Epic endings: Mahabharata's final chapters

Eminent Indologist Wendy Doniger's latest book focuses on the final days of the protagonists of the epic and makes their stories come alive with different meanings

After the War: The Last Books of the Mahabharata

Author: Wendy Doniger

Publisher: Speaking Tiger

Pages: 222

Price: Rs 499

In popular perception, the last four sections of the Mahabharata are remembered largely for their emphasis on relative stability and peace at the end of an intense fratricidal war, the seniors of the two warring clans retiring to a hermitage, the rule of the Pandavas at Hastinapur and their eventual journey to Swarga, which could be roughly translated as heaven. The four sections were also named as such: Ashramavasika Parva, Mausala Parva, Mahaprasthanika Parva  and Swargarohana Parva.

Yet, there were many incidents of violence and death in these sections. The return of peace and stability was not without traces of reliving the bitter memories of a war that violated many principles even though it was ironically waged to uphold the principle of good triumphing over evil.

The latest book by eminent Indologist Wendy Doniger focuses on these final sections of the Mahabharata. It has two distinct parts, both of which enhance one’s understanding of the epic. They also justify the popular claim about the Mahabharata that “whatever is here, may be found elsewhere; what is not cannot be found anywhere else.”

The first part of Dr Doniger’s book is an introduction to not just the final four sections of the Mahabharata, but also to the basic storyline that leads up to those final days of how the protagonists of the epic ended their lives in this world. It is in this part that Dr Doniger is at her best.

The introduction establishes how the Mahabharata is not a simple story of good triumphing over evil but a deeply complex and nuanced narrative unravelling the many layers of human relationships, the place of women in society and the role of Dharma. Before embarking on an explanation of the final four sections, Dr Doniger sets the context of the central story of the Mahabharata that will lead to the war.

The stories of what caused Dhritarashtra’s blindness, why his brother Pandu suffered from acute anaemia and how Vidura, despite being the embodiment of Dharma, was denied the right to enjoy the same status as that of his brothers are quite well-known. But Dr Doniger’s narrative invests these stories with deeper meanings that should enhance your understanding of the larger dynamics of the epic.

Dr Doniger offers different explanations of how the principle of the levirate (a system in which a male begets legal children on behalf of a dead or impotent brother) was followed with variation only to give rise to more complications or how Draupadi was married to the five Pandavas and why Kunti remained secretive about the identity of her eldest son, Karna, till the very end. In the process, she shows how the Mahabharata mirrors our society as it dwells on the prevalence of prejudices, flawed practices and bigoted beliefs that are as timeless as humanity.

The idea of what a woman’s curse could mean has been exemplified eloquently through brief explanatory stories on Draupadi and Gandhari.  An explanation of the use of the fire symbol is highlighted in different incidents such as the birth of Draupadi and the death of Kunti, Gandhari and Dhritarashtra. Dr Doniger’s interpretation of such episodes and the drawing of parallels between apparently disparate events make the stories of the Mahabharata come alive with different meanings.

The exploration of the interplay between Dharma and Karma, as evident from the way Vidura eventually is subsumed in Yudhishthira, will provide fresh food for thought to the academics studying the epic. Equally enlightening is the correlation Dr Doniger establishes between Mahabharata’s narrative on the battle of clubs leading to the annihilation of the Vrishni clan (soon after Krishna and Balaram pass away) and the different versions of the same events available in Buddhist and Jain tales. The presence of a dog during the final journey of the Pandavas to Swarga has been examined by Dr Doniger in detail. She finds that dogs do play a larger role in the entire epic on more than one occasion. The fact that the dog was following Yudhishthira and not leading him was significant and Dr Doniger underlines this spatial equation to explain the relationship between Dharma and its chief protagonist.

A subtle parallel and a cause-and-effect equation are also drawn between the momentary illusion-like experience of hell by Yudhishthira and the way he was persuaded to seek recourse to an illusory lie of conveying the news of a son’s death to the father. Dr Doniger’s narrative has strong similarities with the retelling of the Mahabharata’s many episodes by Irawati Karve in Yuganta. The difference is that Dr Karve’s narrative had a smoothness of a storyteller which Dr Doniger could not match.

The second part provides an easy translation of what the four sections contain. Those who have read Bibek Debroy’s translation of the Mahabharata will find that Dr Doniger has excluded large parts of the original epic that did not contribute to the storyline. As a result, her translation is less heavy and easier to digest.