeral pyre—to the court of king Dhṛtarāṣṭra at Hastināpura, where they were educated with the princes, their cousins.

v1.c9.s3.t1.8

Even in their juvenile games, the sons of Pāṇḍu excelled over those of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, arousing the jealousy of the latter. Bhīma, in particular, evinced great exuberance of spirits and gave many an exhibition of unruly strength which were most displeasing to Dhṛtarāṣṭra's children. For instance, if the children climbed a tree, he would shake it so that his cousins tumbled down together with their fruits. For this reason Duryodhana hated Bhīma intensely, and made several attempts on his life without however being able to harm him. The boys grew up, and two famous Brahmans, skilled in the use of weapons, Kṛpa and Droṇa, were engaged as their tutors. There were among their pupils besides the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra and of Pāṇḍu, also Aśvatthāman, one of Droṇa's sons, and Karṇa, son of a Sūta or charioteer. Duryodhana and Bhīma soon became Droṇa's best pupils with the clubs, Aśvatthāman in magic arts, Nakula and Sahadeva in sword exercises, and Yudhiṣṭhira in chariot fighting. But Arjuna was not only the best archer, but excelled all the others in every respect. For this reason the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra were extremely jealous of him.

v1.c9.s3.t1.9

When the princes had completed their studies, Droṇa organised a tournament at which his pupils were to show their skill. It is a brilliant and festive assembly; the king, the queens and numerous heroes are present. Bhīma and Duryodhana give a performance of club-fighting which threatens to become so deadly earnest that the combatants have to be separated. Arjuna is universally praised for his skill in archery. But Karṇa also enters the ring, and executes the same feats as Arjuna, which greatly angers the latter, whilst Duryodhana joyfully embraces Karṇa and swears eternal friendship. Karṇa challenges Arjuna to a duel, but as the descendant of a charioteer he is laughed to scorn by the Pāṇḍavas.

v1.c9.s3.t1.10

*Yudhiṣṭhira becomes heir to the throne. Conspiracy against him and his brothers. (The lac house.)*

v1.c9.s3.t1.11

After a year had elapsed, Dhṛtarāṣṭra appointed as heir to the throne, Yudhiṣṭhira, the first-born of the Kuru family, who had distinguished himself by his bravery as well as by all other virtues. The other Pāṇḍavas perfected themselves still further in arms, and even went forth on victorious campaigns of conquest off their own bat. When Dhṛtarāṣṭra learned of these exploits of the Pāṇḍavas who were growing mightier and mightier, he felt some anxiety as to the future of his own line. Therefore when Duryodhana, his younger brother *Duḥśāsana*, his friend Karṇa and his maternal uncle *Śakuni* concerted a plot against the Pāṇḍavas, they found a willing supporter in the aged king. They persuaded Dhṛtarāṣṭra to remove the Pāṇḍavas to Vāraṇāvata on some pretext or other. At Vāraṇāvata Duryodhana engaged a skilful builder to construct a house of lac and of other highly inflammable materials, in which the Pāṇḍavas were to live. At night when they would all be asleep, the house was to be set on fire, so that the Pāṇḍavas would meet their doom. But Vidura tells Yudhiṣṭhira privately of the treacherous plan, and for this communication he makes use of a Mleccha language, *i.e.* the language of a non-Indian tribe, which was not understood by the others. Now to avoid arousing suspicion, as they feared that Duryodhana would otherwise have them killed in some other fashion by assassins, they pretend to fall in with the plan, journey to Vāraṇāvata and occupy the lac house. However, they flee into the forest by a subterranean passage which they had previously had dug, after setting fire to the house, in which, in addition to the builder, there is only a drunken low-caste woman lying asleep with her five sons. While everyone believes that the Pāṇḍavas have been burned with their mother Kuntī, and the funeral ceremonies are being performed at Dhṛtarāṣṭra's court, the five brothers are wandering about with their mother in the forest on the other side of the Ganges. At dead of night they are in the midst of dense jungle, weary, hungry and thirsty. Kuntī complains of thirst, and Bhīma conducts his mother and four brothers to a banyan tree where they are to rest while he is seeking water. Following the water-birds, he comes to a lake, where he bathes and drinks and dips his upper garments into the water, so as to take water to the others. He hastens back, to find all his people asleep under the tree. At the sight of his mother and brothers lying asleep thus, he bemoans their sad fate in bitter words.

v1.c9.s3.t1.12

*Hidimba, the giant, and his sister.*

v1.c9.s3.t1.13

Near this banyan tree there lurks a horrible, man-eating giant, the *Rākṣasa Hiḍimba*. He smells human flesh, and from a high tree sees the sleeping forms. His mouth waters for the delicacy which has so long been denied to him, and he asks his sister, the giantess Hiḍimbā, to go and see what manner of people they be; they would then enjoy a feast of fresh human flesh and blood together, and dance and sing merrily afterwards. The giantess approaches them, but no sooner does she set eyes on Bhīma than she is seized by violent love for the strong young hero. She therefore transforms herself into a beautiful human woman and steps smilingly towards Bhīma, tells him that this forest is haunted by a man-eating Rākṣasa, her brother, who has sent her here, but that she loves Bhīma and desires no other man but him as her lord, that he may take delight in her, and that she will rescue him. Bhīma replies that it would not enter his head to yield to passion, and to leave his mother and brothers in the lurch. Hiḍimbā answers that he may awaken his relatives by all means, and she will save them all. Bhīma retorts, however, that he would not dream of awakening his mother and brothers from their sweet slumber: Rākṣasas, Yakṣas (elves), Gandharvas and such-like riff-raff do not alarm him in the least, and he will find a way of dealing with the man-eater himself. At this juncture the giant Hiḍimba, thinking that his sister is too long away, appears in person, and would slay the love-sick Hiḍimbā in his anger. But Bhīma confronts him and challenges him to fight. After a terrible conflict, during which the brothers awake, Bhīma slays the giant. When he is about to despatch Hiḍimbā likewise, Yudhiṣṭhira exhorts him not to slay a woman. At her earnest entreaties, he at last agrees to be united to her until a son is born to her. Yudhiṣṭhira arranges that Bhīma may stay with the giantess all day, but that he must always return before sunset. So Hiḍimbā flies through the air with Bhīma to the pleasant hill-tops, where they give themselves up to the pleasures of love, until she conceives, and bears a son, who grows into a mighty Rākṣasa. They call him *Ghaṭotkaca*, and later on, in the great fight, he does good service to the Pāṇḍavas.

First 79 of 1,327 passages. Read on

Linked texts (29)