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Question - 2
There are various versions doing rounds in the name of Vyasa Bharata. Which among them is authentic?
Answer:
Various recensions were created by Vyasa himself. There was no scope for meddling up with the different recensions because until a century ago, copies were in the possession of the Maṭha-s, teachers and religious scholars who studied them and propagated the ideals of Dharma enshrined in them. Since none of them were interested in dating the text – because they either knew the date or it was immaterial for the goal of the Mahabharata - there is no scope to assume that they altered the verses on time-related information.
Listing down the recensions authored by Vyasa himself:
1. First version: 8,800 verses. Lord Ganesha was the scribe of this version. Therefore this version contains Vyasa's request to Ganesha and Ganesha agreeing to write under certain conditions.
2. Second version: Contained 24,000 verses, also authored by Vyasa.
3. Third version: 150 verses were added to the previous version by Vyasa as Introduction and chapter of contents.
4. Fourth version: Another longer version which was split into different recensions and recited to different people:
(a): 30 lakh verses to Devas (perhaps in temples and in Yajnas)
(b): 15 lakh verses to Pitrus (perhaps during Pitru ceremonies)
(c): 14 lakh verses to Gandharvas, Yakshas and Rakshasas (different people from different parts of the world. Eg: Gandharvas were in Europe, Yakshas were in Lanka (Srilanka) and Rakshasas were in Africa)
(d): 1 lakh verses to mankind (Manava-s / Bharatheeyas)
Thus different versions of different lengths were created by Vyasa himself. These different versions were recited by different people even during the period of Vyasa. Some recited from the very beginning and some from different parts. Each such recital must have gone for ages and retained in different places which were collected to create a Critical version.
The Critical version prepared by BORI unfortunately had left out many parts of different versions under a mistaken impression that they were interpolations. None dared to alter or interpolate until the copies were in the possession of mutts and religious scholars, till a century ago. Only in the last 100 years interpolations and mindless chopping have happened.
The southern recension had 1 lakh and 25,000 verses, which was 25,000 verses more than what were imparted to Manava-s. The excess must have been from the other editions of Vyasa - in this case, perhaps from the version delivered to the Yaksha-s and the Rakshasa-s having presence in Lanka and beyond.
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