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Re: pAnchAlii, Poyandary & mahAbhArata-upabrAhmaNam

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TCA Venkatesan • January 31, 2002 


Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

Dear BhagavatOttamas,

--- tg_ram  wrote:
> Do our aachaarya-s give mahaa-bhaarata (as well as
> SrImad rAmAyaNam)  
> the status of upa-braahmaNam (ie valid supporting
> scriptures) to 
> properly understand the apaurshEya-veda-s ?

It is my understanding that while Srimad Ramayanam
is taken as a pramANam along with the Vedas, Sri
Mahabharatam does not get such a status. Please 
note here that amongst the Ramayanams only Valmiki
Ramayanam is accorded such a status. Any stories
or conclusions in other Ramayanams that is not 
found in Valmiki Ramayanam is not accepted by
our acharyas.

It is interesting to note how our acharyas approach
the two epics. It is a well known fact that Sri
Ramanujar spent a year learning the inner meanings
of Ramayanam from Thirumalai Nambi. We do not hear
that the great acharya spent any such time on Sri
Mahabharatam, not even the Bhagavad Gita. Sri
Periyavaccan Pillai states that the Mahabharatam 
is so vast that it is difficult to find out exactly 
what it is saying. Sri Azhagiya Manavalap Perumal
Nayanar says that Sri Vyasa has said lots of
unwanted things in Sri Mahabharatam. It is held
that Sri Vyasa was dejected at one point after
writing Sri Mahabharatam (our acharyas say that he
would not have felt thus had he stuck to his
original intent when writing the Mahabharatam, which
was to tell the avatara story of Sriman Narayana),
that he wrote Srimad Bhagavatam to get over that
feeling. 

This does not mean that Sri Mahabharatam is to be 
held in poor light. There is tremendous sastric 
information in it as well. In fact, it is said that 
there is nothing in any other work that has not been 
said in Sri Mahabharatam; on the other hand, if 
something has not been said in Sri Mahabharatam
then it is not worth mentioning anywhere else.

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan
TCA Venkatesan


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