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Veda Vyasa - II
Writing the Mahabharata
 Maharaja Santhanu died in Hastinapura, leaving his wife Matsyakanthi alias Sathyavati and his two sons Chithrangathan and Vichithraveeryan. Chithrangathan died at a very young age and Vichithraveeryan, though married to Ambigai and Ambaligai, died without leaving a progeny.
As Bheeshma had already taken a vow to follow brahmacharya vritha, Sathyavati was worried about the end of Santhanu's lineage and so meditated upon Vyasa. Vyasa, as he had promised his mother, came to see her. Sathyavathi explained the situation to him and sought his help. Vyasa agreed and blessed Ambigai, who gave birth to Dridhrashtra, and Ambaligai, who gave
birth to Pandu.
Later, Dridharashtra's wife Gandhari gave birth to a lump of flesh which Vyasa cut into 100 pieces and kept each one in a pot. At the appropriate time, each piece was born as a son and thus a 100 sons were born to Gandhari. (Mahabharata, Aadhiparvam, chapter 114, sloka 17).
During the final stage of his life, Vyasa went to the Himalayas and lived in the caves. He immersed himself in deep meditation.
That is when the story of Mahabharata evolved in his mind. As advised by Brahma, he prayed to
Lord Vinayaka for help. The Lord agrred to help but laid a condition that Vyasa should narrate the story continuously - without a break. Vyasa agreed to the condition and but laid one of his own: that Vinayaka should understand the meaning of the verses he chants and then write. Vyasa inserted difficult knots in the story, that would take time to untie, and while Vinayaka was trying to understand them, he would use the time to create more
slokas.
Thus,
Mahabharata, which consists of one lakh slokas, was created by Vyasa and written by Vinayaka. Illiad and Odessey, the two great Greek epics of Homer combined are smaller than Mahabharata in content. As Bharatham explains about various factors, it is considered as fifth Veda. (Bharatha: panchamo
veda:).
While Vinayaka was writing the epic, it is said his stylus broke and he broke one of his tusks to continue writing. That is the reason why he is called as 'Eka Danthan', it is stated.
Acting on Naradha's advice, Vyasa wrote
Bhagavatham and felt at peace with himself. Apart from this, he wrote 'Brahma Sutra' (philosophical book) and wrote the commentary for Patanjali's 'Yoga Sutra'.
To be continued...
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