From the footsteps of Maanasaa

Original Source: https://www.jeyamohan.in/202806/

Date: 2-Aug-2024

 

A malayalam journalist asked me what was I experiencing while writing Mudharkanal. 'How can it be remembered? Its memories would just be tiny droplets, it isn't a truth in anyway', I replied.

'Yes, but so is creative literature, isn't it? Mudharkanal is but a tiny droplet of what you had attained. A reader is able to travel from the linguistic structure to that fullness of experience through his imagination", he remarked. It felt true. 

There wasn't any exuberance when writing Mudharkanal, for it had already been 25 years then since I had started reciting on my dream of writing Mahabharatha in entirety. My library was replete with books for that. The list of scholars, including P.K. Balakrishnan that I had visited for that sake is huge. 

The list of journeys undertaken in the past twenty five years is more vast than that. But I kept postponing it. 'Maybe later' - a thought on one side, "Is it needed?" - on the other side. I didn't share it with anyone for the fear that I might conclude it to be unnecessary. But not a day passed without that thought reflecting in my conversations. 

I rehearsed in my mind several times on getting started with the novel. Few times, I did indeed start. There are several drafts including the one written on paper written in 1999. They didn't evolve. The amount of pages trashed away with fatigue and frustration were huge. So, when I started it eventually, there was a doubt on whether this is a false start. Only when I completed 6 chapters, did I announce my intention of writing Mahabharatha. 

But there was an anxiety even after that. The thought of getting stuck midway was frightening. Moreover, the comments put across then were all negative. "Unnecessary" was the most common refrain. Abuse, mocking and petty comments were a lot. I didn't mind those. But of those that wrote to me to "cease immediately", several were my well wishers.

It was an incident described by Nithya Chaitanya Yathi in his autobiography that comforted me. Great efforts will face immense resistance. As a car's speed increases, so does the drag. It is nature's law. Opposing forces that gather aren't individuals, rather they are the tools that this law of nature employs. Only if I can overcome those forces, can I accomplish what I sought.  

In hindsight, it seems that the primary reason for such a gigantic creation to happen is the right beginning that was achieved. The novel series never materialized till then only because such a beginning never happened. It is only natural that even to reach the colossal ocean, we go through the tiny stream running by our homes. This novel didn't happen through any of the characters within Mahabharatha, rather only through Maanasaa Devi. 

Maanasaa is the queen of the stories from my childhood. Nagas have always been in my ancestral deities. Naga worship is one of the specialties of Kerala, especially in Nair families, with their own forest temples for Nagas. There were microforests and temples meant for Nagas in the families of both my parents. E.M.S mentions in one of his essays that the term "Naga" got transformed into "Nair".

Maanasaa Devi is worshipped as the mother of the Naga clan. One can see her in temple in the form of a lady from above the waist and as a winding serpent below. She is also called as "Naga Yatchi" and "Naga Devi". Through the numerous stories I had heard in my childhood, I know her intuitively. "Maanasam" means mind. A serpentine mind.

The story began naturally with Maanasaa devi and great serpents. It became a splendid guide for unlocking the winding mazes of Mahabharatha. Hindu mythology is quite expansive. Researchers have written in great detail that it wasn't formed only through the Sanskrit-Brahmanical tradition, as being mentioned bipartisan by both Sanskrit-Brahmanical followers and their opponents. Thousands of stories and archetypes from various clans like Naga, Nishada, Asura etc have been assimilated into this ancient tradition. Those are now available to us having been elaborated and transformed philosophically.

The genesis of Mahabharatha comes from the Nagas. It is a story of two serpents - Kadru and Vianata. This later got transformed in various ways in the puranas. The myth proclaiming all life forms to have originated from the eggs laid by Kadru and Vinata, is the proof that this is a story of Nagas. Via Maanasaa, I was able to reach up to that myth naturally. It opened up the door to the repository of dreams that was inherent in me but was beyond my reach. I didn't desire to tell the story of Mahabharatha, rather the evolution of our soul through it. It is the assimilation that is still happening in our culture and history.

The shocking dialectics of Mahabharatha could be understood only through that path. The long story of Mahabharatha starts from the Naga mothers - Kadru and Vinata. It ends with the sacred ritual fire lit by Janamejaya to eradicate Nagas entirely. Whereas the epic of Mahabharatha begins with the description of the destruction of Nagas, showcases their immortality and then traverses to the first mothers of Kadru and Vinata. If seen through the transformation of archetypes, this is the evolution of Mahabharatha - beginning and concluding with Nagas.

That vision was identified by me, the author, to write this novel. Shanmugavel's sketches enabled to expand on my dreams and for my readers to accompany me. When perusing in that perspective, it could be seen that Nagas are present in every critical juncture in Mahabharatha. One can appreciate Karna being enshrined as a serpentine deity throughout India. One can see that vision provided for by Maanasaa as the deep undercurrent of this novel.

Today, it seems that this beginning was Maanasaa's blessings. Her words kindled and created this great work. When it happened, I couldn't fathom its potential. It happened quite naturally. After the novel took up this gigantic form of today, I can understand the sweetness and immortality of the nectar in her hands.  

 

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venmurasu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._K._Balakrishnan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nair

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._M._S._Namboodiripad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C4%81ga

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naga_Kingdom

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nishadas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asura

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadru

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinata

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janamejaya