भारतचरित्रमीमांसा bhāratacharitramīmāmsā — A Unique work of Vasishtha Ganapati Muni on the Vedic Origin of the Mahabharata

In 1934, the revered Ganapati Muni(1878–1936), a yogi, poet, philosopher, critic, scholar, an eloquent speaker, an ardent devotee of Mother India, delivered a series of lectures in Andhra University under the heading भारतरहस्यम् bhāratarahasyam. In these lectures on the Mahābhārata, the Muni highlighted the many deeper aspects of the grand Epic, and also made an attempt to show the Vedic origin of the characters and some of the events of the grand epic Mahābhārata. He states that the Kurukshetra war of the Mahābhārata took place during some period of the Rigveda. According to him the astronomical accounts given in the Mahābhārata and Bhāgavata Purāna tally with the account given by Meghasthenese in his Indica, suggesting that the war happened a hundred and thirty-seven generations before Maurya Chandragupta. He states that the original Jayetihāsa of Vāysa was later revised twice, once by Vaishampāyana and then by Sauti. These versions are known as Bhārata and Mahābharata respectively.

Later, the Muni wrote a full treatise on these aspects of the Mahābharāta under the title Bhāratacharitramīmāmsā. This is a unique research work in which the Muni has expounded the Vedic origin of the narrators and characters appearing in the Mahābharāta. This is the crowning contribution of Ganapati Muni to the studies of the Rigveda as well as the Mahābharāta. Two hundred Mantras of Rigveda are freshly interpreted by the Muni show the Vedic origin of the Mahābharāta.

Initially the Muni had named this treatise Bhāratacharitra-parīkṣā but later he changed it to Bhāratacharitramīmāmsā. There are thirty-four sections in this treatise wherein he makes sagacious inquiries into the origin of the important characters in the Mahābhārata.

The first section deals with the true author of the Mahābhārata. With many evidences the Muni concludes that Krishnadvaipāyana Vyāsa is the author of the Bhāratasamhitā which contains only twenty-four thousand verses. Later it was enlarged by Sauti Ugrashravā and renamed Mahābhārata and contains a hundred thousand verses.

In the second section, as an introduction to his research on the characters of the Mahābhārata, the Muni mentions the historic period of the Mahābhārata as fixed by the researchers of his time. The third section deals with the period of the characters, with the Muni endeavoring to show that some of the important figures in the Mahābhārata belong to the Rigveda age, quoting many Mantras from the Rigveda to prove his point. On the basis of certain astronomical facts, he opines that the age of the events and characters in the Mahābhārata could be a hundred and thirty-seven generations before Chandragupta Maurya, a period as early as seven thousand years ago.

The fourth section deals with the age of Vyāsa and Vaishampāyana. The Muni tries to prove that the time of Vyāsa is after the appearance of the Atharvaveda but much before the age of the Upanishads. And Vaishampāyana came after twelve hundred years of Vyāsa. In this regard the Muni also mentions the period of the Vedānga Jyotisha, Vedāntadarshana, and the sages Panini, Kātyāyana, Patanjali, Gautama, and Jaimini, as well as the Buddha. After giving these external evidences of the period of the characters in the Mahābhārata, and Vyāsa and Vaishampāyana, the Muni then discusses the cycle of Yuga in the fifth section. His discussions on Yuga show that the Muni did not believe in the mathematical calculation of the Yugas as presented by Puranic tradition.

From section six onwards the Muni talks about some of the important characters of the Mahābhārata and their Vedic origin. For instance, the Muni devotes a few sections — six to eleven — to establish that Karna of the Mahābhārata was none other than Shushna of the Veda. He presents many Mantras from the Rigveda to prove that a fight which took place between Kutsa or Etasha and Shushna or the son of Svashva, and where Indra, the charioteer of Kutsa, forced apart a wheel from the chariot of Shushna, is a story in the Veda that corresponds with the story of the fight between Karna and Arjuna in the Mahābhārata.

In the twelfth section, the Muni goes on to demonstrate that Kutsa of the Veda is Arjuna of the Mahābhārata. Then in sections thirteen to sixteen, the Muni presents evidences from the Rigveda to show that Krishna of the Mahābhārata is an incarnation of Indra of the Veda. In this regard too, he interprets many Mantras from the Rigveda to give cogent evidences of Krishna’s relationship with Devaki, his fight with Jarāsandha, and his killing of Kāliya and Kamsa.

The Vedic origin of the five sons of Pandu, and their common wife Draupadi, has been given in sections seventeen to twenty-two. In these sections, the Muni substantiates his claim with relevant Mantras from the Veda that it is the Vedic Shvitra who appears as Pandu in the Mahābhārata, while Vrishni is Kunti, Ambarisha is Yudhisthira, Bhayamana is Bhima, Suradhas is Nakula, Sahadeva is Sahadeva, Upamanyu is Abhimanyu, and Ghosha, the daughter of Kakshivān is Draupadi. The Muni also discusses many other issues related to the Pāndavas in these sections.

The twenty-third section is devoted entirely to prove that the Vedic Kuyava is Duryodhana of the Epic. In this section, the Muni also speaks of the Vedic origin of dyūta-kathā of the Mahābhārata. The twenty-fourth section deals with the origin of Drona, Ashvatthāman, Bhishma and Kripa. The Muni finds that the Vedic Tugra is Drona of the Epic, Smadibha is identified with Ashvathaman, Vaibhuvasa with Bhishma and Kripa appears as Kripa of the Veda. In the twenty-fifth section, the Muni attempts to show that Duryodhana had twenty brothers not hundred. To substantiate this, he correlates a few Mantras from the Rigveda with a few verses from the Mahābhārata itself. Here, the Muni identifies Parshu of the Veda with Gāndhāri of the Epic.

In the next section, he elaborates on the Vedic word Parshu and gives details of the origin of Gāndhāri. The twenty-seventh section discusses the origin of Dhritarāshtra, with the Muni making it clear that the Vedic Drik is Dhritarashtra of the Epic. In the next section, he supposes that the Vedic Kavasha was the family priest of the Pandavas. In the twenty-ninth section, the Muni cites a Mantra from the Rigveda to prove the origin of the story of gambling in the Mahābhārata. In the thirtieth section, the Muni gives the names of the sons of Indra as they appear in the Rigveda to identify them as the sons and relatives of Krishna. According to him, the Vedic Vimada is Sāmba, Apratiratha is Sātyaki, and Lava is Pradyumna.

The next section describes vividly the story of the birth of Karna while in the thirty-second section, the Muni depicts the story of Narakāsura as it appears in the Rigveda and identifies him with Karna. The next section too deals with the identification of Karna as Bhagadatta. In the last section, the Muni gives an account of the origin of Balarāma and his relationship with the others. He comments that the Vedic Ahirbudhnya is Balarama of the Epic. Here, the Muni also deals authoritatively with Sheshanāga, Revati, Rohini and the relationship of Balarāma with Karna.

Conclusion

The entire text of this treatise is the outcome of a detailed and very insightful research on the Vedas as well as the Mahābhārata. It is a challenging step towards establishing the validity of the Vedic origin of the Mahābhārata. The diction of the Muni here bears witness to his distinctive and stylish elegance. Indeed, Bhārata-caritramīmāmsā is an exposition of surpassing excellence showcasing the unusual and impressive intelligence of Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni.

PS: The text Bhārata-caritramīmāmsā can be found from HERE. This is the Volume 9 of Ganapati Muni’s Collected Works of which the author of this articles is the Associate Editor. His entire work can be seen HERE.

Characters in the Veda and Characters in the Mahabharata

श्वित्र śvitra — पण्डु paṇḍu

वृष्णि vṛṣṇi — कुन्ती kuntī

द्रुक् druk — धृतराष्ट्र dhṛtarāṣṭra

पर्शु parśu — गान्धारी gāndhārī

अम्बरीष ambarīṣa — युधिष्ठिर yudhiṣṭhira

भयमान bhayamāna — भीम bhīma

कुत्स kutsa — अर्जुन arjuna

सुराधस् surādhas — नकुल nakula

सहदेव sahadeva — सहदेव sahadeva

घोषा ghoṣā — द्रौपदी draupadī

शुष्ण śuṣṇa — कर्ण karṇa

उपमन्यु upamanyu — अभिमन्यु abhimanyu

कुयव kuyava — दुर्योधन duryodhana

वेतसु vetasu — भीष्म bhīṣma

तुग्र tugra — द्रोण droṇa

कृप kṛpa — कृप kṛpa

स्मदिभ smadibha — अश्वत्थामा aśvatthāmā

इन्द्र indra — कृष्ण kṛṣṇa

अहिर्बुध्न्य ahirbudhnya — बलराम balarāma

-Sampadananda Mishra