Naimishāraṇya Frame

The Naimishāraṇya frame is the outermost setting of the Mahābhārata as kept in the Ādi Parva. The wandering reciter Ugraśravā Sauti comes to the sacred forest of Naimishāraṇya, where the ṛshi Śaunaka is holding a twelve-year satra, a long sacrificial session. Ugraśravā is asked to speak. He recites the whole Mahābhārata, which he has just heard recited by Vaiśampāyana at Janamejaya’s sarpa-yāga (the serpent sacrifice).

The setting at Naimishāraṇya

Naimishāraṇya, the forest of Naimisha, was one of the most sacred places of ancient India. The ṛshi Śaunaka was holding a twelve-year satra there with a large gathering of ṛshis. In the Mahābhārata the name Śaunaka marks the head of the Naimishāraṇya assembly. It is also the name of the great Vedic grammarian. The long satra was a time when sacred knowledge could be received, talked over, and kept.

Ugraśravā’s arrival

Ugraśravā Sauti was the son of Lomaharshaṇa the Sūta, who was himself Vyāsa’s disciple in the Purāṇas. He came to Naimishāraṇya after wandering through many tīrthas (holy places), and the assembled ṛshis welcomed him warmly. Śaunaka asked him to speak.

Ugraśravā offered to recite whatever the assembly wished: the Purāṇas, the Mahābhārata, or other sacred texts. The ṛshis said they wished to hear the Mahābhārata, the great account he had just heard recited by Vaiśampāyana at Janamejaya’s sarpa-yāga.

The line of speakers

The Mahābhārata passed from speaker to speaker in this order:

  1. Kṛshṇa-Dvaipāyana Vyāsa composed the Mahābhārata and taught it to his disciples.
  2. Vaiśampāyana received the text from Vyāsa. He recited the whole Mahābhārata at Janamejaya’s sarpa-yāga, at Janamejaya’s request, while the yāga was going on.
  3. Ugraśravā Sauti was at the sarpa-yāga and heard Vaiśampāyana’s recitation.
  4. Śaunaka’s assembly at Naimishāraṇya receives the text from Ugraśravā.

So the text was first spoken at one sacrificial occasion, the sarpa-yāga, and is now spoken again at another, the twelve-year satra.

The opening questions

Before the recitation began, the ṛshis of Naimishāraṇya asked Ugraśravā some basic questions.

  • How large is the Mahābhārata? Ugraśravā answered that Vyāsa first composed a Mahābhārata of sixty lakh (six million) ślokas in its fuller form. Then a shorter version of twenty-four thousand ślokas was given to his son Śuka and passed on from there.
  • How many parvas (books) does it have? Ugraśravā told of the eighteen parvas and their sub-parvas, with a count of the chapters and ślokas in each. This is the Parvasaṃgraha.
  • Where did the text come from? Ugraśravā explained that Vyāsa composed the Mahābhārata after performing tapas. Gaṇeśa served as the scribe and wrote it down as Vyāsa spoke it, on the condition that Vyāsa must not pause. Vyāsa set his own condition in return: Gaṇeśa must understand every śloka before writing it.

The text describes itself

The Anukramaṇikā (the index of contents) and the Parvasaṃgraha (the summary of the parvas) that Ugraśravā recites before the main account are themselves part of the Mahābhārata. So the Mahābhārata contains its own description, its own chapter counts, and its own plan.

Sources

  • Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Anukramaṇikā and Āstīka Parva, Chapters 1–3