Relatives in Mahabharata - Page 4

Originally posted by: BrhannadaArmour

One's paternal uncle's wife had the status of one's mother, and thus, her brother was regarded as one's maternal uncle.

Duryodhana never even met Mādrī, and yet Śalya is called his maternal uncle (mātulam - accusative) at Udyogaparvan 8.11, and Duryodhana addresses Śalya as maternal uncle (mātula - vocative) when he offers him the command at Śalyaparvan 5.26.

Likewise, at Droṇaparvan 13.22, Śakuni is called Sahadeva's maternal uncle (mātulam - accusative), even in a sentence that refers to Sahadeva as Mādrī's son (Mādrī-sutaḥ - nominative).

Mami cha Bhau kaka lagto 😆

When Damayantī introduces herself to a group of travellers in the forest, she uses five kinship terms (Āraṇyakaparvan 61.118-119):

mānuṣīṃ māṃ vijānīta manuj'ādhipateḥ sutām

nṛpa-snuṣāṃ rāja-bhāryāṃ bhartṛ-darśana-lālasām

Vidarbha-rāṇ mama pitā bhartā rājā ca Naiṣadhaḥ

Nalo nāma mahābhāgas taṃ mārgāmy aparājitam

Recognize me as a human, the daughter (sutām - accusative) of an overlord of humans, a leader of men's daughter-in-law (snuṣāṃ - accusative), a king's wife (bhāryāṃ - accusative), eager to see my husband (bhartṛ - genitive sense but undeclined due to compound word). The King of Vidarbha is my father (pitā - nominative), and the King of Niṣadha is my husband (bhartā - nominative) of great luck, named Nala. I am searching for him, the undefeated.

This conversation between Duryodhana and Dhṛtarāṣṭra illustrates the custom of addressing one's immediate family by family names, and also tells us some words for seniority and juniority (Sabhāparvan 49.24-25 and 50.1-3):

andhen'eva yugaṃ naddhaṃ viparyastaṃ nar'ādhipa

kanīyāṃso vivardhante jyeṣṭhā hīyanti Bhārata

evaṃ dṛṣṭvā n'ābhivindāmi śarma

parīkṣamāṇo'pi Kuru-pravīra

ten'āham evaṃ kṛśatāṃ gataś ca

vivarṇatāṃ c'aiva saśokatāṃ ca

(Duryodhana spoke:) It's like a pair yoked by a blind man (andhena - instrumental), backwards, overlord of men (nar'ādhipa - vocative)! The junior ones (kanīyāṃsaḥ - nominative) rise high and the senior-most ones (jyeṣṭhāḥ - nominative) diminish, descendant of Bharata (Bhārata - vocative)! Watching this, I cannot find contentment, even looking around, lead hero of Kuru (Kuru-pravīra - vocative)! So, I have reached this emaciation and colourlessness and despondency.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca

tvaṃ vai jyeṣṭho jyaiṣṭhineyaḥ putra mā Pāṇḍavān dviṣaḥ

dveṣṭā hy asukham ādatte yath'aiva nidhanaṃ tathā

avyutpannaṃ samān'ārthaṃ tulya-mitraṃ Yudhiṣṭhiram

adviṣantaṃ kathaṃ dviṣyāt tvādṛśo Bharata-rṣabha

tuly'ābhijana-vīryaś ca kathaṃ bhrātuḥ śriyaṃ nṛpa

putra kāmayase mohān m'aivaṃ bhūḥ śāmya sādhv iha

Dhṛtarāṣṭra spoke: You are really the senior-most (jyeṣṭhaḥ - nominative) son of the senior-most lady (jyaiṣṭhineyaḥ - nominative), son (putra - vocative)! Don't hate Pāṇḍu's sons (Pāṇḍavān - accusative). The hater receives misery, which is exactly like death. Yudhiṣṭhira is not in your way; he shares your purpose; he has the same friends; he doesn't hate you, so how can someone like you hate him, bull of Bharata (Bharata-rṣabha - vocative)? Your ancestry and valour equal his, leader of men (nṛpa - vocative)! How can you mistakenly covet your brother's (bhrātuḥ - genitive) prosperity, son (putra - vocative)? Don't be like this. Calm down, be good now.

Although Yudhiṣṭhira was born first and his father was King earlier, Duryodhana refers to Dhṛtarāṣṭra and his sons as the senior-most ones because Dhṛtarāṣṭra was born before Pāṇḍu, whose sons thus belong to a junior branch of the family. While there are some places in the text where only one woman, Kausalyā, seems to be the mother of both Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Pāṇḍu, the tradition that Dhṛtarāṣṭra's mother Ambikā was older than Pāṇḍu's mother Ambālikā could be referenced by Dhṛtarāṣṭra's use of the word jyeṣṭhinī - senior-most lady. If this word refers to Gāndhārī, is she senior because she was married before Kuntī, or is she older in age? Or, considering that law-books recognize an equal-caste wife as senior (jyeṣṭhā) even if she is married later than lower-caste wives, is Gāndhārī senior because her royal family is more noble than Kuntī's two bhoja families?

Janamejaya asks Vaiśaṃpāyana (Harivaṃśa 2.52):

dauhitraś c'aiva Somasya kathaṃ śvaśuratāṃ gataḥ

And how indeed did Dakṣa, being Soma's daughter's son (dauhitraḥ - nominative), attain father-in-law-status (śvaśuratāṃ - accusative) of Soma?

How many listeners/readers of Mahābhārata, trying to make sense of its genealogy, chronology, geography, context, and allusions, found their questions attributed to Janamejaya by adept retellers who improvised clever answers?

How can Viśvāmitra belong to the Kauśika family descended from Ajamīḍha, a descendant of Bharata, the son of Śakuntalā who was Viśvāmitra's daughter?

If Brahmadatta of Kāmpilya was Śaṃtanu's father Pratīpa's contemporary (tulya-kāla, Harivaṃśa 15.10), and Brahmadatta's mother Kṛtvī was the daughter of Śuka, son of Vyāsa, son of Satyavatī ... that makes Satyavatī five generations older than her husband Śaṃtanu, whose eighth son was forty years old when she became his stepmother! After what must be a world record for the longest boat-ferrying career, Satyavatī was still in her childbearing years. Ugrāyudha, a contemporary of Brahmadatta's great-great-grandson, wanted to marry Satyavatī, despite being eight generations younger than she.

"I'm my own Grandpaw!"

Sudeva, a brāhmaṇa, introduces himself to Damayantī with these words (Āraṇyakaparvan 65.27-28):

ahaṃ Sudevo Vaidarbhi bhrātus te dayitaḥ sakhā

Bhīmasya vacanād rājñas tvām anveṣṭum ih'āgataḥ

kuśalī te pitā rājñi janitrī bhrātaraś ca te

āyuṣmantau kuśalinau tatrasthau dārakau ca te

I'm Sudeva, woman of Vidarbha (Vaidarbhi - vocative)! your brother's (bhrātuḥ - genitive) favourite friend (dayitaḥ sakhā - nominative). By the order of Bhīma, of the King (rājñaḥ - genitive), I've come here to search for you. Your father (pitā - nominative) is well, Queen (rājñi - vocative), and your mother (janitrī - nominative) and your brothers (bhrātaraḥ - nominative). And your two children (dārakau - nominative) full of life, who stay there, are well.

It is likely that Sudeva is younger than Damayantī, since he is a friend of one of her brothers, and Damayantī is mentioned before her brothers when their births are foretold and narrated. So, Sudeva addresses Damayantī respectfully as Queen, also calling her by her country of origin. He refers to the King of Vidarbha by title and name, but it seems that there was no disrespect in referring to members of royal families as "your father, your mother, your brothers, your two children."

Surprisingly, Sudeva twice refers to Damayantī as a baby (bālā - nominative) as he explains to the Cedi king's mother that he could recognize her by the mole between her eyebrows. This cannot mean that Sudeva actually regards Damayantī as a baby. He knows very well that Damayantī was married 12-15 years ago, and she has a daughter and a son (for whom he wishes life). Is the word bālā meant to imply that when Sudeva was close enough to observe Damayantī's forehead-mole, their acquaintance was innocent? Or, is it an honorific title, similar to infanta in Spanish, implying that a princess has been pampered all her life?

Kṛṣṇā Draupadī is also called bālā when her mistreatment takes place, after the births of her sons, and the word bāla is used for Abhimanyu, a proficient warrior and father-to-be.

The Cedi king's mother (rāja-mātā - nominative) then says to Damayantī (Āraṇyakaparvan 66.12-14):

bhaginyā duhitā me 'si piplunā'nena sūcitā

ahaṃ ca tava mātā ca rājanyasya mah'ātmanaḥ

sute Daśārṇ'ādhipateḥ Sudāmnaś cāru-darśane

Bhīmasya rājñaḥ sā dattā Vīrabāhor ahaṃ punaḥ

tvaṃ tu jātā mayā dṛṣṭā Daśārṇeṣu pitur gṛhe

yath'aiva te pitur gehaṃ tathe'dam api bhāmini

yath'aiva hi mam'aiśvaryaṃ Damayanti tathā tava

You're my sister's (bhaginyāḥ - genitive) daughter (duhitā - nominative), pointed out by this mole. I and your mother (mātā - nominative) were two daughters (sute - nominative) of the royal (rājanyasya - genitive) Sudāman, the grand-natured overlord of the Daśārṇas, you of lovely appearance (cāru-darśane - vocative)! Given, she was of King Bhīma, and then I of Vīrabāhu. You I saw just when you were born in the Daśārṇas, in my father's (pituḥ - genitive) house. Just like your father's (pituḥ - genitive) house, so is this too, radiant one (bhāmini - vocative)! Indeed, just as mastery is mine, Damayantī, so it is yours.

The king's mother's use of genitive instead of dative declensions is interesting: instead of saying that her sister and she were given to King Bhīma (Bhīmāya rājñe - dative) and to Vīrabāhu (Vīrabāhave - dative), she speaks as if the two daughters of King Sudāman of Daśārṇa were designated for two alliances with neighbouring kingdoms - one of Vidarbha, one of Cedi.

It's also notable that Damayantī's mother was visiting her father's house when her first child was born. The child who could have been the long-awaited heir to the throne of Vidarbha did not have to be born in that kingdom. Was there any concern that someone might substitute a boy for a girl, or a living baby for a dead one, to ensure that the queen who was the daughter of King Sudāman of Daśārṇa would remain in favour with King Bhīma of Vidarbha, and eventually would become the new king's mother? Was Bhīma himself present at the birth, or was the queen accompanied by trustworthy witnesses?

The king's mother has just come out of the king's inner apartments (antaḥpurāt - ablative) to where her daughter Sunandā is attended by Damayantī as a sairandhrī. This implies that unmarried princesses lived apart from their mothers, just as in every Indian romance that sneaks its hero into a princess's bedroom (e.g. Uṣā and Aniruddha in Harivaṃśa). While Sunandā sends someone to bring her mother to her, the text doesn't tell us whether Damayantī's mother similarly came out of the antaḥpura with her baby to visit her unmarried sister, or the unmarried sister was allowed to visit her niece in the antaḥpura, or newborn Damayantī was taken away from her mother to the place for unmarried princesses and their nurses.

The king's mother addresses Damayantī as an impressive adult - lovely and radiant, and by her personal name. She doesn't call her "daughter" (putri - vocative) or "calf" (vatse - vocative) - words equivalent to those that women use to address their grown sons elsewhere in Mahābhārata. However, Damayantī addresses her mother's sister (mātur bhaginīṃ - accusative) as "mother" (mātaḥ - vocative).