LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 14:10 October 2014
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Oral Stories Related to Mahabharata

Dr. A. Parimalagantham

Abstract

Ramayana and Mahabharata are two great epics of the subcontinent of India. Over the generations, these are narrated orally also. Janamejaya, the successor of the Gaurava vamsa (Arjuna’s great grandson) asked the sage to tell the story of his predecessors while he was doing the yagna for snakes. So, Vaisampaayanar told the story in the presence of the great Sage Vyasa. Vyasa dictated the story and Lord Ganesha wrote it with one of his tusks. It was in Sanskrit. The stories were written in other Indian languages also. Each Indian language has added some of the incidents according to their culture. So the great epics Ramayana and Mahabharatha have many interpolations in them. Though Ramayana and Mahabharata have written editions, still there are many stories in oral literature not yet entered in the written version. This paper aims at describing some of the incidents which are related to Mahabharata, but not included in the written literature and still remain part of the oral tradition.

Keywords: Mahabharata, Ramayana, Vaisampaayanar, Vyasa, Oral tradition, folk literature.

Drudarastra’s Method of Eating Food

For Drudarastra, there were 32 plates full of meals that were served each time he ate. That was because he had a curse that if he touched the food on the plate more than once, the food would turn into worms. For a person 32 handfuls of food is necessary to fill the stomach. So from each plate Drudarastra took one handful of food and in that manner he took from 32 plates 32 handfuls and ate. KarNa, the eldest son of Kunti was brought up by the chariot driver of Drudarastra. Since Drudarastra’s bungalow was the chariot driver’s work place, he used to bring his son KarNa there. One day Karna was crawling; he went near Drudarastra’s plate. That time Drurastra had taken one handful from that plate. Karna touched the food. Immediately the worms in the plate disappeared. This amazing incident was informed to Drudarastra. Drudarastra felt very happy, picked up KarNa, hugged him and praised him saying, (???????? ????? ???? ??????????? ??) “you are the one who came to remove the thousands of worms from my food, so you are KarNa from today”. KarNa’s original name Vasusena, and that became secondary, while KarNa became his first name. So Drudarastra had a soft corner for Karna. That was why he never controlled KarNa’s habit of giving away his wealth to all. KarNa gave donations from the treasury of Drudarastra. But after KarNa’s alms-giving, Drudastra with some disgust, used to search the treasury to see whether anything was left in there or not. Instead of being empty, the treasury became full.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Dr. A. Parimalagantham
Associate Professor
Department of Lexicography
P. S. Telugu University
Hyderabad – 500 004
Telangana
India
parimalagantham@gmail.com
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