Perennial wisdom
THE MESSAGE OF MAHABHARATA — The Nation's Magnum Opus: Justice P. Kothandaramayya; Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kulapati K. M. Munshi Marg Mumbai-400007.
Rs. 300.
LIKE THE soulful sounds of Krishna's flute that has kept us captivated for ages in realms spiritual, the message of Dharma in the Mahabharata has been a lip for keeping the Indian society as a civilised role model for the entire world.
Enduring appeal
As Sri Aurobindo pointed out, the work of Vyasa is "the epic of the soul and religious and ethical mind and social and political ideals and culture and life of India." No wonder our political diction is embroidered with the epic's ethos and underlines the enduring effect of those ancient legends and teachings on the national mind. Justice P. Kothandaramayya is immersed in the epic; understandably so, for the epic is a great help to deliver judgments in cases riddled with moral dilemma.
The judges have to remind themselves repeatedly that the ways of Dharma are inscrutable, yet man must with his partially dark mind, seek a way out and give a just solution and also remain like Caesar's wife in his career.
Legends and cosmogony
There is a structural jaggedness about the book. It has been divided into three parts, a brilliant tangle of legends, explanations, glossaries and cosmogony.
You can open any page and walk straight into a world that is astounding. Here is a list of rivers, there Yudhishtira is answering the Yaksha and elsewhere Sage Jabali allows birds to build a nest and raise their offspring on his head. Not a line is adipose tissue in the book.
The epic's value is enhanced by a detailed, educative introduction. The author's anguish that "having given fundamental rights to the minority community, we have reached a state that we cannot make a prayer in Parliament" deserves serious hearing. Would this be the reason why the Parliament is becoming increasingly dysfunctional?
The answer can come only from Indians who must take up a deep study of the epic. "A comparative study of concepts of Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksa embodied in the epic, with the concepts of courage, wisdom, self-control and justice conceived by Socrates as foundation for democracy will equip every citizen of this country to understand the difference between the East and the West and also enable him to sacrifice in some degree his self-interest that makes the country glorious, prosperous and ideal."
PREMA NANDAKUMAR
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