Epic Quiz

Who was Shishupala in the Mahabharata, asked the quiz master of the school teams before him, on one of the channels I was surfing. Several b...

Who was Shishupala in the Mahabharata, asked the quiz master of the school teams before him, on one of the channels I was surfing. Several buzzers went off at once, for today8217;s young quizzers guzzle the epics as they do maths riddles, sports and film records. My mind went back several decades, when television was a vague concept and our only audio entertainment was Radio Ceylon and AIR. To age seven and my daily tryst with my grandmother and the epics.

She was not just a story teller, but one who insisted I grasp and assimilate every nuance of every episode she chose to read aloud in either Malayalam or Tamil and then painstakingly translate for me in everyday Tamil. I was encouraged to ask questions and react to characters and events. There was high drama during the narration, she would take on different voices and intonations as she proceeded with the story and the next day I was expected to do a perfect recap. 8220;Lord Krishna, then gave his cousin Shishupala an ultimatum8221; I would rise to my feet for heightened drama, 8220;but Shishupala only scoffed ha ha ha ha!8221; My toddler brother who was passing by picked up the mock laughter and went 8220;ha ha ha8221; all day long and thereafter was always called upon to provide 8220;canned effects8221;.

But epic narration was also serious business. Draupadi doubles up with laughter when Duryodhan trips and, even less pardonable, she follows it up with 8220;what else do you expect from the son of a blind father?8221; As the story unfolded, there was no attempt to moralise. I, the young girl, was left to her own interpretations. Years later I realised I had my grandmother to thank for my ability to not necessarily always go with the flow but often think against the tide!

When we came to the dubious agni pariksha in the Ramayana of which even today our raconteurs are on the defensive, Ramanand Sagar going so far as to insist it was Sita8217;s parchhai that went through the ordeal and not the lady herself 8212; however, one asks, how does this exonerate Lord Rama8217;s intentions? grandmother would scan my face for reaction.

When I disapproved, she made no attempts to justify it or gloss over it, but just sighed 8212; I should mention here she was an extremely independent and strong woman who, widowed while in her early twenties, brought up her three children single-handed.

Today8217;s children know the facts as factoids. What I8217;d like to know is, does anyone ask anymore that they analyse and evaluate the epics or even expect that they should keep questioning their heritage?