Synopsis

of
Summer Project
for the partial fulfillment of the requirements toward the award of the degree
of
Bachelor of Arts with Honors in English Literature.










Deliverance of Poetic Justice in Vyasas Mahabharat.


Submitted By Amit Kumar Rath Supervised By -
Enrol. No. A0706113012 Dr. Dipankar
Sukul
Sec A, Sem 2
BA (H) English (2013-16)


INTRODUCTION: -

Translations have always been of paramount importance since the acceptance of history,
archaeology and fields alike as individual subjects. The subjects that work in the present trying
to unravel the mysterious happenings of the past often need to go through the literature of the
era concerned as literature always has been the true mirror to society. The literature of any
civilization is a transcriber of the happenings and experiences of contemporary people into the
word written on the parchment. These written words provide an authentic source for deducing
and extrapolating the would have happened happenings of the years bygone.
Translations are not limited to the above mentioned usage only. In the present world when
international diplomatic communication happens to be the most vital part of all external affairs
the importance of translations only becomes more visible. National leaders often require to
voice the issues of their represented country in foreign lands and the communication of the
exact idea without the aid of translation is impossible and without may lead to catastrophic
results. Affairs of tourism, international news exchange, and global citizenship are some other
fields that are very much important for the smooth functioning of the established society and
translations make them easier and truer only.
Though the presence and importance of translations are widely ranged but we shall be
restricting the focus on the importance of translations of old texts into contemporary literature.
As it has been already mentioned, literature of an era does the errand of reflecting the
achievement, struggle and experience of the inhabitants of the era and therefore it makes their
translation a vital job for knowing the history of our presence. The historical literature of a
nation, be it folk lore, stories, or epics, are the heritage of the country and its people and
contain the imprint of the time when the morals, culture and the traditions of the present day
were formed. India is the land of the oldest language, culture and heritage with the existence of
the largest epic in the world to its credit; Mahabharata.
Mahabharata is the largest epic in the world. According to Wikipedia -
With about one hundred thousand verses, long prose passages, and about 1.8 million words in
total, the Mahabharata is the longest epic poem in the world. It is roughly ten times the length
of the Iliad and Odyssey combined, roughly five times longer than Dante's Divine Comedy, and
about four times the length of the Rmyaa.
Mahabharata traces the journey of the Hindu mythology, philosophy and religious
establishments. It is a poetic epic divided into 18 parvas. The war of Mahabharata was fought
some 5100 years ago around 3139 BC. Traditionally the credit of the text is attributed to Sage
Ved Vyasa. It is a story of rivalry between kith and kins due to the actions and inactions of the
major characters. I begin with a highly precise summary of the same.
Shantanu was the king of Hastinapur. He fell in love with Ganga. The children that were born
from the communion had terrible fate as they were drowned immediately after their birth in
the river by Ganga herself. It is believed that it was the destiny of those children as they were
Devtas or demi Gods who were destined to be freed from the cycle of birth and mortality by
that way. Shantanu, on a visit to Ganga, sees the act and stops her from drowning their eighth
child and in turn Ganga extracts the promise from him that the child would stay with her until
he is grown up to his youth and she leaves Shantanu and departs ways. In the meantime
Shantanu falls in love with Matsyagandha, the daughter of the Chief of Fishermen. Soon the
eigth son is returned to Shantanu by Ganga and he is called Dev Vrata. When Shantanu asks
Satyavatis ( Matsyagandha ) father for her hand he cites a condition. The condition being that
the throne of Hastinapur would be inherited by the child Shantanu receives from Satyavati.
Shantanu loved his only son Dev Vrata dearly and he couldnt agree to the arrangement.
Consequently he fell ill in the absence of Satyavati and fiercely yearned for her. Seeing the
condition of his father Dev Vrata sought to seek the reason behind the same but couldnt find
any reason from his father himself and therefore he went to seek out the reason himself. He
reached to the root of the problem and asked Satyavatis father for his demands. Satyavatis
father repeated the same citations and Dev Vrata promised to him that he will never inherit the
throne to Hastinapur and the same shall be inherited by the sons of Shantanu and Satyavati.
But Satyavatis father wasnt convinced and he enquired about the possibility of the sons of Dev
Vrata fighting for inheritance. To this Dev Vrata took the vow of life long celibacy and service to
the throne of Hastinapur. These two oaths are called Bheesma Pratigya. When Shantanu came
to know about the happenings he blessed his son with the power to choose his time and place
of death and ordained him with the name of Bheesma.
Chitrangadh and Vichitravirya were born to Shantanu by Satyavati but this incident was
followed by the quick deaths of Shantanu and Chitrangadh. Vichtravirya was crowned the king
of Hastinapur. He was weak and sick most of the time due to his narcotic and alcoholic
addictions and therefore Bheesma was ordered by Satyavati to bring forcefully Amba, Ambika
and Ambalika to marry Vichtravirya. Amba refused to marry since she was already in love with
somebody else and therefore due to rejection from her love she committed suicide with the
boon of taking Bheesmas life in her next birth as a eunuch.
Vichitravirya died on the day of his marriage without being able to impregnate either of his
wives. Therefore to ensure the continuation of the lineage Satyavati requested her illegitimate
son Sage Ved Vyas, son of Sage Paraser, to impregnate the widows through the allowance of
religion in the context of Niyoga. During the intercourse the widows were frightened and as a
result the sons born were malformed. The eldest being blind and the second son weak. Ved
Vyas also impregnated a maid that was sent to him in disguise of one of the widows and the
maid gave birth to Vidura, a healthy son.
When the sons grew up, the second son, Pandu was made the king as the eldest son,
Dhritrashtra was blind. Pandu consequently married to Kunti and Madri and Dhritrashtra to
Gandhari. Five Pandavas were born to Pandu. Three from Kunti and two from Madri. His wives
were also impregnated by other men who happened to be demi Gods in this case as Pandu
himself was forced to practice celibacy as the curse of a Brahmin. Pandu died due to this curse
along with Madri and Dhritrashtra was made the acting King of Hastinapur. 100 Kauravas were
born to Dhritrashtra from Gandhari along with a daughter called Dushala and 1 son from a
maid. The maids son was called Yuyutsu and was a knower of Dharma. When the Pandavas and
Kauravas grew up they were sent to Guru Dronacharyas gurukul. On their return Yudhisthir,
the eldest of Pandavas, was crowned as the Yuvraj, successor to the throne. Fumed by this,
Duryodhan, the eldest of the Kauravas tried to burn the Pandavas along with their mother in
the Lakshagriha conspiracy. As a result of this hatred the Pandavas went into incognito living for
some time. Meanwhile Duryodhan was crowned as the Yuvraj of Hastinapur. During this self-
imposed exile Pandavas married Draupadi and came to Hastinapur for their claim of the throne.
Vidura sensing struggles in between the kith and kins suggested the partitioning of the
Hastinapur and giving half to the Pandavas but this was not acceptable to Duryodhan and
Dhritrashtra and as a result a barren Khandavprastha was given to Yudhisthir to rule. Yudhisthir
accepted that and with the help of Indra and Maya Danav Khandavprastha was changed into
Indraprastha. At this juncture, on the behest of Kunti and Krishna, Yudhisthir decided to do
Rajsuyi yajna. On the day of the ceremony Duryodhan was disturbed by the show of wealth on
the part of the Pandavas and was further insulted by the remarks of Draupadi when he was
illusioned and fell into a pond of water. On returning to Hastinapur he promises abstention
from food till death but was stopped by Karna and Dhritrashtra. On the behest of Shakuni,
Dhritrashtra organized a game of dicing for the Pandavas and the invitation is sent via Vidura.
Yudhisthir decides to take part in the same being bound by Kshatriya Dharma.
During the game of dicing Yudhisthir loses all his wealth and his property and he further loses
his brothers to Duryodhan and ultimately their wife Draupadi. Draupadi is publicly insulted by
Duryodhan and Karna for the revenge of the insults that she had hurled upon them at different
occasions. She is publicly humiliate and Dusashan attempts at disrobing her but she is protected
by Lord Krishna. Fumed by the happenings Pandavas pledge revenge and Bheema prophesizes
the death of Duryodhan, Dusashan, Shakuni and Karna. Seeing the anarchy Dhritrashtra tries to
restore the respect of the Pandavas by returning them their freedom. But on the behest of
Duryodhan he calls them again for another match of dicing and this time the bet is 12 years of
exile and a year of living incognito. Yudhisthir loses again is condemned to 13 years of exile into
the forests with his brothers and their wife, Draupadi. During this period of exile the Pandavas
worked towards making themselves more powerful as war was imminent after the period of
exile. Arjun visited Indra and got divine weapons. They had to spend the year of incognito living
at the palace of King Virat under assumed identities and professions. During these 13 years
Duryodhan conducted Vishnu yajna and Karna defeated the whole of Aryavrat and made
Dhritrashtra the Rajadhipati.
After the completion of the 13 years of exile Pandavas demanded their share of the kingdom
but were refused and after that they sent Krishna as a messenger of peace but Krishna was
insulted by Duryodhan and the request of 5 villages was refused. This led to the inevitable
consequence of war in which 1 billion 660 million and 20,000 men died.




RESEARCH OBJECTIVE:

The objective of my summer project would be my attempt to put light on the little entertained
doings of the characters of the epic that mostly stood against their general demeanor and how
they were justly rewarded or punished for the same. Throughout the epic characters have been
shown to be indulging in activities and demeanors that are normally not expected from them
and as a result they have to bear consequence of the same in the end. I shall attempt to put
light on those actions and there conclusive results. I shall endeavor through the study to glorify
the beautiful deliverance of poetic justice in Vyasas Mahabharat.



RESEARCH PROBLEM:

The society has been molded into a manner in which we find it comfortable to call the black
black and the white white. But arent we doing injustice to everybody and to ourselves in
closing our eyes to the grey? The world never is a choice between black and white, rather it is a
differentiation between the different shades of grey. Which simply points to the fact that
characters that are deemed bad sometimes portray examples of extreme humanity and
goodwill and surpass the noble characters and contemporary to that noble characters also
show streaks of animal like actions and doings. Therefore my attempts aim to inspire the
readers of my study to judge an action in context with its circumstances rather than judging a
character in pre judged isolation.



LITERATURE REVIEW:

1. Sawant, Shivaji: Mrityunjaya. Continental. India. 1967

Shivaji Sawant's Mrityunjaya is an outstanding literary masterpiece in which a
contemporary Marathi novelist investigates the meaning of the bewildering skein that is
life through the personae of the Mahabharata protagonists. Sawant depicts an uncanny
similarity between Krishna and Karna and hints at a mystic link between them, investing
his protagonist with a more-than-human aura.

2. Kane, Kavita: The Outcasts Queen. Rupa Publications. India. 2013

Karna's Wife: The Outcast's Queen tells the extraordinary story of Karna, the unsung
hero of the Mahabharata, through the eyes of his wife Uruvi, bringing his story to the
reader from a unique perspective.

3. Ray, Pratibha: Yajnaseni. Rupa and Co.. India. 1997

Pratibha Ray makes a determined effort for a portrayal of the epic character and brings
to the surface the broader and deeper aspects of Draupadis mind that lay submerged in
the majestic sweep of the grand Mahabharata.

4. Karve, Irawati: Yuganta: The End of an Epoch. Disha Books. India. 1967

Yuganta studies the principal, mythical-heroic figures of the Mahabharata from
historical, anthropological and secular perspectives. The usually venerated characters of
this ancient Indian epic are here subjected to a rational enquiry that places them in
context, unravels their hopes and fears, and imbues them with wholly human motives,
thereby making their stories relevant.

5. Pattanaik, Devdutt: Jaya. Penguin Global. India. 2011

Devdutt Pattanaik seamlessly weaves into a single narrative plots from the Sanskrit
classic as well as its many folk and regional variants.




TENTATIVE CHAPTERISATION:

1. Introduction I Importance of translating historic literature into contemporary
literature. Usage in present day life, different social and political usage with emphasis on
preservation of literary creations.


2. Introduction II Mahabharata as the largest epic. The plot of Mahabharata, the
preceding and succeeding stories, validity in accordance to other contemporary
creations and instances in Hindu mythology.


3. Poetic Justice I Rewarding the virtues. The good deeds of the major protagonists and
their conclusive rewards and benefits.


4. Poetic Justice II Punishing the vices. The wrong doings of the major protagonists and
the resulting consequences.


5. Conclusion The conclusion drawn, lessons learnt and morale to be imparted for public
welfare.











BIBLIOGRAPHY:


Primary Texts



1. Ganguli, Kisari: The Mahabharata of Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa. Coronet Books Inc.
India. 1991




Secondary Texts



1. Sawant, Shivaji: Mrityunjaya. Continental. India. 1967
2. Kane, Kavita: The Outcasts Queen. Rupa Publications. India. 2013
3. Ray, Pratibha: Yajnaseni. Rupa and Co.. India. 1997
4. Karve, Irawati: Yuganta: The End of an Epoch. Disha Books. India. 1967
5. Pattanaik, Devdutt: Jaya. Penguin Global. India. 2011