“Realisation of one’s own being is the true knowledge”-Answered by Yudhisthira to the question of the spirit of the pool in chapter No-26.

Do all of you ever wonder why even after 4000 years or more the Mahabharata epic still exist amongst us???

After all its made by man who himself is a mortal being of 60-100years. But the epic tale Mahabharata has survived down all the years.

It is now generally accepted that the Mahabharata originally composed by Vyasaand then recited, at his instance, first by Vaisampayana for the benefit of Janamejayaat the latter's snake sacrifice.

This epic has come down to us not in its original form but with many additions made in it. And One such addition is that of Shiv.K.Kumar.

The study of ‘Narrative’ is called ‘Narratology.

The term ‘Narratology’ was used by TzvetanTodorov in 1969.

Narratology became the prime area of study in the schools of Russian Formalism and later in American Neo-criticism

So then the word ‘Narrative’ is derived from the Latin terms ‘narrare’( to relate) and ‘gnarus’(knowing). The meaning of the word ‘gna’ in Sanskrit is ‘to know’. So ‘Narrative’ means to relate in order to know. A narrative relates a sequence of events.

Narrative encompasses most of the activities of human beings and its simple meaning is anything that tells a story. This ‘anything’ includes novel, short story, drama, film, painting, history book, comic strip, gossip, newspaper etc.

The word story may be used as a synonym of narrative. In semiotics and literary theory a narrative is a story or part of a story.

In general the set of events is the story and how these set of events are told is the narration. And narrative is that narration narrated by a narrator to a narrate.

According to T.S.Eliot narratology is the “convention-any selection, structure, or distortion, any form, or rhythm imposed upon the world of action; by means of which- it should be added that- our apprehension of the world of action is enriched or renewed”.

Eliot’s opinion echoes that narrative technique leaves an impact on the readers and inspires them to ponder over it.

Narrative technique is the base for writers, without which they can write nothing relevant.

Point of view

Curse and Boon

Insults: Violence and Revenge

Promises

Characterization

Theophanical narrative

Warfare

Point of view describes the narrator’s position in relation to the story being told. So depending on this point of view there are different modes of narration.

The ancient Mahabharata of Vyasa is in the first person narrative mode where the story is presented by a narrator who is also a character within the story.

Now whereas Shiv K Kumar’s Mahabharata is in the third person narrative mode where the narrator is merely an uninvolved person that conveys the story i.e not a character of any kind within the story being told.

The third- person narrative mode is usually categorized along two axes. The first is the subjectivity axis, with “subjective” narration describing one or more character’s feelings and thoughts, while the second is “objective” narration does not describe the feelings or thoughts of any characters.

Now shiv k kumar falls in to the category of third person subjective mode of narration. And hence shiv k kumar when interviewed by Hari about his version of the Mahabharathasays,“I have romanticized it without departing from the main story”. And in the foreword the writer says,”I have, therefore, endeavoured to lend some colour and fragrance to this epic.”

•Mahabharata starts with a curse and ends with a curse.•Parashu was cursed by sage Vasista on the theft of the cow nandini and so Bheeshmaborns symbolising the spark of Mahabharata and his death-bed indicates nearing end of mahabharata. So, the writer has called the chapter No.-58 as “The End of the Era” instead of the tenth day of the war or end of Bheeshma as he has slept on the bed of arrows.•This curse even brought the godly Krishna’s family tree to an end as the result of Ghandari.•Then the curse given to Pandu holds its own importance.•So as the curse hurled at Karna by sage Parashuram and a demon.•The curse given to Krishna and Karna are not on the account of false deeds(for GandhariKrishna’s act appears to be immoral but at the same time a woman as virtuous like Gandhari cant lookdown her sons mistake.) which tells us that pre-destined force works acts behind in the story.

Just like the curses even the boon adds to the contribution of story-making which are described with pinch of magicality.

The boons leads to the continuation of the clan of Bharatavarsha as Kunti, Madri, Gandhari, and Uttara are destined with motherhood with blessing boon of various god and a sage.

So, keeping aside the social discourse regarding who are eligible to grant and receive curse and boon, we can know that the above two narrative device act as the key ingredients for story telling.

•Violence and revenge is the thrusting force in Mahabharata. Insult is the driving force behind this act of violence and revenge. This exchange of tantrums initiated the spark of Mahabharata war. •In chapter 17 (Krishna honoured) we see the first outbreak of insult leading to vengeance, where Draupadi jeered down at Duryodhana as ”There falls the blind son of the blind father”. •Here it is uncertain that Draupdi insulted Duryodhana because of Bheemabeing poisoned and left to drown in water and because of the death trap he conspired in the palace of lac. •May be the above two motives might had lead Draupadi to behave in that manner but this inturn infuriated Duryodhana who took revenge of this in the game of dice which inturn lead the pandavas(Esp.Bheema) to take revenge on the Kauravas.•So in this way the story of Mahabharata is formed by the continuous cycle of violence and revenge against the exchange of tantrums.

Promises in this story are at times the sudden willing and unwilling result of compulsion of the situation, insult, and love weaved in the light of Kshatriya dharma.

Amba taking a vow to avenge Bheeshma, the vows of Bheema to kill Duhsasana and zap the thigh of Duryodhana, Draupadi’s vow to apply Duhsasana blood to her hairs, then Arjuna’s vow to kill Jayadratha are the prominent promises.

Then ofcourse Bheeshma’s vow of celibacy is the most striking of all and the writer reveals the ritulside of the vow.

So mahabharata thrives and enriches as the characters strive to fulfill their promises.

Mahabharata is a gigantic torrent of life and thought. The writer himself says in the foreword, ”It depicts almost every

conceivable human emotion-love&hate, forgiveness&revenge, truth&false, magnanimity&greed, friendship”.

Then the ups& downs, flatness of the characters are depicted which portrays the taintedness of Bhisma, Yudhisthira, Karna,& even Krishna.

The theophanical character like Krishna also meeting a death at the arrow of hunter which strikes at the feet beholds the reader.

The dialogues of the characters(chapters like’ tryst with a mother and son’ and ‘Yudhisthira visits Bheeshma’) make them to outlive even the living being like us and so they can never be confined to as any work of fiction.

So the characters like Bheeshma, Karna, Abhimanyu and many others will emerge as the role models to the readers.

•Theophany means a divine being or attribution of divine characteristics to a man.•So, this Mahabharata is composed of many theophanical narratives where the characters like Gandhari, Vyasa, Abhimanyu, Karna, Pandavas, Bheeshma, Dronaand Ashvattamma are at times are shaded with divine features. •The striking feature of the theophanical narrative is that the human (Pandavas) tragedies and conflicts are resolved by the divine intervention of the god (Krishna). And obviously Mahabharata is composed with human enterprise(Purushakara) and divine ordination(daiva).•So as the writer says it in the foreword, the revelation of Krishna’s ultra form to Arjuna and then the answers given by Yudhistira to the questions of the divine pool are the quintessence of the human knowledge. •So in totality theophanical narrative fantasizes the story which gains the amusement of the readers.

The ancient Mahabharata epic is primarily based on the “Veeryarasa.” So this epic is action packed.

The writer also has depicted the warfare strategies like the

formation of the army in a battle field. So, the action and it’s strategies gives a thrill for the readers.

From T.S.Eliots remark on narratology we understood that to the world of action in the story or novel certain spices are added which makes it much more tastier.

So here the curse,boon,insult,promises are not only just part of the story but are the driving forces to form and the growth of the story.

Then the theophanical and war narratives grasp the attention of readers by romanticizing the story.

Then the multilayer characterization of every characters arouse curiosity and the reader is keen to know the development of the story till to the end.

So, finally the above narrative devices of the narratology makes Mahabharata more like a living organism which is the amalgamation of human world of 3 parameters i.e ideologies, feelings and actions and the epic as withstood the test of time and place as Mahabharata is valid throughout the ages because we the humans are always formed/controlled/live for the same above 3 parameters.

A.V.Ashok’s Narrative: A Student’s approach.

James.W.Laine’s Visions of God: Narratives of Theophany in the Mahabharata.

Major General G.D.Bhakshi’s artilce: ‘War and Strategy in Mahabharata’.

M.A.Mehendale’s article: ‘Interpolations in Mahabharata.’

N.C.Kelkar’s article: ‘The riddle of curse.’

“..I can now read your message between the folds of a rose bud, unravel the mystery of the mole on the moon’s face, walk through a dense forest at night without the pole star’s taper.”-Arjuna.

“Father dreams are not just fantasies they carry their own messages”-Bheeshma.

“Water is thicker than blood”-Duryodhana

“A nation that doesn’t honour a women is destined to extinction”-Draupadi.

“Spirit:-What is it that flies faster than wind???

Yudhisthira:- Mind flies faster than wind.”

“The way to see is to go blind.”-Bheeshma.

“The voice of human experience is more authentic than that of divinity”-Yudhisthira.

“It is a pity that the only time in my life that I have to deny something to someone is my dear mother..”-Karna.

“Friendship believes only in commitment-to love and loyalty”-Karna.

QUESTIONS

“That’s man’s ultimate frailty, O warrior, to know what lies beyond the horizon..”-Krishna