Life and Philosphy of Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyan Vyāsa: The Chronicler of the Mahãbhãrata

Abstract

Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyan Vyāsa, popularly known as Veda Vyasa, is regarded to be the greatest seer of ancient India. He was an erudite scholar. He is credited with writing the epic Mahābhārata and dividing the Veda into four texts. Unlike other texts, Krsna Dvaipāyana Vyāsa also features as an important character in the Mahābhārata. He is believed to be the grandfather of the main protagonists of the epic. His character in the Mahābhārata shows that he is supremely wise. Vyāsa lived around the 3rd millennium BCE. There are references in the epic and the Purānas to the fact that Vyāsa lived at the close of the DvāparaYug (era). The festival of Guru Purnima is dedicated to him. Indian mythology says that ‘Vyāsa’ is not a particular person's name. It is the name given to a compiler. It is thus evident that there were compilers of the Veda who preceded Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa. However, as mythical as it may be, the chronicler of the Mahābhārata is the twenty-eighth Veda Vyāsa to be succeeded by Droni (Ashwathāma) in the forthcoming Dvāpara Yug. In the Mahābhārata, Vyāsa was worshipped as an incarnation of Brahmà, Narayana Vishnu and Maheshwara. Thus, the life of this great saint of ancient India is mired in many myths and realities, some of which are difficult to retrieve from the hold of time. The present study is an attempt to discern myth from reality and to draw a comprehensive sketch of the life and philosophy of the mystic based on the epic Mahābhārata.