All books of Mahabharata translated into Russian. Literary Evaluation of the Mahabharata Rendezvous with Rama

It is difficult to determine the exact time of its writing. We can only say that this great work took on a finished form by the middle of the first millennium. With the authorship of the poem, too, there is no certainty. One can only assume that the epic lines came from the hands of the poet Vyasa.

However, one can definitely say that Indian poem Mahabharata this is the most voluminous work of art classics in the world. Judge for yourself, the poem consists of 220 thousand poetic lines! It has 18 books! Each book contains a huge number of stories. For the most part, these stories are independent works. The most famous are "Nal and Damayanti" and "Garivansha".

The Pandavas were famous for their special nobility, for which they were rewarded with popular love. According to the Kauravas, this was not entirely fair, since there were worthy men among their family. This feeling of injustice sowed envy in the souls of the Kuru royal family, which served as the reason for the war. In the beginning, the Kauravas tried to denigrate their rivals and, on the basis of slander, deprive the Pandu clan of their state and rights to the royal title. For some period of time, the envious achieved their goals, but the nobility and valor of the Pandavas forced them to return everything in full. The insidious plans of the Kauravas included the murder of hated cousins. But the wise Pandavas survived. Even a rigged fire did not destroy their family. But the Kauravas proved to be persistent and patient in their intentions. Ultimately, they found the vulnerability of the Pandavas - a game of dice. According to the laws of etiquette, a representative of the royal family did not have the right to refuse the game offered to him by another ruler. The cunning Kauravas chose as rivals for the Pandavas one of their numerous relatives, Uncle Shakuni, who became famous as the best player - a card sharper.

As a result of this game, the Pandavas lose everything that belonged to them. The Kauravas tried to play nobility, allegedly returning everything they had lost to the Pandu family, but they immediately called them to a new dice game, according to which the five brothers and other representatives of the Pandavas, in case of a loss, were to become unknown and give their state to the Kauravas for 12 years, after why leave the lands of India for a year. The Pandavas, of course, lost. They fulfilled all the conditions of the insidious deal. But 13 years later, they demanded the return of their possessions, which they received a decisive refusal. This served as a pretext for war.

Entire books of the Mahabharata are devoted to bloody battles between Indian warriors. Here is one of the quotes from the episode that tells about the duel of the Pandavas with the most skillful master of military affairs, the mentor of many heroes of the Indian epic, Bhishma:

His arrows lit up like lightning bolts,
And the thunder was the roar of his chariot,
And the bow is like fire, obtained in a warlike slaughter:
Served him as fuel every dead,
Like a whirlwind fanning a flame, an axe,
And he himself is like a flame on the day of the death of the world!
He drove the chariots of the enemy, the almighty,
And suddenly appeared in their galloping thick.
It seemed like the wind was about to blow!
He bypassed the commander of the enemy troops
And the swift intruded into their midst,
And with the thunder of the wheels he filled the plain,
And the warriors looked at Bhishma in fear,
And the hair stood on end on the body.
Or the Celestials, proudly descending,
Are they pushing the crazed army of giants?

…………………………………………………………………………

Pandavas on Bhishma, full of anger,
They attacked with arrows on the right and on the left ...
And there was no place for Bhishma on the body,
Where arrows, like streams of rain, do not shine,
Sticking like needles in the blood and mud
Like a bristling porcupine!
So Bhishma fell before the eyes of his rati,
Fell from the chariot, O king, at sunset,
To the east fell head, menacing-faced, -
The cries of immortals and mortals were heard...

It is important to note, in my opinion, the episode in the Mahabharata just before the start of the massacre. The valiant warrior Arjuna from the Pandava clan, inspecting his troops, directs his gaze towards the enemy. Among the gathered rivals, he sees his relatives and cousins. He is depressed by the upcoming fratricide, and he throws his weapon on the ground. Then Krishna utters his famous "Song of the Divine" ("Bhagavad Gita"). The text of this song has become sacred to all Hinduism.

The poem describes not only the eighteen-day war, but also its sad result - the Kuru field, strewn with corpses and covered in blood. Lamentations of wives, mothers and sisters. And although justice triumphed, and envy was severely punished, the price for it turned out to be very high.

The poem, in addition to an interesting plot, contains a storehouse of philosophy and wisdom.

The one who thinks about the objects of the senses,
attachment to them arises;
Attachment breeds desire, desire breeds anger.
Anger leads to delusion, delusion
darkens memory;
Consciousness perishes from this; if consciousness
dies - the person dies.
Who then passes through the realm of feelings, renouncing
attraction and aversion
Having subjugated his feelings to the will, devoted to the atman (spirit),
he achieves clarity of spirit.
All his sufferings disappear with clarity of spirit,
For when the consciousness has become clear, the mind is soon strengthened.
Who is not collected, cannot think correctly,
he has no creative power;
Who has no creative power - no peace,
and if there is no peace, how can there be happiness?

The poem ends with the Pandava being tested in the underworld. This is another intrigue of a great work. Don't believe? And you pick up a book and enjoy these poetic lines. Nothing will prevent you from seeing the magnificence of the poem. After all, it is based, like life itself, on three pastulates: Valor, Love and Wisdom!

The amazing structure of the Mahabharata, with all the variety of elements that flowed into it, forms an artistic whole, which had a huge impact on all later literature in ancient and New Indian languages, and partly on the literature of neighboring countries. So for example. The Persian poet Jalaluddin Rumi retells the parable of the "man in the well" mentioned above.

The plot of the Mahabharata has a twofold effect on European literature. On the one hand, in European folklore it is possible to establish a filiation of the fables and parables of the Mahabharata, through Arabic-Jewish didactic literature influencing book Christian didactics. The ways of this transmission of plots are not entirely clear, the most probable is the presence of a number of intermediate links and common sources, and in some cases the possibility of polygenesis of such plots is not ruled out. On the other hand, at the beginning of the XIX century. the assimilation of the Mahabharata by European literatures begins through the translations of Bang, Ruckert, Zhukovsky, Gubernatis, etc. If the huge structure of the epic remained insufficiently mastered as a whole, then individual fragments (like Nal and Damayanti, Savitri, etc.) entered the treasury of the world literature.

The Indian literary tradition considers the Mahabharata to be a single work, and its authorship is attributed to the legendary sage Krishna-Dvaipayana Vyasa.

Mahabharata is a truly unique phenomenon in the literary history of not only India, but the whole world. It is enough to remember its volume. The Mahabharata in its current form contains 100,000 slokas (couples). Therefore, it is the largest literary work known to mankind. The following comparison will certainly help to imagine its enormous volume. The Mahabharata is eight times larger than the Iliad and Odyssey combined; it is larger than all the epics in European languages ​​combined. Even more striking is the information of tradition about the different types of Mahabharata given in the epic itself. It is said that the great Vyasa created the Mbh, consisting of six million slokas. Of these six million, three million are narrated among the gods, one and a half million among the ancestors, one million four hundred thousand slokas among the Gandharvas, and the remaining one hundred thousand slokas are for humans. If we ignore the mythical character of the tradition, then, no doubt, it contains some

indications of the history of the Mahabharata text. Based on this tradition, it can be safely assumed that throughout the long history of the Mahabharata, the literary activity of the creators of the epic manifested itself either in its reduction or expansion. In this regard, I would like to draw attention to another remarkable feature of the Mahabharata. Despite its gigantic volume, this epic poem does not give the impression of randomness and variegation. Without dwelling on the literary merits of the Mahabharata, it can be said with confidence that on closer acquaintance this epic work as a whole turns out to be a surprisingly proportionate and harmonious structure.

However, not only the grandiosity of the volume makes the Mahabharata one of a kind. Its content is also unique in many respects. Even an unprepared reader of the Mahabharata strikes with its encyclopedic nature. We can say that it contains almost all the knowledge of that time about religion, mythology, laws, ethics, philosophy, the art of government and warfare, history, ethnography. The Mahabharata is a very complete historical account of India's long past, and written with an excellent understanding of the lives of men and women of all walks of life. The epic with truly cinematic accuracy, frame by frame, unfolds before us a vivid picture of the cultural life of Indians for several centuries. No one expressed himself more eloquently about this “Indianness” of the epic than the comprehensively competent German Indologist Hermann Oldenberg, who owns the words: “The single soul of India and the soul of each Indian separately breathe in the Mahabharata.” Therefore, Mbh can be called the national saga of India in its fullest sense of the word. There is nothing surprising in the fact that the Indians elevated their epic to the rank of the fifth Veda, thereby recognizing it as the same sacred authority as the four Vedas. This obviously means that in reality the Mahabharata is of greater importance than all the Vedas and others sacred books of India.

The pathos of the Mahabharata is not limited to the borders of one India, one people, it has truly acquired a universal, universal sound. And a careful study of the Mahabharata convinces us that this statement is not an exaggeration. Truly, the Mahabharata is a wonderful testimony to the collective conscious, unconscious and subconscious in man. Perhaps there is no such human thought and feeling that is not captured in the epic; there is not a single conceivable situation of human life that is not described in the epic. Perhaps the most amazing feature of the Mahabharata is that any reader finds lines that seem to be addressed directly to him. In this sense, the Mahabharata belongs not only to Indians, but to all the people of the Earth.

The author of the epic never loses sight of the underlying conflict. The enmity between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, which is the central theme of the poem, is not, according to Dahlman, historically reliable. Otherwise, Indian history would certainly have preserved traces of this enmity in one way or another. It seems that the author set himself exclusively didactic goals, i. wanted to portray the conflict between good and evil and show that good eventually triumphs over evil.

In the history of ancient Indian literature, we can thus trace the development of two major literary traditions. One of them, the tradition of mantras, very quickly consolidated due to, so to speak, its openly religious-priestly content and, accordingly, quickly acquired a fixed literary form. The sut tradition, on the contrary, remained “fluid” for a long time, perhaps because its keepers did not find such a central plot or corresponding literary core that would be able to unite all the diversity of its elements around itself. However, over time, such a plot, which made it possible to unify and combine epic material, appeared. It was the most important event in the history of ancient India. As a result of the famous Vedic “battle of ten kings”, the Bharat clan gained certain power over other states and principalities created by both the Aryans and the indigenous population. The offspring of this powerful clan probably reigned supreme over a large part of northern India until the 13th - 12th centuries. BC, until at first glance, an insignificant "family" strife did not hang like a menacing cloud on the political horizon of the whole country. The history of the conflict between the Kauravas and their Pandava cousins ​​is too well known to be repeated here. The conflict arose due to the fact that the Pandavas began to claim part of the kingdom of Hastinapura, in which the blind king Dhritarashtra ruled. Due to the high position of the House of Bharatas in the political life of India at that time, the usual family strife soon assumed the proportions of a national disaster. The kings and leaders of the whole country were divided into two warring camps, depending on who they were loyal to. The epic battle took place on the famous field of Kurukshetra. The battle lasted only eighteen days, but these days shook the whole country. Both armies, the flower of Indian youth, perished in this field. In the end, the victory went to the Pandavas, and the war was rightly called the war of the Bharatas.

The Mahabharata is truly the largest literary work known to mankind. It consists of as many as one hundred thousand couplets (slokas), which leads Krishnaists to indescribable delight and allows them to be almost proud of this weighty multi-volume book. The Hindu tradition attributes the authorship of the Mahabharata to the sage Vyasa. Serious researchers, including Indian ones, certainly agree that the text could not have been created not only by one author, but even by one generation of authors. In general, when speaking about the origin of the text of this epic, experts often use the term "development" rather than "creation".

Hermann Oldenberg (1854-1920), a well-known German Sanskrit scholar and historian of religion, described the attempts to declare the Mahabharata as a single and harmoniously holistic work as "scientifically monstrous". What confuses scientists who resort to such harsh expressions?

1. Despite the undoubted artificial unity of the narrative, a huge number of serious inconsistencies are found both in the plot and in the description of the characters of the heroes of the epic, inexplicable from the point of view of a single authorship, but easily explicable from the point of view of common sense and logic.

2. The need to serve Krishna as the supreme deity, declared in some parts of the epic, runs into a sharp duality in the character of this character, which confuses not only foreign, but also native Indian readers. There are two types of explanations for this inconsistent duality. The first type is the Hare Krishna "quirks" of the blue god over good and evil, due to his omnipotence, lack of accountability and impunity. And the second type of explanation put forward by serious scientists is the banal inconsistency between the various editors of the text of the epic, who pursued different goals when completing it, by the way, which is not the first and not the last nail driven into the coffin of the version of a single authorship.

3. Mahabharata is considered an encyclopedia of the life of ancient Indian society, which is undoubtedly true. But the characters and behavior of the main characters of the epic very, very often do not correspond, if not directly contradict, to the theories of law, duty and ethics included in the text of the epic-dharmashastra in the form of "immutable" laws of dharma. Of the most blatant inconsistencies, one can, for example, mention the fact, depressing even for many Indian readers, that the Pandavas, sung in the epic, have never won an honest victory. Not a single time. In all duels with their participation, dharmayudha (rules of fair combat) were brazenly and unceremoniously violated by them. Recall how Arjuna "defeated" grandfather Bhishma, hiding behind Shikhandin's back and knowing full well that Bhishma would never fight against a former woman. Let us remember how Yudhishthira deceived Drona by shouting loudly: "Ashvatthama (the only son of Drona) is dead!" and in a whisper (so as not to break the law and not to tell a lie and, at the same time, so that the heartbroken father would not hear) added the word “elephant”, because in fact the animal of the same name died, and not the son of Drona. Or rather, the elephant did not even die in battle, but was specially killed by Bhima so that there would be “less” lies in the words of his older brother. And how defenseless Drona, lowering his weapon, was not even smitten, but actually executed by Dhrishtadyumna. Let us recall the "victories" of the Pandavas over Karna, over Duryodhana and their other "feats".

The inexperienced reader is even more amazed by the fact that all dishonest deeds are committed by them not only with the connivance, but also with the advice and instigation of their friend and mentor Krishna.

4. The nature of the narrative does not explain how a supposed single author can write either as a great poet, or as an ordinary graphomaniac, or as a wise man, or as a rural commoner, or as a brilliant artist, or as a boring pedant-accountant.

5. At various points in the text of the Mahabharata mutually exclusive systems of religion and philosophy are justified and defended.

6. In the text of the Mahabharata itself (1.1.50-61) there is a mention of the fact that it was told on three different occasions and therefore had three different beginnings and three different versions.

The foundations for the critical study of the text of the Mahabharata and the explanation of the above absurdities and blatant inconsistencies were laid by Christian Lassen (1800-1876), a Norwegian Indologist who put forward and substantiated the theory of addition and successive revisions, which is fully confirmed by the texts and monuments of the ancient Indian literary tradition. Lassen began by explaining the mention in the Ashvalayana-Grhyasutra (which he dates to the 4th century BC) of two texts called the Bharata and the Mahabharata, which existed for some time in parallel. Then, the existence in an even earlier period of the first edition of Bharata, known as the epic poem "Jaya", was discovered.

Many scholars have been analyzing the Vedic sources that allegedly provided material for the epic. The most famous and serious researchers were, perhaps, A. Weber (A. Weber) and A. Ludwig (A. Ludwig). Their attempts to find the Vedic roots of the origin of the Mahabharata ended in failure. No one could find such roots. But, thanks to their works, the content of the epic was disassembled in detail into two levels - historical and mythical.

The next giant who seriously advanced and deepened the critical study of the text of the epic was E. Hopkins (Hopkins E.W.), who worked in the late XIX - early XX centuries. He identified four stages in the evolution of the Mahabharata text:

1. the period of existence of several oral ballads about the Bharatas;

2. The period of introduction of the Pandava characters and the formation of a single text of Bharata

3. the period of introduction of didactic interpolations into the text;

4. period of later additions.

Thanks to the work of many hundreds of scientists, the following picture emerges:

In the early stages of the development of Indian literature, two traditions existed in parallel: the tradition of suts (secular storytellers-singers at royal courts and in public meetings) and the tradition of mantras (mythological-ritualistic formulas and reasoning). Both of them were initially characterized by the “fluidity” of texts, but the tradition of mantras, for a number of reasons, “froze” in written texts much earlier than the tradition of sut.

Most of the sut tradition was simply lost because of its “unrecorded” nature. There were some sort of scissors of contradictions. The tradition of mantras, being fixed, lost its dynamism and ability to respond to the changing life of society, froze and became a thing of the past, gradually losing its relevance, but the texts themselves have survived to this day. The sut tradition, on the contrary, retained its dynamism for a longer time, was able to respond to new conditions, but “paid” for this by losing huge arrays of oral texts and absorbing a huge array of elements of non-Vedic proto-Indian cultures.

In addition, it must be remembered that the tradition of mantras was originally a tradition of a narrow circle of people, and the tradition of suts always belonged to the people, or rather the peoples.

Another important point. The two traditions never conflicted with each other, moreover, the tradition of the days was “recognized” as the tradition of mantras, due to the fact that the very tradition of mantras mentions the existence of the so-called puranas and itihas, for which they began to give out texts written by everyone knows when. Incidentally, a number of scholars, relying on references in the tradition of mantras, were engaged in a serious search for texts of Puranas and Itihas, comparable in antiquity to the texts of the tradition of mantras. Nobody has been successful. That is, no one doubts the parallel existence of the texts of both traditions, but those monuments that we have today as texts of the sut tradition (puranas and itihas) were recorded relatively recently. With all of the above.

Let's go further. The literature of the mantra tradition was fixed quite quickly due to the fact that it had a single semantic core - the religious and priestly content. And one of the main reasons for the lack of textual fixation of the literature of the day tradition is considered to be the absence of such a semantic core that could unite around itself all the diversity of its elements. That's when a suitable plot appeared, then the fixation began.

The famous “battle of ten kings” became such a core, during which the Bharat clan (which arrived in India later than other Aryan clans) gained power over other principalities and kingdoms (both Aryan and indigenous aboriginal) and for a long time, as they say, ruled. Around the thirteenth and twelfth centuries BC, a minor "family" feud stirred up the political establishment in much of North India. Some Pandavas announced their claims to part of the kingdom of Hastinapura. Due to the high position of the Bharata clan, the strife quickly assumed the proportions of a national disaster. Not as large as the overexcited poets of that era describe, but still. During the eighteen days of the Battle of Kurukshetra, the entire flower of the North Indian youth really perished.

When the dust settled and peace came, poems, telling about different events and written by different poets of the warring parties, began to take shape in a single text, “drawing in” earlier stories. The interpretation of events, the appearance of the characters and the assessment of their deeds have changed many times. The main three narrative arrays that merged into a single story were bheda (quarrel), rajyavinash (loss of kingdom) and jaya (victory). The resulting poem, under the general title "Jaya", was the first text of the sut tradition and at the same time the core of the future Mahabharata. The presence of the core greatly facilitated the further crystallization of the epic material and the addition of a huge number of heterogeneous elements to the "fluid" tradition of days. Many ancient tales, especially those that glorified the deeds of the Bharat clan, were included in the Jaya and connected with the main narrative. This is how the epic "Bharata" was formed.

Now a little about the historical period against which the formation of the epic took place. It was an extremely complex and interesting period of the so-called "interregnum" (5th-2nd centuries BC), which followed the violation of the continuity of the Vedic (Brahminical) way of life and thought, caused by the teachings of the Upanishads (7th-5th centuries BC). ), resulting in:

firstly, to the emergence of unorthodox systems of thinking (the teachings of the Buddha (566-486 BC), Mahavira (540-468 BC), Ajita Kesakambali (VI-V centuries BC) and less significant teachers of lokayata);

secondly, to the development of a movement for the revival of the Vedic way of life, as a reaction to the spread of unorthodox teachings and opposition to them by orthodox (i.e., not denying the authority of the Vedas) philosophical systems;

thirdly, to the development of new ideals of statehood, demonstrated by the “Arthashastra” of Kautilya (Chanakya) (370-283 BC) that appeared in the 4th century BC;

fourthly, to the powerful growth of popular religion, based on the customs and ideas of the natives of India.

In short, it was not easy for everyone. The revivalists of Vedism could not free themselves from the spell of sophisticated ritualism and cruel social order and, therefore, could not find the support of the masses. On the other hand, the Vedic wing strongly resisted the brutal "folk" cults. The new unorthodox teachings, even as they lost their influence, remained a cause of great concern. And then a seemingly popular religious movement appears, which proclaims (albeit nominally and superficially) adherence to the Vedas. It was what we needed.

The spread of this miracle of Indian thought began with the Vrishnya and Satvat tribes. Later it spread to the Abhiras, Yadavas and Gopals. All these tribes lived in the territory of Central and Western India. The main teacher and leader of the new religious movement was Krishna - the tribal hero of each of these tribes, and, a little, and sometimes a lot, different from the rest of the Krishns, who turned, as usual, into tribal gods.

Krishnaism put forward a new religious platform, consisting of four points:

a) The purpose of a person's spiritual life. In contrast to the Upanishads, which declare such an atma-jnana (cognition of the “I”), and declare the only reality of Brahman (the universal universal soul), with which, thanks to true knowledge, the soul must merge, shaking off the illusory individuality (this teaching led to a massive outflow of the intellectual elite from the active social life of Indian society), Krishnaism proclaimed that one of the goals of the true spiritual life of a person is loka-sangraha (participation in the establishment of a stable and cohesive society). The new doctrine very timely reoriented the spiritual life of the people in the direction of social problems that are acute in any society of any era. And this fad led to an explosive growth in the popularity of Krishnaism among the people.

b) Renunciation. In defiance of the Upanishads again, which affirm sannyas as the highest stage of spiritual life (complete renunciation of worldly life and going beyond even varna ashrams, i.e. complete desocialization of the adept), Krishnaism developed a new doctrine of karma yoga (responsible performance of one's social duties, without harming your spiritual life). Krishnaism has managed to formulate in a language understandable to most Indians (and not just the intellectual elite) a compromise between the metaphysical ideal of individual liberation (moksha) and the ethical (albeit without any justification) ideal of social responsibility. Action (any) has ceased to be condemned in the minds of Hindus as an obstacle to individual liberation. The role of a possible obstacle on this path, Krishnaism hung on the personal attitude of the performer of the action to his act. It became possible to do at least something without becoming a goat. And this was another serious and certainly positive breakthrough for Krishnaism.

c) Religious practice. In contrast to the Brahminical ritualism of sacrifices, which ceased to be a practice of the masses and could not become such again, despite any efforts of the “revivalists of Brahmanism”, Krishnaism put forward a cult of bhakti that was understandable and extremely democratic for its era. It was the first and only Indian religious doctrine to this day that decided to declare (albeit with a lot of reservations) at least some kind of spiritual brotherhood of people. However, the idea of ​​sacrifice was not completely rejected by Krishnaism, but was interpreted in the direction of social ethics, along with the ideas of moksha and sannyas.

d) Synthesis of religion and philosophy. Krishnaism, which quickly became popular, deliberately did not focus the attention of its supporters and opponents on the differences in various new systems of thought, old systems of ritualism and spiritualism based on the Vedas and Brahmins and its own teachings. He tried to identify similarities in all systems and emphasize the commonality of their main goal - the awareness of higher reality. And in this he also succeeded.

Thus, skillfully using its own advantages and the weaknesses of its opponents, Krishnaism rose on the religious horizon of India, replacing atma jnana with loka sangraha, sannysa with karma yoga, ritualism with the cult of bhakti, and the dogmatism of the drying up Brahmanism with a philosophical and religious synthesis.

By the time of this Hare Krishna rise, the process of transforming and expanding the historical poem Jaya into the epic Bharata was almost complete. The first monument of the sut tradition captured the imagination of the broad masses of the Indian people. Supporters of Krishnaism, as intelligent people, began to actively use the popular epic to spread their new religious teachings. The epic did not quite meet these goals and, naturally, was subjected to Krishna editing.

The first significant “trace” of the Hare Krishna edition identified by experts is the artificial rapprochement between the Pandavas and Krishna, which was absent at the early stages of the development of the epic. Krishna became a relative of the Pandavas, their friend, mentor and philosopher at the same time. The Pandavas began to realize the divinity of Krishna.

Then, all the necessary plots were “pulled up” to express the idea that all the accomplishments of the heroes of the epic were achieved thanks to Krishna. Krishna had to become and became the central figure of the entire epic - the axis around which all the characters and events of the play revolve. The epic began to grow again thanks to the explanations and justifications for the divinity of the main character. A number of legends were changed for these purposes, and another series of legends was introduced into the epic for the first time. The work was done great and masterful, but it was done, like any fake, not flawlessly. Changes in the context, the creation of new contexts to introduce the necessary details and fragments into the text can almost always be identified by modern researchers and have been identified by them.

Paying tribute to the ingenuity of the ancient Hare Krishna editors, their artistic taste and literary talent, the modern scientific community certainly agrees that the image of Krishna is absolutely alien to the epic in its early edition.

The cornerstone, so to speak, of the Krishna "superstructure" in Bharata should be recognized as the Bhagavad Gita - the quintessence of the religious, ethical (in Indian ethical, of course) and metaphysical teachings of Krishna. She changed the whole character of the epic.

So, the epic "Bharata" was the result of the process of expanding the historical poem "Jaya" and then its Krishna revision. At this stage, the epic still bore a distinct Kshatriya imprint. The heroes of the epic were mainly kshatriya warriors, the epic and legendary material added in large quantities narrated mainly about kshatriya warriors, even religious teachings, for the dissemination of which it was supposed to use the text of the epic, were borrowed from non-Brahminical sources.

The next stage in the formation of the epic was the stage of "Brahmanization" of the epic against the background of the simultaneous interpenetration of two teachings (decrepit, mutating Brahminism and young Krishnaism), which grew from completely different roots. What united them and forced them to cooperate? The common enemy is the spread of unorthodox systems of thought, which were strengthened during the interregnum by the corrupting influence of the teachings of the Upanishads. After the victory over openly anti-Brahmin teachings and the displacement or, at worst, the localization of unorthodox religions, the struggle should have logically unfolded between Brahminism and Krishnaism, but did not unfold.

The intelligent representatives of Brahminism were aware that, despite the fact that the very emergence of Krishnaism, like other unorthodox systems, was undoubtedly a popular reaction to Brahminism, Krishnaism, unlike other heterodoxes, was not openly anti-Brahmanism and the possibility of reaching a compromise with it existed. And the supporters of Brahmanism have tried as far as possible to Brahminize the popular religion of Krishnaism. The result of these attempts was not only the Brahminization of Krishnaism, but also the emergence and rapid development of other branches of Hinduism.

The Brahmanization of Krishnaism began with the Brahmanization of the Bharata epic, which by that time was already perceived as a truly Krishnaite literary monument. These Brahmin "layers" are most easily identified in the text of the epic, in view of the fact that they sharply differ from the main text in their content, dedicated to Brahmin culture and learning. These inserts, as a rule, are extremely extensive and are crammed into the text anywhere, both out of place and, as they say, “don’t sew a tail on a mare.” Thus, entire treatises on the religion and philosophy of Brahmanism (often contradicting earlier Krishnaite inserts), Brahmin law, ethics, cosmology, mysticism, social and political theories, etc. appeared in the epic. There were also legends new to the content of the epic with a clearly Brahminist coloring. A number of old legends were again reworked in order to portray the heroes of the epic as defenders of the faith and culture of Brahmanism.

The text of the poem suffered greatly from these last interventions. Unlike the Hare Krishna editors, who were fluent in words and possessed unconditional literary talent, the editors who carried out the Brahminization of the Bharata worked, as they say, with an ax, not particularly ceremonious with the narrative canvas and not burdening themselves with artistic delights.

As a result of the Brahmanization of the text of the epic, the image of Krishna (already having absorbed the features of several different Krishns) underwent even more significant changes, becoming essentially syncretic, turning into an avatar of Vishnu and “married” with the Brahman of the Upanishads.

And, finally, elements of the Brahminist dharma and thread were superimposed on the epic-historical elements of the sut tradition and the religious-ethical elements of Krishnaism. Thus, the Mahabharata was born.

Finally, I can report that the researchers of the text of the Mahabharata not only revealed all the “traces” of Brahminist interference in the text of the epic, but also named individual Brahmin dynasties that carried out certain text applications in the colorful collage of the ancient Indian monument.

Family tree.

http://s210001543.onlinehome.us/31/mahabharata-characters-tree

Mahabharata and Ramayana

The great epic of ancient India The culture of ancient India, its religious and philosophical teachings, art, largely influenced the formation of modern philosophy and human perception of the world as a whole. I studied the epic works "Mahabharata" and "Ramayana", containing, in my opinion, a description of the most significant elements of ancient Indian culture for modern times, their interrelationships. I studied and presented in this work: the language of myth, the history of the formation and emergence of religious beliefs, and, finally, the rethinking of the Indian epic at the moment and the transformation of its form from the moment of its creation to the present day. The Great Epic of Ancient India The ancient Indian epic poems "Mahabharata" and "Ramayana" were created about two thousand years ago, in Sanskrit, a language that has long been dead, in the bosom of a culture that has departed into the distant past. Both poems belong to the genre of the heroic epic and share with other epics the fundamental features of this genre. Like most works of the heroic epic, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana are based on historical traditions and retain in their content the memory of events that actually happened. The concept of historicity is primarily applicable to the Mahabharata, which calls itself "itihasa" (literally: "it really happened") or "Purana" ("narration of antiquity") and tells of an internecine war in the Bharat tribe, which, according to historians, it took place at the turn of II-I millennium BC. era. Less clear is the historical basis of the Ramayana. But even here, experts believe that Rama’s trip to the island of Lanka (apparently modern Ceylon) in search of a wife kidnapped by the lord of demons, the Rakshasas, in a fantastically refracted form reflects the struggle of the conquerors of India - the Indo-European tribes of the Aryans with the natives of the Indian south, and that the events that made up the historical background of the poem, should be attributed approximately to the fourteenth-twelfth centuries BC. e. By analogy with other national epics, the era that brought to life the legends of the Mahabharata and Ramayana received a special name in the scientific literature - the "heroic age". However, between the heroic age and the epic poetry that glorifies it, there is usually a lot of time. In any case, the first mention of the Bharata epic in Indian literature is attested no earlier than the 4th century BC. e., and finally, in the form in which it has come down to us, the "Mahabharata" took shape by the III-IV centuries AD. Era approximately in the same period - a stretch of five or six centuries - the formation of the Ramayana also takes place. If we take into account this obviously retrospective character of Indian epic poetry, it becomes clear why it brings only a very distorted echo from the past, which it seeks to capture, and, moreover, fancifully fuses it with the historical reminiscences of subsequent centuries. So, although the Sanskrit epic tells about the most ancient tribes of the era of the settlement of the Aryans in India: the Bharatas, the Kuru, the Panchalas and others, he at the same time knows the Greeks, Romans, Saks, Tocharians, Chinese, that is, such peoples that became known to the Indians only on turn of our era. In the content of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, the features of the primitive system and tribal democracy are clearly felt, tribal feuds and wars over cattle are described, and on the other hand, they are familiar with powerful empires that sought to dominate all of India (for example, the empire of Magadha in the second half of the 1st millennium BC), and the social background of the epic is a relatively late system of four varnas: Brahmins - priests, Kshatriyas - warriors, Vaishyas - merchants, artisans and farmers, and Shudras - hired workers and slaves. The capital of the heroes of the Mahabharata, Hastinapura, as well as the capital of Rama Ayodhya, are depicted in the poems as densely populated, well-organized cities, which are decorated with numerous palaces and majestic buildings, fortified with deep moats and fortress walls. Meanwhile, as shown by recent excavations at the site of Hastinapura, at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. era, it was a simple cluster of huts with only a few brick houses. Didactic sections of the Sanskrit Middle Ages, but at the same time "Mahabharata" and "Ramayana" repeatedly touch on customs that are rooted in antiquity and based on primitive ideas about morality. Here you can read about the marital competitions during the marriage of Draupadi and Sida, about Savitri’s swayamvar (choosing a groom by the bride), about levirate - marriages with the wives of a deceased brother, about taking the bride away by force, about polyandry - the marriage of five Pandavas to Draupadi, etc. Finally, in continuous development, from archaic beliefs to the views of the classical era, presents us with an epic ideological and religious teachings of India. In some sections of the epic, the main role is played by the old Vedic (after the name of the most ancient monuments of Indian literature - the Vedas) gods, of which Indra, Vayu, Ashvins and Surya become the divine fathers of the heroes of the Mahabharata Pandavas and their half-brother Karna. In other sections, the Vedic deities are relegated to the background and the Hindu supreme triad of gods: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, acquires predominant importance. The role of Vishnu is especially noteworthy in the poems: in the Mahabharata, he appears in his earthly incarnation of Krishna, and in the Ramayana, Rama. There is reason to think that in the early layers of the epic, both Krishna and Rama were still deprived of the divine halo, but in the texts that have come down to us, both of them are the two main incarnations of the savior god who came to earth for the triumph of justice, and Vishnu is no longer just a god , but "the highest being", "the highest god", "the beginning and the end of the world". This change is directly related to the spread of Vishnuism and the cults of Vishnu-Krishna and Vishnu-Rama in India at the beginning of our era. And along with new religious ideals, new philosophical doctrines penetrated into the epic (for example, karmas - the predestination of the life of each being by his deeds in past births, dharma - the highest moral law, moksha - liberation from the bonds of being), which played a large role in the moral teaching of the epic. It would seem that the combination of different historical layers within one monument should have led to its internal disintegration; it would seem that the tales and myths of the heroic age will one way or another reveal their incompatibility with the artistic forms of a much later era. However, this did not happen with the Mahabharata and the Ramayana because, like most other epics, they are monuments of oral poetry in origin. The epic does not belong to one time, but is the property of many successive generations for centuries, the Mahabharata and Ramayana were formed in the oral tradition, and the continuity of this tradition, the organicity and gradual changes taking place in it ensured the artistic and conceptual unity of the poems at each stage of their formation, up until the time they were written down. Both epics themselves testify to their oral origin. The Ramayana reports that its tales were passed from mouth to mouth, sung to the accompaniment of a lute, and that its first performers were the sons of Rama, Kusha and Lava. Mahabharata, in turn, mentions the names of several of his narrators, and one of them, Ugrashravas, says that he adopted the art of narration, as is customary in the epic tradition of different peoples, from his father Lomaharshana. Being a monument of oral poetry, the Mahabharata and Ramayana did not have a fixed text for a long time. It was only at the late stage of oral existence, in the first centuries of our era, when the poems reached a colossal size - the Mahabharata - about 100,000 couplets, or slokas, and the Ramayana - about 24,000 slokas - were they written down. But even after that, they came to us in dozens of different manuscripts and editions, since, perhaps, not one, but several entries were made in the beginning, and versions of different storytellers were also recorded. The ancient Indian epic also names several groups of professional singers who performed epic and panegyric poems. Among these groups, the so-called Sutas and Kushilavs stand out, whose duties, apparently, included the performance of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Each of the epic singers acted both as the heir to the established tradition and as its creator-improviser. The singer never followed his predecessors verbatim, he combined and supplemented traditional elements in a way and in ways suggested to him by his own abilities and the specific situation of performance, but in general he had to be faithful to the tradition, and his story remained for the listeners the same story they knew. . Therefore, although in India, as in any other country, the creators of epic poetry were many different storytellers who lived in different places and at different times, it may seem to be the creation of one poet. And it is no coincidence that when new ideas about literary creativity prevailed in India at a late stage in the formation of the epic, the Mahabharata and Ramayana were attributed to two specific authors - Vyasa and Valmiki, respectively. It is quite possible that both were not mythical figures, but they were not authors in the modern sense of the word either, but only the most prominent and therefore the most memorable figures in a long line of storytellers who passed poems from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation. Oral origin left an indelible mark on the appearance of the Mahabharata and Ramayana. For a successful and continuous performance of an epic (especially of such a size as the ancient Indian one), the narrator must be fluent in the technique of oral creativity and, in particular, in the traditional oral epic style. In this regard, the language of the Mahabharata and Ramayana is extremely saturated with stable phrases, constant epithets and comparisons, all kinds of "common places", which in special studies are usually called epic formulas. The epic singer kept in his memory a large number of such formulas, was able to construct new ones according to well-known models and widely used them, based on the needs of the meter and in accordance with the context. Therefore, it is not surprising that most of the formulas are not only constantly found in every poem, but also coincide in the texts of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. In turn, the formulas of the Sanskrit epic are grouped into original thematic blocks, generally characteristic of epic poetry. Such identically built and stylistically similar scenes as divine and royal councils, receptions of guests, the departure of heroes into the forest and their forest adventures, military duels and ascetic feats, descriptions of the weapons of heroes, army campaigns, prophetic dreams, ominous omens, pictures of nature, etc. - are repeated with noticeable regularity, and the epic story moves from topic to topic, as if along pre-arranged milestones. This or that theme can be developed in several versions, completely or briefly, but on the whole it retains a certain sequence of plot elements and a more or less standard set of formulas. A specific feature of the composition of the ancient Indian epic, and primarily the Mahabharata, is also all kinds of insert stories, sometimes somehow related to its content (The Tale of Satyavati and Shantanu), and sometimes not at all related to it (legends about Kadru, about Vinata, about the abduction of amrita, about Astika and the great sacrifice of snakes, etc.). inserted stories can be popular myths and heroic tales, fables, parables and even hymns (for example, the hymn to Ashvins), didactic instructions and philosophical dialogues. Some of them are laconic, and some include many hundreds of verses and look like poems within a poem, and in themselves can be considered masterpieces of world literature (“The Tale of Nal”). The abundance of inserted stories also stems from the very essence of epic poetry, created by many storytellers, each of whom has the right to introduce passages from his own performing repertoire into the poem. And although the singers of the Mahabharata used this right with particular breadth (inserted episodes in it occupied at least two-thirds of the volume of the text), in principle the same method characterizes the composition of the Babylonian Galgamesha, etc. The similarity of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana with other epics of world literature is not limited, however, only to the peculiarities of their genesis, style and composition. This similarity extends to some of the defining features of their content. A distinctive and fundamentally important feature of the Mahabharata is that among its inserted episodes, a significant place is occupied by didactic and philosophical digressions, sometimes covering (for example, the teaching of Bhishma before his death) her entire books. These digressions, along with other problems, primarily interpret the problem of law, morality, the highest duty and religious duty of a person, that is, everything that the Hindu philosophical tradition unites with the concept of dharma. On the other hand, the idea of ​​dharma is also central in the narrative parts of the epic. In the Mahabharata—and this is its main feature—the heroic conflict becomes an ethical, moral conflict. And the ethical teaching of the epic is clarified not only by didactic interludes, but together with them the entire narrative of the epic about the Pandavas and Kauravas. According to the teachings of the Mahabharata, a person, indeed, is not able to change the fate of fate, delay death, or win instead of a predetermined defeat. But death and birth, defeat and victory are only the outer outline of life, while its true value lies elsewhere—in its moral content. And just here a person is given freedom of choice. He can live only for himself and his success, in the name of his passions and desires, or he can renounce selfish goals and submit himself to the service of a supra-personal duty. In both cases, his life remains subject to fate, but not to be a toy in the hands of fate, a person is able to give life the highest meaning and goal only when he sacrifices his personal interests, dissolves his “I” in the spiritual harmony of the world. Therefore, while recognizing the will of fate, the Mahabharata at the same time recognizes the moral responsibility of its heroes, teaches us to combine our own efforts with obedience to fate. All the heroes of the Mahabharata, one way or another, face a decisive test. At some point, they must choose between personal and common good, between their own interests and not interested in the fruits of their actions, between the right of the strong and the law, universal duty, eternal dharma. The nature of this choice ultimately determines the outcome of the arrangement of heroes in the epic, the outcome of the battle on the Kuru field. The Pandavas are contrasted in the Mahabharata with the Kauravas not so much as offended offenders or high in spirit to the faint-hearted, but as champions of justice to its opponents. Karna, a powerful supporter of the Kauravas, is also offended: because of his imaginary origin, he was contemptuously rejected by the Pandava brothers. In nobility and courage - and this is also recognized by the Mahabharata - Karna will not yield to anyone in the world, including the best of the Pandavas warrior Arjuna. And yet, the sympathy of the creators is on the side of Karna. He made his moral choice - union and friendship with Duryodhana - for personal motives and affections, not wanting to forget the insult inflicted on him, trying to take revenge on his offenders, out of selfish feelings of pride and anger. Meanwhile, when it comes to the struggle between justice and injustice, says the Mahabharata, one should be guided not by personal likes and dislikes, but by an extra-egoistic sense of moral duty, and Karna, who neglected it, himself becomes the culprit of his fate in its highest and moral sense. The problems of the meaning of human life, the connection and collision of personal and universal ideas about morality are resolved here in the conversation of Krishna with Arjuna, whose chariot is driven by Krishna as a charioteer. Before the start of the battle on the Kuru field, Arjuna sees his “grandfathers, fathers, mentors, uncles, brothers, sons and grandsons” among the opponents and, horrified by the fratricidal massacre, refuses to fight, throws his bow. And then Krishna, as the supreme being, as the spiritual director of Arjuna, He contrasts the seemingly noble refusal of his pet from the battle with the doctrine of moral duty, eternal dharma. Krishna says that since it is not given to a person to see the world in unity, to distinguish the true goals of being, he can only fulfill his duty to the best of his ability, not caring about the visible consequences of his actions. Arjuna is a warrior, a kshatriya, his duty is to fight, and he must fight, casting aside doubts and hesitations caused by the fact that he sees the world in fragments, proceeds from momentary criteria, forgets that bodies are transient and meaningless sorrow for the deaths of births. However, Krishna does not limit himself to this pragmatic instruction. He explains to Arjuna how to overcome the individual, fragmentary perception of the world. You can get rid of it only by achieving detachment, detachment from life attachments, from the anxieties of being, from feelings and objects of feelings. The hero must know the highest meaning of life, but he is free to do "as he wants." The heroes of the Mahabharata exercise their will in different ways, and the clash of their wills constitutes the ethical conflict of the epic, in the light of which all its private conflicts are resolved. In the Indian tradition, the Mahabharata is revered as a sacred book, as the "fifth Veda", unlike the ancient four, it is accessible to the common people and intended for them. The Mahabharata expounds its teachings not in the form of prescriptions and not only as instructions, but on the example of memorable heroic events taken from the legendary past of India. Obedient to the norms of oral creativity, the creators of the later versions of the Mahabharata left the heroic tale of the epic intact, but placed new accents on it. Using the traditional epic plot, they saturate it with epic problems in the spirit of their contemporary religious and philosophical principles. The moral teaching cements the Mahabharata, but it does not lose either its artistic expressiveness or archaic coloring. And only in this organic unity of the didactic layer and its own epic narrative, the meaning and depth of the content of the first ancient Indian epic are revealed. During its formation, the second ancient Indian epic, the Ramayana, also underwent a significant change. However, the paths of transformation of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana were different. Of course, the Ramayana also absorbed new philosophical and moral ideas, and in the Ramayana there are many discussions about duty, law, law, etc., and the Ramayana draws an ideal hero - Rama, the incarnation of Vishnu, personifying in her on the periphery of the story. The main thing that the Indian tradition rightfully appreciates in the Ramayana is its high literary merit. In her homeland, she is unanimously recognized as "adikavya", that is, the first literary work of her own, and her legendary creator Valmiki is "adikavi", the first poet. If the “Mahabharata” from the heroic epic eventually became a heroic-didactic epic, then the “Ramayana” developed from the heroic to a literary epic, in which both the ancient plot and the methods of description turned out to be consistently subordinate to the task of aesthetic influence. Apparently, the legend of the Ramayana - in a different way and even to a greater extent than the Mahabharata - was subjected to purposeful processing, and processing by means of no longer oral, written poetry. And therefore, it was the Ramayana that opened a new era of literary creativity in India, an era adorned with the names of such poets as Ashvaghoshi, Kalidasa, Bhartrihari, Bhavabhuti. The history of the creation of the ancient Indian epic, which largely determined the specifics of its appearance and content, as we can see, was long, complex and unusual. But no less unusual is the fate after it was created. Until now, the profound and multifaceted influence that the Mahabharata and Ramayana had on the literature and culture of India and neighboring countries of Asia has not been exhausted. The works of ancient and medieval Indian poets, prose writers and playwrights are endless, in which either the Mahabharata or the Ramayana are transcribed in their entirety, or some episode, myth, legend borrowed from them. It is even more significant that in general it is hardly possible to find such an author in Sanskrit literature whose work would be free from the influence of the ideas, images and style of both epics. Therefore, it would not be an exaggeration to say that in India, as in no other country, the epic heritage served as the direct basis for the entire development of classical literature. The situation changed little when Sanskrit, as the leading literary language of India, gave way to living languages ​​and dialects. In each of these languages, there are several translations and adaptations of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, which, as a rule, played a decisive role in the formation of New Indian literatures. And now, even everywhere in India, both poems are performed by folk narrators, and for modern poets they retain the power of a perfect model and example. At the same time, to no lesser extent than literature, the ancient epic influences in India all spheres of culture and ideology. Revered as sacred books, the Mahabharata and Ramayana largely contributed to the formation of the national cultural tradition, the development of cardinal religious, philosophical, moral ideals and principles. And any ideological and social movement within the framework of Hinduism always strives to find its origins in them and rely on their authority. However, the influence of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana is not limited to India alone. What Homer's Iliad and Odyssey were for Europe, the Mahabharata and Ramayana have become for all of Central and Southeast Asia. A Cambodian inscription from 600 tells of the reading of the Ramayana in a local temple. Around the same time, transcriptions of the ancient Indian epic appeared in Indonesia, Malaya, Nepal and Laos. Not later than the 7th century, the Ramayana penetrated China, Tibet and then Mongolia, and the Mahabharata was translated into Persian and Arabic in the 16th century. Throughout Asia, as well as in India, acquaintance with the Sanskrit epic stimulated, along with literature, the development of culture and the arts, especially painting, sculpture and theater. The content of the poems, reproduced on the insets of many Indian temples, is reflected in the giant sculptural compositions of Angkor Wat (Cambodia), and on the Javanese reliefs in Prambanan. Performances on the plots of the Mahabharata and Ramayana make up the repertoire of the South Indian dance drama Kathakali, classical Cambodian ballet, Thai mask pantomime, Indonesian shadow theater Wayang. "Mahabharata" and "Ramayana" were admired by many outstanding cultural figures of East and West, such as Beethoven, Goethe, Heine, Belinsky. And now in India, these epic tales continue to be one of the most beloved works. Conclusion. The introduction to the Mahabharata says: Some poets have already told this story, others are now telling, And still others will tell it on earth. With these words, the couplet from the Ramayana also echoes: As long as rivers flow on the earth and mountains rise, The story of the deeds of Rama will live among people. Although proud statements of this kind are common in the monuments of ancient literature, in relation to the Sanskrit epic they, in my opinion, turned out to be prophetic. And these prophecies take on a special meaning in our days, when the Mahabharata and Ramayana overcome new temporal and geographical boundaries.

Glossary of terms and proper names. 1. "Itihasa" (literally: "it really happened") - the name of the works of the heroic epic or otherwise "Purana" ("narration of antiquity"). 2. Aryans-Indo-European tribes, as well as tribes were: Bharat, Panchaly, Tokhars. 3. brahmin-priest. 4. Kshatriya warrior. 5. Vaishya merchant, farmer and craftsman. 6. Sudra - hired worker from slaves. 7. swayamvara - the choice of the bridegroom by the bride. 8. levirate-marriage with the wife of a deceased brother. 9. polyandry - marriage of 5 Pandavas to Draupadi. 10. Vedas - the oldest monument of Indian literature. 11. karma - the predestination of the life of each being by his deeds in past births. 12. dharma - the highest moral law. 13. moksha - liberation from the bonds of being. 14. shlok couplets (15. sutas and kushilavs - groups of professional singers performing Mahabharata and Ramayana. 16. Pandavas and Kaurava tribes. 17. Adikavi - this was the name of the truly first literary work - Ramayana. 18. kathakali-South Indian dance drama 19. Wayang-Indonesian shadow theater 20. The Magadha Empire-sought to dominate all of India 21. Hastinapura-the capital of the heroes of the Mahbharata 22. Ayodhya-the capital of Rama 23. Rama the Elder son of King Dasharadha 24. Ravan the king of demons 25. Sita, the wife of Rama 26. the triad of gods: Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva 27. Vyasa and Valmiki, supposedly the authors of the Mahabharata and Ramayana 28. Kusha and Lava - the first performers of "Ramamyana" 29. Karna - a powerful supporter of the Kauravas 30. Arjuna - the best warrior of the Pandavas 31. Kurukshetra - the field where the Pandavas and Kauravas fought 32. the island of Lanku - modern Sri Lanka. Zhirnova Anna - student of the 11th grade of gymnasium No. 1517 Head: Finogenova S. I. - history teacher of gymnasium No. 1517, senior researcher at the Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin, Ph.D.

Found http://gym1517.narod.ru/sbornik/uchenik/zhirnova.htm

Mahabharata. Vocabulary Vocabulary Arjuna is a prince, one of the Pandavas. Arjuna is the son of Kritavirya who was killed by Larashurama. Atharva Veda is one of the four Vedas. Ashvapati is the king of madras, the father of Savitri. Ashvatthaman is a Brahmin warrior, the son of Drona. Ashvatthaman is the name of an elephant in the Kaurava army. Ashvins - gods of the morning dawn, twin brothers, fathers of Nakula and Sahadeva. Baka is a Rakshasa killed by Bhima. Balarama is the brother of Krishna. Bali is the king of the monkeys, brother of Sugriva. Barannikov A.P. - Soviet Indologist, academician. Brahma - according to the religious beliefs of the ancient Indians, the creator god. Vrihadasva is a hermit. Brihaspati is the teacher (guru) of the gods. Bhagadatta is the king of the country of Pragjyotisha, a supporter of the Kauravas. Bharat is the name in Indian languages ​​of the Indian Republic. Bharata is the legendary king, the progenitor of the heroes of the Mahabharata. Bharata is the son of Dasharatha, the brother of Rama. Bharatas are the descendants of Bharatas. Bhima is a prince, one of the Pandavas. Bhima is the king of the Vidarbhas, the father of Damayanti. Bhishma is the son of Shantanu, great-uncle of the Pandavas and Kauravas, commander of the Kaurava forces. Bhoja is a clan of the Yadava tribe. Bhrigu is the name of the founder of an ancient Brahmin family. Vajra is the grandson of Krishna, the king of Indraprastha. Vaishampayana - rishi, narrator of the Mahabharata. Vayu is the god of the wind, father of Bhima. Valmiki is the alleged author of the Ramayana. Varanavata is a city in the Ganges valley. Varuna is the god of waters. Vasistha is a rishi. Vasudeva is the king of the Yadavas, the father of Krishna. The Vedas are sacred scripture. Vibhishana is Ravana's brother who defected to Rama's side. Vibhruvahana is the king of Manipura, the son of Arjuna. Vivasvant is one of the names of the sun god. Vidarbha is a country in South India, the birthplace of Damayanti. Videha is a country in North India (now North Bihar). Vidura is the son of Vyasa and a Shudryanka slave, uncle of the Pandavas and Kauravas. Virata is the king of the Matsyas, an ally of the Pandavas. Vichitravirya is a king from the Bharat family. Vishnu is the guardian god. The Vrishni are a clan of the Yadava tribe. Vyasa Krishna Dvaipayana - rishi, author of the Mahabharata, grandfather of the Kauravas and Pandavas. Ganges is a river. Ganga is a goddess. Gandiva is the name of Arjuna's magical bow. Gandhara is a country along the middle reaches of the Indus. Gandhari - Princess of Gandhara, wife of Dhritarashtra, mother of the Kauravas. Himalayas are mountains. Godavari is a river in South India. Ghatotkacha is a rakshasa son of Bhima and Hidimba. Damayanti is the princess of Vidarbha, wife of Nal. Dandaka is a forest in South India where Rama lived in exile. Daruka is the charioteer of Krishna. Dasharatha is the king of Koschala, the father of Rama. Dvaipayana is a lake in the vicinity of Kurukshetra. Dvaparayuga is the third period of the great yuga. Dvaraka is the capital of the Yadavas. Delhi is the capital of the Indian Republic. Jamadagni is a brahmana from the Bhrigu clan, the father of Parashurama. Jamna is a river. Janamejaya - king, great-grandson of Arjuna. Jarasandha is the king of Magadha. Jayadratha is the king of the country of Sindhu. Jayatsena - king of Magadha, supporter of the Pandavas. Draupadi is the daughter of Drupada, the wife of the Pandavas. Drona is a brahmin warrior, mentor of the Pandavas and Kauravas, commander of the Kauravas. Drupada is the king of the country of the Panchalas, an ally of the Pandavas. Duryodhana is the king, the eldest of the Kauravas. Duhshanta is a king from the Puru clan, the father of Bharata. Duhshasana is a prince, one of the Kauravas. Dharma is the god of justice; often identified with Yama; father of Yudhishthira. Dhaunya is the court priest of the Pandavas. Dhritarashtra is the father of the Kauravas. Dhrishtadyunna - son of Drupada, commander of the Pandava forces. Dhrishtaketu is the king of the Chedi country, an ally of the Pandavas. Zhukovsky V.A. - poet, translator into Russian of the legend "Nal and Damayanti". Indus is a river. Indra is the king (raja) of the gods. Indraprastha is the capital of the Pandavas. Kaikeyi is Dasharatha's wife, Bharata's mother. Kakura is a clan of the Yadav tribe. Kalidasa is an ancient Indian writer. Kaliyuga - the fourth period of the great yuga; dark, sinful age. Kalyanov V.I. - translator into Russian of the first book of the Mahabharata. Kama is the god of love. Kamyaka is the name of the forest. Kanva is a hermit who is the adoptive father of Shakuntala. Kanka is one of the names of Yudhishthira. Kansa is Krishna's uncle who was killed by him. Karna is the son of Kunti and the god Surya, a supporter of the Kauravas. The Kauravas are the sons of Dhritarashtra, the descendants of the Kuru from the Bharat family. Kaushalya is the wife of King Dasharatha, the mother of Rama. Kashi (Benares) - a state and a city in the Ganges valley Kichaka - a commander among the Matsyas. Kishkindhya is the kingdom of monkeys. Koschala is a country in the Ganges valley. Kripa is a brahmin warrior. Kritavirya is the leader of the Haihai tribe. Kritavarnan - King of the Yadavas, supporter of the Kauravas. Kritayuga - the first period of the great yuga, the "golden age". Krishna is the eighth earthly incarnation (avatar) of Vishnu Krishna is the nickname of Draupadi. Kuvera is the god of wealth. Kushi is the queen and mother of Karna and the three elder Pandavas (Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna). Kuru is a king, a descendant of Bharata, the ancestor of the Kauravas and Pandavas. Kurukshetra "the field of Kuru" is the site of the battle between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Lakshmana is the son of Dasharatha, the brother of Rama. Lakshmana is the son of Duryodhana. Lanka is an island (now Ceylon). The Lunar Dynasty is a royal family that ruled in the upper reaches of the Ganges valley. Magadha is a country in Eastern India (now South Bihar). Madri - queen, mother of two younger Pandavas (Nakula and Sahadeva). Manipura is a state and city in East India. Manu is the son of Vivaswant. Markandeya is a rishi. Marutta is a legendary king. Mathura is a city on Jamna (now Mattra). Mahendra - mountains of East India. Meru is a sacred mountain beyond the Himalayas. Mohenjo-Daro - the ruins of an ancient city. Nakula is a prince, one of the Pandavas. Nal (Nalya) is the hero of one of the legends in the Mahabharata. Nal is a builder monkey, an associate of Rama. Nanda is a shepherd, the adoptive father of Krishna. Narada is the divine rishi, the messenger of the gods. Nishadha is the birthplace of Nal. The Pandavas are the "sons of Pandu" from the Bharat family. Pandu is the king of Hastinapur, the founder of the Pandava family. Parashurama - "Rama with an ax" - a Brahmin warrior, the sixth earthly incarnation (avatar) of Vishnu. Parikshit is the son of Abhimanyu and Uttara, the successor of the Pandava family. Pragjyotisha is a country in East India. Prithu is a descendant of the god Vishnu, the first king on earth. Puru is the royal family to which Bharata's father Duhsanta belonged. Pururavas is a legendary king, the ancestor of Bharata. Pushkara is the prince of Nishadhi, brother of Nala. Ravana is a Rakshasa king of Lanka. Rama is the son of Jamadagni (Parashurama). Rama is the son of Dasharatha, the hero of the Ramayana, the seventh earthly incarnation (avatar) of Vishnu. The Rigveda is the oldest of the four Vedas. Savitri is the daughter of King Ashvapati, the wife of Satyavan. Samaveda is one of the four Vedas. Sanjaya is the driver of Dhritarashtra. Sarasvati is a river flowing near Kurukshetra. Satyavan - prince, husband of Savitri. Satyaki is a relative of Krishna, a supporter of the Pandavas. Satyavati is the queen, the wife of Shantapu. Sahadeva is a prince, one of the Pandavas. Sindhu is a country along the lower reaches of the Indus. Sita is a princess from Videha, the wife of Rama. Smirnov B.L. - translator into Russian of some parts of the "Mahabharata". The Solar Dynasty is a royal family that ruled in the middle reaches of the Ganges valley. Subhadra is Krishna's sister, Arjuna's wife. Sugriva is the king of the monkeys, an ally of Rama. Sudakshina is the king of Cambodia, a supporter of the Kauravas. Sumitra is Dasharatha's wife. Surya is the sun god, father of Karna. Tvashtar is the builder of the universe. Tretayuga is the second period of the great yuga. Thanesar is a city in Kurukshetra. Ugrasena is the king of the Yadavas. Ugrashravas - Suta, the narrator of the Mahabharata. Ulupi is the daughter of the king of the Nagas, the wife of Arjuna. Upaplavya is the capital of the Matsyas. Urvaschi is an Apsara, the progenitor of the Bharatas. Uttara - prince, son of Virata. Hanuman is a monkey, the son of the god Vayu, an associate of Rama. Harivansha is a poem. Hastinapur is the capital of the Kauravas. Hidimba is a Rakshasa killed by Bhima. Hidimba is the sister of Rakshasa Hidimba, wife of Bhima. Chedi is a country in the Ganges valley. Chitrangada is a king from the Bharat family. Shakuni - King of Gandhara, uncle and ally of the Kauravas. Shakuntala is the mother of Bharata. Shalva is the king of the mlecchas, a supporter of the Kauravas. Shalya - the king of the country of the Madras, the uncle of the younger Pandavas, an ally of the Kauravas. Shantanu is the great-grandfather king of the Pandavas and Kauravas. Shatrughna - son of Dasharatha, brother of Rama. Shveta is the son of Virata. Shiva is the destroyer god. Shikhandin is the son of Drupada. Ekachakra is a city in Northern India. Yudhishthira is the king, the eldest of the Pandavas. Yuyutsu is the son of Dhritarashtra by a Vaishika. Yajnaseni is the main name of Draupadi. Yajurveda is one of the four Vedas. Yama is the god of death, the king of the country of ancestors. Literature: Ilyin G.F. Dictionary / / Ancient Indian legend about the heroes of antiquity "Mahabhorata" - M.: Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1958 - c.135-140

The World History. Volume 3 Age of Iron Badak Alexander Nikolaevich

Ancient Indian epic. Mahabharata and Ramayana

In the Vedic period, the history of ancient India is the formation of epic creativity. Epic poems are written monuments and are one of the most important and significant sources on the history and culture of ancient India in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. e. Epic poems have been compiled and edited over many centuries, and they reflect the phenomena of the Vedic era. The main epic monuments of ancient India include the poems "Mahabharata" and "Ramayana". These late Vedic works of literature are enormous in size, heterogeneous in composition and varied in content.

Truth, fiction and allegory are intertwined in both works. It is believed that the Mahabharata was created by the sage Vyas, and the Ramayana by Valmiki. However, in the form in which these creations have come down to us, they cannot belong to any one author and do not belong to the same century in time of creation. The modern form of these great epic poems is the result of numerous and continuous additions and changes.

The largest in size is the Mahabharata, it is 8 times larger than the combined Odyssey and Iliad. Due to the richness and variety of content, it is called the encyclopedia of ancient Indian life. The Mahabharata contains a wealth of material on economic and social development, government and forms of political organization, rights, customs and culture. Of particular value are information of a cosmological and religious nature, philosophical and ethical content. All this information reflects the process of the emergence of Indian philosophy and religion, the addition of the fundamental features of Hinduism, the cult of the gods Shiva and Vishnu. In general, the Mahabharata reflected the stage of development of ancient Indian society, associated with the strengthening of the Kshatriya class and their struggle with the Brahmins for a leading position in society.

The plot basis of the Mahabharata (Great War of the Bharata Descendants) is the struggle for power within the royal family of Kuru, who ruled Hastinapur. The Kuru clan was one of the most powerful in Northern India, descended from Bharata, a king from the Lunar dynasty. In this clan were two brothers Dhritarashtra - the eldest and Pandu - the youngest. Each had a family and children.

The sons of Pandu were called Pandavas (descendants of Pandu), and the sons of Dhritarashtra were called Kauravas, since he was the eldest in the family and the family name passed to him.

Panda was the ruler, because due to a physical defect - blindness, Dhritarashtra could not occupy the throne. Panda dies, leaving young heirs. This is used by the sons of Dhritarashtra, who wanted to destroy the Pandavas and establish their power. However, certain circumstances did not allow them to do this, and the Kauravas were forced to cede part of the kingdom to their cousins.

However, the Kauravas do not give up their idea to deal with the Pandavas and thus deprive them of part of their inheritance. They go to various tricks. The Kauravas challenged the Pandavas to a game of dice, which at that time was a kind of duel that was not customary to refuse. The Kshatriyas had such peculiar duels to sort things out, where they measured their strengths, abilities, and determined their position. As a result of several rounds of the game, the Pandavas lost all their wealth and, based on the conditions of the game, their part of the kingdom passed to the Kauravas, and they were forced to go into exile for thirteen years in the forests.

At the end of this period, the Pandavas demanded their share of the kingdom, but Duryodhan, the eldest of the Kauravas, refused them. This led to internecine warfare, the fate of which was decided by the famous battle on the plain of Kurukshetra. The battle was fierce, bloody and lasted eighteen days. Almost all Kauravas were killed. Yudhishthira, the eldest of the Pandavas, became the king of Hastinapura. After some time, the Pandavas renounced worldly life and transferred their power to Parikshit, the grandson of Arjuna, one of the Pandava brothers.

The "Mahabharata" includes a religious and philosophical treatise - "Gita" or "Bhagavad Gita" ("Song of God"), which was Krishna's teaching to Arjuna. During the battle on the plain of Kurukshetra, Arjuna hesitated to take up arms against his relatives. The fact is that according to the ideas of that era, regardless of the reason, the murder of relatives and friends was considered a sin and was subjected to the strictest ban.

Lord Krishna gave a command explaining to Arjuna that he is a kshatriya and the duty of a kshatriya is to fight and kill the enemy, that he is deluded into thinking that in the battle he kills his relatives. The soul is eternal, nothing can kill or destroy it. If you fight and win, you will gain kingdom and happiness, if you die in battle, you will reach heaven. Krishna showed the bewildered Arjuna the right way to combine his interests with duty, contrary to these interests. Then Krishna explained his divine mission to him. The Gita touches on many issues that are of a universal nature. It is the most popular work of Indian thought and occupies an honorable place in world literature.

Samples of bronze (left) and stone (center and right) sculpture. Harappan culture.

In terms of size and historical data, the Ramayana (The Tale of Rama) is inferior to the Mahabharata, although it is distinguished by a greater harmony of composition and better editing.

The plot of the Ramayana is based on the life story of Rama, the ideal son and the ideal ruler. In Ayodhya there was a ruler, Dasaratha, who had four sons from three wives. In old age, he appoints his eldest son Rama as his successor (novaraja), who surpassed his brothers in intelligence, strength, courage, courage and nobility. But his stepmother Kaikain opposed this, she seeks the appointment of her son Bharat as the heir, and Rama leaves the country for fourteen years in exile. With his wife Sita and younger brother Lakshman, he retired to the forests. Saddened by this event, Dasaratha dies, Bharata renounced the throne, but before the return of Rama, he agreed to rule the country.

During the wanderings of Rama, Ravana - the king of Rakshas (demons) and the lord of Lanka (Ceylon) kidnapped Sita. This led to a long war between Rama and Ravana. In the end, Ravana was killed, Sita was released, and Rama, whose exile had expired, returns with Sita to Ayodhya and reigns on the throne. Some in Ayodhya doubted the purity of Sita, Rama expels her, she retires to the cell of rishi Valmiki, where she gives birth to two boys, Lava and Kusha. Rama later recognizes them as his sons and heirs.

Possessing historical and literary value, the poems "Ramayana" and "Mahabharata" have become a national treasure of the Indian people, who, in difficult periods of their history, found moral support and support in them. These poems serve as a guide in the field of laws and morals. The moral image of the characters in these works has become an example for many generations of Hindus.