Myths From The Mahabharata: Quest for Immortality (Volume 1)

The book deals with three mythical accounts from the Mahabharata namely : (i) Garuda and the Nagas and the wager between Vinata and Kadru (ii) Kaca, Sukra and Devayani (iii) The ‘Churning of the Ocean’. It presents a detailed study of these accounts and proposes that they have deeper ethnosocial implications. The conflict between the Nagas and Garuda, together with the wager between Vinata and Kadru, form a tale of two phratries of the bigger Naga clan, and their seeming conflict is an instance of complementary rivalry, characteristic of early societies. The account of Kaca, Sukra and Devayani is based, mainly, on the ritual and belief regarding initiation, involving a pattern of ‘swallowing’ and disgorging, which is indicative of symbolic death and rejuvenation. The ‘Churning of the Ocean’ is a myth of creation. The author has traced these mythical accounts from the early Vedic through the later literature, which are subjected to comparison with tribal and sculptural evidence, both from India and outside.