Chapter 2 The second title "Mahabharata"

"The Mahabharata" is a great epic in ancient India.This great epic was once considered to be the longest epic in the world, with a total of 18 chapters, and it claims to have 100,000 "songs" (stanzas). It is not a simple epic, but actually includes three kinds of content. One is the epic story The second is many interjections, and the third is poetic writings about the legal system, customs, and moral norms.An interjection can be an independent article, and it has a strong literary quality. The story of the great epic is not very complicated, but it tells that the descendants of the ancient famous king Bharata had two brothers, one had five sons, and the other had a hundred sons. They competed with each other for the throne. "Mahabharata" means "the story of the great Bharata family".The episodes are long and short, and many famous episodes are concentrated in the first "Chapter One" describing the ancestors and the third "Forest Chapter" describing the life in the forest.The five princes and brothers were exiled in the forest for 13 years. Some Brahmin gods came to visit and comfort them, and told them many stories, so the interludes in this article are richer.

The theme of the conflict between "law" and "illegal" is consistent with the nature of the whole poem; because the nature of the great epic is a literary form of "law" (or "code"), which the editors of the great epic never forget to teach them. "Dharma". Our tradition is "Writing conveys the Way", and their epic tradition can be said to be "Poetry conveying the Law". The richness of aphorisms, proverbs, and fables is a major feature of ancient Indian literature, and in the great epic (This is known to us from Buddhist literature, especially the stories of Buddha Jataka.) What is the "dharma" passed on in the great epic? Let's try to make some "explanations" and start with the characters.

Some images of ancient Indian women in the interjection reflect reality and also represent ideals.Several ideal images of women in ancient Indian literature appeared as a foil to the main woman, the black princess, in the great epic.Damayanti and Savitri have always been based on the images depicted in the great epic.Sakundala's image in the epic is only the initial image, and later circulated is the image in the later drama.The most famous female figure is that of Rama's wife Sita, the protagonist of the epic Ramayana.Here she is eclipsed and insignificant.On the surface, these are all ideal female models promoted by men in ancient society, who talked about "three obediences and four virtues". "From father, from husband, from son" can be seen everywhere.But the women who take the black princess as the standard in the great epic are different from those in other books.Among these women, only Savitri (saving her husband) and Dharmayandi (recognizing her husband) can match Rama's wife Sita (God's wife) and are still praised in modern times.The image of Shakundala is different in epics than in dramas and later generations.This may be explained by the heroines of the two epics.The basic requirements are met by both sides, and they are not out of the women's moral norms established in slave society and feudal society, so they are still ideal characters; but in the great epics of the Black Princess type, women are not, or are not completely appendages, while the image of Sita , especially the images of medieval and modern times after the epic "Ramayana" written by Immortal Anthill are not independent.In today's language, the former is "offensive", while the latter is "defensive"; in other words, the former's "personality" and "personality" are independent, at least semi-independent, while the latter's is "non-independent".According to history, women in the former clan to slave society have more "personality", while women in feudal society in the latter have more "personality".In other words, the psychological "archetype" of the two is not the same.Choosing a son-in-law by oneself is the same for both parties, but the black princess has five wives, while Sita sticks to one.In the great epic, only Savitri is the same type as Sita, and even Damayandi once lied about remarrying.The revenge demanded by the black princess is bloody battle and execution, but what Sita demands is not so rough and fierce.From this, we can know why the great epic "The Biography of Rama" focuses on the war of subjugation of demons and does not pay attention to Sita's observance of festivals.Even Savitri was not so docile.She married her own husband, refused to listen to her parents' advice, and pursued death relentlessly, all of which were independent or "aggressive".Not to mention Shakuntala.It is easy to feel when reading the great epic that the women in it are much more free than those in other places (only not as good as the Veda. Some things are even a bit unexpected to us. If we say that the status of women is a part of the "civilization" of a society" The image of women here is worthy of analysis. If the "psychological type of personality" of women can reflect an aspect of a society's psychological or ideological and emotional structure, then the image of women in the great epic also provides information. Of course, the images in literary works are processed by ideals. Are there no ideal elements in books such as the Code of Manu? Ideals have a direction. There may not be women among the epic authors, but what men write is also what they see in their own eyes In addition to my own idealization, it is impossible to be completely out of thin air from the society at that time, otherwise it will not be accepted.

Many images of royal warriors and so-called immortals appear in the interludes, which is also consistent with the entire epic.The samurai-to-samurai struggle is the first theme of the great epic.The struggle between immortals and warriors can be said to be the second theme of the epic.This kind of struggle is described almost everywhere, from the story of the "snake sacrifice" to the story of Chisha Rama.To the gods is actually to the samurai, and the gods are the images of the royal warriors.The following is a brief analysis of the character structure seen in the epic, mainly the social status and relationship between immortals and warriors.

The characters who appear in epics and Puranas can be grouped into three categories: warriors (Kshatriyas), sages (Brahmins), commoners (Vasyas) or townspeople (with two titles in parallel).When the five brothers of the royal family were exiled from the city, the people who saw them off in the epic were Brahmins and commoners (town residents).The civilians here should include producers and production organizers, while slaves, foreigners and their women will not be included.Those should be the so-called Yaksha, Jiandafu, Luocha, etc. They appear many times, but they are not considered as the main characters in the same way as Immortals and Wushi.Civilians are only mentioned, not specifically described.The epic is written about warriors and immortals and their families.These two types of people are not direct producers, but they are not completely out of production either.Immortals rely on collection, animal husbandry, and planting, while "begging" warriors rely on hunting and looting.The targets of plunder are foreigners and producers of the same clan, and even immortal Taoist temples (or Jingxiu Forest).Some Taoist monasteries are actually gathering, animal husbandry, and planting grounds for disciples organized by immortals.Some immortals not only organize production, but also rely on "begging" and "giving", that is, asking for living materials from warriors or producers.Immortals and warriors are two interdependent and contradictory social "groups", and their internal organizational relationship is mainly clan blood relationship.These two types of people can be connected with each other by marriage.Because of the semi-ideal caste segregation stipulated by the so-called code (actually only the segregation of "lower" castes), the epic also added some reasons to explain that this "illegal" combination is "legal", which is actually a very natural social relationship.The two types of people can transform into each other.The immortals of all friends were originally warriors (Kshatriya) and eventually became immortals (Brahmans), but they still opposed the immortals.Some warrior kings lost their "land" and entered the forest, becoming so-called cultivators, that is, immortals without titles.The five brothers of the royal family first came to the city from the forest, and when they appeared, they were dressed as monks (immortals).Immortals can be priests and teachers to warrior kings, as well as warriors themselves, such as Sharama.As for artisan slaves, the story of the epic itself features an architect who builds magnificent palaces.Wealth at that time was still represented by dairy cows, symbolized by the "Ruyi Divine Cow", and "cow" was land.Industry, apart from the production of tools and weapons, is mainly construction.Another symbol of hunting and plundering is the horse, and war relies on the cart.It can be seen from this that agriculture, industry, and commerce have not yet reached the stage of equality with hunting and animal husbandry.Social production has a preliminary division of labor.When it comes to wealth, it is not necessarily currency.In the epic story, the five brothers anonymously serve as court slaves, and in the interjection, Naluo disguises himself as a coachman and steers a horse, which shows that there are slave laborers besides the three kinds of people.But their status is different, and sometimes their status is slightly higher than that of foreigners such as Rakshasa.

The above outlines the situation of the characters in the epic society.This is more evident in the interludes than in the story of the epic itself.This is still a relatively primitive and simple social structure, which is not far from the society at the time of "Veda".Owing to the underdevelopment of production, the acquisition of wealth by robbery or gambling or extortion (our terms), etc., happened frequently and was not condemned, but only incompetence in martial arts and cunning in gambling, etc.Women can also be objects of predation or stakes.The priest-sorcerer "begged," or rather extorted, with the power of sacrifice and witchcraft.They have their own special "professional status".The nature of sacrifice and witchcraft is the same, and priests and wizards are not strictly divided. This difference is just according to our current terms.There is no equal trading relationship between things and people.There is no concept of equivalent exchange.This is the basis of the material relations of the entire culture of the society in the epic.The same type of society has been found in many places in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and it seems that it has not yet disappeared in India.

Culture is shared by the whole society, including the labor techniques and arts of the producers, the weapons skills of the warriors and royal families to obtain wealth, and the mystic magic of priests and wizards to obtain wealth, together with their non-written and written Poetry creation with music and dance.Commoners and slaves are the main figures who master the material production culture of the society, while the so-called Brahmins who are good at "rituals and music" are the main figures who master the spiritual production culture of the society.From the perspective of social culture, the character structure of this society, on the one hand, is royal warriors plus commoners; on the other hand, priests and wizards, slaves and non-slave laborers are in charge of spiritual and material production.This can be said to be the actual meaning of the four so-called "castes" in ancient Indian society shown in this great epic, which is not exactly the same as that stipulated in the later society and the "Code of Laws".This situation can also be seen from the interjection.Epic is certainly not equal to historical data, but it cannot be fabricated out of thin air beyond the scope allowed by the social background.Of course the final compilation was late, so many "code" phrases were included, but the character stories were traditional without major changes.Different levels can be separated.

The common belief system reflected in the great epic can be said to center on the eternity of the unequal relationship between people in society, which is the so-called "law" (or "righteous law").In the great epic, "law" is a matter of course, and everything is subject to "law". "Law" is the code name of the traditional social order.Life is not equal, this is the creed.However, this kind of inequality is not a simple step hierarchy or patriarchal system.A social cell is not a big family, let alone a small family, but an organization of various unequal individuals, from a husband and a wife to a production and teaching organization—a Taoist monastery (or Jingxiu Forest), a royal court.The father-son relationship is just a mutual nurturing relationship before and after death.People are born unequal, but it is not a dominance relationship in which one person is necessarily above another (except for slaves).A group of people cannot have a relationship of equal treatment to another group of people, but it is not always a relationship of up and down, but more of a relationship of high and low.The ruler is equal to spells, force, and strategies, and there is no equal contract relationship between them.The obligations of supporting ancestors and carrying on the family line are stipulations of the "law", not a contractual relationship.The same is true for husband and wife, as it should be, the wife belongs to the husband.It is worth noting that "law" allows "illegal" and even requires "illegal".The framework cannot be changed, but the components and individuals in it can be changed within the framework.This kind of change can rely on self-power or other power, but not necessarily force, because the unequal relationship in the framework is not necessarily a relationship between upper and lower domination, but often just a relationship between high and low, which is a comparison of power.Where does the power to change come from?Along with force, deceit, boons, etc., there is a belief in "magic power," that is, in magic, especially in language magic and "ascetic" magic.This belief and belief in Dhamma complement each other. "Dharma" is a fixed and eternal framework, and mana (asceticism) is the power to change one's own status and move freely within the framework.Therefore, "law" is both eternal and changeable; "illegal" is not the negation of "law", but its complement.The visual expression is: the gods do not rule over people.Nor can the gods and their adversaries the asuras destroy each other.Asura can be said to be another kind of god.Brahma can only predict and instruct, but not order; he can create, but has no power over what he creates.Great epics are the product of those who master culture in a narrow sense, that is, literature. Of course, they do not forget to boast of their high status and magic power; this cannot go beyond the basic belief system.This belief system can not only maintain the stability of the relationship between the internal components of society, but also accommodate unstable components (including external components) so that it will not become an excessive destructive force.This ideology is in line with the basic requirements of an underdeveloped and structurally simple society.Of course, it is obvious that as soon as production develops and division of labor develops, exchange and circulation are required, and the flow of components in the framework increases, the old "law" cannot be maintained.The change of the belief system is closely related to its conformity or contradiction with the requirements of social development.

High and low in belief systems are measured in terms of value systems.Value concepts such as good, evil, beauty, and ugliness, and ethical and moral concepts are another set of ideological systems.This is more complicated.A simpler social structure does not necessarily mean that the system is simpler.It can only be said that in a simple society, there are fewer tricks, but in a complex society, there may be more tricks and the system is simpler.In early society, in the mind of man, the natural world and human society were combined.At that time, man was far from being able to control and transform nature. Therefore, although man observed the outside world with himself as the center, he did not feel that he was the center of the universe.At the same time, the universe seen at that time was small compared to what we know now, but it was huge in people's minds, and almost all people felt that the universe, that is, the "Three Realms" and humans were only a part of it .The universe that people now know is almost infinitely large, but in their minds it is very small, and each thinks of his own small world, and measures the outside world with ego as the center; not many people feel the vastness of the universe all the time .Back then, people lived in the desert nature, with few people and many animals. People didn't look at animals in zoos surrounded by cities like they do now.The natural world and animals are far from the object of viewing, but the majestic and terrifying behemoths surrounding human beings, who themselves are always anxious for survival and reproduction.Food and offspring were the two big things back then.From this, we can understand that the most envied objects in the great epic are the gods, because they neither worry about food nor die; the greatest power is ascetic mana, because it can change the status quo.This is the visualization of ideals, that is, the concretization of values.The original word for asceticism is "hot roasting", which is undoubtedly related to India's being in the tropics.The Great God (Shiva) practices asceticism and lives on the snow-capped mountains. The cleansing of sins and filth is the Ganges River from the sky to the snow-capped mountains and then to the human world. The indispensable god in the most intimate sacrifice is fire. These are obviously when the productivity is low. A reflection of the thoughts and feelings of people living in a tropical forest environment.Two of the most prominent visualizations of the highest value in the great epic are the life of the gods drinking soma and the "hot roast" that resists the power of nature, that is, asceticism.The life of the gods is to enjoy life, and the magic power of asceticism is to conquer nature.This is the ideal of the great epic, that is, the center of the system of values ​​arising from the demands of life.On the other hand, the belief in "law" turns into the origin of the universe and the foundation of society, and thus becomes the center of the ethical and moral system.That is to say, the structural relationship of people in traditional society, that is, the rules of customs and habits, are unshakable. "Law" is everything.This is religion as well as morality. "Law" is the norm to achieve and maintain the highest standard of value. "Legal" is the top, and "illegal" is the bottom.Rahu could not drink the soma wine of the god of heaven, nor could the god of medicine with two horses in the god of heaven enjoy soma wine. The force finally succumbed to the magic power of asceticism, and special means could be adopted to give birth to a son (there are also some in the Old Testament ), so that the ancestors can get food, etc., a series of behavior regulations are not outside the above-mentioned value and ethical system.Also, martial arts and skills are praised in the great epic.Selecting a son-in-law should also show skill, which is similar to the "talented man and beautiful woman", "talented man and beautiful woman", and "heroic beauty" in ancient Chinese novels.The beauty of women is not forgotten to be described everywhere in the great epic.Generally speaking, this system of values ​​manifests itself in the "three purposes of life" often mentioned in great epics, namely "law, profit, and desire."Later, "liberation" was added as four.From the perspective of modern people, worshiping gods, superstitious asceticism, obeying destiny, playing tricks, seeking pleasure, etc. are all barbaric and stupid; As the only correct standard, if we examine it with an objective attitude, those are reasonable and in line with the objective requirements of the historical environment at that time, and the incomprehensible absurd things are really understandable.

From the above analysis, it can be seen that the great epic can at least broaden our horizons and understand a little more about the history of human culture.As for how to use it for my own use after understanding it as it is, that is another question. Great epics are not exactly what people call literary works today.In ancient times, it was not as strictly classified as it is now.Ancient books are often cultural encyclopedias written to continue tradition.As a literary work, interjections can show this feature even more, and it can be of value to us.The social structure and ideology it reflects have been briefly discussed above.It can also have aesthetic value to us, which needs to be examined separately from two aspects of content and form.

As far as the content is concerned, the behaviors, thoughts, and feelings of these foreign ancients may not be appreciated by the Chinese people today, but they may not be "illuminated" by the "commentary" in our current "context".Is there nothing we can appreciate in these absurdities of the plain old Indian men and women?The condition of appreciation is understanding, but not necessarily sympathy and resonance.The effect doesn't have to be "educated" either.If we don't care too much about those exaggerated and impossible superficial phenomena, we can feel the vivid characters in the poem and feel love or hate, or smile, or cause thinking.For example, Naro's abandoning his wife and Savitri's mortal husband, can't we imagine their complicated psychological states?Are we all indifferent to so much hate and struggle?As long as we don't just listen to the storyline like a child, but add a little imagination and thinking, these interjections will give us some aesthetic feelings.The images of Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie are not real people, so can't they give us realistic feelings and arouse thoughtful imagination?Reading ancient books is not necessary to learn from the ancients, is there no problem?This involves aesthetic theory, I think it is better to leave it to the readers' aesthetic practice to judge. As far as the form is concerned, this has to involve translation, which will be briefly explained below. The Great Epic and another epic "Ramayana" and some "Puranas" basically use the "song" style with one octave and one sentence with four sentences.This body is also commonly used in many "codes" and various formulas.According to their habit, Westerners regard this stanza as a "two-line poem" in form, but it is actually written in two lines and read as four sentences.This posture is suitable for singing Sanskrit poems, and the time rhythm is determined by the length of syllables.Each national language has its own style of singing poetry, so that it can be sung for a long time without causing the listener to get bored.Westerners have found various poetic forms suitable for singing in their various languages ​​since Homer.In ancient India, during the Vedas period, there were originally many poems and rhythms, but the original form of "song" was used more.Later, the "song" style prevailed in the chanted poems.The earliest poems in China were four-character poems, that is, four-character sentences. Later, five-character poems became popular, and finally seven-character poems became popular.From Bianwen to Tanci, Guci and other singing poems, the style of poetry with seven words and one line and two lines in a couplet has become the basic rhythm.If the eight-syllable sentence in Sanskrit is converted into a seven-syllable sentence in Chinese, it is exactly the same, but this will inevitably change the rhyme, and it is too similar to Chinese poetry.Therefore, the translations of these interjections kept the original poetic sentence and stanza forms, but did not use the Chinese seven-character verse form.In this way, translating poetic style with poetic style and translating singing style with singing style can only be said to be an attempt. As for the achievement of literary style, it seems that it cannot be commented in isolation from style.The epic genre is found in almost every nation in the world.Singing is the common form, and heroic stories are the common content, so it is not surprising that there is a common style.But the means of expression have their own national characteristics.Exaggeration, for example, is common, and it is common to use the face of a god in order to incorporate a superhuman description, but Indian epics are uncommonly fond of this technique, and write the strange as if it were ordinary, so that the exaggeration seems to be ordinary. .It is even more significant from the point of view of Chinese traditional habits.The so-called exaggeration we are used to is nothing more than pushing ordinary things to extremes or pushing them out of possible boundaries; Indian epics are more than that, and often have some unusual connections.This may have something to do with the deep belief in witchcraft in ancient India.Chinese witchcraft is nothing more than striving for immortality, subduing nature, and catching monsters; divination also has its own rules.India's witchcraft goes beyond this scope. It can be said that it has "boundless magic power". It is irresistible to say a word, and it cannot be changed by oneself. It is also better than the spells developed later in China.The use of literary props such as spells and monsters has never been listed as superior in Chinese literature. The success of "Liao Zhai" and "Journey to the West" lies in the "dehumanization" of "inhumans", but India seems to be accustomed to "dehumanization" of "humans".On this point, there are similarities and differences between each other.It may help to understand and appreciate the literariness of these interjections, if the reader notices that they are not entirely up to our standards. The general purpose of compiling the epic is to pass on the customs and norms, so there are many maxims and proverbs.There are also many lineages and titles that are valued by societies that have not completely separated from the clan structure.Many flashbacks, interludes, and repetitions show that the oral epics were not created by one person at a time.Many titles are obviously formulas used repeatedly to fill in the syllables of the poem, which is also a feature of oral poetry.These stylistic situations can also be seen in the interjections. The analysis and comment on the artistry of literary works vary from different literary theories.The above only briefly puts forward some opinions and explanations on what we have seen, and further analysis is left to the readers.