Re-ending the Mahabharata by Shalom Naama;

Author:Shalom, Naama;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2017-04-11T04:00:00+00:00

5. Scholarly Retelling of the Ending of the Mahābhārata

The reluctance of scholars to accept the SĀ as an integral part of the MBh is also evident in the ways in which epic scholarship retells the story of the ending. This section shows that even in its retelling, epic scholarship expresses an ambivalent stance toward the ending. Various such accounts tend to regard the ending as an insignificant episode, unworthy, as it were, of a closer look. This dismissal of the SĀ is highlighted when we compare accounts of the ending with scholarly retellings of other MBh books, which are usually narrated at greater length and consideration. In my opinion, scholars’ tendency to overlook these particular MBh parvans demands attention, if only on the grounds that endings (as indeed beginnings) of stories, especially if they are of such considerable length as the MBh, merit emphasis on the part of their narrators.

Various studies of the MBh include summaries of the epic plot. A common attitude in these studies is to prolong the MhP retelling while almost entirely ignoring crucial events in the SĀ. In narrating the SĀ, scholars either provide extremely concise accounts or swiftly cover its contents, usually in order to capture the “all’s well that ends well” moment that is encapsulated in Yudhiṣṭhira’s final entrance to heaven. The most striking element that is shared by all the scholarly retellings discussed below is the complete absence of Yudhiṣṭhira’s denunciation of Dharma. This points to these scholars’ general avoidance of both addressing and presenting readers with the harsh events that feature in the conclusion of the MBh.84 It should also be noted that a number of scholars who undermine books 17 and 18 (see section 4 above) are the very same retellers cited in this discussion below.

Our discussion of the ending’s adumbrated accounts categorizes the retellers cited below into three types, and names them, as follows: (1) “Mahāprasthānika-only relaters” consists of scholars who retell events solely from the ending’s first book as recorded in the MhP parvan, but avoid recounting the SĀ altogether; (2) “Naraka-free retellers” are scholars who relate events from both concluding books of the epic, but whose account of the SĀ does not mention naraka or any of the scenes taking place in it; and (3) “Close approachers” are retellers who provide a relatively sensitive reading of the ending, and whose narration relates crucial events of both concluding books. Even so, in reference to this third type, I argue that even when scholars closely approach the original narrative, they are very particular about which parts they choose to omit from their retellings. As a result, their narrations do not fully capture the drama enacted in the harsh conclusion of the MBh.

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