[Advaita-l] vyAsa - a portfolio

[Venkata sriram P]

Dear Jaladharji,
 
//
 
The Vishnupurana says DrauNi "son of droNa" which means the same.  I find 
this curious because Ashvatthama is a rather villainous character in the 
Mahabharata being responsible for the slaughter of the children of the 
Pandavas.
 
//
 
The samanvaya of mahAbhArata is made with Rg Veda.  There are several
thesis works that decide the dates of mahAbhArata kAla and the characters
in mahAbhArata.  
 
When time permits, I would explain the incidences of mahAbhArata and 
its references in Rg Veda Mandalas.  
 
Every character of mahAbhArata has an aspect of dEvatAvEsha in them
just as Bhishma is taken to be one among 8 vasus.  
 
Shri Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni in his thesis work “bhArata charitra
parIksha” says that Bhishma, Drona & Ashwatthama are the characters
whose traces are found in Rg Veda 6, 8, 10th mandalas.  
 
The three heroes were mentioned in Rg Veda and were born with the
aspects of Agni, Parjanya & Brahmanaspati.  
 
They were vEtasa, tugra & smadIbha.  The hero Vetasa, born with agni-amsha 
Is born again as Bhishma; the hero Tugra born with the aspect of parjanya is
the character Drona; the hero Smadibha born with the aspect of Brahmanaspati
assumes the role of Ashwatthama.  
 
It is interesting to note that “smadIbha” is also a name of a divya-gaja (divine
Elephant) of Dyu Loka whose reference is found in Rg Veda 6th Mandala.
 
The rg veda 8th mandala reference to the puru-yuddha as:
 
shagdhInO asya yuddha pauramAvidha dhIya indra siShAsataH
shagdhI yathA rushamaMshyApakaM kripa mindra prApaH svarNaraM //
 
Shri Vashishta Ganapati Muni while explaining the above Rg Mantra 
says that “pauraM = puruvaMshabhavaM”; shyApakaM = drONaM;
kripaM = kripAchAryaM.  
 
The Rg Mandala also mentions about the sUtaputra karNa’s birth and
its relation with Surya as Karna was born with surya-amsha.  The mantra
darShaNa is by “suShNa”.  
 
The krishnArjuna swarupa is the “indra-kutsasa” swarupa which is mentioned
in Rg Mandala.  The Rg Mantra describes a divine chariot alighted by Kutsasa 
and pulled by Indra where Kutsasa is addressed as “indra-sakha”.  
 
In Rg Veda, 1st Mandala, there is a mention of a great lady seer (riShika) by 
name “ghOSha” who is the daughter of kakShivAn.   Such a “ghOSha” 
is said to have 5 husbands and Rg Veda (1-122)
mentions one of the bhartA to be “arjunaH”.  
 
I believe, I am moving out of the scope of the forum guidelines that
propagate only Advaita.  
 
So, keeping in view of those, I stop my pen.  
 
Regs,
Sriram