The tale of Mahabharata has been an all time favourite and each version of it never ceases to fascinate yours truly. It was in the narrative of a new teleserial titled Dharmakshetra on EPIC TV that attracted my attention. It has always been my opinion that the tale holds its audience in raptures over centuries by bringing out the innate qualities of the humans. It sheds light on the bright and dark side of each character and provides a reasoning for their actions. Probably centuries later, the Bard of England thought it fit to introduce a flaw in his lead characters to provide the audience with a thread to connect to the play and its theme.
The characters of Bhishma and Vidura have always been ones that yours truly would love to play legal counsel to defend their actions. The Vidura neeti at times outplays the dharma of Bhishma, Krishna or Yudhishthira. But the innumerable readings did not for once bring out the stark reality that the author's son did have a special place in the epic. An angle that remained unexplored even in the teleserial.
Imagine the harsh reality of Satyavathi's lineage being the protagonists vying for a throne which they are not entitled to. Ved Vyasa being the offspring of Satyavathi of her first spouse fathers Vidura, Dhritarashtra and Pandu. The complete acceptance of Vyasa by the maidservant mother of Vidura gives the offspring the wisdom, completeness and the hidden love of the author in the narrative. The male in Ved Vyasa could only point at the hesitation of Ambika and Ambalika by penalising the progeny. What an angle for a debate before Chitragupta but remained unexplored.
Bhishma's highlight being Brahmacharya at the cost of incurring the wrath of Amba, Gandhari, Shakuni and at a point of time even Sathyavathi is actually much lesser in magnitude to the act of inviting his stepmother's son to procreate the lineage of his own dynasty - thus holding true to his vow that it would be the children of Sathyavathi's lineage who would rule Hastinapura. How many could even think let alone traverse the distance of even sharing a cup of tea (?) with such a foster sibling. Travel in history to the Priyadarshini Ashoka before an answer to the query is even attempted.
The regard for the character in Bhishma, however, diminished when the fact that he could have considered Vidura for the kingship was highlighted. The disaster may have been postponed or more characters may need to have been spun into the epic. A choice for most teleserial makers of today to expand the number of episodes their serial could be telecasted.
It is time for a fresh reading of the epic. Will there be greater insights to pen a book this time over?
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