Ramayan, Mahabharat and other Indian EPICS

[theguyinallblue]

Kattaikkuttu Sangam Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu The Tamil Nadu Kattaikkuttu Kalai Valarchi Munnetra Sangam is a grassroots organization that promotes the cultural and economic rights of professional Kattaikkuttu performers. It was established in 1990 by a group of seventeen performers belonging to different Kattaikkuttu theatre companies. At present the Sangam has more than two hundred members who live in the northern districts of Tamil Nadu and the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. The Kattaikkuttu Sangam runs the Kattaikkuttu Youth Theatre School, which provides professional Kattaikkuttu training to underprivileged, rural children in combination with basic education. The Sangam provides a framework within which performers can discuss their professional demands and aspirations. It produces new plays, organizes theatre and other creative workshops, in addition to an annual Kattaikkuttu Festival. The Kattaikkuttu Sangam is the organizer of the Kuttu Festival 2005 through which it wants to celebrate, together with other performers and its regular audiences, the fact that the organization exists fifteen years. For this special occasion a group of thirty-five performers who act in the nine different Kattaikkuttu performances put up by the Sangam, in addition to co-organizing the event. They special performance group represents actors and musicians drawn from two important Kattaikkuttu styles, that from around Kanchipuram-Cheyyar and that found in the Gingee-Vilupuram area. Karna Moksham Karna Moksham is one of the most popular plays in the Kattaikkuttu repertoire. It is attributed to the author Pukalentippulavar. Karna Moksham is performed on two important occasions. In the night preceding the sixteenth day of the funerary rites observed by rural, non-Brahmin communities, relatives of the deceased may arrange for the performance of the play. They hope that the staging of Karna Moksham will facilitate the release of the deceased's soul and allow it to ultimately reach moksham, just like the hero Karna in the play. If the deceased is a man leaving behind a wife, the play also marks the transition of the bereaved woman into widowhood. The other important occasion for the performance of Karna Moksham is a Paratam (Mahabharata) festival. The story is one of the conventional themes in the festival's cycle of plays. The tragedy of Karna's life and defeat on the battlefield is one of the most sensitive and expressive episodes of the Mahabharata. In the Tamil Kattaikkuttu tradition the classical story has undergone a thorough reworking and adaptation to the local context. Karna's wife, Ponnuruvi, does not find a place in the written traditions of the epic. However, she fulfils a pivotal role in this performed version of the story. Because Karna's decent remains hidden for so long makes him into a person of low (or unknown) caste, highlighting the importance of caste in the local village setting. Finally, the play has incorporated a distinctive bhakti or devotional flavour, linking Karna's rebirth to that of a Tamil Saivite bhakti saint and emphasizing Karna's ultimate moksham or liberation from the cycle of rebirths through his devotion to God. Karna, known for his generosity and loyalty, is the illegitimate son of Kunti, born to her and the Sun before her marriage to Pandu. Immediately after his birth Kunti abandoned him and placed him in a basket that drifted away along the river Ganga. The baby was found and adopted by a charioteer in Dhrtarashtra's service. Because the little boy wore ear rings and a shining protective jacket when he was found his adoptive parents called him 'Karna' ('Ear'). Subsequently, Karna becomes Duryodhana's loyal friend. In the Mahabharata war he fights on the Kauravas' side and opposes his own half-brothers, the Pandavas. The story of Karna Moksham is situated on the seventeenth day of the war. A despairing Duryodhana appoints Karna as General of his army and sends him away with the inauspicious words “Go to the war!” (instead of using the customary expression “Go and come back”). Before going to the battlefield Karna wishes to say farewell to his wife, Ponnuruvi. Meanwhile, in the women's apartments, Ponnuruvi admits to her friends that she has had a nightmare, which she is unable to understand, but which, or so it turns out later, predicts her husband's violent death on the battlefield and her impending widowhood. Her lady-friends inform Ponnuruvi that Karna wants to see her. Upon hearing Karna's name the Queen becomes very angry. She feels she has been trapped into a déclassé marriage and she scoffs at the invitation of this 'cart man's brad'. Karna requests Ponnuruvi to give him tampulam, the auspicious gift of areca nut and betel leaves, which symbolizes victory, before he will join the battle. Ponnuruvi refuses to open her door and lets him stand outside on the doorstep to her apartments. Karna then wants to know why she has hated him from the beginning and why she thinks of him with aversion. 'Since the day we were married, you did not speak to me, my darling' Karna says. Ponnuruvi tells one of her lady-friends that there's someone standing outside at my doorstep, calling me 'my darling' and 'my dear'. 'Ask him to name his parents and his kinsmen clearly, and I will have no objection in letting him in and offering him tampulam.' Karna decides to fulfil his wife's rightful request. He reveals that he is the illegitimate child of Kunti and the Sun-God, and begins telling the story of his birth. Ponnuruvi realizes that her husband is a royal Ksatriya, instead of being of low caste descent as she had assumed earlier. She becomes another woman, asking Karna to forgive her ignorance, and refusing to part from him. In an attempt to prevent Karna from going to the battlefield Ponnuruvi objects against his association with Duryodhana, whom she calls a jealous man of bad character who ordered the disrobing of a woman in public. What will he gain by slaying the Pandavas, his own (half-) brothers? In Ponnuruvi's opinion Duryodhana has 'bought' Karna's love by making him king of Angadesa. Karna says he values Duryodhana's friendship and loyalty above unreliable family relations — his own mother has abandoned him. At the end of their debate about Duryodhana Ponnuruvi realizes that she is unable to dissuade Karna from going to the war and offers him tampulam. However, in her confusion she does so with the wrong, left hand - another omen predicting the tragic events to follow. Karna anticipates his own death on the battlefield. He realizes that he will never be able to win the impending battle with Arjuna, because Krishna is his bosom-friend. Krishna will see to it that Arjuna wins. He tells his wife that she should not expect to see him back alive and, leaving her behind crying, joins the battle. Karna and Arjuna, with their respective charioteers, Salya and Krishna, oppose each other at Kurukshetra and exchange verbal insults. Aiming an arrow at Karna, Arjuna suddenly is afraid to let it go. He tells Krishna that his opponent greatly resembles his older brother, Dharmar, and that, therefore, he cannot kill him. He turns back to find out whether Dharmar is safe. When Dharmar hears through Krishna about Arjuna's 'lack of courage', the normally contemplative and peaceful older brother gets very angry. He insults Arjuna and his bow Gandiva and sends him back to the battlefield with the words: 'Let the arrow which you had pointed at me be for Karna. Consider him as your older brother and kill him!' Once again Arjuna and Karna oppose each other on the battlefield. Karna shoots the snake-missile Asvasenan. It misses Arjuna's heart with a few inches, because Krishna makes Arjuna's chariot sink into the ground. Asvasenan pleads with Karna to use him again. Karna says he cannot do so, because he has promised his mother Kunti to use the snake-missile only once against Arjuna. Asvasenan, who is no longer of any help to Karna, expires on the spot. Expressing his utter loneliness, Karna feels that his time to die has come. He seeks refuge with Lord Krishna. Then Arjuna releases the Pasupata-weapon, which strikes Karna fatally in his breast. Krishna, taking the form of an old Brahmin, meets the mortally wounded Karna on the battlefield. He asks him to give him the merit (tarumam), which is the result of all the good deeds (tanams) Karna has performed throughout his life. Karna consents. The gift is transferred, accompanied by the attributes used at a funeral ceremony. Because no water is available at Kurukshetra, Karna uses his own blood by shaking the arrow in his breast. After Karna has donated his merit, Krishna grants Karna the vision of himself seated on Garuda, accompanied by his wives Radha and Rukmini. The Lord promises Karna to grant him whatever boon he wishes. Karna says that, although he could ask Krishna to give victory to Duryodhana and bring his armies back to life, he does not want to do so. He then requests two things: firstly, that as soon as he dies, his mother Kunti shall be informed. She will rush to the battlefield and proclaim publicly that Karna is her son and that he is not of low caste. Secondly, in order to reach Krishna's feet (that is, the liberation of his soul from the cycle of births) Karna wants to fulfil the good deed of feeding others (annatanam). This is the only tanam he has not been able to carry out in this life, because nobody wanted to eat in the house of a person of low caste. He asks Krishna to give him in his next births the means to be liberal and the opportunity to carry out annatanam. A moved Krishna grants Karna these favours and tells him that in his next life he will be reborn as Siruttontar Nayanar, famous for offering his own son as food to Lord Siva, after which he attains moksham. Karna dies and therewith the play reaches its conclusion.

[Guest dada_rocks]

GIB Maithiki Sharan Gupta ki kavita parha hai.. He had liking for scorned and forgotten characters of history/mythology. He will write eulogy in an uniquely convicing way of characters like Kaikeyi, Karna, Yashodhara Ram arjun or Buddha ke bare mien to sab likhate hain... He used to be one of my favourite. Still remmber few of the lines from Yashodhara eulogy "आओ हो वनवासी , अब गृह-भार नहीं सह सकती देव तुम्हारी दासी | राहुल पालकर जैसे-तैसे कराने लगा प्रश्न कुछ ऐसे, मैं अबोध उत्तर दूँ कैसे वो मेरा विश्वासी |"

[theguyinallblue]

One Question what were the names of Pandavas and Draupdi when they were serving in the court of King Virata..??

[Guest HariSampath]

^...Arjuna was Brihannala a eunuch teaching dance, Draupadi was Sairandhri, queen's attendant....I will try to remember the others' names ( I guess no google).... btw...TGIB...pl correct the earlier Q...dushala was Duryodhan's sister married to Jayadrath. And I see no answers to my Q on " who was the Tendulkar of mahabharat, why and what common name" :-)

[coffee_rules]

Bheema was the cook, Ballava. Yudhishtira was Kanka.

[kumble_rocks]

I thought Karna had many wives ...

[Guest HariSampath]

Karna had just one wife...Karna is supposed to have had an affair with Duryodhana's wife banu...kashi princess...some regional stories...Duryodhana is supposed to have come to know of it and never questioned his friend Karna

[kumble_rocks]

After reading Mahabharata , I can understand the sentiments of so called lower caste folks better.No wonder they are pissed off at our religion...

[Guest dada_rocks]

These are opinions mind u Mahabharat doesn;t say Ashwathama was not made CIC because he was not kashtriya Drinacharya kripacharya Karna ( offcially) were not kashtriya and they were CIC at some stage

[kumble_rocks]

These are opinions mind u Mahabharat doesn;t say Ashwathama was not made CIC because he was not kashtriya Drinacharya kripacharya Karna ( offcially) were not kashtriya and they were CIC at some stage

They must have followed some canonical texts like Manu smiriti or what not .. Otherwise opinions wouldn't have been so rigid and frankly facked up .. Heck , you have Sri Krishna asking Drapaudi to raise objection to marrying Karna on the basis of caste in spite of him passing the test ... What else needs to be said ?

[Guest dada_rocks]

Marriage is altogether different matter.. Moreover Krishna himself was Vaishya so go figure, I believe that was just a cop-out alibi. Very fact that he was invited in swaymaver says he was eligible. I think Manu-smriti is very recent text not even existed back then.

[kumble_rocks]

Marriage is altogether different matter.. Moreover Krishna himself was Vaishya so go figure, I believe that was just a cop-out alibi. Very fact that he was invited in swaymaver says he was eligible. I think Manu-smriti is very recent text not even existed back then.

But god suggesting such an alibi is a disgrace .. And I am talking about some equivalent scriptures not Manu smriti per say . Surely Varna system was well established by then ... otherwise we wouldn't know the caste of so many of them ..

[coffee_rules]

Karna had just one wife...Karna is supposed to have had an affair with Duryodhana's wife banu...kashi princess...some regional stories...Duryodhana is supposed to have come to know of it and never questioned his friend Karna

The story goes something ... Karna was playing a game of dice with D's wife and won her necklace. When she was taking the necklace out, Karna grabbed and pulled it in haste and in that all the pearls drop on the floor. Duryodhana who enters the house at that time, doesn't say anything except he starts helping them in picking up the pearls.

[Guest dada_rocks]

But god suggesting such an alibi is a disgrace .. And I am talking about some equivalent scriptures not Manu smriti per say . Surely Varna system was well established by then ... otherwise we wouldn't know the caste of so many of them ..

Varna system was there and it still was in the purest form it was intended to which was labour distribution with freedom to pot out.. manu-smriti otoh is depicable text in my view and gets no respect whastover in any hindu home's pooja book-shelf.. Krishna has done many things like that, and it's one huge topic ....Then question is whether God sud adhere to the edicts he lays down for others .. Honestly I have no answer for this question...... ..

[kumble_rocks]

Varna system was there and it still was in the purest form it was intended to which was labour distribution with freedom to pot out.. manu-smriti otoh is depicable text in my view and gets no respect whastover in any hindu home's pooja book-shelf.. Krishna has done many things like that, and it's one huge topic ....Then question is whether God sud adhere to the edicts he lays down for others .. Honestly I have no answer for this question...... ..

Looks like it was never implemented based on labor distribution . Otherwise going by your own logic , Drapaudi and Krishna should have had no problem with the marriage to Karna. After all , Karna was the king of Anga and was performing the role of a kashtriya and not that of sut putra . And to think that he was chided for that during the marriage ceremony clearly shows that Varna system lacked upward mobility.

[Guest HariSampath]

So Drona pulled a Lara ? Still clout or no clout...on merit alone, Ashwatthama was by far the best candidate for the job after Karna died.

The real reason for appointment of Salya and then Shakuni over Ashwattama was because they were kings and had some kind of armies of their own. The only exception was Drona who was the acharya for everyone and by far the superior warrior after Bheeshma. After the death of Shakuni, technically the kaurav sena was without a C in C, as Ashwattama was appointed by Duryodhan only after he himself was wounded and dying. During a brief phase in which Dushasan and Duryodhan died, there was no CiC. ( if warriorship and seniority were criterion, then Kripacharya could have been appointed too as he was kulguru and no one could defeat him...but I dont think these were the conditions anyway as strategy and convenience were more reasons)

[Guest HariSampath]

They must have followed some canonical texts like Manu smiriti or what not .. Otherwise opinions wouldn't have been so rigid and frankly facked up .. Heck ' date=' you have Sri Krishna asking Drapaudi to raise objection to marrying Karna on the basis of caste in spite of him passing the test ... What else needs to be said ?[/quote'] Karna doesn't pass the test, and Krishna doesn't give the caste alibi. When karna is ready and strings the bow, Draupadi is panicked he might do it successfully. She is predestined to marry Arjuna and so looks at Krishna who signals her to say no. So , she stops Karna with the caste reason. Although swayamvar was generally announced in those days the choice of the girl with or without reason was honored. Krishna , although invited , was not as an eligible groom as he well knew that Arjun was alive and present there too. Krishna's invitation was more a case of a powerful king and wellwisher being invited. For that matter, when Arjun is encouraged to try his hand finally, everyone wonders how a brahmin could succeed, but before he shoots the arrow, he looks at Draupadi for her consent, then at Krishna who blesses him too.

[theguyinallblue]

One interesting question...i was watching Mahabharat today... and i learned the History behind the birth of Maharishi VedVyas... Q. Who is the mother and father of Maharishi VedVyas...?

[FistOfFury]

Mother of Vyasa Dev was Satyavati (daughter of a fisherman, who married Shantanu) and the father was Sage Parasara. He was born on a island in the river yamuna, and he was dark, so in the mahbharat text he is referred to as Dwaipayana (Island-Born) and Krishna(Dark-One). Actually, Draupadi is also referred to as Krishna because she is dark.

[FistOfFury]

BTW, someone mentioned that Lord Krishna is a Vaishaya. Firstly, he was the supreme Lord himself, above all human standards, secondly He was the son of Devaki and Vasudev, Kshatriyas - so he would theoretically be Kshatriya (if you want to see it from that view point). oh yeh, Veda Vyasa is said to be an avatar of the supreme. Interestingly he is the father of Pandu, Dhritarastra and Vidura, so actually the Grandfather of the Pandavas and the Kauravas! He goes on to write the Mahabharat, Puranas, Vedas etc. Here's an interesting - for those who know the Mahabharat through reading rather than the TV series: Q. How exactly did Gandhari give birth to her 100 sons?