एकश्लोकि महाभारतं (Ekashloki Mahabharatam)

 

एकश्लोकि महाभारतं

Ekashloki Mahabharatam

In Sanskrit, eka means one, and shloka is a couplet; thus, ekashloki is any composition of just a couplet. The objective is to say something in the fewest words. Of many ekashlokis, you may be familiar with the following:

Ekashloki Mahabharatam (EM)

एकश्लोकि महाभारतं

आदौ पाण्डवधार्तराष्ट्रजननं लाक्षागृहे दाहनं

द्यूतं श्रीहरणं वने विहरणं मत्स्यालये वर्तनम् ।

लीलागोग्रहणं रणे विहरणं सन्धिक्रियाजृम्भणं

पश्चाद्भीष्मसुयोधनादिनिधनं ह्येतन्महाभारतम् ॥[i]

Total Words – 16 only and 24 if you perform Sandhi Vichhed!*

Why EM?

No idea about the author of EM, but for people who have no time to read the entire epic, he made a very brief, handy gist. However, it is notable that EM focuses only on the feud between the Kauravas and Pandavas which constitutes only a little more than one-fifth of the epic, and the rest of the epic deals with many other myths and stories (Nala and Damayanti, Savitri and Satyavan, etc.), and didactic songs and sermons including the Gita and the Anu-Gita.

How long is Mahabharata?

Guinnessworldrecords.com credits Marcel Proust’s ‘Remembrance of Things Past’ with 9.6 million characters (each letter or space is counted as a ‘character’) or about 1.3 million words as world’s longest ‘novel.’

Vedavyasa’s Mahabharata is much longer than Proust’s book. It has about 95000 shlokas with almost two million words, and is about seven times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined.

English translation of the unabridged Sanskrit Mahabharata by Kisari Mohan Ganguly (1883 – 1896) has 5818 pages (1.75 million words apprx.), and M. N. Dutt’s translation has 6340 pages (1.9 million words apprx.).

If ‘Reading the Mahabharata in full’, whether in Sanskrit, English, or any other language, is in your bucket list; you may like to begin right away. Godspeed!

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[i] Though you may need no help, word-wise meaning is given below:

·      आदौ – Beginning with पाण्डवधार्तराष्ट्रजननं – birth of Pandavas and Kauravas

·      लाक्षागृहे दाहनं – Palace of Lac burnt  (attempted murder of the Pandavas)

·      द्यूतं श्रीहरणं – losing the game of dice, and disrobing of Shree (Draupadi)

·      वने विहरणं – exile of 12 years in forest

·      मत्स्यालये वर्तनम्  - Incognito stay for one year at the palace of the king of Matsya

·      लीलागोग्रहणं रणे विहरणं – Pandavas foiling attempt of Kauravas to steal cows from king Virata

·      सन्धिक्रियाजृम्भणं  - Krishna’s failed attempt to broker peace

·      पश्चाद्भीष्मसुयोधनादिनिधनं – Thereafter, the War resulting in death of Bhisma, Suyodhana (Duryodhana’s real name), and others

·      ह्येतन्महाभारतम् – That, in brief, is the gist of Mahabharata

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* Sandhi Vichhed

JNU's School of Sanskrit and Indic Studies has a tool - Sanskrit Sandhi Recognizer and Analyzer - to help with Sandhi Vichhed: Link: 

http://sanskrit.jnu.ac.in/sandhi/viccheda.jsp

References

1.     The Mahabharata 1 - Translation by Bibek Debroy

2.     Encyclopaedia Britannica – article by Wendy Doniger

3.     sanskritdocuments.org

Word-Meaning by Bing AI

Not familiar with the Sanskrit word जृम्भणं, I sought Bing AI’s help. It scoured the net, checked EIGHT sources, and got me the answer quoted below in a flash. Very impressive!

“The Sanskrit word सन्धिक्रियाजृम्भणं (sandhikriyājṛmbhaṇaṃ) appears in a verse that summarizes the entire Mahabharata epic in one sloka⁴⁵. The word means **bursting open of the peace treaty**⁴⁵ and refers to the failed attempt to avoid the war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas by negotiating a peaceful settlement. The word is composed of three parts: सन्धि (sandhi) meaning **peace**, क्रिया (kriyā) meaning **action** or **operation**, and जृम्भणं (jṛmbhaṇaṃ) meaning **opening** or **expanding**. The word is in the accusative case, singular number and neuter gender.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 25/5/2023

(1) Raja Thatha's stotra translations: Eka sloki BHaratham. https://stotrarathna.blogspot.com/2022/10/eka-sloki-bharatham.html.

(2) EKA SLOKA MAHABHARATAM – venkatvanaja. https://vanajaweb.wordpress.com/2021/10/12/eka-sloka-mahabharatam/.

(3) Sanskrit Dictionary. https://www.sanskritdictionary.com/.

(4) Sanskrit to English Translation - ImTranslator.net. https://imtranslator.net/translation/sanskrit/to-english/translator/.

(5) Sanskrit Dictionary Online Translation LEXILOGOS. https://www.lexilogos.com/english/sanskrit_dictionary.htm.

(6) ekashloki mahAbhArataM - Sanskrit Documents. https://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_z_misc_general/ekashlokimahAbhAratam.html.

(7) एक श्लोकी महाभारत. https://www.vedadhara.com/ekasloki-mahabharatam-hindi.

(8) Eka Sloki Mahabharata - Vedadhara. https://www.vedadhara.com/ekasloki-mahabharatam-lyrics.”

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