A blog where I write about Indian classical literature. I share about texts like the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and the Hitopadesha. I focus on the regional versions from Bengal, talking about the works of Krittibas Ojha and Kashiram Das. As Hitopadesha was composed in Bengal, I have added that. I plan to add more texts in the future. Read through and discover and enjoy the stories they tell and their philosophy.
Navigating the site The post below tells you about the structure of the blog and how to navigate it. Navigating the Blog . My posting schedu...
I had divided the last post into 2 parts. This was about Dushyanta. The first part was when Dushyanta ended up entering Rishi Kanva’s ashrama and meeting Shakuntala, and the second part was about his marriage with Shakuntala. This post now continues from Dushyanta leaving the ashrama and Rishi Kanva entering.
Following Hiranyaka’s loss of his material fortune, the tortoise Manthara shares a tale to warn against the dangers of excessive hoarding, prompting a discussion on adaptability and mental balance. The group then expands their circle by welcoming a fleeing deer, Chitranga, which immediately forces them to confront a dilemma. To show the consequences of moving without a sound strategy, Hiranyaka warns that they will suffer just like the merchant’s son whose wife was improperly handled, prompting the others to ask how that happened and leading directly into the tale of a merchant, his wife and prince.
Bhagiratha had obtained Ganga from Vishnu. Subsequently Ganga had got lost inside Sumeru Mountain and Airavata had to break the mountain to rescue Ganga, and in the process, Airavata’s ego was destroyed. Ganga then split into four and, as Alaknanda, began following Bhagiratha.
Table of Contents
King Dushyanta of Hastinapur was out on a hunt. He happened to see the ashrama belonging to rishi Kanva. Wanting to meet the rishi, the king went inside and was greeted by a beautiful maiden. The king wanted to know who she was and the maiden started telling the king, the story of her birth.
Table of Contents
Vaishampayan had just told Janamejaya about the births of the devas, daityas and danavas on earth in detail. The rishi continues telling the assembled audience about the kings of Hastinapur. The rishi continues and starts with the story of Dushyanta.
Table of Contents
The guest Veenakarna started telling his host that there was reason for everything. He said that, because of a specific reason, the young Lilavati hugged her aged husband. He then told the host that the mouse Hiranyaka was able to jump as he had wealth, and wealth gave power. The host, Chudakarna, and Veenakarna then dug and stole the mouse’s wealth. With that, Hiranyaka lost both his power and status. He tried to regain his wealth but was attacked by the brahmin Chudakarna. Hiranyaka figured out mental peace was important and decided to leave the place. He decides that having simple water as a free man is superior to feasting as a dependent. The tortoise Manthara adds that wealth that is neither enjoyed nor shared is effectively useless. He starts telling the story of a jackal who dies because of over hoarding.
Bhagiratha was ridiculed for not having a father. He promised his mothers he would get Ganga down and left to pray and please the gods. Vishnu gave him Ganga, and Bhagiratha left with Ganga.
In the last post, Rishi Vaishampayan had started telling the reason for the devas, daityas and danavs to take birth on earth. At the end of that, Janamejaya had wanted to know who had taken birth as whom. This post continues from there.
Table of Contents
Hiranyaka started telling his story, about why he wanted to leave his house and go somewhere far away.
Chudakarna the brahmin, had complained to Veenakarna that his food was getting stolen by a mouse. He also said that irrespective of the height at which he hung his vessel, the mouse would be able to reach it. To that, Veenakarna said, there has to be a reason. Everything has a reason; else why would Lilavati start showing affection towards her elderly husband? And with that, he started telling the story.
The last post was on the birth of Ganga, as told by rishi Kapil to Angshuman.
Post that, Sagara, then Angshuman and subsequently his son, Dilip, tried to get Ganga down from heaven, but were unsuccessful. Dilip died childless and by Shiva’s blessings, Dilip’s wives gave birth to Bhagiratha.
Janamejaya was devastated. He had attempted to perform a yagna, even though Vyasa had asked him not to. The yagna was abandoned and Janamejaya ended up killing a brahmin. Vyasa then came to Janamejaya and asked him to listen to the Mahabharata. That would remove the sin of the killing of the brahmin. The rishi appointed Vaishampayan to tell all assembled at the site what happens in the Mahabharata.
I have been posting the stories from the Hitopadesha. All the posts have something in common; they all talk about Niti Shastra. What exactly is that? As per Artha-shastra, it is a system of morals (social, economic and political). One can find this also in Panchatantra and many other texts. The Mahabharata mentions Vidura Niti, a conversation between Vidura and Dhritarashtra. Many Puranas have mentioned it. For the sake of this post, I will stick to Hitopadesha and Panchatantra, in the context of Niti.
The mouse king Hiranyaka along with Laghupatanaka left his house forever, to live in the Dandaka where Manthara, the tortoise lived. The tortoise asked the mouse why he had left everything to come with the crow. In reply the mouse started telling his tale.
Please note: This is a sensitive topic and not shared here for any controversy. This process of sharing posts is a learning for me. While I share, I learn. If I have shared any information which is not correct or something that may hurt any sentiments, I would like apologize upfront for the same.
Table of Contents
Recap
After the sixty thousand sons of Sagara were burnt by Kapila, Angshuman set forth to look for them and get the horse. There he followed the route of his uncles and met rishi Kapila. The rishi told Angshuman that Ganga needed to be brought down from heaven to liberate the dead sons of Sagara. Angshuman wanted to know about Ganga.
Table of Contents
Recap:
Janamejaya wanted to destroy the brahmins. Vyasa came and admonished him. He then wanted to perform the Ashvamedha yagna, which too Vyasa asked him not to. Undeterred, the king went ahead with disastrous results.
Note:
I refer to a sub parva name of Adi Parva as Kashidas does not separate his work into sub-parvas. I thought of sharing a summary/ brief of which sub-parva contains what.
