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26. The Vaḍukar, The Kshatriya And The Brāmhaṇa 11 Jun 17b.pdf (533.19 kB)

The Vaḍukar, The Kshatriya And The Brāmhaṇa

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journal contribution
posted on 2017-06-11, 02:30 authored by TENSING CARLOS RODRIGUESTENSING CARLOS RODRIGUES

Following Sukthankar’s master chart of the recensional history of the epic, Mahadevan postulates the following flow chart for the Northern Recension of Mahābhārata :

Vyāsa’s Jaya Bhārata (most probably oral)

Mahābhārata (probably oral, ca. 500-300 BCE)

Northern Recension (most probably put into writing in Brāhmī script, ca. 300-100 BCE)

ν text (in the Kuru realm, the area of the origin of the epic; also γ text in the Magadha realm)

Śāradā text (ca. 150 BCE).

Sukthankar’s ν text and γ text trace the two of the three major movements of the ārya departing from the lower valley of the gradually shrinking Sarasvatī – northwards to the upper reaches of the river into Kashmir and eastwards into the Yamunā-Ganga doab, respectively. There is however no text marking the third movement – southwards, along the coast and over the sea to the lower western coast of the peninsula; Mahadevan, however labours to extract this from Sukhthankar’s master chart in his own way.

History