2023-02-19 11:54:02 by ambuda-bot
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No work of the imagination that could be
named, always excepting the Iliad, is so rich
and so true as the Mahabharata in the
portraiture of the human character-not in
torment and suffering as in Dante, not under
overwhelming passions as in Shakespeare-
but human character in its calm dignity of
strength and repose, like those immortal
figures in marble which the ancients turned
out, and which modern sculptors have vainly
sought to reproduce. The old Kuru monarch
Dhritarashtra, sightless and feeble, but
majestic in his ancient grandeur; the noble
grandsire Bhishma, death's subduer" and
unconquerable in war; the doughty Drona,
venerable priest and vengeful warrior; and
the proud and peerless archer Karna-have
each a distinct character of his own. . . The
proud and unyielding Duryodhan, and the
fierce and fiery Duhsasan stand out foremost
among the wrathful
sons of the feeble
old Kuru monarch. And Krishna
unmatched in human wisdom, ever striving
for righteousness and peace, he is thorough
and unrelenting in war when war has begun.
And the women of the Indian Epic possess
characters as marked as those of the men.
The stately and majestic queen Gandhari, the
loving and doting mother Pritha, the proud
and scornful Draupadi nursing her wrath
till her wrongs are fearfully revenged, and
the bright and brilliant and sunny Subhadra,
-these are distinct images pencilled by the
hand of a true master in the realm of
creative imagination.-R. C. Dutt.
66
named, always excepting the Iliad, is so rich
and so true as the Mahabharata in the
portraiture of the human character-not in
torment and suffering as in Dante, not under
overwhelming passions as in Shakespeare-
but human character in its calm dignity of
strength and repose, like those immortal
figures in marble which the ancients turned
out, and which modern sculptors have vainly
sought to reproduce. The old Kuru monarch
Dhritarashtra, sightless and feeble, but
majestic in his ancient grandeur; the noble
grandsire Bhishma, death's subduer" and
unconquerable in war; the doughty Drona,
venerable priest and vengeful warrior; and
the proud and peerless archer Karna-have
each a distinct character of his own. . . The
proud and unyielding Duryodhan, and the
fierce and fiery Duhsasan stand out foremost
among the wrathful
sons of the feeble
old Kuru monarch. And Krishna
unmatched in human wisdom, ever striving
for righteousness and peace, he is thorough
and unrelenting in war when war has begun.
And the women of the Indian Epic possess
characters as marked as those of the men.
The stately and majestic queen Gandhari, the
loving and doting mother Pritha, the proud
and scornful Draupadi nursing her wrath
till her wrongs are fearfully revenged, and
the bright and brilliant and sunny Subhadra,
-these are distinct images pencilled by the
hand of a true master in the realm of
creative imagination.-R. C. Dutt.
66