Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume VIII.djvu/9



an amicable arrangement had proved fruitless, it was determined to decide the differences between the two parties by the arbitrament of arms. Each party accordingly collected its adherents, and the hostile armies met on the 'holy field of Kurukshetra,' I mentioned in the opening lines of our poem. At this juncture, $$\mbox{K}ri\mbox{sh}n\mbox{a}$$ Dvaipâyana, alias Vyâsa, a relative of both parties and endowed with more than human powers, presents himself before $$\mbox{Dh}ri\mbox{tarâsh}t\mbox{ra}$$, the father of the Kauravas, who is stated to be altogether blind. Vyâsa asks $$\mbox{Dh}ri\mbox{tarâsh}t\mbox{ra}$$ whether it is his wish to look with his own eyes on the course of the battle; and on $$\mbox{Dh}ri\mbox{tarâsh}t\mbox{ra}$$'s expressing his reluctance, Vyâsa deputes one Sañgaya to relate to $$\mbox{Dh}ri\mbox{tarâsh}t\mbox{ra}$$ all the events of the battle, giving to Sañgaya, by means of his own superhuman powers, all necessary aids for performing the duty. Then the battle begins, and after a ten days' struggle, the first great general of the Kauravas, namely Bhîshma, falls. At this point Sañgaya comes up to $$\mbox{Dh}ri\mbox{tarâsh}t\mbox{ra}$$, and announces to him the sad result, which is of course a great blow to his party. $$\mbox{Dh}ri\mbox{tarâsh}t\mbox{ra}$$ then makes numerous enquiries of Sañgaya regarding the course of the conflict, all of which Sañgaya duly answers. And among his earliest answers is the account of the conversation between $$\mbox{K}ri\mbox{sh}n\mbox{a}$$ and $$\mbox{Ar}g\mbox{una}$$ at the commencement of the battle, which constitutes the Bhagavadgîtâ. After relating to $$\mbox{Dh}ri\mbox{tarâsh}t\mbox{ra}$$ that 'wonderful and holy dialogue,' and after giving an account of what occurred in the intervals of the conversation, Sañgaya proceeds to narrate the actual events of the battle.

With this rough outline. of the framework of the story before us, we are now in a, position to consider the opposing arguments on the point above noted. Mr. Talboys Wheeler writes on that point as follows. 'But there remains one other anomalous characteristic of the history of the great war, as it is recorded in the Mahâbhârata, which cannot