Bøger af Ashutosh Zutshi

The pedigree of being a demi-god in his previous life and the scion of the foremost dynasty in the Aryavarta should have ensured a smooth life for Prince Devavrata. But, it was not to be. His upbringing by Goddess Ganga herself and training under the best Gurus of his time could not change his destiny in any way. His struggle to keep his dynasty afloat lasted his entire lifetime. Despite repeated counselling from his mother, Vedvyasa and Vidura, among many others, the feeling of having failed in his primary mission of protecting the Kuru dynasty haunted him even on his bed of arrows. Although he was revered and simultaneously feared as Bhishma, he spent his entire life in a struggle to resolve his internal as well as external turmoil. Like ordinary mortals, it seems that the extensive knowledge of scriptures gained from his guru Maharishi Vasishta did not, in any way, help him in overcoming his miseries. Bhishma would have been known only as a great warrior and someone who resolutely stood by his word, had it not been for the grace of Sri Krishna which brought forth the other facet of his personality of being a Brahmagyani. That enabled him to address all queries of Yudhishthira, lying as he was on the bed of arrows, before his departure from this world.

The genius of Vedvyasa as the author of the great epic The Mahabharata is evident by the way he interrupts his narratives at various places to introduce literary gems like Srimad Bhagwat Gita just before the commencement of the war. The Vana Parva, which contains many more gems like the stories of Nala-Damyanti, Satyavan-Savitri, Harishchandra, Ashtavakra Gita, etc., is another similar example. True to his genius of introducing gems by creating situations for their introduction, Vedvyasa follows this style throughout the various Parvas of The Mahabharata particularly the Vana Parva. A huge section of the Vana Parva covers the entire period of the Pandavas exile and could, very well, have existed as a separate book; but the way Vedvyasa inserts it immediately after the game of dice that results in the exile of Pandavas integrates it beautifully with the main text of The Mahabharata. Similarly all the other gems referred to above were introduced as a consequence to the questions asked by Yudhishthira to various Rishis who visited Padavas during the course of their long exile. This book attempts to highlight this beautiful and captivating style of writing.