MAIIABHARATA. 



MAM AI'.II \l;.\TA. 



th diBrrmt proportion In which different colour* are lost 

 of th interposed atom 



HM ' 



atmosphere (mounting to laying on more or lee* of 

 Uw blue eotxir of the atnuphere uvcrthe whole. Our perception of 

 ntwtod* defends both on the subtended angle and on the distinct- 

 M* : we barn from experience, that of two object! aeon under the 

 ..*. aagU, the \rm dUinct, a* being the more distant, must be the 

 larger. That habit U our guide can readily be ahown by producing 

 inJUDOM in which we are deceived, the object being either nich a* i* 

 not common!; MM, or seen under uniuual circumstance*. A ootoesal 

 Utue mounted on a column doe* not suggest the idea of a man of 

 unusual aix* to persons in general, unless when some penon mounU 

 the aune height and afford* means of comparison In a fog, which 

 .jmiptA"* the dictinctnea* of object*, bnt doe* not affect the angles 

 under which they are *een, these object* are sensibly increased in 

 apparent sue ; and distant hill* appear nearer in a clear day than in a 

 haay one. Thoee who wear spectacle* may satisfy themselves by 

 breathing on the gUase*, and watching an object a* the moisture 

 evaporate*, that increase of distinctness give* apparent approximation. 



The angle subtended by an object is inversely a* its distance, which 

 is sufficiently near for common purpose*, when angle* are small, which 

 U generally the case ; and a man of 6 feet high, at the distance of 106 

 feet, is seen under an angle of S* 26'. The sun is seen under an angle 

 of 32", and the moon under an angle of 29(* to 334'. 



MAHABHAKATA, or BHAKATA (" belonging to Bharata and 

 his descendant*"), the moat celebrated epic poem of the Hindus after 

 the ' Ramayana.' A passage in the introductory part of the work 

 (1, 2290) ha* given ground for the assertion that it contains the round 

 number of a hundred thousand distich* or slocos ; but in order to com- 

 plete thi* enormous amount, the ' Uarivansa/ a mythological history of 

 Krishna, and sundry other piece*, hare been added. The eighteen 

 component fiction* (Parva) of the ' Mahabharata ' contain about 85,000 

 slocas, and even these may be reduced to 24,000 distichs, of which the 

 original Bharata,' without it* episodes, is said to have formerly 

 consisted. (1, 101.) The principal subject of the ' Mahabharata,' 

 to which it* middle sections particularly are consecrated, U a long 

 civil war between two dynasties of ancient India, the Kurus and 

 Pandua. Both were descended from Bharata, king of Hastinapur, 

 whose first-born ion, Dhritar&shtra the father of Duryodhana and the 

 Kurus, ought to have succeeded to the throne ; but this prince being 

 blind, the sceptre was seized by his cousin Yudhishtiras, the eldest of 

 the five Pandu princes. At first the usurper was driven off by his 

 uncle Duryodhana, and even banished to a wilderness for twelve years ; 

 but as the Pandu brethren were favoured by their friend and ally, the 

 heavenly Krishna, and a* they were themselves, according to the legend, 

 begotten by several deities, after a long struggle against the Kuru 

 princes, and after many perilous adventure* and bloody exploits, they 

 were finally established in the sovereignty of India, 



In thi* main texture of the 'Mahabharata' ia interwoven a great 

 variety of episode* ; or more properly speaking, the history of the 

 Pandu* and Kurus i* the leading thread by which an immense collec- 

 tion of ancient traditions, moral reflections, poetical descriptions, and 

 popular atone* of every kind, ha* been connected. It ia very important 

 to observe that these accessory element*, which now form almost 

 three-fourth* of the whole epopee, are stated in the poem itself not to 

 be constituent part* of the original ' Bh&rata ; ' in fact they are for the 

 most part very loosely inserted ; and as many of them are epic pro- 

 duction* of considerable length, the principal theme is not only 

 frequently interrupted by intervening episodes, but often totally lost 

 sight of, even when the most active progression should be expected. 

 Thus, for inaUnnn, the metaphysical system of Patanjali is propounded 

 by Krishna, in the eighteen lectures of the much admired BhagavadgttA, 

 just when the army stands disposed in full array and ready for battle, 

 niid<n a vast number of various short tales and fictions of every 

 description occasionally inserted, the episodical compositions of the 

 ' MahabhorsU ' may be divided into two general classes of a more 

 distinct character and of peculiar importance. The first claw, to which 

 the early section* of the ' Mahabharata ' are particularly consecrated, is 

 occupied in solving theogunical and cosmogonies! problem*, blended 

 with thoae wild and fantastical conceptions by which the metaphysical 

 mind of the Hindu* i* so deeply attracted. To theae, in the last 

 chapters of the work, and after the conclusion of the great war, are 

 added didactic and moral episode* on religious dutie* and sacrifice*, on 

 solitary and penitential life, and on final beatitude, forming almost a 

 complete system of Indian ethics, and a compendium of the Brahmi- 

 nical faith. The second clans of episode*, which may, although in 

 on* respect improperly, be called historical, consist* of various and 

 ample tradition* of former epoch*, and U occupied in recording the 

 origin, genealogy, and history of ancient kings and heroes ; in giving 

 an account of their government and practice of warfare, Uicir indivi- 

 dual adventures, ana their splendid action* ; and in exhibiting their 

 piety and dvotiun in f ul'.lling thM dutie* of a religious life by which 

 the favour* of the heavenly being* are to be acquired. These and 

 simiUr narrative* are chiefly accumulated in the third and longest 

 Mctum of the ' MahibhinU,' called Vanaparvan (book of the forest), 

 where they ar* told by the Brahminical aage Markhandeya, for the 

 purpoM of entertaining, conaoung, and animating the dejected spirit of 

 th Paodu prince* dunng their exile in the wildernem. In this respect 

 the episoiucal piece, of th. ' Mahlbhirata ' may be compared with the 



rhapsodic* *ung by Phemiu* and Demodocus in the Homeric ] > 

 and a* many of them are marked with a peculiar simplicity of immi.n 

 and customs, they might almost soem of -an older date than the main 

 body of the epopee, of which they are totally in<lc|>endent. This leads 

 u* to the original composition of the ' MshftbhsrsU,' which in the 

 introductory part of the poem U thus related. 



The most celebrated aages, with their disciples, being assembled at 

 a splendid sacrificial festival, the venerable Krishna Dvaipayana, with 

 the surname of Vyiia, who had been an eye-witness of the great civil 

 war, i* requested by king Janamejaya to give an account of those 

 bloody events, in which, two generation* ago, hi* own ancestor* had 

 played a fatal part. This task, being declined by Vyasa himself, is 

 readily performed by one of his disciples, Vaisampayana, who being 

 duly instructed, and from memory familiar with the heroic poem, 

 recite* it at full length to the listening assembly. A similar festival 

 being afterwards celebrated by king Saunaka, the same proceeding* 

 are repeated, and Sauti, whoso father had been a disciple of Vyasa, 

 undertakes the recital of what is now considered the original ' Bharata.' 

 Neither in these nor in other instance* is a written copy of the text 

 mentioned; it was in fact only committed to memory and )> 

 down by oral tradition, until the increasing mass of subsequent 

 episode*, more or less connected with the primitive subject, urged 

 the necessity of a final arrangement ; and, to avoid further interpola- 

 tions, a summary of the contents was prefixed to the whole collection, 

 now existing under the name of ' Mahabharata.' Notwithanding the 

 traditional character and the gradual growth of the poem, Vyasa ha* 

 been supposed not only its author, but even the operation of collecting 

 its component parts has been attributed to him, as it was he who, 

 according to Hindu tradition, collected the Veda* and Pur&nas, and 

 composed the Brahmasutras of the Vedontine school. But as these 

 operations could not be executed by the same individual, it has long 

 been acknowledged that the name of Vyasa (implying dupimtioii) does 

 not signify a distinct historical person, but rather an allegorical cha- 

 racter, including the important fact that the four great parts of the 

 sacred canon were digested by the same orthodox body of the a> 

 Brahminical schools, by whom almost every branch of the traditional 

 and scientific learning of the Hindus has been successively pro]' 

 and preserved. Hence a religious and priestly character prevails in the 

 epic poetry of the Hindus ; in this sense the ' Akhyftna ' is often styled 

 a fifth ' Veda,' and the ' llamayaua,' as well as ' Mahabharata,' are in fact 

 considered as the ' S&stra ' of the Kshatriya caste, for whose reci 

 encouragement, and instruction they were originally designed. Com- 

 pared with the ' Rftm&yana ' the ' Mahabharata ' is wanting in unity and 

 internal coherence; it is rather a collection of ancient epic poems, 

 gathered round the central history of the Kurus and Pandu* : but for 

 this very reason it far surpasses the former poem by a greater variety 

 of pleasing scenes and attractive situations, particularly in ita episodes, 

 the characters of which are very often delineated with so peculiar a 

 delicacy, and with so strongly marked an individuality, as to leave a 

 powerful impression on the reader. Finally, and what is more essential, 

 the ' Mah&bharata' may be looked upon as a most ample source of every 

 kind of antiquarian lore, and as the only Sanskrit work, if we except the 

 ' Annals of Kashmir,' by which a considerable quantity of tin 

 valuable historical fragments has been preserved. The truth of tills 

 will be shown in a series of learned essays lately begun by Prof. Lasscn 

 (in ' Zeitschrift ftir die Kunde des Morgenlaudes '). The great war 

 itself, which on astronomical calculations has been supposed to have, 

 taken place during the 12th century B.C. (Works of Sir William Jones, 

 iii., 213: vii., 77i.is indubitably an historical event; and as Pandu 

 (white), Krishna (black), Duryodhana, Dhritarashtra, and other names 

 are allegorical, Prof. Lassen acutely suggest*, that the war might be 

 the long and dcrious content between the Brahminical tribes and the 

 native occupants of the country. Leaving aside these questions, we 

 only remark that although the 'Bh&rata,' properly so called, is l.y no 

 mean* contemporary with the event* described in it, its pretensions to 

 a very remote period of Hindu antiquity are sufficiently justified by 

 internal evidence and the unanimous testimonies of subsequent writers. 

 The poem is evidently of Inter date than the ' Karuay ana,*" but n 

 the precise time in which it was composed, nor even the epoch of its 

 finally assuming ita present shape, can yet be ascertained. 



A complete edition in the original Sanskrit, carefully collated by 

 learned Pundit* with the bent manuscript* in the library of the Sanscrit 

 College of Calcutta,' ha* been published by the Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal, in four volume* royal 4to., with an index in a separate volume, 

 the hurt of which was issued in 1839. A number of detached fragment* 

 and single stories of the ' MahAbhAraU,' have been faithfully translated 

 by Sir Charles Wilkins, Prof. Wilson, and Mr. Milman, such as The 

 Churning of the Ocean,' the' Story of Duahwanta' and ' Sacuntala.' 

 This last has also been issued in a most splendid form from the press 

 of Mr. Austin, of Hertford, freely translated in prose and verse, by 

 William* in 1855 ; it ha* also been translated into French and 

 Herman {'Annals of Oriental Literature ;' ' Oriental Quarterly Magazine/ 

 1825 ; ' Quarterly Review,' vol. xiv.). The following episodes also have 

 appeared in the original Sanskrit : 1. ' N.-ilu and Damayanti,' published 

 by F. Bopp, Lond. 1819 ; Berlin, 1832. Translated into English 

 ver*e by H. H. Milman, Oxford, 1835. 2. The ' Bhagavadglta,' by 

 A. \V. fichlegel, Bonn, 1823. An English prose translation was pub- 

 lished by Sir Charles Wilkin, London 1785. 3. ' Indralok&gamanam,' 



