"History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books-books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napolean once said, 'What is history, but a fable agreed upon?'"
-Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code
I don't know what to believe anything anymore. Truth is subjective and history more so. I have started believing that when history was written, whoever wrote it, put in his/her own interpretations and prejudices which have come to define the history which we now read and assume to be true.
The reason of so many thoughts in my head is the book which I recently completed reading - 'Ajaya - Roll of the Dice'. It is written by Anand Neelakantan and describes the story of Mahabharata through the Kaurava eyes. The author mentions how he has always been intrigued by the anti-hero, Duryodhana in this case, and decided to write this book when he found out that there are some places in Kerala where people still worship Duryodhana as God. The book is fascinating since it raises a lot of questions which have, surprisingly, never crossed our minds might be because we have always been fed the 'Pandavas are good, Kauravas are evil' story with much conviction since our childhood.
'If Duryodhana was evil, why did Bhishma, Dronacharya still support him', 'If the Pandavas were not Pandu's children (since Pandu was known to be impotent), and Pandu was the younger brother of Dhritarashtra, what claim did the Pandavas have to the throne?', 'Was Shishupala's murder by Krishna justified?'
The most fascinating thing in the entire book is how the writer has weaved fiction and mythology together with the same stories that we know by heart; but with an entire different precedent and reasoning to it - What exactly happened at the house of lac, What was the probable reason of Draupadi getting married off to all the five Pandavas, Was destroying the entire Khandiva forest justified?
A few examples below which really got me thinking -
1) Duryodhana was earlier called Suyodhana -
The Kaurava kids had names of 'Suyodhana', 'Sushasana' and 'Sushala'.
Their names were later coined as 'Duryodhana', 'Dushana' and 'Dushala' by the Pandavas after appending 'Du' at the beginning which means 'bad/evil' after the 'misunderstandings' started of the Kauravas being the evil people in front of the very principled and obedient Pandavas.
2) Draupadi getting married to all Pandavas -
Book Version - Arjuna rightly won Draupadi in her Swayamvar by hitting the rotating fish's eye. She disagreed to marry Karna because of his caste. Later when they reached home, according to the book, Kunti saw that Yudhishtra had taken a liking to Draupadi and looked quite smitten by her. To avoid any arguments between the brothers (since they needed to stay together to take over the throne), Kunti made Draupadi marry all five brothers. Later during the Indraprastha city opening ceremony, Gandhari muses over the possibility of Kunti being so unsure of her upbringing that she thinks a girl can break the bond between brothers.
Popular Version - In the main fable, Arjuna brings Draupadi home and asks his mom to see what he has brought. Kunti, without knowing, from inside the house, says that whatever it is should be shared by all the brothers as she has taught them from childhood. Taking mom's word as an order, it is decided that Draupadi should be shared too.
3) House of Lac -
Book Version - The Pandavas had come to know of the secret plot to burn the lac house built for them by the Kauravas. They knew that if they escaped, the Kauravas would not stop hunting for them. So they needed to show that the entire family had perished in the fire. According to the book, the Pandavas found a beggar and her 5 kids on the street and bought them to the house of lac on the pretense of feeding them food. After a hearty meal, the beggars realized that the food was actually laced with poison. But it was too late. All 6 of them died in the palace. They were to be a cover for the Pandavas so that the Kauravas think that all Pandavas have perished and do not keep hunting for them. However, the beggar kids were younger and smaller as compared to the Pandavas and there was a possibility that the Kauravas wouldn't be fooled by these bodies. To make the identification task difficult, it is said that the same poisoned food was fed to all the soldiers guarding the palace. The palace was lit on fire and the Pandavas escaped. With so many burnt bodies, it was difficult for anyone to identify or confirm and easier to assume that the Pandavas had died in the fire. Yudhishtra had argued about the necessity and righteousness of poisoning the soldier but Kunti, in the book, justifies the poisoning by saying that a soldier's Dharma is to protect his masters. By sacrificing their lives, the soldiers are doing their duty and following their Dharma.
Popular Version - In the popular version of Mahabharata, the Pandavas had procured and placed dead bodies in the palace to remove suspicion about the escape.
4) Destroying the Khandiva forest & Mayasura -
Book Version - The Khandiva forest was home to the under privileged groups who were residing in the forest along with other jungle animals. They were mostly beggars, physically challenged people, basically crowds you wouldn't want to see in an influential city. The forest was given to the Pandavas by Kauravas to appease them from trying for the throne. Krishna convinced Yudhishtra to take up the challenge and build a great city where it was least expected. To start off with their vision, they had to burn the entire forest. When the forest starting burning, the animals tried running away but found soldiers on all sides who pierced them with arrows. When the humans dwelling in the forest realized that their houses were getting destroyed, they pleaded to Krishna and Yudhishtra to save their lives. Krishna saw a potential population who could be used to do all the work to build up the city. He also found Mayasura among st the jungle people who was a great architect and who convinced Krishna to hire him to give shape to Krishna's vision. Mayasura and his people were recruited as workers and worked day and night to build the great city of Indraprastha.
On the day of the city's inauguration, soldiers were ordered to relocated all the people to the other side of the river. This was because, such a bright, shining, prosperous city couldn't be seen having untidy, deformed, dirty beggars roaming it's streets. The entire worker population was uprooted and sent away since their work in the entire scheme of things was done.
Popular Version - Mayasura was a Rakshasa and he fought the Pandavas. Pandava spared his life when he said he will build Indraprastha. The Khandava jungle was a bhog or offering to lord Agni. I had not heard of mention of many workers and other communities in the jungle.
5) Shishupala's Murder -
Book Version - According to the book, this was a cold blooded murder by Krishna in an assembly of all great kings and no one dared to go against Krishna because of his assumed divinity and because his supporters outnumbered his challengers.
Shishupala was challenging Yudhishtra's decision of inviting Krishna as the Chief Guest on the occasion of Indraprastha city's inauguration. He believed that Krishna had done nothing to warrant this special seat in front of dignitaries like Bhishma and Dronacharya. He bashed Krishna in a strong language and questioned his authority to lead the world and of him doing wrong deeds in the name of Dharma.
Krishna had had enough and killed him with his chakra in front of the entire assembly. A huge battle ruptured but since Krishna had enough supporters on his side, the other party could not do much and had to leave from there.
Popular Version - In the other version of this, Krishna kills off Shishupala since Shishupala had done his share of wrongs and atrocities and he needed to be stopped. (त्याच्या पापाचा घडा भरला होता)
These and a lot such stories make up for a very very interesting read. I wouldn't want to take the book at it's face value though. Like we were taught to revere the Pandavas since childhood, this book tries to make the reader believe that Duryodhana (earlier Suyodhana) was all good and Krishna along with the Pandavas followed Dharma blindly without questioning the motive or correctness of it. However, the book does make you think twice since everything fits so perfectly together even with this tale that the author has spun. If nothing else, it has definitely intrigued me to a point where I now want to complete the second part of the book and then take up the original Mahabharata and see the rationale behind the scenes from the other angle.
For mythology book lovers, this is definitely a must read! :)
Cherry on the cake, I was so enthralled with the book that I wrote to the author my words of appreciation for his masterpiece. And I got a reply back the very next morning! :)
