How many times is 'Writing' Mentioned in MB&SBh? - Page 3

Originally posted by: Horizon566

I agree infact during nalanda burning only about 90 lakh books were burnt and the invaders came from about 11th century and these people burnt so many more places too 😠😭

Why did they have to burn our books 😭😭

It seems they hated us for being so better than them

Originally posted by: FlauntPessimism

Why did they have to burn our books 😭😭

It seems they hated us for being so better than them

Those cults knew nothing but destruction. So much of information was lost with those books.

Whether the epics were written down or not, before discussing that please agree upon the time period when these events happened. 

Vedas are known as Sruti texts, I. E. They were always taught from guru to shishya orally. Even today when we have tablets and laptops, in any Veda pathshala Vedas are always taught orally. Writing down or referring to a written copy is not tolerated. 

I have been to Veda pathshala in TN as well as Maharashtra. It is the same there. A student is certified as vedapandita only if he can recite the Vedas orally without any mistake. 

The written copies of Vedas are not for the Pandita but others who just want to read it and not learn it and recite it. 

Vedas are deemed to have been composed before Ramayana Mahabharata and Purana, due to the nature of composition and metric lyrics,  charachter's extolled and the fact that though epics and Purana talk about Vedas, the Vedas do not talk about any of the characters in the epic. Therefore popular held theory is Vedas pre date the epics. 

Vedas never required to be written,  and remarkably are consistent with every version available today unlike the epics which differ. 

So first fix the date of when the events in the epic happened before you decide they were transmitted orally or written.

Also do note that with a proper guru even today if people do not require Vedas in writing to know them or remember them,  then even epics can be taught orally just as easily 

If the events of Mahabharata  happened before IVC or during IVC  they were transmitted orally because there was no paper or bhojapatra. 

Anything that has been found as from IVC writing is in clay tablets,  seals. 

I hope anyone who has the hard copy of Mahabharata seen how much of weight they are and they are made of paper. Think logically even if the verses were just 8800 how many clay tablets would be needed and how would anyone carry them from one place to another. 

Bhojapatra as a writing medium was not known to IVC. Bhojapatra as per archaeologists came into use only from 1 or 2 CE. Whereas IVC is around 3300BCE to 1900 BCE

Popular scholastic opinion is epics were also transmitted orally,  not written down. They were written down several centuries after their occurrence when Bhojapatra was finally discovered. 

Edited by Chiillii - 3 years ago

https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp052.htm 

Another link from  vishnu puran where it is written that  prahlad read the writings 

So in ancient times  there was system of reading as well writing also

Most writing/reading mentioned would indicate the incident happened after birch bark (bhojapatra) began to be used, and lapis lazuli for ink.

Lapis lazuli HAS been found in IVC area, but not birch bark.

Therefore, any texts which mention reading/writing 

1. either were talking about clay tablets/wall markings

2. were dated after the introduction of birch bark

or

3. suffered interpolations. 

FYI. Lapis lazuli was hugely prized in ancient world BECAUSE it could be used as ink. It would've been a game changer in terms of power. Afghan area had one of the largest deposits. Which might explain why Bheeshma opted for the relatively small kingdom of Gandhar as sasural for Dhritharashtra. 

Edited by HearMeRoar - 3 years ago

Gandhar and Madrasi had something far more valuable,  horses and people managing horses

 Not just in Mahabharata but in Ramayana. Ashwapati was father of Kaikeyi of neighbouring kekeya kingdom. Bharat annexes Gandhar and his one son rules Gandhar while other rules Kekeya. Shalya from Madra was a fabulous charioteer himself  and hence asked for by Karna

Originally posted by: Chiillii

Gandhar and Madrasi had something far more valuable,  horses and people managing horses

 Not just in Mahabharata but in Ramayana. Ashwapati was father of Kaikeyi of neighbouring kekeya kingdom. Bharat annexes Gandhar and his one son rules Gandhar while other rules Kekeya. Shalya from Madra was a fabulous charioteer himself  and hence asked for by Karna

So did Bharat annex a kingdom from his own uncle?? 

I didn't expect this from Bharat ji. He should have respected the sovereignty of his maternal grandparents state. 

Anyhow coming to your point I guess that's true, going by the era we speak of definitely horses would have been more important than writing accessories

Off topic yesterday I had a discussion with an E Muslim YouTuber who was comparing Mahabharata with Harry potter. I used much of your and HearMeRoar's points to counter him and prove that Mahabharata is real history. I told him that he is free to believe it as some sort of fiction but the evidences hint otherwise. Eventually he changed the topic

Bharat didn't annexes,  I believe the uncle may not have sons of his own and hence called in Bharat to take over. 

Astrology is very ancient  knowledge   sages use to make horoscope  and I think horoscope cannot be discussed orally  one has to draw horizontal lines cross each other  and have to write  down all  planets in all 12 bhaav to show where plantes are actually situated in horoscope 

Another example   in ancient there was no electric machine to grind wheat, there was no sweinng machine to  to stich cloth but that doesn't not mean people don't use to stich clothes at that time or people don't use to grind wheat  during in ancient time  . There were some other technology in ancient times to grind wheat or stiching clothes 

Technology was always there in every yug   only thing  is that form of technology is change over period of time 

I have to disagree that writing accessories weren't as important in ancient days. They would've been crucial in passing messages, plans etc. Also, keeping records of taxes, farming, animal keeping. Economy of nations could change with it.

Also, sewing was around since Stone Age. Grinding wheat doesn't require electricity. It can be done with stones and muscle power as well and likely was.

Question is not whether MBh era had writing. Question is how they wrote. Since birch bark use likely started after IVC era, any writing mentioned had to be either on clay or rock/wall, or the text was done after IVC era, or it is an interpolation.