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), (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 seven Chiranjeevin (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 Mahabharata. While 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 is 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 Mahabharata, 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 color 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 categorized 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 have taught, you shall 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).
[edit] Author of Mahabharata
Vyasa is traditionally known as the 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. The sequence of events also leads to a third son, Vidura, by a serving maid to the queens. While these are 'legally' not his sons, another son Shuka, born of a celestial nymph, is considered his true spiritual heir. He was thus the grandfather of both the warring parties of the Mahabharata, 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 Mahabharata, it is described that Vyasa asked Ganesha to aid him in writing the text; however, Ganesha imposed a condition that he would 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 Mahabharata, recited by Vyasa when he wanted a break.
Vyasa's Jaya
Vyasa's Jaya, the core of Mahabharata, 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 son and minister. 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 constitute 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.
Vaisampayana's Bharata
The growth of Jaya into Bharata was probably the work of Vyasa's disciple Vaisampayana, along with many unknown authors. It is structured as a narration of the history of kings of the Bharata dynasty by Vaisampayana to Janamejaya, the grand-grandson of the Pandava, Arjuna. Jaya is embedded within it.
Ugrasrava Sauti's Mahabharata
The final phase of Vyasa's work culminated as Mahabharata, structured as a narration by Ugrasrava Sauti, who was a professional storyteller, to an assembly of sages like Saunaka. Bharata is embedded inside it, and within it Jaya.
Reference to writing
Within the Mahabharata, there is 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 Mahabharata is inscribed or written. Ganapati could not cope up with Vyasa's speed, and he misses many words or even stanzas.
The earliest portions of the Mahabharata 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 archaeological findings of styli in the Painted Grey Ware culture, dated between 1100 BC and 700 BC, and archaeological evidence of the Brahmi script being used from at least 600 BC.
The difficulty faced by Ganapati (Ganesha) in writing down the Mahabharata 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 will not 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 extent, Dwaraka had a republican style of rule. Ganapati who wrote down the Mahabharata probably was one of these 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
From India, Madras
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4The legend of Vyasa
Vyasa appears for the first time as the author of, and an important character in the Mahabharata. While 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 is 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 Mahabharata, 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 color 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 categorized 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 have taught, you shall 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).
[edit] Author of Mahabharata
Vyasa is traditionally known as the 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. The sequence of events also leads to a third son, Vidura, by a serving maid to the queens. While these are 'legally' not his sons, another son Shuka, born of a celestial nymph, is considered his true spiritual heir. He was thus the grandfather of both the warring parties of the Mahabharata, 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 Mahabharata, it is described that Vyasa asked Ganesha to aid him in writing the text; however, Ganesha imposed a condition that he would 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 Mahabharata, recited by Vyasa when he wanted a break.
Vyasa's Jaya
Vyasa's Jaya, the core of Mahabharata, 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 son and minister. 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 constitute 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.
Vaisampayana's Bharata
The growth of Jaya into Bharata was probably the work of Vyasa's disciple Vaisampayana, along with many unknown authors. It is structured as a narration of the history of kings of the Bharata dynasty by Vaisampayana to Janamejaya, the grand-grandson of the Pandava, Arjuna. Jaya is embedded within it.
Ugrasrava Sauti's Mahabharata
The final phase of Vyasa's work culminated as Mahabharata, structured as a narration by Ugrasrava Sauti, who was a professional storyteller, to an assembly of sages like Saunaka. Bharata is embedded inside it, and within it Jaya.
Reference to writing
Within the Mahabharata, there is 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 Mahabharata is inscribed or written. Ganapati could not cope up with Vyasa's speed, and he misses many words or even stanzas.
The earliest portions of the Mahabharata 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 archaeological findings of styli in the Painted Grey Ware culture, dated between 1100 BC and 700 BC, and archaeological evidence of the Brahmi script being used from at least 600 BC.
The difficulty faced by Ganapati (Ganesha) in writing down the Mahabharata 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 will not 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 extent, Dwaraka had a republican style of rule. Ganapati who wrote down the Mahabharata probably was one of these 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
From India, Madras
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