PRADIP BHATTACHARYA, trans.

from Bengali, The Mahabharata of Kavi Sanjaya,

Volume I & II, Das Gupta & Co (P) Ltd., Kolkata, 2019, pp. 637, Rs. 1495/-

While Kaliprasanna Sinha (1841-1870) is the most renowned, popular and widely
read Bengali translator of Mahabharata in prose, Haridas Siddhantavagish is more known to
researchers, and Kashiram Das’s (16th century) retelling, Kashidasi Mahabharata is the most
popular rendering in verse, few know that there had been Kavi Sanjaya in the 15th century,
who can be considered the Adi Kavi of Bengal in Mahabharata genre of translation and
retelling. This is surprising given that the Kavi has already his place secured in the cultural
history of Bengal courtesy Munindra Kumar Ghosh edited ‘Kavi Sanjaya Birochito
Mahabharata’ published by Calcutta University in 1969 restoring Sanjaya’s Mahabharata
written in unique poyar metre (each line of the rhymed couplet consisting of eight syllables
followed by a caesura and six syllables) in panchali form. Despite Ghosh’s historic effort,
evidently, Sanjaya has not been much in Mahabharata discourse, either academic or popular,
until after 50 years of his work, Dr. Pradip Bhattacharya resurrects him from slipping into the
recess of cultural memory once again, but to a wider world audience this time through his
verse by verse translation of the work in English, perhaps re-confirming the ironic dictum
that Bengalis do not wake up to their glories until and without the involvement of English.
Bhattacharya, already a renowned figure in Mahabharata studies as one of the leading
Mahabharata scholars today, has significant research works to his credit, including English
translation of Mokshadharmaparvan of Shanti-Parvan (2016), a seminal work taking up the
unfinished job of Padma Shri Professor Purushottam Lal’s “transcreation” of the
Mahabharata (sixteen and a half of the epic’s eighteen books during the period 1968-2010),
and (jointly with Sekhar Kumar Sen) a critical edition with English Translation (2017) from
the Grantha Script of the episodes of Mairavanacharitam and Sahasramukharavanacaritam
of the Jaiminiya Mahabharata.
Bhattacharya’s new venture of translation of Sanjaya’s Mahabharata – a project
sanctioned by the Higher Education Department, Government of West Bengal through the
Netaji Institute of Asian Studies in 2014 - comes in two volumes, hard bound, beautifully
encased with dignified brown overtone, and printed on quality paper. Volume-I contains 7
parvans - Adi Parvan (Book 1) to Drona Parvan (Book 7), and Volume-II the rest. Kavi
Sanjaya has innovations after Shalya Parvan (Book 9), so that the rest parvans are Gada
parvan (Book 10), Sauptikaparvan (11), Oisheek parvan (12), Stri Parvan (13), Daho parvan
(14), Shanti-Parvan (15), Sthan parvan (16), Anushasana Parvan (17), Ashvamedha Parvan
(18), Ashramavasika Parvan (19), Mausala Parvan (20) and Svargarohana Parvan (21).
Images of terracotta panels depicting Mahabharata episodes – Arjuna hitting the fish
target at Draupadi’s Svayamvara at front cover, Sheshashayi Narayana at inside cover, and
Arjuna piercing the ground to quench Bhishma’s thirst at back cover – from famous terracotta
temples of Bankura-Bishnupur (West Bengal) as cover design aptly add to the ambience other
than acting as Bhattacharya’s hint-commentary to the possible cultural interaction of the
literary and terracotta genres, and of Sanjaya’s possible influence on the terracotta sculptor-
poets of 16th-17th century. One may even read them symbolically; Arjuna piercing the target
as Bhattacharya’s statement of having achieved a gargantuan task, and the back cover image
of Arjuna quenching Bhishma’s thirst as his optimism to quench the never waning thirst of
Mahabharata lovers for Amrta drops of Mahabharata Ocean.
The Contents with all parvan headings and sub-headings feature both in Vol I & II.
An appendix of Arjuna’s ten names from Prof. P. Lal’s ‘transcreation’ serves the purpose of
reference, comparison with Sanjaya’s verses, Bhattacharya’s contextualizing his work and
also his tribute to Prof. P. Lal through remembrance.
 Bhattacharya has done a very interesting experiment with spellings of nouns and
consonant sounds. Bengali, a language with Magadhi Prakrt as her ‘mother’, has often ‘o’
pronunciation of consonants that Sanskrit renders ‘a’, has often stop at the end consonant of a
word, no difference in pronunciation between ‘v’ (wa) and ‘b’, and absence of sibilant ‘s’
which is pronounced as ‘sh’. Retaining spellings of Sanskrit proper nouns and words as found
in Oxford English Dictionary, Bhattacharya has spelt proper nouns in tune with Bengali
pronunciation. Thus, he has spelled Mahabharata as Mohabharot, Kavi Sanjaya as Kobi
Sonjoy, Vyasa as Byas, Vana Parvan as Bono Porbo, Drona as Dron, Amba as Omba etc. and
even his own name in the inner cover as Prodeep Bhottacharjyo instead of the usual as on the
cover. This is unique for an English translation because the reader would be constantly
reminded of reading translation of an originally Bengali work. Indeed, he has provided the
‘flavor of the Bengali pronunciation’ that he claims in his ‘Acknowledgments and Note on
Pronunciation and Spelling.’
Bhattacharya has taken all precaution against any possible confusion from this
experimentation. Other than providing footnote and clarification to every such usage at every
page, he takes care to eliminate any residue confusion with his Bengali ‘flavoured’ spelt
nouns by listing them with their corresponding Sanskrit transliteration along with a brief
explanation in three columns in a detailed glossary at the end of Vol II.
In Preface, Bhattacharya provides valuable information and analysis on historicity of
Sanjaya and his Mahabharata, as also on interesting aspects of its content like variations from
Vyasa’s Mahabharata, complete with an outline comparative analysis of the variations of
Sanjaya and Kashiram Das’ Mahabharata. His observation that ‘some of (Kashiram’s
variations) must have been taken from Kobi Sonjoy’ is a clue to future research direction for
situating Sanjaya historically and understanding the import of his work.
Locating Sanjaya is important to not only understanding his time, but also to
understand the significance of modern Mahabharata works and studies as also Bhattacharya’s
work of reviving him in English.
There is some academic controversy over Sanjaya’s time. According to Dinesh
Chandra Sen, the first translation of Mahabharata into Bengali is Bharat Panchali
commissioned by Sultan Nusrat Khan or Nasir Khan (1285?-1325). Kavindra Parameshwar
(early 16th century) also refers to the work. However, neither the Sultan nor the work is
traceable in Bengal’s history, a fact that prompted Sekhar Kumar Sen to theorize that the
Sultan is actually Nasiruddin Nusrat Shah (1519-1531), which if correct would then justify
the claim of Sanjaya as the Adi Kavi.
Bhattacharya has rightly pointed out that Mahabharata re-emerged with prominence in
cultural discourse through literature in the 15th-16th century in a somewhat synchronized
fashion in the eastern and southern India, because Kavi Sanjaya’s venture is paralleled by
Kumara Vyasa in Kannada, Sarala Das in Oriya, Rama Sarasvati in Assamese, and
Ezhuthachan in Malayalam. Only the last is complete translation of Mahabharata, but all are
characterized by free thinking and imagination in incorporating materials from local lore or
innovations, and leaving out most philosophical discourses of Vyasa’s Mahabharata.
Obviously something happened in the cultural sky of Bengal and then India that
Mahabharata needed to be rediscovered. Bhattacharya’s tentative suggestion that it might be
owing to the felt need to assert indigenous identity in the context of Muslim invasion holds
merit. It definitely ‘calls for further study’ as Bhattacharya suggests, particularly so, if we see
how the Mahabharata fascination continues in the next centuries and almost dominates the
consciousness of all key figures of the Bengal/Indian Renaissance of the 19th century.
Other than Kashiram Das’s Mahabharata - as Bhattacharya has pointed out –
Bengal’s Mahabharata treasures include Chhuti Khaner Mahabharata (17th century), a
translation of Jaimineya Ashvamedha-Parvan by Shrikaran Nandi, Dvija
Abhirama’s Ashvamedhaparva, Ananta Mishra’s Ashvamedhaparva, Nityananda
Ghosh’s Mahabharata, Dvija Ramchandra Khan’s Ashvamedhaparva,
Kabichandra’s Mahabharata, Shashthibar Sen’s Bharata, and many others, which goes to
show how Bengal has been the melting pot of different cultures and perspectives, further
proving beyond doubt that the impact of Mahabharata percolates deeper than understood into
Bharatiya Civilization and Culture.
Looking back into Indian history, we find how Mahabharata has been remembered
during every crucial juncture of history, or ages which we prefer to term golden ages. Starting
from Bhasa (4th cent. BCE), through Satavahana Queen Goutami- Balashri’s (149 CE)
Nashik-Prashasti Inscription, Vishakhadatta’s Mudrarakshasa (c. 4th century CE), Gupta
Inscriptions, Ravikirti’s Aihole Inscription of Pulakeshin II (c. 610–642 CE), the Indonesian
Bharata-Yuddha (1157 CE) of mpu Sedah and mpu, and Mughal Emperor Akbar’s
commissioned translation titled Razmnama (Book of War) (three editions between 1584 and
1617) shows great impact of Mahabharata in India and beyond.
Inheriting this brilliant tradition, Sanjaya’s Mahabharata assumes the miniature replica
of the melting pot with mingling ingredients of Ramayana and Mahabharata tradition, and
influences of Buddhism, Jainism, Vaishnavism and Shaktaism. For example, Sanjaya makes
King Nala the grandson of Rama’s son Kusha, thereby bringing together Ramayana and
Mahabharata, and here he is in direct tradition of Vyasa’s Mahabharata where we have the
Markandeya’s Ramayana, Hanuman’s interaction with Bhima, and Rama’s bloodline
Brhadbala fighting in Kurukshetra War and dying at Abhimanyu’s hand.
Just as Sanjaya creates and narrates a new parvan- Gada parvan, it startles to find that
Al-Biruni’s (973 - 1050) India too mentions Gada parvan as Book 9. Could there be any
connection between Al-Biruni and Sañjaya's source despite their distance in space and time (5
centuries), or is it a glorious coincidence?
Again, for example, Sanjaya’s Ashvamedha Parvan, which largely follows Jaiminiya
Mahabharata, provides an interesting variation in that, Bokrodonto instead of Baka Dalbhya
steals the horse so that he can meet Krishna. In the ancient Jain Sutrakrtanga (1.6),
Dantavakra is mentioned as the best of Kshattriyas, as parallel to Mahavira as the best of
sages. Whether Sanjaya’s giving such importance to Bokrodonto (Dantavakra) is owing to
Jain influence would be an interesting query for researchers. After all, we know, the Jain
community known as Saraks, though isolated and separated from the main body of the Jain
community following Bakhtiyar Khalji’s invasion, still maintained significant presence in
modern Bihar, Bengal, Orissa and Jharkhand.
Sanjaya’s Karna is born from Kunti’s ear thus getting the name Karna. The same
narrative is found in Bheel Bharata and Folk Narratives in other parts of India.
Sanjaya’s most dramatic innovation is introducing Draupadi as warrior. In Drona
Parvan, following Abhimanyu’s death, Draupadi leads an all-women army comprising of
Yadava women including Subhadra, Uttara, Krishna’s queens and Revati (Balarama’s wife) –
against the Kaurava army at night and routs them though finally sparing the key figures for
their male counterparts to fulfill their vows. In a series of wish fulfilling drama, Draupadi
defeats Drona, Ashvatthama and Duryodhana, and whirls about Duhshasana by his hair
avenging her similar humiliation at his hands in Kuru Sabha. Uttara beheads Duhshasana’s
son Rudradev who killed Abhimanyu. Here, Sanjaya is undoubtedly influenced by the Shakta
tradition and represents the women as Shakti evoking the imagery of Mahishasuramardini. Or
he might be remembering two marginalized episodes of Vyasa’s Mahabharata in which
Draupadi indeed exerts physical prowess and smashes her molesters Jayadratha and Kicaka to
the ground. While Vyasa’s Mahabharata does not name Duhshasana’s son, Sanjaya’s giving
him a name – Rudradev – giving a face to the faceless person who killed none other than
Abhimanyu, has an ironic humanitarian dimension.
 Sanjaya’s Adi Parvan has Janamejaya charging Vyasa with failure to prevent the
fratricidal battle. This dramatic situation of Vyasa-Janamejaya interaction as the narrative
frame, though not the nature of the interaction, has a curious parallel in Peter Brook’s
Mahabharata (1989) which begins with Janamejaya and Vyasa interaction. Peter Brook
introduced folk elements in his Mahabharata. It seems, the ‘folk mind frame’ of creative
artists, perhaps, visualizes dramatic situations in similar ways.
Kavi Sanjaya, of Bharadvaja Gotra, was a resident of Laur village in present
Banagladesh. While in Vyasa’s Mahabharata, Pandu and Indra’s friend Bhagadatta is ruler of
Pragjyotishpur, Sanjaya hails him as him as ruler of Vanga-Desh including Laur. The exalted
place accorded to Bhagadatta might point to a Bhagadatta cult in the region covering present
day Assam and Bangladesh because as evident from Nidhanpur copperplate inscription, the
Kamarupa king Bhaskaravarman (7th century CE) eulogized Bhagadatta as Deva and traced
his ancestry to Bhagadatta’s successors.
Like the character Ahiravana in Krittibas’ Ramayana, Sanjaya creates a character
named Viveka, Sudhanva’s son, who vanquishes Krishna, Pandavas and Hanuman. Finally on
his grandfather Hongshodhvoj’s request, Viveka surrenders to Krishna. In Bengali, Viveka
connotes conscience; besides, in Yatra (theatre) tradition, there is one character called Viveka,
the personified conscience. Given that the fratricidal Kurukshetra War did not bring peace
and absolute joy in Yudhishṭhira’s mind owing to qualms of conscience, whether Sanjaya’s
introduction of Viveka as an echo-metaphor for Viveka-conscience or Viveka of Yatra
tradition with role of conscience might be another interesting point of query.
The cultural interaction of early Bengali literature and Yatra is quite evident in that,
the Krishna Jatra genre, evolved through the devotional singing and dancing of the followers
of the Krishna Bhakti movement, was inspired by Raslila and dramatic poetry like,
Jayadeva’s Gita Govinda (12th century), Chandidas’ Srikrishna Kirtan (15 th century), and later
further propelled by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mystic Krishnaism. There is also Nata Gita, an
operatic folk drama form in medieval Bengal, filled with singing, dancing and music sans
dialogue, which provided an early model for the Krishna Jatra.
One unique aspect of Sanjaya’s Mahabharata pointed out by Bhattacharya is that his
narration is interspersed with Lachadi (couplets of twenty syllables sung, accompanied by
dance) to be sung in various ragas and Raginis such as Basant, Kamod, Bhatiyal, Shri, Barari
and Pathaamanjari. Obviously dramatic elements abound in Sanjaya’s Mahabharata. This is
further evident from the narrative twists. In Mausala Parvan, Kavi Sanjaya has Arjuna
accompanying Krishna at the end, and true to Yatra appeal and high drama, Sanjaya’s
Krishna breathes his last while resting his head on his best friend Arjuna’s lap.
Bhattacharya’s easy flowing English constantly reminding of the richness of Bengal’s
culture makes a pleasant and illuminating read.
At the end, one would certainly agree that Bhattacharya’s translated volumes merit a
must place in libraries and collections for serious researchers of Indian and Bengal history
and of Mahabharata, for Mahabharata-lovers and lay readers alike.

Indrajit Bandyopadhyay
Associate Professor
Department of English
Kalyani Mahavidyalaya
West Bengal
India