I?ve been reading Irawati Karve?s Yuganta [hyperlink], a collection of essays on the Mahabharata. Karve?s approach is very much that of the anthropologist?mercilessly practical, often giving the impression that she has the characters and their motivations under a lab microscope. Though she speaks of the Mahabharata with genuine fondness?her treatment of the characters is at the other end of the spectrum from that of Kamala Subramanian, whose tender, empathetic Mahabharata [hyperlink] was my favourite for many years.
Karve?s approach is a historical one, based on the belief that the seed of the story was an actual event that took place around 1000 BC; this is, of course, tempered by the idea that the epic in its original form was vastly different from the embellished, repeatedly reworked version we have today. Her thesis is that the original work was one of the last examples of a pragmatism in Indian literature that was subsequently lost. In her essays she doesn?t at all deal with the religious aspects of the Mahabharata, treating them as a later interpolation: she makes the point that the Krishna of the original epic… bore little resemblance to the Krishna [hyperlink] who emerged in subsequent centuries. This is one of the first times that I?ve come across a Mahabharata-Krishna who can be defined in strictly human terms.
Though I find Karve?s essays [reasonably] stimulating, I can?t help being simultaneously amused and discomfited by her treatment of two of the epic?s most complex and esteemed characters: Bheeshma and Karna. In the essay titled ?The Final Effort?, she makes the provocative point that Bheeshma, by sacrificing conjugal happiness and his rights to the throne, put himself in a position where he acquired moral superiority over the other characters (who led more conventional lives)? so that it was never possible for them to question his actions. In this context, Karve makes another astute observation:
?…let a man set out to sacrifice himself and do good to others, and… he can become completely ruthless in carrying out his objectives. The injustices done by idealists, patriots, saints and crusaders can be far greater than those done by the worst tyrants.?
Agree with Karve?s interpretations or not, Yuganta is a valuable look at how different the epic is when drained of melodrama..
Jabberwock, jaiarjun.blogspot.com/