Ishwa helper Reged: 03/03/02 Posts: 553

Re: Mahabharata [Re: AKMehta] #17090 - 06/05/02 02:29 AM Edit Reply Quote

Namaste AKMehta. These are very difficult questions. It needs a lot of investigation to plunge into the huge Mah�bh�ratam to isolate the Bh�ratam and further the Jayam from it. Some investigators have tried this, but I think without much success or better general agreement. The biggest problem is that verses weren't just added, but older ones have got a reshape in a younger language development and chhanda. Another problem is that ideas were also applied to younger developments. Though the basic philosophy remained practically the same, the elaborations were huge, as the added stories that didn't have much to do originally with the main story. Those stories or Akhy�nas, etc. were also edited. So it would take the reverse process of the formation to get close to the original work. (and also comparative studies with other works) As far as Vyasa is concerned, there was only one Veda Vy�sa, but many more Vy�sas, within that family. Vy�sa was from the Par�sharya section of the Vasishtha family. The very fact that not only the Jayam of 8800, but also the Bh�ratam of 24000 are both the works of Vy�sa menas that there were two Vy�sas. There must have been some generations between the first and the later. (There's another later Vy�sa, named B�dar�yana, who was the author of the BrahmaS�tra or Ved�ntaS�tra). Now the big question is whether Krshna Dvaip�yana Vy�sa was Veda Vy�sa or not. Veda Vyasa was was the famous editor of the older one Veda, according to the Puranic sources. Veda Vyasa divided the original Veda after editing/reshapening in 4 parts, just as he did with the Yajna! Veda Vy�sa collected the historical parts and put them in the Pur�naSamhit�. These 5 works (the 5 faces of Brahm�=mantrawisdom became mythologized. One face was cut off=one branch, the Pur�nam was cut off from the mainstream oral tradition) were given to his main pupils. It must have been a very huge project, in which Veda Vy�sa was the chairman professor and his pupils the doctors and/or masters in their fields who gathered all the available material of their times to be put in a new shape. The Pur�naSamhit� (with ancient tradition) with the historical Vedic material was cut off the mainstream, as was done with the Itih�sa (with contemporary/recent tradition) known as Jayam. The most important reason may have been that the other 4 branches were used in sacred rituals like the huge Shrauta Yajnas, so they were guarded with much care and precision, with auxilliary works to guarantee the care and precision. The historical works on the other hand were changing with every augmenting story.