Guest guest Posted May 9, 2002 Report Share Posted May 9, 2002 Respected Swamins/Bhagavathas, Humble prostrations. About 10 days back there was a query about Mahabharata-- Who was the first to call it as the fifth Veda? Is there any pramana or evidence? I am giving below the information collected by me . We all know that Vishnu Sahastranamam is part od Mahabharatam. It was recited/told by Sri Bhishma to Yudhistira after the great battle of Kurukshetra. Sri Parasara Bhattar has written Bhagavath Guna darpanam which is Bhasyam to the Sahastranamam. In thr opening sloka Sri Bhattar pays homage to the great sage Vyasa, the author of Mahabharatham. namo naaraayaNopetham krishna dwaipayanathmake yathamushyaayaNa Vedahamahabharathancha panchaamaha. Obeisance to the Lord who took avataram as KrishNa-dwipaayana (Vyasa) who created the vedas, among which the Mahabhartha is the fifth. Parasara Bhattar was the son Kooraththazwan who was the disciple of Sri Ramanuja. Bhattar was appointed as successor by Sri Ramanuja himself when he breathed his last 1137 A.D. So we can say that Bhattar was the first person to give the title of fifth veda to the Mahabharatha and the period was 12th century. In Vaishnava philosophy we accept Vedas, Upanishads, Itihasas, Puranaas, Agamas, SriBhashyam, Smrithis,the entire naalayira divya prabandam, and the teachings of Sri Ramanujar, Sri Desikan, Sri Mamunigal and so on as pranama or evidence when anything is required to be proved under Nyaya sastra. Hence Parasara Bhattar's Bhashyam may also be taken as pramanam. there was another query about Aswattasma-- He was cursed by Vyasa to suffer from an incurable disease, i.e, leprosy life-long. But he had the boon of chiranjeevi already. Perhaps the sage thought that suffering without end would be worse than Death itself and hence his eternal suffering. I am not able to quote authority as I am not having the original Mahabhartham. I may be excused for giving something which is not convincing. Dasoham, T.S. Rajagpalan. Mother's Day is May 12th! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 13, 2002 Report Share Posted May 13, 2002 On Thu, 9 May 2002, Rajagopalan Iyengar wrote: > Respected Swamins/Bhagavathas, > > Humble prostrations. About 10 days back there was > a query about Mahabharata-- Who was the first to call > it as the fifth Veda? Is there any pramana or > evidence? I am giving below the information collected > by me . > We all know that Vishnu Sahastranamam is part od > Mahabharatam. It was recited/told by Sri Bhishma to > Yudhistira after the great battle of Kurukshetra. Sri > Parasara Bhattar has written Bhagavath Guna darpanam > which is Bhasyam to the Sahastranamam. > In thr opening sloka Sri Bhattar pays homage to > the great sage Vyasa, the author of Mahabharatham. > namo naaraayaNopetham krishna dwaipayanathmake > yathamushyaayaNa Vedahamahabharathancha > panchaamaha. > Obeisance to the Lord who took avataram as > KrishNa-dwipaayana (Vyasa) who created the vedas, > among which the Mahabhartha is the fifth. > teachings of Sri Ramanujar, Sri Desikan, Sri Mamunigal > and so on as pranama or evidence when anything is > required to be proved under Nyaya sastra. Hence > Parasara Bhattar's Bhashyam may also be taken as > pramanam. > > T.S. Rajagpalan. Dear Bhagavatas, I was curious to know whether Sri Parasara Bhattar was the first author to call Mahabharata as the fifth veda. On searching the commentary on the SrivachanaBhushanam vachanam "Mahabharatattal toodu ponavaneRRam sollukiradu", there was a quotation "mahabharata panchaman" sourced from Mahabharata. In Mahabharata, the following interesting and relevant slokas were found to clarify the origin of the word Panchama Veda. *Ekatashchaturo vedaan Bharatam chaitadekata: puraa kila suraissarvai: sametya tulayaa dhritam chaturbhya: sarahasyebhyo vedebhyo hyadhikam yadaa tadaa prabhriti lokesmin mahabharatamuchyate. Once all the devas, placed all the four vedas with all their confidential portions on one pan in a balance. They weighed these with Mahabharata on the other pan. The pan with Mahabharata went down. From then, this work was named as Mahabharata due to heaviness and greatness. *idam hi vedai: samitam pavitramapi chottamam. tribhirvarshai: sadotthaayii krishna dvaipaayano muni: mahabharatam aakhyanam kritavaanidamadbhutam. This work is comparably equal to the Vedas, is pavitra and best. Krishna dvaipaayana, composed this great wonderful work Mahabharatam in three solid years, by continuously working being always awake. * Sautiruvaacha (son of Soota pouraaNika) * Evam dvaipaayano jajne satyavatyaam paraasharaat nyasto dviipe sa yadbaala: tasmaad dvaipaayana: smrita: paadaapasaariNam dharmam sa tu drishTvaa yuge yuge aayu shshaktim cha martyaanam yugaavasthaamavekshya cha brahmaNo braahmaNaanaam cha tathaanugraha kaankshayaa vivyaasa vedaan yasmaat sa tasmaat vyaasa iti smrita: Thus dvaipaayana was born to satyavati by paraashara. Since as a child he was placed on the island, he was called dvaipaayana. (He immediately became an adult.) Seeing the dharma reducing by quarters per yuga, and seeing the life duration and power of mortals and the state of each yuga, and in order to bless both the brahma and the braahmaNas, he qvadrifurcated the vedas and hence was called vyaasa. *satyavatI uvaacha ** VEDAAN adhyaapayamaasa MAHABHARATA PANCHAMAAN** sumantum jaiminim pailam shukam chaiva svamaatmajam prabhur varishTho varado vaishampaayanam evacha samhitaastai: prithaktvena bhaaratasya prakaashitaa: He, the great master, and boon giver, taught the vedas which had mahabharata as the fifth in the list, to his disciples sumantu, jaimini, paila, shuka and vaishampaayana. And they established and spread various editions of mahabharata. Another set of slokas says that Vyasa wrote totally sixty lakhs of verses of mahabharata. Of them, 30 lakhs verse edition was propagated by Narada in the devaloka. 15 lakhs verse edition of mahabharata was propagated and established by Asita Devala in Pitriloka. Fourteen Lakhs verses edition was established and taught by Shuka maharshi in the Gandharva and yakshalokam. The remaining one lakh verse edition of Mahabharata was narrated spread and established by sage Vaishampaayana in the mortal world. When Vyasa dictated the mahabharata and Ganesha scribed the dictations, Vyasa interspersed the dictation with 8,800 verses riddled with puzzle so that Ganesha could take some time to understand the verses and write them down, while Vyasa could compose other simple slokas to keep continuity of matter for Ganesha as per the condition of Ganesha to write down the dictation (something like buffer underrun of the CD writer). Thus, Mahabharata as panchama veda has been for the first time introduced by none other than satyavati, mother of Vyasa!! Sri Parashara Bhattar has therefore followed the words of Satyavati, momentary wife of Sage Parashara, after whom Bhattar has been named!! Adiyen Dasan Ramanuja Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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