Blog of Cyber Brahma

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Emerging trends on the Internet

By S.K 2008-10-09 Techno-Bab, internet No Comments

This was the presentation that I made before the students of the Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Chennai, India. [slideshare id=565221&doc=webapplications-1219418068538207-8]

Deep Dive: The "Bhriguization" of the Epic
How did a warrior's ballad become a priest's manual? Scholars like Dr. V.S. Sukthankar and Alf Hiltebeitel identify the Bharata layer (the 24,000-verse expansion) as the primary site of a "Sectarian Strike."
1. The Bhrigu Takeover (The Sukthankar Thesis)
In his seminal work On the Meaning of the Mahabharata, Sukthankar argues that a specific clan of Brahmins—the Bhrigus—took the raw Jaya core and "Bhriguized" it. They added massive genealogical histories and moral codes to anchor a new social order.
The Goal: To turn the epic into an Upabrahmana (an expansion of the Vedas) that was accessible to the masses, moving beyond the secretive Vedic rituals of the past.
2. The Deification of Krishna (The Hiltebeitel Audit)
Scholar Alf Hiltebeitel notes that the deification of Krishna was the centerpiece of this "Sectarian Strike."
The Transition: In the oldest strata, Krishna is a brilliant Vrishni diplomat. In the Bharata layer, he is transformed into a Supreme Being.
The Evidence: Hiltebeitel points to the Bhagavata influence—where the epic was used as a "Divine Charter." By making the Pandavas literal "God-born" warriors and Krishna their "Divine Guide," the redactors turned a messy tribal war into a Cosmic Mission.