Untold Tales from an Epic

Book Review

After Kurukshetra by Mahasweta Devi, translated from Bengali to English by Anjum Katyal is a collection of three stories that draws information from the longest epic in the world - the Mahabharata, sets the war of Kurukshetra - hailed as Dharmayuddh as the central leitmotif. Then combining fragments of imagination, exploring the unsaid, Mahasweta Devi creates three tales that focus complete attention on women in the epic- Kunti, Gandhari, Uttara, Subhadra and Souvali.

A keen socio-political commentator that the author is, an activist of rights of the tribals, landless labourers and the marginalised sections of the society, it is obvious that each story highlights the differences in ways of life of the rajavritta (of royal folk) and janavritta (of common man). The simple lives of janavritta allow tenderness, care, compassion, love, anger, all natural emotions, a lot of free will for every being. The lives of those in rajavritta though rigorous, austere with strict control over emotions essentially abound in lust, greed, arrogance and hatred, such acerbity among brothers and ravenous hunger for power and ultimate authority that wipes every trace of humanity.

Panchakanya - The Five Women from a farmers community who lose their husbands in the war show Uttara, the young, widowed princess how and why life must go on.

Kunti and the Nishadin is a marvelous piece of writing which reveals how narcissism can blind one thoroughly and literally.

Souvali, the last tale in the collection, speaks of the mother of Yuyutsu, the Kaurava who was never accepted by his 100 brothers, her plain principles in life hold our attention.

I loved all the three tales, the simple and thought provoking writing makes the reader tread upon lesser known paths of the kingdom of Hastinapur. Definitely, recommend this book for a read.

Also, I found something relevant to this from another book I possess - The Blue Lotus - Myths and Folktales of India by Meena Arora Nayak.

I bought The Blue Lotus end of year 2018. And it is the excerpt shared below that I read from the book at a bookstore that made me buy it immediately.The book by Aleph Book Company is divided into three parts, and this excerpt below appears in part two.

How Kurukshetra became a battlefield?

When Pandavas and Kauravas could not resolve the issue of Hastinapur's legitimate kingship through negotiations, war became imminent. When the allied forces of both sides were counted , they amounted to at least eighteen akshauhinis - each akshauhini unit consisting of 21870 chariots, 21870 elephants, 65610 horses and an infantry of 109350 soldiers. Now a battlefield had to be found that was large enough to accommodate such massive armies. Dhritarashtra, the Kuru king of Hastinapur , then sent out his envoys in all directions, petitioning various kings to lend a suitable tract of land in their region. But none were willing to lend for the Kuru war because they could foresee the massacre.

When returning emptyhanded to Hastinapur, the envoys were crossing a large area of farmland in Kurukshetra, they saw a farmer tilling his field. As he irrigated it, a levee broke and despite all his efforts, he could not stop water from flooding the field. The farmer grabbed his young son, playing close by, cut off his head with his sickle and repaired the breach using his son's dead body. When the envoys witnessed this incident , they knew this was the perfect battlefield, because it's soil was able to bear the burden of blood turning against blood. This is a folk myth from Haryana.