About the Book
Parva is acknowledged to be S.L.
Bhyrappa's greatest work. Non- Kannadigas
who have read it in its Hindi and Marathi translations consider it one of the
masterpieces of modem Indian literature. It is a transformation of an ancient
legend into a modem novel. In this process, it has gained national credibility
and a human perspective. The main incident, the Bharata
war, symbolic of the birthpangs of a new world-order,
depicts a heroic but vain effort to arrest the disintegration and continue the
prevailing order. It is viewed from the stand points of the partisan
participants and judged with reference to the objective understanding of
Krishna. Narration, dialogue, monologue and comment all are employed for its
presentation. Shot through with irony, pity and understanding objectivity, the
novel ends with the true tragic vision of faith in life and hope for mankind.
About the Author
S.L. Bhyrappa
is one of the foremost
Indian novelists writing Kannada. Born in 1934 in Santeshivara,
a village in Hassan district in Karnataka he took Ph.D. degree in Aesthetics
from M.S. University and then taught Philosophy at Regional College of English,
Mysore for nearly four decades.
Author of more than twenty five novels, four volumes
of literary criticism and an autobiography, Dr. Bhyrappa
is a major voice. Vansha Vriksha, Daatu, Saakshi and Parva are some of his important
novels. Recipient of Karnataka Sahitya Akademi
Award (twice), Sahitya Akademi Award (1975) and Pampa
Award from Govt. of Karnataka. Dr. Bhyrappa
represented India on several literary assignments to various parts of the
world.
Foreword
My thinking about the historical veracity of the
events of the Mahabharata began about twenty years ago, and took an interim
shape during a discussion I had with Dr. Narayanappa
in 1966 in Chikamagalur. He had tried several times
earlier to persuade me to write a novel based on the Mahabharata.
The following
year, when I was roaming round in the Gadhwal area in
the Himalayan region, I had the occasion to spend some time in a small hamlet
which practised polyandry. The local folk believed that this custom had been in
existence since the time of Draupadi. The practice was predominant in the rural
areas of two Taluks. Later I visited Pandukeshwar, nestling in the green land between Badri and joshimarh, where I
learnt the details about the local customs and history. It was then that I
began to conceive hazily some of the characters in the Mahabharata.
From 1971 on, I
was deeply engaged in serious research pertaining to the historicity of the
epic. After a thorough reading of the original Vyasa version I of the text; I undertook a
deep investigation into the economic, political, religious and social life
during the last phase of the Vedic culture. After a study stretching over
years, in 1974 I toured and briefly lived in those parts of the Himalayan region
which were associated with the Mahabharata. Subsequently in 1975, I visited and studied
Dwarka, Aravali ranges, Viratanagar, Mathura, Delhi, Kurukshetra, Hastinavati, Barnava, Chakranagar, Rajgir and other
places connected with the epic. But prior to this study tour and investigation,
I armed myself with the necessary knowledge, thanks to the help of Dr. Ramesh,
then with the Mysore unit of the Archaelogical Survey
of India. Mrs. Leela, incidentally a granddaughter of
the great teacher and scholar, A.R. Krishnasastry,
who was on the staff of the Library of Mysore University, assisted me
generously with relevant books and documents. Throughout my researches, Sri N.
Balasubrahmanya played a key role in help'ing
me clarify my ideas on the subject, through intense discussions. At one stage,
such help flowed from Pa. Yem. Acharya. Experts like Dr.
J.J. Thakur, Acharya
Devendraji Sharma and Dr. H.A. Phadke
provided me with historical data pertaining respectively to Dwaraka,
Yiratnagar and Kurukshetra. In Delhi, Dr. B.Y. Subbarayappa, Chief Editor, Indian Council of History of
Science, placed at my disposal very useful material.
I completed writing this novel between 12 October
1975 and 27 December 1976, covering a period of one year and two months. Some
of the early portions were written in a room in the Yedanta
College of the Ramakrishna Ashram in Mysore. Later M.S.K. Prabhu,
Prabhushankar and N. Balasubrahmanya
read the manuscript. These friends enabled me to gain a critical perspective on
my own work. When I was wrestling hard to pick a suitable
title for the 'novel, Ha. Ma. Nayak,
helped me to settle on the title, Parva.
He also looked after the printing layout. I am genuinely grateful to all
these good friends.
Both during the preparatory stage and the writing
stage,
a number of well-wishers extended to me their helping hand, directly or
indirectly. In this connection I may refer to a long article of mine, which
gives a detailed account of my preparatory research and the various ideas that
dominated me at different stages, as also the actual writing of the work itself
Since it would be unfair to inflict that work on my readers here, and it is a
long 50 to 60 pages stuff, I shall content myself publishing separately that
material under the title, "Why do I write?". However, I do think it
would not be out of order here, to focus on some important issues discussed
there.
"I must confess that I have no adequate evidence
to confirm - or disconfirm beyond dispute the existence of Dwaraka,
referred to by Dr. Thakur. Moreover, that is not a matter of interest to me. In
the backdrop of the scholarly material I had read and digested regarding Lothal, Harappa' and Mohanjo Daro, I think Krishna's Dwaraka
is at least plausible. Having travelled in this area, and watched the scene
from the tower of the light-house on the coast, I am ready to say that I found
myself going back to the days of the Yadavas,
released from the restraints of 1975. The town of Dwaraka
as it must have been then, the sea, the life of its inhabitants, and its
physical environment, became a part of my personal experience. While dealing
with events of his own time, a writer has no problem with factual details. They
are already there, present in him subconsciously. He need only recall them to
serve his contingent purposes. But historical details do not enjoy the status
of being subjectively so immediate and internal. They persist as objective
scholarly data, resisting any internalisation. But Dwaraka
had become part of my internal experience.... I felt as if I had actually been
there in Dwaraka, and knew like the back of my hand
its streets and lanes. I felt confident that I could negotiate them without
difficulty and with skill.
"Near a place called Viratnagar
in Jaipur district, where the fight over Gograhana, a
minor Kurukshetra, had occurred, there is a cave called Bhima's
cave .... It is a local custom for newly-weds even today to visit the cave and
offer worship to Bhima. At the time I was visiting it, a newly-wed couple were
also visiting it. I asked the new groom about the purpose of this worship.
Straight came the reply: 'Should anyone cast his .eyes on my
wife, God Bhima
will grant me the power to finish him off' ... In these areas, the written
story of the Mahabharata blends nicely with the life- practices of the people.
Though the incident of Keechaka's death may not be
true, it has taken firm root in people's belief. The belief is true. What then
is the sort of truth an imaginative writer should be after? Don't we all feel
instinctively that we should destroy anyone who violates the chastity or
modesty of one's wife? Do not even the Western males behave in this way? This
timeless, universal male instinct or male pride;' leading to male dominance,
can it not be a literary truth?
"What is the real meaning of the term Aksohini? We get nowhere a precise
answer to this question", Hence refusing to be dragged into a futile
debate over an undecidable matter, I merely computed
the size of the armies involved in the Mahabharata War by looking at the size of
the war-area, It was clearly a size hitherto unknown to the Aryan people",
Why did all the rulers of Aryavarta participate in
this war? The traditional Mahabharata calls this a Dharma Yuddha, the War of Righteousness, Yet the righteous
Pandavas
commanded the support of far fewer rulers than the unrighteous, The majority of
the rulers could ' have opted out, regarding the war as none of their business.
But the Aryan kings were addicted to gambling, warring and womanising. That is
why they would rush to a Svayamvara.
They were made
of such stuff. These were the sort of ideas and thoughts that drifted into my
'head while I was going through the roads of Kurukshetra in. a rickshaw in the
company of Dr. Phadke. It was then I made the mental
note that the war reflected the nature of the Aryan people as well as that of
the people affected by their way of life." On the day I started writing
this novel, is
October 1975, I barely managed to finish a
page, The second day was slightly better with a tally
of three pages. It was only after ten pages or so that I got into the swing of
it, my pace accelerating and my absorption total. In creating literary works,
it is a mistake to draw a distinction between the directly experienced and the
indirectly perceived. After all, whatever I write is directly experienced by
me. Maybe a detail here or there, a word -here or there, may not appear to be so experienced. But
the basic material comes only as a result of intense subjective pressure. In so
far as this material is concerned, there is no historical disjunction between
this time here and that time there, the subjective time and the objective
time... I was aware all along that I was not giving exact copies of the
characters of the original Mahabharata,
but only the
different facers and forms of human nature and human relationships. Whenever I
innovated a- new character or a new situation, I could see the dimension of
this novelty ...
"The novel that was gestating within me emerged
out of me eventually as something different from what had been conceived from
time to time. This applies both to its form and meaning ... The experience of
writing Parva gave me a new sense of things, a new feeling about
everything, a new birth as it were. Practice and habit are the grounds of' most
of our beliefs. When we abandon them in order to view life from the perspective
of its terminal point of death, we reach out to a new awareness of human
potentialities and actualities, and gain a new vision, a new illumination...
How old am I now? How many more years have I yet to go? Is there any meaning I
can scoop out of the years remaining for me here on earth? These questions and
reflections on them have served as a drone of three notes to the music of this
novel, and they have sounded deep down in my mind and
heart."
About the Book
Parva is acknowledged to be S.L.
Bhyrappa's greatest work. Non- Kannadigas
who have read it in its Hindi and Marathi translations consider it one of the
masterpieces of modem Indian literature. It is a transformation of an ancient
legend into a modem novel. In this process, it has gained national credibility
and a human perspective. The main incident, the Bharata
war, symbolic of the birthpangs of a new world-order,
depicts a heroic but vain effort to arrest the disintegration and continue the
prevailing order. It is viewed from the stand points of the partisan
participants and judged with reference to the objective understanding of
Krishna. Narration, dialogue, monologue and comment all are employed for its
presentation. Shot through with irony, pity and understanding objectivity, the
novel ends with the true tragic vision of faith in life and hope for mankind.
About the Author
S.L. Bhyrappa
is one of the foremost
Indian novelists writing Kannada. Born in 1934 in Santeshivara,
a village in Hassan district in Karnataka he took Ph.D. degree in Aesthetics
from M.S. University and then taught Philosophy at Regional College of English,
Mysore for nearly four decades.
Author of more than twenty five novels, four volumes
of literary criticism and an autobiography, Dr. Bhyrappa
is a major voice. Vansha Vriksha, Daatu, Saakshi and Parva are some of his important
novels. Recipient of Karnataka Sahitya Akademi
Award (twice), Sahitya Akademi Award (1975) and Pampa
Award from Govt. of Karnataka. Dr. Bhyrappa
represented India on several literary assignments to various parts of the
world.
Foreword
My thinking about the historical veracity of the
events of the Mahabharata began about twenty years ago, and took an interim
shape during a discussion I had with Dr. Narayanappa
in 1966 in Chikamagalur. He had tried several times
earlier to persuade me to write a novel based on the Mahabharata.
The following
year, when I was roaming round in the Gadhwal area in
the Himalayan region, I had the occasion to spend some time in a small hamlet
which practised polyandry. The local folk believed that this custom had been in
existence since the time of Draupadi. The practice was predominant in the rural
areas of two Taluks. Later I visited Pandukeshwar, nestling in the green land between Badri and joshimarh, where I
learnt the details about the local customs and history. It was then that I
began to conceive hazily some of the characters in the Mahabharata.
From 1971 on, I
was deeply engaged in serious research pertaining to the historicity of the
epic. After a thorough reading of the original Vyasa version I of the text; I undertook a
deep investigation into the economic, political, religious and social life
during the last phase of the Vedic culture. After a study stretching over
years, in 1974 I toured and briefly lived in those parts of the Himalayan region
which were associated with the Mahabharata. Subsequently in 1975, I visited and studied
Dwarka, Aravali ranges, Viratanagar, Mathura, Delhi, Kurukshetra, Hastinavati, Barnava, Chakranagar, Rajgir and other
places connected with the epic. But prior to this study tour and investigation,
I armed myself with the necessary knowledge, thanks to the help of Dr. Ramesh,
then with the Mysore unit of the Archaelogical Survey
of India. Mrs. Leela, incidentally a granddaughter of
the great teacher and scholar, A.R. Krishnasastry,
who was on the staff of the Library of Mysore University, assisted me
generously with relevant books and documents. Throughout my researches, Sri N.
Balasubrahmanya played a key role in help'ing
me clarify my ideas on the subject, through intense discussions. At one stage,
such help flowed from Pa. Yem. Acharya. Experts like Dr.
J.J. Thakur, Acharya
Devendraji Sharma and Dr. H.A. Phadke
provided me with historical data pertaining respectively to Dwaraka,
Yiratnagar and Kurukshetra. In Delhi, Dr. B.Y. Subbarayappa, Chief Editor, Indian Council of History of
Science, placed at my disposal very useful material.
I completed writing this novel between 12 October
1975 and 27 December 1976, covering a period of one year and two months. Some
of the early portions were written in a room in the Yedanta
College of the Ramakrishna Ashram in Mysore. Later M.S.K. Prabhu,
Prabhushankar and N. Balasubrahmanya
read the manuscript. These friends enabled me to gain a critical perspective on
my own work. When I was wrestling hard to pick a suitable
title for the 'novel, Ha. Ma. Nayak,
helped me to settle on the title, Parva.
He also looked after the printing layout. I am genuinely grateful to all
these good friends.
Both during the preparatory stage and the writing
stage,
a number of well-wishers extended to me their helping hand, directly or
indirectly. In this connection I may refer to a long article of mine, which
gives a detailed account of my preparatory research and the various ideas that
dominated me at different stages, as also the actual writing of the work itself
Since it would be unfair to inflict that work on my readers here, and it is a
long 50 to 60 pages stuff, I shall content myself publishing separately that
material under the title, "Why do I write?". However, I do think it
would not be out of order here, to focus on some important issues discussed
there.
"I must confess that I have no adequate evidence
to confirm - or disconfirm beyond dispute the existence of Dwaraka,
referred to by Dr. Thakur. Moreover, that is not a matter of interest to me. In
the backdrop of the scholarly material I had read and digested regarding Lothal, Harappa' and Mohanjo Daro, I think Krishna's Dwaraka
is at least plausible. Having travelled in this area, and watched the scene
from the tower of the light-house on the coast, I am ready to say that I found
myself going back to the days of the Yadavas,
released from the restraints of 1975. The town of Dwaraka
as it must have been then, the sea, the life of its inhabitants, and its
physical environment, became a part of my personal experience. While dealing
with events of his own time, a writer has no problem with factual details. They
are already there, present in him subconsciously. He need only recall them to
serve his contingent purposes. But historical details do not enjoy the status
of being subjectively so immediate and internal. They persist as objective
scholarly data, resisting any internalisation. But Dwaraka
had become part of my internal experience.... I felt as if I had actually been
there in Dwaraka, and knew like the back of my hand
its streets and lanes. I felt confident that I could negotiate them without
difficulty and with skill.
"Near a place called Viratnagar
in Jaipur district, where the fight over Gograhana, a
minor Kurukshetra, had occurred, there is a cave called Bhima's
cave .... It is a local custom for newly-weds even today to visit the cave and
offer worship to Bhima. At the time I was visiting it, a newly-wed couple were
also visiting it. I asked the new groom about the purpose of this worship.
Straight came the reply: 'Should anyone cast his .eyes on my
wife, God Bhima
will grant me the power to finish him off' ... In these areas, the written
story of the Mahabharata blends nicely with the life- practices of the people.
Though the incident of Keechaka's death may not be
true, it has taken firm root in people's belief. The belief is true. What then
is the sort of truth an imaginative writer should be after? Don't we all feel
instinctively that we should destroy anyone who violates the chastity or
modesty of one's wife? Do not even the Western males behave in this way? This
timeless, universal male instinct or male pride;' leading to male dominance,
can it not be a literary truth?
"What is the real meaning of the term Aksohini? We get nowhere a precise
answer to this question", Hence refusing to be dragged into a futile
debate over an undecidable matter, I merely computed
the size of the armies involved in the Mahabharata War by looking at the size of
the war-area, It was clearly a size hitherto unknown to the Aryan people",
Why did all the rulers of Aryavarta participate in
this war? The traditional Mahabharata calls this a Dharma Yuddha, the War of Righteousness, Yet the righteous
Pandavas
commanded the support of far fewer rulers than the unrighteous, The majority of
the rulers could ' have opted out, regarding the war as none of their business.
But the Aryan kings were addicted to gambling, warring and womanising. That is
why they would rush to a Svayamvara.
They were made
of such stuff. These were the sort of ideas and thoughts that drifted into my
'head while I was going through the roads of Kurukshetra in. a rickshaw in the
company of Dr. Phadke. It was then I made the mental
note that the war reflected the nature of the Aryan people as well as that of
the people affected by their way of life." On the day I started writing
this novel, is
October 1975, I barely managed to finish a
page, The second day was slightly better with a tally
of three pages. It was only after ten pages or so that I got into the swing of
it, my pace accelerating and my absorption total. In creating literary works,
it is a mistake to draw a distinction between the directly experienced and the
indirectly perceived. After all, whatever I write is directly experienced by
me. Maybe a detail here or there, a word -here or there, may not appear to be so experienced. But
the basic material comes only as a result of intense subjective pressure. In so
far as this material is concerned, there is no historical disjunction between
this time here and that time there, the subjective time and the objective
time... I was aware all along that I was not giving exact copies of the
characters of the original Mahabharata,
but only the
different facers and forms of human nature and human relationships. Whenever I
innovated a- new character or a new situation, I could see the dimension of
this novelty ...
"The novel that was gestating within me emerged
out of me eventually as something different from what had been conceived from
time to time. This applies both to its form and meaning ... The experience of
writing Parva gave me a new sense of things, a new feeling about
everything, a new birth as it were. Practice and habit are the grounds of' most
of our beliefs. When we abandon them in order to view life from the perspective
of its terminal point of death, we reach out to a new awareness of human
potentialities and actualities, and gain a new vision, a new illumination...
How old am I now? How many more years have I yet to go? Is there any meaning I
can scoop out of the years remaining for me here on earth? These questions and
reflections on them have served as a drone of three notes to the music of this
novel, and they have sounded deep down in my mind and
heart."