2023-02-19 11:53:57 by ambuda-bot
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466 MESSAGE OF THE MAHABHARATA
Epic says of itself: On Dharma, Artha,
Kama and Moksha, what is found here is
found elsewhere, what is not present here
can be seen nowhere else."
Nothing less than Truth and Right, Satya
and Dharma, form the theme of the great
Epic. Sanskrit literary critics have stated
that Poetry has its immediate purpose in the
readers' enjoyment of its art and its next
purpose in the moral awakening which takes
place in the readers' hearts. The latter, the
Dharma Vyutpatti, is an Injunction calling
us to do as Rama and Yudhisthira did and
to shun what Ravana and Duryodhana did.
This Injunction is dissolved in the medium of
poetry and is not apparent at first sight;
it is not expressed, but being unmistakably
implied in it, suggests itself to the
reader. In effect, the poet's subtle Injunction
and Prohibition are more powerful than
those shouted from the pulpit. The
Mahabharata describes itself as à poem,
Kavya, in the beginning (1.1-97) and it is
as Kavya that Anandavardhana, the greatest
of Sanskrit literary critics, studies the
Mahabharata towards the end of his classic,
the Dhvanyaloka. He has brilliantly
expounded there the final purport of the
Great Epic as the realisation of the vanity
of earthly glories and as the attainment
of Dharma, Vairagya, Santi and Moksha.
The changes in values brought about by
the passage of Time prove the vanity
of all earthly glories (Santi Parva,
Epic says of itself: On Dharma, Artha,
Kama and Moksha, what is found here is
found elsewhere, what is not present here
can be seen nowhere else."
Nothing less than Truth and Right, Satya
and Dharma, form the theme of the great
Epic. Sanskrit literary critics have stated
that Poetry has its immediate purpose in the
readers' enjoyment of its art and its next
purpose in the moral awakening which takes
place in the readers' hearts. The latter, the
Dharma Vyutpatti, is an Injunction calling
us to do as Rama and Yudhisthira did and
to shun what Ravana and Duryodhana did.
This Injunction is dissolved in the medium of
poetry and is not apparent at first sight;
it is not expressed, but being unmistakably
implied in it, suggests itself to the
reader. In effect, the poet's subtle Injunction
and Prohibition are more powerful than
those shouted from the pulpit. The
Mahabharata describes itself as à poem,
Kavya, in the beginning (1.1-97) and it is
as Kavya that Anandavardhana, the greatest
of Sanskrit literary critics, studies the
Mahabharata towards the end of his classic,
the Dhvanyaloka. He has brilliantly
expounded there the final purport of the
Great Epic as the realisation of the vanity
of earthly glories and as the attainment
of Dharma, Vairagya, Santi and Moksha.
The changes in values brought about by
the passage of Time prove the vanity
of all earthly glories (Santi Parva,