It is not a fight of *Mahabharata* proportions over property or assets and liabilities. Just that the great epic emerged in the warm-up conversation among an invited group last evening. The trigger? The *Upanishad Ganga *being aired from 11 March.
By way of anticipatory bail, I must add that the finer aspects of the epic are not my forte, in anything. I just have a superficial knowledge. What I essay here is just the gist of what transpired – nothing more, nothing less. Most of the invitees were in 30s and 40s, had their upbringing in India and moved to the US for a living. Only my wife and I belonged to the senior category. Any discussion attracts opposing views. Yes, these do add colour and life. Precisely this is what one youngster did, and with aplomb. He maintained that Dhritarashtra was the King, and Pandu was just a *caretaker*, annexing adjoining territories to the kingdom. Upon Pandu’s demise, therefore, if Dhritarashtra harboured Duryodhana to take over the reins after him and part with nothing to Pandavas, he was well within his rights. Second, during the entire 13 years of Pandavas' exile when Duryodhana ruled de facto Hastinapur and Indraprastha, there had not been a single complaint from his subjects. That should, the youngster felt, speak volumes of his acumen as a king-to-be. Third, more kings of the adjoining kingdoms rallied behind Duryodhana in the battlefield than Pandavas could muster. This would not have been possible, he maintained, if they were disgusted and disenchanted with him. He unfolded a few more, before the topic gradually drifted to Indian heritage, the Indus Valley Civilization, the meticulous town planning that the Mohanjo-daro and Harappa excavations revealed, the engineering marvel of the Brihadeswara temple at Tanjore, the iron steel pillar at Qutab Minar not getting rusted despite centuries of exposure to all kinds of weather, and the dating of Mahabharata epic. It is said river Saraswathy had sworn to Brahma (?) that if the two groups did wage a war, she would go dry in protest. The dating of the river going dry, he said, has since been established, and it matched with other evidences of the date of Mahabharata battle. Delving as we were deep into these, a young mother reminded us that the kids had exhausted their stock of plays and games and were getting restive, and directed us to the dining table. We drove back home with our belly and brain both well nourished. I know some of you in my Yahoogroups fraternity will be gunning for a rejoinder on these viewpoints. Please do so by all means, but pack it more with content than contempt; make it substantive rather than nitpicking. Thanks. V.V. Sundaram 11 March 2012 www.vvsundaram.blogspot.com
