Ugraśravā Sauti

Ugraśravā Sauti · ugra-śravas sauti

Ugraśravā Sauti is the wandering narrator whose recitation of the Mahābhārata to the assembled ṛshis (seers) at Naimishāraṇya forms the outer frame of the whole epic. His name Ugraśravā means “he of powerful or extensive hearing”, one who has heard widely and deeply.

He is called Sauti because he is the son of a Sūta (a bard who keeps royal and sacred histories), Lomaharshaṇa. Before he came to Naimishāraṇya, he had been at the sarpa-yāga (serpent yajña) of Janamejaya at Takshaśilā. There he heard Vaiśampāyana recite the Mahābhārata. He then arrived at Naimishāraṇya during the twelve-year satra (a long yajña) of Śaunaka.

Lineage and identity

Ugraśravā is the son of Lomaharshaṇa, who is also called Romaharshaṇa. Lomaharshaṇa was a Sūta by birth and one of the six main disciples of Veda Vyāsa. Vyāsa gave the Purāṇas to Lomaharshaṇa, so he became the keeper of the Purāṇa tradition.

Ugraśravā received this tradition from his father. He made it his life’s practice to wander between tīrthas (holy places), yajñas and the āśramas of great ṛshis. He heard sacred narratives and recited them wherever he was received. The Ādi Parva tells this.

The title Sauti points to his father’s jāti (birth class). The Sūtas were bard-genealogists. They had the work of keeping the histories of kings and of sacred things through spoken recitation.

Arrival at Naimishāraṇya

The Ādi Parva opens with Ugraśravā arriving at the sacred forest of Naimishāraṇya. The great ṛshi Śaunaka was holding a twelve-year satra there, with a vast assembly of brāhmaṇa ṛshis. Ugraśravā had been visiting tīrthas and had heard many narratives. He came as a devoted wanderer, one who travels not for himself but to bring what he has received to those who will receive it.

The assembled ṛshis greeted him with respect. They asked him where he had come from and what he had heard. He answered that he had been present at Janamejaya’s great serpent yajña at Takshaśilā. There he had heard Vaiśampāyana recite the whole Mahābhārata to Janamejaya, at Vyāsa’s command. He now offered to recite it again for this assembly.

The recitation at Naimishāraṇya

The ṛshis, led by Śaunaka, welcomed the offer with great joy. Śaunaka became the main questioner, the one whose questions draw out the narrative. The whole Mahābhārata as given in the Ādi Parva is therefore a narrative told by Ugraśravā to Śaunaka and the assembled ṛshis at Naimishāraṇya. They had asked for it with full devotion and curiosity.

This gives the Mahābhārata its double frame. Vyāsa composed it. Vaiśampāyana recited it to Janamejaya. Ugraśravā heard it there and then recited it to Śaunaka. The line of transmission of the text is:

  1. Vyāsa
  2. Vaiśampāyana
  3. Janamejaya’s court
  4. Ugraśravā
  5. Naimishāraṇya

Relationship with Śaunaka

In the Pauloma Parva, Śaunaka asks Ugraśravā about the lineage of the Sūtas. This leads Ugraśravā to tell the narrative of the sarpa-yāga, the Pauloma Upākhyāna, and in time the whole Āstīka Parva.

Śaunaka and Ugraśravā show deep respect for each other in the text. The ṛshi brings the inquiring mind that gives direction to the recitation. The Sūta brings the wide knowledge of narratives that answers those questions.

The commentator Nīlakaṇṭha Caturdhara gives three qualifications of Ugraśravā:

  • He heard the Mahābhārata directly from Vaiśampāyana.
  • He had the Purāṇa tradition of his father Lomaharshaṇa.
  • He had purified himself through long tīrtha-yātrā (journeys to holy places).

So he was fully able to carry this transmission.

His place in the tradition

Ugraśravā links the court setting of the Mahābhārata, Janamejaya’s sarpa-yāga, with its forest setting, the satra at Naimishāraṇya. He thus links the royal and heroic side of the text with its quiet, contemplative side. By reciting the Mahābhārata at a gathering of ṛshis in the forest, he made this knowledge, which first arose from one king’s grief, open to all seekers.

The close of the epic in the Svargārohaṇa Parva

At the very end of the Mahābhārata, Janamejaya asks his last and subtlest question. He asks how long the heroes stayed in svarga (heaven) and what their final destiny was. Here the narration passes from Vaiśampāyana to Sauti’s own voice, marked “Sautiḥ uvāca” (Sauti said).

Speaking on the authority of Vyāsa’s all-knowing vision, Sauti tells that some of the departed heroes, when their prārabdha (the karma already begun to bear fruit) was spent, merged again into their divine sources. Bhīshma went into the Vasus, Droṇa into Bṛhaspati, Karṇa into Sūrya, and so on. Not all beings return in this way.

Sauti then gives the phala-stuti (the praise of the fruits of hearing the epic) and the Bhārata-Sāvitrī. He also tells how Janamejaya’s sarpa-yāga came to a peaceful end. He tells all this, as the frame narrator, to Śaunaka and the ṛshis gathered at Naimishāraṇya. This is the outer frame within which the whole Mahābhārata is spoken.

Sources

  • Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Anukramaṇikā Parva, Chapters 1–2
  • Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Pauloma Parva, Chapters 3–4
  • Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 5
  • Nīlakaṇṭha Caturdhara’s commentary on the Mahābhārata