Govinda (The Aryavarta Chronicles)
Page 50
The tale, however, unfolds in a different way. The consequent asymmetry, anomaly even, is explained away in canon Mahabharata and its derivative tales (many of which speak of Panchali’s preference for Partha) using the concepts of rebirth and divine manifestation. But, if we do away with such interpolated justifications, what might it mean?
I do not have the answer to this riddle, but only a question. Behind the implied and admitted romances, is there a story of affection so obvious that it is easily overlooked? Is it a kind of Freudian transference, whether in the original itself, or perhaps created post-hoc in the interests of sanitizing and legitimizing the epic but nevertheless hinted at by the triangle of three dark-skinned Krishnas – Panchali, Partha and Govinda? Or is the asymmetry itself the story – the tale of a world where many such things are not right? To borrow Govinda Shauri’s words: ‘The world as we know it would not make sense unless Ahalya were turned to stone.’
ALTERNATE MAHABHARATAS
At this point, I shall admit that I was occasionally surprised, perhaps even shocked, at the alternate theories that seemed to suggest themselves, particularly since I had been brought up on strong doses of canon Mahabharata. The ideas, however, were not as ‘alternative’ as I had first thought – I discovered the existence of alternate versions of the Mahabharata, many of which were equally canonical in their own right. These included the Bhil Mahabharata and the Indonesian Kakawain versions, both of which I highlight for a reason – The Bhil Mahabharata was (in my view) the nearest I could get to a subaltern version of the epic, and took a very different view of the socio-political status quo (for variations and tales from the Bhil Mahabharata see Satya Chaitanya’s blog, based on his research of this folklore: http://innertraditions.blogspot.com).
The Indonesian Kakawain version (http://www.joglosemar.co.id/bharatayuda.html) was equally exciting, since it was possibly shipped out of Aryavarta and to Indonesian islands in a form that was closer to the ‘core’ or original Mahabharata – that is, an epic with fewer interpolations. A list of resources and essays on the Mahabharata variations across Bengali, Bhil, Oriya, Tamil, Malayalam and Rajasthani cultures (to name a few) is available at A. Harindranath’s stunning website: (http://mahabharata-resources.org). Essays on the Oriya Sarala Mahabharata are available on B.N. Patnaik’s site: http://saralamahabharat.blogspot.com.
BUILDING THE WORLD OF THE EPIC
W.G. Archer (The Loves of Krishna in Indian Painting and Poetry, New York: MacMillan, 1957) points to the small but immeasurably important link in the Upanishads that has opened the door to a larger story-world that revolves around the group of scholar–sages known as the Angirasas. With that in mind, the Vedic–Upanishad symbolism in the epic pointed out by Alf Hiltebeitel (‘The Two Kas on One Chariot: Upanisadic Imagery and Epic Mythology’, 1984, History of Religions, 24–1, pp. 1–26) begins to make sense. Many reinterpretations and interpolations fall into place and can be logically identified, keeping in mind the basic symbolic themes, as well as the body of philosophical knowledge that the epic seeks to encompass. Most importantly, the Mahabharata starts becoming a story of technological evolution and the associated social change.
I turned to the broader Vedic and Upanisadic literature in an attempt to decipher what the astra-incantations might have meant in a secular and scientific sense, and to understand the technology that hid behind metaphors. For this, I have relied strongly on Karen Thomson and Jonathan Slocum’s work on ancient Sanskrit, available from the Linguistics Research Centre at the University of Texas at Austin; particularly their translations of Barend A. van Nooten and Gary B. Holland’s version of the Rig Veda (Rig Veda: A Metrically Restored Text, Boston: Harvard University Press, 1994). Also deserving reference are Subhash C. Kak’s ‘Science in Ancient India’ (In Ananya: A Portrait of India, S.R. Sridhar and N.K. Mattoo (eds.), 1997, AIA: New York, pp. 399–420); Aurobindo’s The Secret of the Veda (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1993) and Shatavadhani R. Ganesh’s audio commentary on the PurushaSuktam and the NarayanaSuktam (K.V. Raman, Vedic Chanting, Bangalore: Sagar Music, 1999.)
The Vedic texts have also been of relevance to understanding the socio-political-economic context of the epic itself. For example, M.B. Emeneau and B.A. van Nooten approach the notions of Niyoga and polyandry in the Mahabharata from the broader Vedic context (‘The Young Wife and Her Husband’s Brother: Rgveda 10.40.2 and 10.85.44.’, 1991, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 111–3, pp. 481–494). Also deserving mention here is Janet Chawla’s feminist reading of the Rig Veda (‘Mythic Origins of Menstrual Taboo in Rig Veda’, 1994, Economic and Political Weekly, 29–43, pp. 2817–2827).
LIFE AND WAR IN EPIC TIMES
In terms of setting the descriptive stage for the story, my first stop was Romila Thapar’s The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to 1300 AD (New Delhi: Penguin Books/Allen Lane, 2002). City descriptions are based mainly on details in the epic narrative, but I also referred to marine archaeologist S.R. Rao’s The Lost City of Dvaraka (Goa: National Institute of Oceanography, 1999); David Frawley’s Gods, Sages and Kings: Vedic Secrets of Ancient Civilization (Salt Lake City: Passage Press/Morson Publishing, 1991) and A.S. Gaur, Sundaresh and SilaTripati’s ‘An Ancient Harbour at Dwarka: Study Based on the Recent Underwater Explorations’ (2004, Current Science, 86–9, pp. 1256–60) for ideas on the layout of Dwaraka city, particularly its fortifications and defences. Gaur, Sundaresh and Tripati’s ‘Evidence for Indo–Roman trade from Bet Dwarka Waters, West Coast of India’ (2005, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 35, pp. 117–127) inspired the notion of Dwaraka as a maritime power.
The military history of India, from the AllEmpires.com historical information website, Sushama Londhe’s page on war in Ancient India (http://www.hinduwisdom.info/War_in_Ancient_India.htm), S.A. Paramahans’s ‘A Glance at Military Techniques in Ramayana and Mahabharata’ (1989, Indian Journal of History of Science, 24–3, 156–160) and The Sarasvati Web (http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/sarasvati) also deserve reference.
GENEALOGIES
In constructing genealogies, I have relied on the texts of the Mahabharata and Harivamsa mentioned above, as well as the Srimad Bhagavatham. My tables were supplemented and cross-checked against two sources: Desiraju Hanumanta Rao’s genealogical tables of the Yadu and related dynasties (www.mahabharata-resources.org) and the tables in Irawati Karve’s Yuganta. Vettam Mani’s classic Puranic Encyclopaedia (Delhi: Motilal Banarasidas, 1975) has filled many gaps and provided essential details.
THE CONSTRUCTION OF TIME
My approach to Time has been a mix of the literal and the symbolic. Myth suggests that lifespans were much longer in the previous yugas, lasting perhaps up to three or four hundred years in the Dwaparayuga – the era of the Mahabharata. However, these figures take on a different meaning if we apply the notion of ashrama or stages of life. K.N.S. Patnaik (The Mahabharata Chronology, Pune: Annual Research J. of the Institute for Rewriting Indian History, 1990) compares how childhood (baalyam) lasted forty years in the times of the Mahabharata, whereas it lasts approximately 15 years in the current age of Kali. Similarly, youth or youvanam lasted till the age of 120 years in the past, as compared to about 45 years in today’s age. We are, in essence, dealing with a different basis of measurement of time and age.
Time, in the Chronicles, is therefore scaled down to contextualize the main actors as the middle-aged individuals they were, relative to the period of the epic. As a result, the age of the characters is given in contemporary terms.
Interestingly, ancient units of measurements ran by seasonal and sidereal time, along with the common solar. The possibility, therefore, of a year as we know constituting a shorter period of time, cannot be discounted. Subash Kak (‘On the Chronological Framework for Indian Culture’, Indian Council of Philosophical Research, 2000, pp. 1–24) mentions how one of the bases for variation in the dating of the events of the Mahabharata may be the calendar system used (more precisely, the number of stellar
constellations in a given cycle).
LANGUAGE
My work would have been near-impossible but for these amazing dictionaries and glossaries, accessed primarily through the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries website (http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de). Included in this database are the well-known Monier-Williams, Apte and MacDonnell dictionaries, as well as Kale’s work on Sanskrit grammar. I also used the simpler but wonderful Spoken Sanskrit Dictionary (http://spokensanskrit.de) and relied on the Sanskrit Heritage Site (http://sanskrit.inria.fr/sanskrit.html) for grammar reference.
Acknowledgements
Shobana: Mother and closet feminist. She taught me to love our rich legacy of spirituality and scripture and to defy the irrational in it.
Sumita Chattopadhyay: Teacher and lover of literature. The mirror that showed me long ago the writer I now am.
Jai: Husband, beloved, best friend and consummate believer in gender equality. If writing be a labour of love, then his is the love that gives meaning to what I write. Without him there would be no words.
Boozo and Zana: My dearest (fur) kids. They showed me the meaning of unconditional affection and compassion, qualities that make epic heroes of us all.
Alvin: Mentor, guide and kindred writer. He taught me the most important lesson in writing – that the stories we tell are our own.
Jayapriya and Priya: Awesome agents and committed friends. They believed in me long before I believed in myself.
Shashi Warrier: For taking the time to read in entirety an aspiring author’s awkward first draft and for kind encouragement.
Poulomi: Invested editor, fellow wordsmith. Her passion and vision for the world of Aryavarta moved me to bring it alive in ways I had not dreamt of.
Thanks also to my extended family and close friends, especially my parents-in-law, for their patience and courage in the face of adversity. There are few things more trying in the everyday world than putting up with an obsessed and cranky writer who is, partly, resident of another universe.
Thanks to Chandrika, whose diligence has greatly subsidized my domestic irresponsibility.
My thanks also to the entire team at Hachette India for investing so much in this book, and to Gunjan Ahlawat and Kunal Kundu for the cover.
And last but not the least, my father, A.R. Udayasankar: For my world of words, books and philosophy; for Amar Chitra Katha and Subramania Bharati in equal measure when I was five; for Dumas, Kipling and Adi Shankara at eight; and the Gita, the Upanishads, Hesse and Plato at thirteen. The list goes on. He could not have left me a greater legacy.
Krishna Udayasankar is a graduate of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore, and holds a PhD in Strategic Management from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, where she presently works as a Lecturer.
Govinda is Krishna’s first published novel. She is currently working on the second and third books of The Aryavarta Chronicles and a collection of prose-poems entitled Objects of Affection.
A resident of sunny Singapore, when she’s not busy writing and teaching, Krishna loves to watch Rajinikanth movies first-day, first-show, complete with applause and whistles, and to go on long drives with her husband, Jai, and two Siberian Huskies, Boozo and Zana.
www.aryavartachronicles.com
The Aryavarta Chronicles
Book 1
GOVINDA
Aryavarta – the ancient Realm of the Noble.
For generations, the Firstborn dynasty of scholar-sages, descendants of Vasishta Varuni and protectors of the Divine Order on earth, has dominated here. For just as long, the Angirasa family of Firewrights, weapon-makers to the kings and master inventors, has defied them. In the aftermath of the centuries-long conflict between the two orders, the once-united empire of Aryavarta lies splintered, a shadow of its former glorious self.
Now, the last Secret Keeper of the Firewrights is dead, killed by a violent hand, and the battle for supreme power in the empire is about to begin.
As mighty powers hurtle towards a bloody conflict, Govinda Shauri, cowherd-turned-prince and now Commander of the armies of Dwaraka, must use all his cunning to counter deception and treachery if he is to protect his people and those whom he loves.
But who holds the key to the fantastic and startling knowledge of the Firewrights, which in the wrong hands will bring doom upon the empire? And does Govinda have it in him to confront the dark secrets of his past and discover the true meaning of being Arya, of being noble?