Whose name is this? - Page 21

I couldn't find anything on Vāsavī.

64. That would be descendent of Bharat?

Janamjeya, Arjuna

I think even Dhritarashtra and Yudhisthir

This one's out of my syllabus but I enjoyed the conversations.

I love this topic and your game a lot.😆

Correct! The following characters are called Bhārata:

Janamejaya - by Vaiśaṃpāyana, Ugraśravas, whereas Āstīka calls him Bhārat'āgrya.

Janamejaya (an earlier Kuru king) - by Śaunaka.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra - by Saṃjaya, Duryodhana, Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Vidura, Kṛṣṇā Draupadī, Yudhiṣṭhira, Gāndhārī, Śakuni, Vyāsa, Sanatsujāta, Kṛṣṇa, Rāma Jāmadagnya.

Pāṇḍu - by Pṛthā Kuntī, the ṛṣiputra killed by him.

Yudhiṣṭhira - by Saṃjaya, Bhīma, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva, Pṛthā Kuntī, Kṛṣṇā Draupadī, Kṛṣṇa, Yuyudhāna Sātyaki, Śiśupāla, Śalya, Bhīṣma, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Prātikāmin, Śakuni, Vidura, Duryodhana, Dhṛṣṭadyumna's chariot-driver, women bereaved by the war, Karṇa and Dhṛṣṭadyumna and the Draupadeyas (in hell), Indra, Vaiśravaṇa, the snake that was Nahuṣa, the animals of Dvaitavana in his dream, Dharma, the brāhmaṇa who narrates Kṛṣṇā Draupadī's birth story, Nārada, Śaunaka, Dhaumya, Vyāsa, Bṛhadaśva, Pulastya (whose speech should be addressed to Bhīṣma), the ṛṣis who accompany him for tīrthayātrā, Lomaśa, Śamaṭha, Akṛtavraṇa, Mārkaṇḍeya, Devasthāna, Bṛhaspati.

Bhīma - by Saṃjaya, Gāndhārī, Yudhiṣṭhira, Kṛṣṇā Draupadī, Hanūmat, Kṛṣṇa, the Pañcāla soldiers.

Arjuna - by Vaiśaṃpāyana, Saṃjaya, Bhīṣma (when Arjuna was a child), Karṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīma, Kṛṣṇā Draupadī, Citraratha, Vargā, Maya, the doorkeepers of Uttara Kuru, the brāhmaṇa who advises him to perform tapas, Indra, Mātali, the Gandharvas, the Yakṣa who is Dharma, Vyāsa.

Nakula - by Bhīṣma.

Duryodhana - by Saṃjaya, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Gāndhārī, Śakuni, Vidura, Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Kṛpa, Aśvatthāman, Yudhiṣṭhira, Arjuna, Duḥśāsana, Karṇa, Śalya, his purohita, his spies, Kṛṣṇa, Kaṇva, Nārada.

Duḥśāsana - by Duryodhana, Droṇa.

Śaṃtanu - by Gaṅgā.

Devavrata/Bhīṣma - by Saṃjaya, Śaṃtanu, Dāśarāja, Satyavatī, Vyāsa, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Duryodhana, Yudhiṣṭhira, Śiśupāla, Kṛṣṇa (who addresses a group led by Bhīṣma and Droṇa(!) as Bhāratāḥ), Śālva, Ambā, Rāma Jāmadagnya, Karṇa, Nārada, Aṅgiras, Ugrāyudha, Mārkaṇḍeya.

Śakuni - by Duryodhana (who should be referring to Nakula, Sahadeva, and Bhīmasena as Bhāratān, but the critical edition's text disagrees).

Kṛṣṇa - by Gāndhārī (who should be referring to Duryodhana as Bhāratam, but the critical edition's text disagrees).

Akṛtavraṇa - by Hotravāhana (who should be referring to Bhīṣma as Bhārataḥ, but the critical edition's text disagrees).

Sārasvata the hermit - by the river Sarasvatī (but if the word iti from the following verse is read first, Bhārata is addressed to Janamejaya).

Sṛñjaya (a Pañcāla ancestor of Drupada) - by Nārada.

Māndhātṛ - by Utathya (or abruptly switching back to Bhīṣma speaking to Yudhiṣṭhira).

Devakī - by Nārada (or abruptly switching back to Bhīṣma speaking to Yudhiṣṭhira).

Śuka - by Vyāsa (in between two instances of switching back to Bhīṣma speaking to Yudhiṣṭhira).

Vidura - by Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Duryodhana, even when each of them is telling Vidura to get lost (Sabhāparvan 57.11, Āraṇyakaparvan 6.17). The use of the Bhārata patronymic for Vidura is interesting because it establishes that Vidura was recognized as a member of the royal dynasty, in spite of his mother not being a wife or sexual partner of Vicitravīrya.

According to a precedent - Dīrghatamas claiming that his eleven sons like Kākṣīvat, born to Sudeṣṇā's śūdrā substitute, didn't belong to Bali, Vidura would have been only Vyāsa's son legally, and not Vicitravīrya's. The situation differs from the precedent in that Satyavatī's kānīna son Vyāsa was legally the son of her husband Śaṃtanu. Therefore, Vidura legally belonged to the Bhārata patriline through Vyāsa. However, I don't think the Bhārata name has ever been used for Vyāsa, the author of Mahābhārata!

This exercise of searching the Mahābhārata text for characters being addressed as Bhārata shows us what relatives called each other: brothers called each other by the family name, parents called sons by the family name, sons called fathers and uncles by the family name, grandparents called grandsons and grandsons called grandfathers by the family name, and wives called husbands by the family name.

Vāsavi/Vāsavī = of Vasu or of Vāsava

63. Who was known as Vāsavī (long ī)?

So technically calling people on last name basis is an old thing and not at all formal 😆

Originally posted by: DelusionsOfNeha

So technically calling people on last name basis is an old thing and not at all formal 😆

What makes you think it's not formal in Mahābhārata?

I think the characters use "Bhārata" to remind each other of their social status and the expectations that it carries. It's similar to the way characters in novels set in 18th-19th century England and U.S.A. refer to their husbands as Mr. ___ and wives/daughters/daughters-in-law as Mrs. ___.

Do we talk formally with our family? Not usually, right? Unless that's how it's written. No idea though..

Originally posted by: DelusionsOfNeha

Do we talk formally with our family? Not usually, right? Unless that's how it's written. No idea though..

If we are aristocrats, we talk formally with our families, using the "royal we."