Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.5024

c9.5024

One does not go wrong in saying that it was the composing of the Mahābhārata that brought Vyāsa very close to the later generations. The stories of the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas, flowed through his mind as a river flows down crushing down the banks on either side. A scribe was necessary to take them down in the form of verses. Vyāsa informed Brahmā of this need. Brahmā replied "Gaṇapati is the only person capable of taking down every thing that you sing." Accordingly Vyāsa thought of Gaṇapati, who came to the side of Vyāsa, and he informed Gaṇapati of his need. Gaṇapati said that he was willing to do the work on condition that Vyāsa would go on singing unceasingly, so that he might not have to stop the iron pen. Vyāsa said that while he would be singing the poems without stopping, Gaṇapati should not take down this and that without grasping the meaning. Both agreed to this condition and the composing of the Mahābhārata commenced. Within two years and a half the great poetic work was finished. The great disciples of Vyāsa, such as Vaiśampāyana, Jaimini and such others sang them and learned them by heart and published them in the world. (M.B. Ādi Parva, Chapter 1).