Chunder Dutt Mahabharata

1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-3-7481-3101-4
Verlag: BoD - Books on Demand
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 291 Seiten

Ancient India, like ancient Greece, boasts of two great Epics. One of them, the Maha-bharata, relates to a great war in which all the warlike races of Northern India took a share, and may therefore be compared to the Iliad. The other, the Ramayana, relates mainly to the adventures of its hero, banished from his country and wandering for long years in the wildernesses of Southern India, and may therefore be compared to the Odyssey. It is the first of these two Epics, the Iliad of Ancient India, which is the subject of tile foregoing pages. The great war which is the subject of this Epic is believed to have been fought in the thirteenth or fourteenth century before Christ. For generations and centuries after the war its main incidents must have been sung by bards and minstrels in the courts of Northern India. The war thus became the centre of a cycle of legends, songs, and poems in ancient India, even as Charlemagne and Arthur became the centres of legends in mediæval Europe. And then, probably under the direction of some enlightened king, the vast mass of legends and poetry, accumulated during centuries, was cast in a narrative form and formed the Epic of the Great Bharata nation, and therefore called the Maha-bharata. The real facts of the war had been obliterated by age, legendary heroes had become the principal actors, and, as is invariably the case in India, the thread of a high moral purpose, of the triumph of virtue and the subjugation of vice, was woven into the fabric of the great Epic.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Chunder Dutt, Romesh

Leseproben

II
The Tale of Savitri In the country of the Madras lived a king in days of old,
Faithful to the holy Brahma, pure in heart and righteous-souled, He was loved in town and country, in the court and hermit's den,
Sacrificer to the bright gods, helper to his brother men, But the monarch, Aswapati, son or daughter had he none,
Old in years and sunk in anguish, and his days were almost done! Vows he took and holy penance, and with pious rules conformed,
Spare in diet as brahmachari many sacred rites performed, Sang the sacred hymn, savitri , to the gods oblations gave,
Through the lifelong day he fasted, uncomplaining, meek and brave! Year by year he gathered virtue, rose in merit and in might,
Till the goddess of savitri smiled upon his sacred rite, From the fire upon the altar, which a holy radiance flung,
In the form of beauteous maiden, goddess of savitri sprung! And she spake in gentle accents, blessed the monarch good and brave,
Blessed his rites and holy penance and a boon unto him gave: “ Penance and thy sacrifices can the powers immortal move,
And the pureness of thy conduct doth thy heart's affection prove, Ask thy boon, king Aswapati, from creation's Ancient Sire,
True to virtue's sacred mandate speak thy inmost heart's desire.” “ For an offspring brave and kingly,” so the saintly king replied,
“Holy rites and sacrifices and this penance I have tried, If these rites and sacrifices move thy favour and thy grace,
Grant me offspring, Prayer-Maiden, worthy of my noble race!” “ Have thy object,” spake the maiden, “Madra's pious-hearted king,
From Swaymbhu, Self-created, blessings unto thee I bring! For He lists to mortal's prayer springing from a heart like thine,
And He wills,—a noble daughter grace thy famed and royal line! Aswapati, glad and grateful, take the blessing which I bring,
Part in joy and part in silence, bow unto Creation's King!” Vanished then the Prayer-Maiden, and the king of noble fame,
Aswapati, Lord of coursers, to his royal city came, Days of hope and nights of gladness Madra's happy monarch passed,
Till his queen of noble offspring gladsome promise gave at last! As the moon each night increaseth, chasing darksome nightly gloom,
Grew the unborn babe in splendour in its happy mother's womb, And in fulness of the season came a girl with lotus-eye,
Father's hope and joy of mother, gift of kindly gods on high! And the king performed its birth-rites with a glad and grateful mind,
And the people blessed the dear one with their wishes good and kind, As Savitri , Prayer-Maiden, had the beauteous offspring given,
Brahmans named the child Savitri , holy gift of bounteous Heaven! Grew the child in brighter beauty like a goddess from above,
And each passing season added fresher sweetness, deeper love, Came with youth its lovelier graces, as the buds their leaves unfold,
Slender waist and rounded bosom, image as of burnished gold, Deva-Kanya! born a goddess, so they said in all the land,
Princely suitors struck with splendour ventured not to seek her hand! Once upon a time it happened on a bright and festive day,
Fresh from bath the beauteous maiden to the altar came to pray, And with cakes and pure libations duly fed the Sacred Flame,
Then like Sri in heavenly radiance to her royal father came, Bowed unto his feet in silence, sacred flowers beside him laid,
And her hands she folded meekly, sweetly her obeisance made, With a father's pride, upon her gazed the ruler of the land,
But a strain of sadness lingered, for no suitor claimed her hand. “ Daughter,” whispered Aswapati, “now, methinks, the time is come,
Thou shouldst choose a princely suitor, grace a royal husband's home, Choose thyself a noble husband worthy of thy noble hand,
Choose a true and upright monarch, pride and glory of his land, As thou choosest, gentle daughter, in thy loving heart's desire,
Blessing and his free permission will bestow thy happy sire! For our sacred sastras sanction, holy Brahmans oft relate,
That the duty-loving father sees his girl in wedded state, That the duty-loving husband watches o'er his consort's ways,
That the duty-loving offspring tends his mother's widowed days, Therefore choose a loving husband, daughter of my house and love,
So thy father earn no censure or from men or gods above!” Fair Savitri bowed unto him, and for parting blessings prayed,
Then she left her father's palace, and in distant regions strayed, With her guard and aged courtiers whom her watchful father sent,
Mounted on her golden chariot unto sylvan woodlands...