Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists

CHAPTER III : THE MAHABHARATARELATED IN FIFTEEN EPISODESIntroduction to the MahabharataTHE Indian national saga, beyond all dispute, is theMahabharata. This is to the Indian village andthe Indian home what the Iliad was to the Greek,and, to a certain extent also, what the Scriptures and Gospelsare to ourselves. It is the most popular of all the sacredbooks. It contains, as an interlude, the Bhagavad Gita,the national gospel. But with this it is also an epic.The story of a divine incarnation, Krishna, as he iscalled, has been wrought into and upon an immenseballad and military epic of unknown antiquity. Of thisbetween twoepic the main theme is a great battle wagedfamilies of cousins, the sons of Pandu and the sons ofDhritarashtra or the Pandavas and the Kauravas, orKurus by name. And although, after the fashion ofancient literature, a thousand other tales, some more andsome less ancient, have been embedded in its interstices,yet this great drama moves on, full of swiftness andcolour, from one end of the poem to the other. It ismarked by extraordinary vividness and richness ofimagination. But perhaps most of us, remembering thatthe work is ancient, will be still more impressed by theand modernness of the social intercourse which itsubtletyportrays. Here and there we mayfind an anomalouscustom or a curious belief, but in delicacy of characterpainting,in the play of personality, and in reflection of allthe light and shade of life in society we find ourselves, inthe Mahabharata, fully on a level with the novels anddramas of modern Europe. The fortitude of Kamawhen his mother embraces him ;the low voice in which118