Sunday 1 May 2005

Mahabharata – The Age factor

The Mahabharata is an ancient religious epic of India. It has existed in many forms, the fundamental one being a text in ancient Sanskrit, which may well be the world's second largest book (after the Gesar Epic of Tibet I think).

Mahabharata has existed in various forms for well over two thousand years:
Ø      First, starting in the middle of the first millennium BCE, it existed in the form of popular stories of Gods, kings, and seers retained, retold, and improved by priests living in shrines, ascetics living in retreats or wandering about, and by traveling bards, minstrels, dance-troupes, etc.
Ø      Later, after about 350 CE, it came to be a unified, sacred text of 100,000 stanzas written in Sanskrit, distributed throughout India by kings and wealthy patrons, and declaimed from temples.
Ø      Even after it became a famous Sanskrit writing it continued to exist in various performance media in many different local genres of dance and theater throughout India and then Southeast Asia.
Ø      Finally, it came to exist, in numerous literary and popular transformations in many of the non-Sanskrit vernacular languages of India and Southeast Asia, which (with the exception of Tamil, a language that had developed a classical literature in the first millennium BCE) began developing recorded literatures shortly after 1000 CE.

The Mahabharata was one of the two most important factors that created the "Hindu" culture of India (the other was the epic, Ramayana), and the Mahabharata and Ramayana still exert tremendous cultural influence throughout India and Southeast Asia.

But the historical importance of the Mahabharata is not the main reason to read about it.  Quite simply, the Mahabharata is a powerful and amazing text that inspires awe and wonder.  It presents sweeping visions of the cosmos and humanity and intriguing and frightening glimpses of divinity in an ancient narrative that is accessible, interesting, and compelling for anyone willing to learn the basic themes of India's culture.  The Mahabharata definitely is one of those creations of human language and spirit that has traveled far beyond the place of its original creation and will eventually take its rightful place on the highest shelf of world literature beside Homer's epics, the Greek tragedies, the Bible, Shakespeare, and similarly transcendent works.

Oh! I sometimes go overboard speaking about history. Anyways. Though all the above is true – Mahabharata should be read and understood for one very important reason, which would give us a measure of the reducing levels of “competence” and “energy” in the human race over the period of time. This realization dawned on me a few months back and all this while I was thinking of how to put the theory in words. After giving it a lot of thought I ended up putting it in the simplest of the forms – lest we miss the concept being put across.

Now we all have heard about the physical, mental & spiritual powers of the warriors of those times (Dvapara Yuga). We know how strong and powerful were Bharata, Bhishma, Dhruturashtra, Pandavas and Kauravas. We know that Bhishma laid on the arrow-bed for day’s altogether – till much after Mahabharata ended! We also know the visual powers of Sanjay who could see the war happening miles away and who also gave a running commentary of every aspect of war to Dhruturashtra (The Blind King). We also know how Abhimanyu learnt the art/ trick of entering into a Chakraviyuh – the ultimate trap for any warrior. The story goes that Arjuna was explaining the pregnant Subhadra – his wife –tricks of entering into Chakraviyuh and breaking out of it. Though Subhadra “famously” slept midway and could not hear the ways and tricks for coming out of the Chakraviyuh. Hence Abhimanyu (who was the unborn child then) also could not hear (Some Science that)! And therefore he never came to know how to come out of the Chakraviyuh – which ultimately became the reason of his cruel death. We all also know the greatness of Pandavas (supported actively by Lord Krishna) and their famous victory over the much-celebrated front line warriors of their enemy (The likes of Kaurvas and greats like Karna, Bhishma, Dronacharya, Acharya Kripacharya, Eklavya and many more). We all do know some or most of what happened in the epic war called Mahabharata.

Now put your thinking caps on and answer a few questions. What was Dhruturashtra’s age during Mahabharata war? What was Gandhari’s (wife of Dhruturashtra and mother of 101 children) age? And then what indeed were the ages of the famous Kaurava brothers, Pandavas and for that matter Bhishma during the time of Mahabharata war? I wish to calculate their approximate ages (since no concrete text is available in historical enclaves on the same). By the time I end you will realize why I was shaken out of my senses when I did this calculation.
Ok so let us first start with the mother of Kauravas – Gandhari (Princess of a province called Gandhar – the modern day Kandahar in Afghanistan). It is said that after marrying Dhruturashtra, Gandhari gave birth to a lump of flesh, which Acharya Vyasa (the compiler of Mahabharata, and sometimes narrator and vital participant) cut into 100 pieces and kept each one in a pot. At the appropriate time, each piece was born as a son and thus 100 sons were born to Gandhari. (Mahabharata, Aadhiparvam, chapter 114, sloka 17). Now Vyasa was no genetic engineer and there is nothing to corroborate that he was one – so we will stick to the general convention that Kaurava brothers and their sister (The above verse from Adhiparvam does not tell about the birth of the sister of the Kauravas – Dushala) were a result of more “conventional ways”. In any case we are more bothered about the “time” aspect of the whole process. So, we know that Gandhari had 101 kids. Now assuming a period of 9 months for each child to take birth – the total number of months Gandhari was pregnant would approximately be: 101 * 9 = 909 Months. That comes to 909/12 = 76 years (approx). (Woof!) Now assuming also that there must have been a Gap of at least 6 months between the birth of each child – 101 * 6 = 606 Months i.e. 606/12 = 50-51 Years (approx). That means the total period between the birth of Duryodhana (the eldest child of Gandhari & Dhruturashtra) and his Sister Dushala (the youngest kid of the couple) would have been almost 127 years (76 + 51)! Now add the age of Gandhari when she must have got married to Dhruturashtra. It is fair to assume that Gandhari would have been married at the age of around 15-16 (since they got married at an early age in those days). So add 16 to the above figure and we see that Gandhari was around 143- 145 years of age when she gave birth to the last child! That is phenomenal! The Mahabharata war had all the Kauravas participating in it and Dushala was already married before the Mahabharata war began (The war lasted for 18 days). Dushala got married to Jaidrath (Prince of Sindhu Kingdom). Add 15 more years (at least) to Gandhari’s age and hence she must have reached around 160 Years of age by the time Mahabharata started! It is also a fact that she died much after the Mahabharata war ended! Amazing!

And what about Dhruturashtra? He would have been atleast 10-15 years older to Gandhari. That means he must be around the age of 175 years when Dushala was born! Which implies that Duryodhana was around 147-150 (approx) at the time of going to war! Now keeping this as base let us work out the age of Yudishthir (Eldest son of King Pandu and cousin to Duryodhana) & other prominent Pandavas. Yudishthir was much elder to Duryodhana and hence he must have been around 170 or so! And since Bheema was also elder to Duryodhan (but younger to Yudishthir) – he must have been in the range of 160 Years! Oof! Lord Krishna must have been around 145-150 years of age since he was younger to Bheema but was elder to Arjuna! And since there was not much difference between the ages of Krishna and Arjuna – it is fair to assume that Arjuna must be around 140-145 years of age.

Hey, Hey – it does not end here. It’s heating up only now! Read on. Now we all know that Karna was born to Princess Kunti (Mother of Pandavas) before her marriage to King Pandu. It is then fair to say that Karna would have been around 180-185 years of age as he was much older to Yudishthir himself (who must have been around 170 years of age at the time of Mahabharata, as per our calculation above)! I mean can you beat that! And they all were in their prime form during the war. For devil’s sake – Arjuna had a grown up son (from his wife – Subhadra) named Abhimanyu during the time of Mahabharata war. Which means – Arjuna would have married Subhadra at the age of around 110-115 years! Now that is absolutely amazing considering the trend in the current generation! To marry after reaching 100 years of age is ridiculously unthinkable today! Forget that – even to live beyond 80 years is considered to be an achievement in these times!

And what about the age of Dronacharya (the Guru of all the Kauravas and Pandavas)? He was a renowned Guru (Teacher) of that era when he was called upon to teach the princes of Hastinapur Kingdom (The kingdom ruled by King Pandu and Dhruturashtra later). Both Kauravas & Pandavas were kids when they were sent to the school (Aashram) of Dronacharya to learn the art of fighting. Considering that Dronacharya must have been around the age of 40 when he started teaching the wards – then he must have been around 200-210 years of age when Mahabharata happened! And to think of the age of Great Bhishma (Granduncle of the Pandavas and Kauravas) makes it all the more chaotic. He would definitely be around 250 years of age. Don’t forget that he was the son of the first wife of King Shantanu (Princess Ganga) and he was approximately 20-30 years of age (as per records) when Shantanu married Satyavati (Grandmother of Pandu & Dhruturashtra). Calculate back and you will find that you will get a figure of 250 as Bhishma’s age! And Bhishma was still fighting at that age? Was he really human? And if you do read the story of those 18 days of Mahabharata war – you will find that Bhishma was the toughest “bloke” to beat! In fact they had to call upon the help of a eunuch (Shikhandi) to ultimately kill Bhishma on the 7th day of the war. Amazing again!

Am I jabbering? Hardly so! Mind you, nowhere is it written (in any of the Mahabharata versions) that all the Kaurava kids were born together or within a year or two. There is also no mention of twins being born to Gandhari. So it is fair to assume that they all were born in the normal, conventional cycle defined by nature i.e. one after the other. This calculation cannot be wrong unless Genetic Engineering was a preferred mode of “generating” babies in hordes! Or unless the whole of Mahabharata is a farcical story meant for amusement of people.

Spare a thought. These all men were way beyond the age of 130 and still were at prime of their “youth and power”! Look at their ages when they were getting married – 100, 120 and so on! What tenacity, what potency levels really! How did they manage to stay “young” even at that age is difficult to fathom. And let us not forget that other than the Kauravas (and a few other major warriors who were killed during the war) – everybody else lived till much later in life. Pandavas, Krishna, Dhrutrashtra, Gandhari, Kunti, and others lived for long after Mahabharata! It is just inconceivable today where the whole world keeps track of all the people who manage to cross the age of 100 years! And there are not many doing so anyways.

Can this theory be correct? I don’t know. I have not got over the shock and I am sure you must also be wondering by now. Am waiting to be proved wrong – want to get over the feeling of awe really. But somehow logic says that I cannot be off the track by too huge a margin. But boy! What if I am right? Phew! Hats off to the guys of that era. They did have something EXTRA in them!

Think about it.

Mantosh Singh..
1st June 2005’