Things which made you uncomfortable in Mahabharata - Page 15

Originally posted by: Eloquent

I read it more like each book focussed on the challenges faced by the Pandavas & overcoming them.

So name of each book/parva is regarding the biggest challenge in the parva e.g. Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Shalya.

Also true that while the Kaurava commanders changed frequently, Dhrishtyadyumna remained commander for all 18 days.

Fir to Shalya Parva Ka naam, in fact poore war narration Ka naam Duryodhan Parva Hona chahiye tha

Just kidding

Originally posted by: Eloquent

I read it more like each book focussed on the challenges faced by the Pandavas & overcoming them.

So name of each book/parva is regarding the biggest challenge in the parva e.g. Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Shalya.

Also true that while the Kaurava commanders changed frequently, Dhrishtyadyumna remained commander for all 18 days.

There's just one exception in form of Sauptika Parva. I think it serves to highlight the horrifyingly wicked attack on the sleeping victims and also derides Ashwatthama.

One thing which made me wonder is regarding the yudha rules.

A maharathi could only fight with a maharathi, soldier with only a soldier n so on.

But there are numerous instances in which the poor sarathi is killed first before defeating the warrior.

Sarathis should be non combatants right? What combat could they do? How could they fight back? And yet they're the first ones attacked.

I guess warriors had to protect Charioteer and horses

Spitzer manuscript, the earliest available written form, has different names for Parvas.

It has been dated to CE 130 TO 230, IIRC.

There is every possibility the current names were changed later.

Originally posted by: HearMeRoar

Spitzer manuscript, the earliest available written form, has different names for Parvas.

It has been dated to CE 130 TO 230, IIRC.

There is every possibility the current names were changed later.

What are the names of the Parvas there?

So earliest found manuscripts are from around 250AD??

It's not very old then like we think

Originally posted by: FlauntPessimism

What are the names of the Parvas there?

So earliest found manuscripts are from around 250AD??

It's not very old then like we think

That is the earliest available currently. It's not even close to the complete Mahabharata. Only bits are available, but it includes the Parva list.

You can read at JSTOR. Registration is free.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/596517?read-now=1&seq=5#page_scan_tab_contents

^ Thank you!

Names of war parvas after the Bhishma parva is missing. Does it mean the availabile name was followed to name the rest of the war parvas.🤔

Originally posted by: Wistfulness

^ Thank you!

Names of war parvas after the Bhishma parva is missing. Does it mean the available name was followed to name the rest of the war parvas.🤔

I suppose. MBh started getting written down around that time IIRC. The ones who did the writing probably wanted a proper table of contents. I'm more interested in how the authors of the article concluded Virat Parva is a later interpolation. Surely, they can't mean the whole thing because Uttara is important to the plot. One possibility is that it was included with general exile parvas and got made into a separate parva later on.

Originally posted by: HearMeRoar

I suppose. MBh started getting written down around that time IIRC. The ones who did the writing probably wanted a proper table of contents. I'm more interested in how the authors of the article concluded Virat Parva is a later interpolation. Surely, they can't mean the whole thing because Uttara is important to the plot. One possibility is that it was included with general exile parvas and got made into a separate parva later on.

The argument provided to buttress the interpolation claim wasn't convincing.