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Dharma's Past: Tracing Mahabharata to Egypt
Vibha Krishnakumar
Synopsis "Dharma's Past: Tracing Mahabharata to Egypt"
The Sanskrit Mahabharata, an ancient epic that is sacred to the Hindus, is believed to have been composed based on the true events that happened in the Indian subcontinent around five thousand years ago. Scholars also believe Sanskrit Mahabharata to be the source for the scores of regional versions in the Indian sub-continent, which include the Draupadi cult version in the form of a sequel of dramas, the Villibharatam, Garhwal Pandav Lilas, Sarala Mahabharata, the Telugu versions, Pampabharata, Kumaravyasabharata and the Korava legends. The complexity and the contradictions in the stories of Mahabharata have inspired scholars over centuries to explore its roots, time, historic authenticity and evolution. The principal areas of this huge body of research include questioning its antiquity and the likelihood of the regional versions being the source for the Sanskrit version, apart from identifying the interpolations and exclusions. In this book, I am contributing further to this research: first, I would be claiming that the core story of Mahabharata is based on the ancient Egyptian story of Osiris and Isis; second, I would be showing that the so-called regional versions of Mahabharata are indeed the direct derivatives of this Egyptian story and that the Sanskrit Mahabharata is a scholarly construct based on the episodes of the regional versions. To the best of my knowledge, it is for the first time in this book that Egyptian origins are suspected for the epic of Mahabharata, although correlations and iconographic comparisons between the Egyptian and Indian civilisations can be found in literature. However, none of these earlier comparisons seem to have touched upon the story of Mahabharata as such, leave alone giving serious consideration to its Egyptian links. Nevertheless, several scholars have suspected the regional versions to be the source for the Sanskrit Mahabharata and have provided profound proofs to this end. I have tried to provide systematic proofs for each of the claims I make in this book with appropriate references. Also, I have discussed the contributions of earlier scholars in the appropriate sections and provided pointers to the interested reader. This book is self-contained with relevant portions of the different epics and myths discussed in sufficient detail. The methodologies employed are also suitably exemplified.
