(A SUMMARY OF IDEAS FOR A WELL-WISHER, WITH RESPECT) “Sudra muni” Sarala Das, who belongs to the fifteenth century, is celebrated as the first major poet, the aadi kavi, of Odia literature. To him can be traced the origin of the puranic literature in Odia and no one’s contribution to this genre is richer and …
THE MANY SHADES OF BHAKTI
How many shades of bhakti are there, according to Sarala Mahabharata? “As many bhaktas are there!” may not be indeed be a poor answer! I That was a period of profound darkness. Intense jealousy, bitterness, hatred and revengefulness ruled the hearts of those who controlled the lives of people in a laukika (worldly) sense. They …
TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING JAGANNATH WORSHIP: A NARRATIVE OF CONFLICT BETWEEN THE BRAHMINICAL AND THE LOCAL AND ITS RESOLUTION
A NOTE : HOW SARALA CONNECTED KRISHNA WITH JAGANNATH Was Sarala the first to connect Krishna with Jagannath through a narrative? That might be the case, this post suggests. The Musali Parva of Sarala Mahabharata connects Shri Krishna with Mahaprabhu Jagannath. Neither Srimad Bhagavata nor Harivansha nor Vyasa Mahabharata made this connection. Neither did Shreepurushottama-kshetra-mahatmyam …
Was Draupadi happy?- Part II
For Draupadi, that was a terrible, terrible day. She was dragged to the Kaurava court by her Kaurava brother-in-law, Dussasana, and Duryodhana asked him to disrobe her in front of all present. What needs to be noted is that neither Duryodhana nor Dussasana nor Sakuni or for that matter, anyone in the Kaurava family, had …
Was Draupadi happy? – Part 1
asked Sriparna, the computer scientist, the other day. One would think she must have been, she said; for if one day, one of her husbands was cross with her, there was enough room for compensating comfort – there must have been at least one other of them from whom she would have received care and …
WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE KURUKSHETRA WAR, ACCORDING TO SARALA MAHABHARATA
When a war comes to an end and life limps painfully to normalcy, comes the time for questions: about its cause, about who must be held responsible for it, among others. The voice may be agonizingly loud or fearfully subdued. It was no different in the case of the Great War at Kurukshetra. Two facts …
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HERE I WILL POST SOME SHORT PIECES ON SARALA MAHABHARATA. SARALA DAS IS KNOWN AS THE "AADIKAVI" (THE FIRST POET) OF ORIYA LITERATURE. HE LIVED AND WROTE IN THE 15TH CENTURY. MAHABHARAT IS HIS MAGNUM OPUS. THE EPISODES IN SARALA'S MAHABHARAT ARE SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT FROM THOSE IN VYASA'S (SANSKRIT) MAHABHARAT. SOME OF THESE POSTS HAVE …
A NOTE JUST ADDED
Friends, more than two years ago I had posted the story of Lakshmana Kumara here but was very uneasy about the ending of that episode - it can indeed be emotionally very unsettling to write about God not honouring His assurance to His devotee. In the context of Sarala Mahabharata, which Sarala himself called “Vishnu …
ON VARIATIONS IN MAHABHARATA
(Note: This paper was written in July (2018) for a Workshop on "Variation in Mahabharata". The idea of the Workshop was to propose projects on this theme. To an extent, this essay has that orientation. It couldn't be presented because I could not attend the Workshop. I thought it wouldn't be inappropriate to post it …
MORE ON ABHIMANYU’S DEATH
Sahadeva was not the one who volunteered to tell anyone what would happen, in Sarala Mahabharata as well. He knew the past and the future but would tell only when asked. And he was constrained to tell, be it pleasant or unpleasant. It was his fate. He would die if he didn’t. But was he …
Sarala Mahabharata 