Composed in the fifteenth century in Odia by Sarala Das, Sarala Mahabharata, as it is popularly known, is a remarkably creative retelling of Vyasa's Mahabharata. It is not a translation of Vyasa’s immortal work. Not only Sarala Mahabharata, but all renderings of the Sanskrit Ramayana and Mahabharata in local (“regional”, in today’s terminology) languages in …
SOME LESSER- KNOWN RITUALS AND PRACTICES IN SHRI JAGANNATH TEMPLE
This discussion invites attention to some lesser-known rituals and practices in the Temple of Lord Jagannath in Puri. The Temple is popularly known as Badadeula (Big Temple). It is also called Srimandira, and some say that “Sri” here refers to goddess Lakshmi. The discussion maintains that “lesser-known” in this context does not mean “less important”. …
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SITUATING SARALA MAHABHARATA IN OUR PURANIC LITERATURE
Aadi Kavi Sarala Das’s Mahabharata, popularly known as Sarala Mahabharata, is a truly creative retelling of Vyasa Mahabharata. However, when “Sudramuni” (Sudra Sage) Sarala called his narrative “Vishnu Purana”, began it with the question of how to attain moksha, and towards the end, described the emergence of Lord Jagannath, the composition crossed the boundaries of …
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TO WHAT PURPOSE, THIS CHARACTER KIRATASENA?
King Bali’s story ended when Bhagawan Sri Rama killed him. His son Angada’s story ended when, after his coronation as the King of Ayodhya, Rama bid an affectionate farewell to him with a very precious gift. Some legends extended Angada’s story beyond Tretaya yuga and ended his story in Dwapara yuga. He was the cause …
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ON BONDING WITH ONE’S KULA: Contrasting Perspectives in Sarala Mahabharata and Vyasa Mahabharata
In Sarala Mahabharata, (a) In King Duryodhana’s court, where he had gone as Yudhisthira’s emissary of peace, Krishna asked the Kaurava king for five villages for the Pandavas so that a war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas could be avoided. It would not be incorrect to say that during his interaction with the Kauravas …
KIRATASENA’S MOKSHA
Kiratasena, the king of the kiratas, the forest-dwellers, went to the Kurukshetra War for glory and for revenge but ended up attaining moksha. The Great War at Kurukshetra was imminent. The Pandavas and the Kauravas had entered the battlefield of Kurukshetra, and each side, with the warriors who had come to fight for them, was …
AADI KAVI SARALA DAS
Sarala Das, the fifteenth-century poet, is acknowledged as the “aadi kavi” of Odia literature. “Aadi kavi” is like a title. It literally means “the first poet”. But here, it must not be taken in that sense. It means the first major poet. He is the creator of the rich tradition of Odia puranic literature. He …
ON GOING TO SWARGA ALIVE
(Same Events, Different Narratives, Different Insights) The composition of the timeless epic, Mahabharata, did not give contentment to the great poet, so goes the legend. Sage Narada told him that it was because he had not expatiated on the supreme majesty and glory of Sri Krishna. He would attain spiritual contentment by depicting his leela …
BHIMA AND KRISHNA: A RELOOK
Different from each other in a hundred ways, Bhima and Krishna share one personality trait in Sarala Mahabharata, which is a remarkably creative retelling in Odia, in the fifteenth century, of Vyasa Mahabharata. It is this: neither can be contented. In different respects, though! Insatiable, says the poet Sarala, was Bhima’s hunger for a fight, …
POLITICS OF THE WAR CODE
The negotiations to avoid war between the Pandava and the Kaurava brothers had failed and war was imminent. Duryodhana appealed to the kings who had chosen to fight for him to give him victory. They told him that the Pandavas themselves were great warriors and with Krishna on their side, they were invincible. Notwithstanding all …
