Everything about Vyasa totally explained
Vyāsa (
Devanāgarī: व्यास) is a central and much revered figure in the majority of
Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called
Veda Vyasa (वेद व्यास,
veda vyāsa), (the one who compiled the
Vedas) or
Krishna Dvaipayana (referring to his complexion and birthplace). He is accredited as the scribe of both the Vedas, and the supplementary texts such as the
Puranas. A number of
Vaishnava traditions regard him as an
avatar of
Vishnu. Vyasa is also considered to be one of the eight
Chiranjeevin (long lived, or immortals), who are still in existence according to general Hindu belief.
The legend of Vyasa
Vyasa appears for the first time as the author of, and an important character in the
Mahābhārata. Whilst many believe the epic has its roots in actual historical events occurring centuries before the common era, others accept the work as a compendium of legendary events, philosophy and semi-historical material about ancient India. Thus it's impossible to point out if or when the 'historical' Vyasa lived, or to disentangle a possible factual story from any non-factual elements contained in the epic.
According to the Mahābhārata, he was the son of
Satyavati, a ferryman's daughter, and the wandering sage
Parashara. He was born on an island in the river
Yamuna. This is said to be near
Kalpi in
Jalaun district in
Uttar Pradesh. He was dark in colour and hence may be called by the name
Krishna (black), and also the name
Dwaipayana, meaning 'island-born'. The child grew up to be an adult as soon as he was born; adopting the life of an
ascetic, he soon became one of the greatest
rishis.
Veda Vyasa
Hindus traditionally hold that Vyasa categorised the primordial single
Veda into four. Hence he was called Veda Vyasa, or "Splitter of the Vedas," the splitting being a feat that allowed people to understand the divine knowledge of the Veda. The word vyasa means split, differentiate, or describe.
It has been debated whether Vyasa was a single person or a class of scholars who did the splitting. The Vishnu-
Purana has an interesting theory about Vyasa. The Hindu view of the universe is that of a cyclic phenomenon that comes into existence and dissolves repeatedly. Each cycle is presided over by a number of
Manus, one for each
Manvantara, that has four ages,
Yugas of declining virtues. The
Dvapara Yuga is the third Yuga. The Purana (Book 3, Ch 3) says:
In every third world age (Dvapara), Vishnu, in the person of Vyasa, in order to promote the good of mankind, divides the Veda, which is properly but one, into many portions. Observing the limited perseverance, energy, and application of mortals, he makes the Veda fourfold, to adapt it to their capacities; and the bodily form which he assumes, in order to effect that classification, is known by the name of Veda-vyasa. Of the different Vyasas in the present Manvantara and the branches which they've taught, you'll have an account.
Twenty-eight times have the Vedas been arranged by the great Rishis in the Vaivasvata Manvantara... and consequently eight and twenty Vyasas have passed away; by whom, in the respective periods, the Veda has been divided into four. The first... distribution was made by Svayambhu (Brahma) himself; in the second, the arranger of the Veda (Vyasa) was Prajapati... (and so on up to twenty-eight).
Author of Mahābhārata
Vyasa is traditionally known as author of this epic. But he also features as an important character in it. His mother later married the king of
Hastinapura, and had two sons. Both sons died without an issue and taking recourse to an ancient practice called
Niyoga where a chosen man can father sons with the widow of a person who dies issueless, she requests Vyasa to produce sons on behalf of her dead son
Vichitravirya.
Vyasa fathers the princes
Dhritarashtra and
Pandu (by
Ambika and
Ambalika, the wives of the dead king
Vichitravirya). Vyasa told that they should come alone near him. First did Ambika, but because of shyness and fear she closed her eyes. Vyasa told Satyavati that the child will be blind. Later this child was named Dhristrashtra. Thus Satyawati sent Ambalika and warned her that she should remain calm. But Ambalika's face became pale because of fear. Vyasa told that child will suffer from anaemia, and he won't be fit enough to rule the kingdom. Later this child was known as Pandu. Then Vyasa told Satyavati to send one of them again so that a healthy child can be born. This time Ambika and Ambalika sent her maid in the place of themselves. The maid was quite calm and composed, and she got a healthy child later named as
Vidura. While these are 'legally' not his sons, another son
Shuka, born of his wife, sage Jabāli's daughter Pinjalā (Vatikā), is considered his true spiritual heir. He was thus the grandfather of both the warring parties of the
Mahābhārata, the
Kauravas and the
Pandavas. He makes occasional appearances in the story as a spiritual guide to the young princes.
In the first book of the Mahābhārata, it's described that Vyasa asked
Ganesha to aid him in writing the text, however Ganesha imposed a condition that he'd do so only if Vyasa narrated the story without pause. To which Vyasa then made a counter-condition that Ganesha must understand the verse before he transcribed it. This is supposed to explain the complicated
Sanskrit used in some sections of the Mahābhārata, recited by Vyasa when he wanted a break.
Vyasa's Jaya
Vyasa's
Jaya, the core of Mahābhārata is structured in the form of a dialogue between
Dhritarashtra (the Kuru king and the father of the
Kauravas, who opposed the
Pandavas in the
Kurukshetra War) and
Sanjaya, his advisor and chariot driver. Sanjaya narrates each incident of the Kurukshetra War, fought in 18 days, as and when it happened. Dhritarashtra sometimes asks questions and doubts and sometimes laments, knowing about the destruction caused by the war, to his sons, friends and kinsmen. He also feels guilty, due to his own role, that led to this war, destructive to the entire Indian subcontinent.
In the beginning Sanjaya gives a description of the various continents of the Earth, the other planets, and focuses on the Indian Subcontinent and gives an elaborate list of hundreds of kingdoms, tribes, provinces, cities, towns, villages, rivers, mountains, forests etc of the (ancient) Indian Subcontinent (
Bharata Varsha). He also explains about the
military formations adopted by each side on each day, the death of each hero and the details of each
war-racings. Some 18 chapters of Vyasa's Jaya constitutes the
Bhagavad Gita, the sacred text of the
Hindus. Thus, this work of Vyasa, called Jaya deals with diverse subjects like geography, history, warfare, religion and morality.
Ugrasrava Sauti's Mahābhārata
The final phase of Vyasa's work culminated as
Mahābhārata, structured as a narration by
Ugrasrava Sauti, who was a professional story teller, to an assembly of sages like
Saunaka. Bharata is embedded inside it, and within it Jaya.
Reference to writing
Within the
Mahābhārata, there's a tradition in which Vyasa wishes to write down or inscribe his work:
» The Grandsire Brahma (creator of the universe) comes and tells Vyasa to get the help of Ganapati for his task. Ganapati writes down the stanzas recited by Vyasa from memory and thus the Mahābhārata is inscribed or written. Ganapati couldn't cope up with Vyasa's speed and he misses many words or even stanzas.
The earliest portions of the Mahābhārata are estimated to date from roughly the 4th century BC, the time of the introduction of writing to India.
There is some evidence however that writing may have been known earlier based on archeological findings of
styli in the
Painted Grey Ware culture, dated between 1100 BC and 700 BC. and archeological evidence of the
Brahmi script being used from at least 600 BC.
The difficulty faced by
Ganapati (Ganesha) in writing down Mahābhārata as described in the tradition, could be real, and was most probably faced by those people who first attempted to write it down as some reciter recited it continuously. This is because, the reciter, won't be able to stop the recitation, in the middle and resume it, as the lines are committed to his memory as a continuous recording.
The name Ganapati, was used in ancient days, to denote the head of a republic. In ancient India, there were
kingdoms ruled by kings or
Rajas as well as
republics ruled by elected heads or
Ganapatis.
Kambojas were a republic. To some extend
Dwaraka had republican style of rule. Ganapati who wrote down Mahābhārata, probably was one this republic chiefs, well educated in the art of writing or inscription.
Vyasa in the Puranas
Vyasa is also credited with the writing of the eighteen major, if not all,
Puranas.His son Shuka is the narrator of the major Purana Bhagavata-Purana.
The important
Bhagavata Purana (Chapter 11) narrates:
The sages Visvâmitra, Asita, Kanva, Durvâsâ, Bhrigu, Angirâ, Kashyapa, Vâmadeva, Atri, Vasishthha, along with Nârada and others, [once] stayed in the house of the lord of the Yadus [Krishna]...The young boys of the Yadu dynasty playing [there] approached them with Sâmba the son of Jâmbavati dressed up in woman's clothes. Taking hold of their feet they, feigning humility, impudently asked: 'This black-eyed pregnant woman wishing for a son, o learned ones, too embarrassed to ask it herself, is asking you whether you, with your vision never clouded, can tell if she'll give birth to a son or not?' The sages thus tricked said angered to the boys, o King: 'For you, o fools, she'll give birth to a mace which will destroy the dynasty!
Vyasa in Buddhism
Within
Buddhism Vyasa appears as Kanha-dipayana (the
Pali version of his name) in two
Jataka tales: the Kanha-dipayana Jataka and Ghata Jataka. Whilst the former in which he appears as the
Bodhisattva has no relation to his tales from the Hindu works, his role in the latter one has parallels in an important event in the Mahabhrata.
In the 16th book of the epic,
Mausala Parva, the end of the
Vrishnis, clansmen of Vyasa's namesake and Vishnu incarnate
Krishna is narrated.
The epic says:
One day, the Vrishni heroes .. saw Vishvamitra, Kanwa and Narada arrived at Dwaraka. Afflicted by the rod of chastisement wielded by the deities, those heroes, causing Samba to be disguised like a woman, approached those ascetics and said, ‘This one is the wife of Vabhru of immeasurable energy who is desirous of having a son. Ye Rishis, do you know for certain what this one will bring forth?Those ascetics, attempted to be thus deceived, said: ‘This heir of Vasudeva, by name Samba, will bring forth a fierce iron bolt for the destruction of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas.
The Ghata Jataka has a different spin on it:
The Vrishnis, wishing to test Kanha-dipayana's powers of clairvoyance, played a practical joke on him. They tied a pillow to the belly of a young lad, and dressing him up as a woman, took him to the ascetic and asked when the baby would be born. The ascetic replied that on the seventh day the person before him would give birth to a knot of acacia wood which would destroy the race of Vásudeva. The youths thereupon fell on him and killed him, but his prophecy came true .
Notably, he isn't the Bodhisattva in the Ghata Jataka.
In the Arthashastra
The only non-religious book in which Vyasa has an interesting entry is the
Arthashastra of
Chanakya. In chapter 6, it says:
'Whosoever is of reverse character, whoever hasn't his organs of sense under his control, will soon perish, though possessed of the whole earth bounded by the four quarters. For example: Bhoja, known also by the name, Dándakya, making a lascivious attempt on a Bráhman maiden, perished along with his kingdom and relations; so also Karála, the Vaideha... Vátápi in his attempt under the influence of overjoy to attack Agastya, as well as the corporation of the Vrishnis in their attempt against Dwaipáyan.
This reference matches the Jataka version and has led some scholars to speculate that in the older versions Vyasa died in this attack, though the Arthashastra is actually speaking about the destruction of the attackers.
Author of Brahma Sutra
The
Brahma Sutra is attributed to Badarayana — which makes him the proponent of the crest-jewel school of Hindu philosophy, for example,
Vedanta. As the island on which Vyasa was born is said to have been covered by Badara (Indian jujube) trees, he's known as
Badarayana. Though traditionally, Vyasa is considered the Badarayana who wrote the Sutras, many historians think these were two different personalities.
Author of Yoga Bhashya
This text is a commentary on the
Yoga Sutras of
Patanjali. Vyasa is credited with this work also, though this is impossible, if Vyasa's immortality isn't considered, as it's a later text.
Personal life
Vyasa was born to Satyavati, a member of the fishermen community, before her marriage with the Kuru king
Santanu. Vyasa's father was a
Brahmin, by the name
Parashara, a sage in the lineage of
Vasistha.
Vyasa was closely related to the
Kauravas and
Pandavas, so much as that he perpetuated their race in the line of the Kuru king Vichitravirya. Both
Dhritarashtra and
Pandu, adopted as the sons of Vichitravirya by the royal family, were born from him. Thus he was the grandfather of the
Pandavas and
Kauravas. This kinship enabled him to know much about the happenings in the royal family, ultimately enabling him to author their history in the form of Jaya.
He lived in Kurukshetra, in a forest, very near to the battle field, enabling him to know considerable details about the
Kurukshetra War, as it took place in front of his eyes.
Further Information
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