THE KIRATARJUNIYAM OF BHARAVI CANTOS I-III Text with Mallinatha’s Commentary, Prose Order of the Slokas, Notes, Translation into English and Hindi M.R. KALE MOTILAIF. BANARSIDASS PUBLISHERS PRIVATE LIMITED e DELHIFourth Revised and Enlarged Edition: Dethi, 1966 Reprint: Delhi, 1977, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998 © MOTILAL BANARSIDASS PUBLISHERS PRIVATE LIMITED ‘ All Rights Reserved ISBN: 81-208-0573-9 Also avatlable at: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS 41 U.A. Bungalow Road, Jawahar Nagar, Delhi 110 007 8, Mahalaxmi Chamber, Warden Road, Mumbai 400 026 120 Royapettah High Road, Mylapore, Chennai 600 004 Sanas Plaza, Subhash Nagar, Pune 411 002 16 St. Mark’s Road, Bangalore 560 001 8 Camac Street, Calcutta 700 017 Ashok Rajpath, Patna 800 004 Chowk, Varanasi 22) 001 PRINTED IN INDIA BY JAINENDRA PRAKASH JAIN AT SHRI JAINENDRA PRESS, A-48 NARAINA, PHASE I, NEW DELHI 110 028 AND PUBLISHED BY NARENDRA PRAKASH JAIN FOR MOTILAL BANARSIDASS PUBLISHERS PRIVATE LIMITED, BUNGALOW ROAD, DELHI 110 007PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDIFION This edition of KIRATARJUNIYA annotated by my father late Mr. M. R. Kale, B.A. is revised and enlarged by addition of Hindi translation of prose order and English translation in 3rd edition. This Hindi matter is supplied by Prof. Jaipal Vidyalankar, of Hans Raj College Delhi, to whom my thanks aredue. The arrangement of printing Sanskrit Text, followed by prose order etc. in Sanskrit Hindi and English is hoped to be of more convenience to students studying with Hindi medium. I also thank M/s. Motilal Banarsidass of Delhi for publishing this edition. V. M. Kale 25 B Goodwill Building, Feb. 1966 MAHIM, Bombay—16INTRODUCTION I. THE POEM. ‘The Kiratarjuniya is a Mahakavya and is named after its chief incident, viz. the fight between Siva under the guise of a Kirata or Mountaineer and Arjuna. A Mahakavya is a metrical composition which ought to be divided into cantos, not less than eight and more than thirty in number, and not containing less than thirty and more than two hundred §lokas in each.* It may be concerned with the life of a single hero as the Sigupalavadha or the present poem, or may have for its theme a whole race of kings, as the Raghuvaméa. If there be one hero he must be either a celestial character or a Kshatriya of high descent and possessed of the qualities of the Dhirodatta Nayaka and if more than one, they must be of the same race. X Every canto must have a uniform metre which must be changed at its end. There may, however, be occasionally a canto com- posed in a variety of metres as the 5th of the present poem or the 4th of the SiSupdlavadha. At the end of each canto the * szeqia g ead femantea after araraftenc: anfeerdt ara Daa) feeaarfta atavee aeaq i [sanasamhita. (Sometime, however, this rule is departed from. The Haravijaya published in the Kavya Mala series has as many as 50 cantos). xA hero of sublime qualities (¥t@qra) is one who possesses great mental strength, is grave, patient, free from boasting and of firm resolve, with his spirit controlled by modesty. aereatfa- malts aararafiacaa: ( Rad faagitad werd aera: | Dagaru- Paka. _ 7 7 adard agiaed TAY TAK: gt: ade: a aft Haare aurfat: eaderar yar: Hero wEAHT at | Sah. Dar.vi subject matter of the succeeding one should be indicated. The principal sentiment may be Sringara (the Erotic), or Vira the (Heroic) or Santa (the Tranquil). A Mahakavya must, as well, contain descriptions of great cities, oceans, mountains, seasons, the rise of the sun and the moon, sportings with ladies in gardens and water, drinkings, separations and unions of lovers &c. The style should be highly sentimental and embellished with figures of speech &c. Nothing that violates the dignity of poetry, such as unmeaning talk &c. should find place in a Mahakavya. The Kiratarjuniya has, for its theme, the journey of Arjuna to the mountain Indrakila, part of the Himdlayas, for the propitiation of the gods Indra and Siva and the final obtainment of divine weapons, Pasupata and others, from the gods. The hero is Arjuna, the 3rd son of Pandu and an incar- nation of Nara, one of the two famous sages, Nara and Nara- yana. To magnify his greatness, Siva is represented as coming in the garb of a Kirata and fighting with him on terms of equality. The heroic is the chief sentiment in the poem, the sentiment of love &c. being subsidiary to it. Descrip- tions of mountains, rivers, seasons, sunrise and sunset, sportings of women &c. are found in their proper places in the poem. The word at which is auspicious, being a name of the goddess of fortune, is used at the begin of the poem and in the concluding stanza of each canto. 1, PREVIOUS HISTORY. The Kauravas and the Pandavas both belonged to the lunar race, which was divided into two principal branches, the Yadavas and the Pauravas. Bharata (after whom the race was called Bharata) was a descendent of Puru. Ninth in descent from him (according to the Vishnu P.) was Kuru and fourteenth from Kuru came Santanu. Bhishma was _ hisvu eldest son by his first wife Ganga. By Satyavati he had two other sons, Chitrangada who was killed by a Gandharva of the same name in a battle, and Vichitravirya who also died childless leaving two widows, named Ambika and Ambalika. Dhrtarashtra and Pandu were the Kshetraja sons of Vichitra- virya. The sons of Dhritarashtra and of Pandu were both the descendants of Kuru and were designated by the patronymic Kaurava, which, however, came to be generally applied to the former after the great war. Pandu, who had retired into solitude, leaving Dhritarashtra king of the Kuru country, died while his sons were yet children. The Princes were then brought to Dhritarashtra and presented to him as his nephews. He took charge of them, treated them with great kindness and had them educated along with his own sons. When the proper time came, Dhritarashtra nominated Yudhishthira as heir-apparent to the kingdom of Hastinapura in preference to his own eldest son, Duryodhana. This embittered the jealousy which had long existed between the Kauravas and the Pandavas and which, as circumstances arose, ripened into down-right hatred on the part of the former. The result was that Duryodhana succeeded in inducing his father to send the Pandavas to Varanavata where a plot was Jaid to burn them in their dwelling-house which was secretly made of lac and other combustibles. The Pandavas, however, knew the plot in time and secretly escaped. The house was burnt as previously arranged, and it was believed that they had perished there with their mother. The Pandavas then lived in forests disguised as Brahma- nas, and it was in the disguise of a Brahmana that Arjuna won the princess Draupadi, who afterwards became the common wife of the five Pandavas. Their existence was made known after this incident, and they were called back to Hastinapura by Dhritarashtra who divided the kingdom among his sons and then asking them to live at Indraprastha on the Yamunavin their capital. There Yudhisthira after conquering the four quarters, performed the Rajasiiya sacrifice. Dharma was also praised for his good rule and wisdom. This excited still more the enmity of the Kauravas. They induced their father to call the Pandavas to Hastinapura and insidiously prevailed upon Dharma to gamble. His opponent was Sakuni who was not only a skilful player but also a dexterous cheat, Dharma lost his all in the gambling—his wealth, his kingdom, his bro- thers with himself, and his wife. Draupadi was then brought into the assembly by the order of Duryodhana and openly in- sulted by Dussasana, who pulled her by the hair and tried to divest her of her raiment. Duryodhana also insulted her by showing his thigh to her and asking her to sit on it. This exhausted the patience of Bhima and his anger rising to its highest pitch, he most solemnly vowed to drink the blood of DuSsasana and smash the thigh of Duryodhana. Alarmed at the report of this dreadful vow and some evil omens manifest- ing themselves just at the time, Dhritarashtra interfered, res- tored their freedom and the lost property to the Pandavas and asked them to go back pleased. Thus baffled in his plan to tuin the Pandavas Duryodhana held consultation with Sakuni, Karna and others, and invited Dharma again to play the game on one condition, that the losing party should pass twelve years in a forest and live incognito during the thirteenth. If discovered another period of thirteen years should be similarly passed. Dharma was again the loser and retired with his brothers and wife into exile. Here begins the story of the poem. 2. THE PRINCIPAL PERSONS. The principal persons (with their short lives as far as the story is concerned) with whom we are fmmediately concerned are Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Draupadi and Duryodhana.