Yayati 1- Life After Death Comments

🙏 Thank you.

Thank r Malabika, for your time and valuable observations on the series. I hadn’t seen Tagore’s poem on Devayani in my collection in English or Malayalam. Would definitely love to read it. May be there is a Hindi version. I will try to find out. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the information. For the encouraging remarks. Obliged

I find that the poem Bidar-Abhishap was translated into English by Edward Thompson in 1924. But could not find the poem on the ‘net, nor the book, even on Amazon.

Sir, If time permits, please the remaining parts of the series. Would definitely interest you. And thank you for visiting my page, this series, and favouring me with your kind words..

Hi Jeanette, Thank you for visiting my pages. The story of Yayati is very intriguing. Wish you interesting reading.

Thank you Farisa, Pl read through the remaining parts too.

Hi, Fantastic question. I would love to answer right away. But, the answer is there in the ensuing segments. Please read through the remaining parts. And Thanks a lot!

And Yes! She is both! She is a Princess, being daughter of Great Asura King VrishapaRva. How she happened to be the daasi (maid) of Devayani, is what the story is all about. Pl read all the poems. If you still have doubts, I will answer. Forgive me for teasing you.

Thank you Mihaela for your precious time bestowed to read the poems.

Thank you Sir. Could you read all the six poems and suggest? My other two poems namely Messenger and Non-Violence are also based on Mahabharat. May I invite you to read them too?

Hi Geeta, Thank you for the message posted. Please take time to read the poems. I would wait for your comments on each part, as you used to comment in detail. I am happy that it interests you. Thank you again.

Thank you Rameshji for your kind words.

Hi Savita, Thank you very much for the comments. Yayati's story is a famous one, part of Mahabharat. There is a more recent work on it: A novel by name Yayati, by V S Khandekar, original in Marathi, which won him the Bharateeya Jnanpeeth award - the highest literary prize given Indian Govt. Translations available in English. Must read. I chose to pen the poems, as I wanted to give a different treatment to it. Normally, the narrator gives an impersonal version of the story. And reader tend to classify the characters as good, bad and ugly. This may not be the truth. Each character has definitely a different story to tell- his/her own story. That is what I have tried by using the monologues style. The novel by Yayati is one I choose to read again and again- not the original as I know no Marathi. It is a Malayalam translation. And the characters started to haunt me day and night. I went back to Mahabharat -the Mayayalam version by Thunjath Ezhuthacchan and the Sanskrit one. (I have to confess that I have not learned Sanskrit academically. But I can follow a little) . My mother had an old copy of Bhagavata puraaNam, where the narration is exactly as in Mahabharat. I got nothing new from it. I found a lot of gaps in the story. There were many questions left untouched: 1. What happened to Kacha after he got the mantra? 2. What happened to Devayaani's mother. No mention on her anywhere other than a casual reference. 3. Yaadavas (Krishna's tribe) is named after Yadu. But how they became a powerful kingdom is nowhere mentioned. 4. In those days, the senior most son gets the throne. How could Yadu sit quiet, after denied the throne? He was son of the very ambitious Devayani. So the twisty in the story. I believe that the Greatest Story-Teller Vyaasa has left these gaps deliberately for us interpret- to come to the right conclusions. He has left some clues here and there. Please do read full-all the six poems- and offer your comments. About giving the story-line: I thought let the story open up to the reader slowly, one by one. But in between, my friend Lalitha Iyer has posted the entire story as a comment in under Yayati 5- Sharmishta. If you think it right, I can request her to post under the first poem. Pl donot hesitate to give your opinion openly. Thank you.

True, Krishna. Both Mahabharat and RaamayaNa have an unending line of stories on the sidelines. These are immense works. As M T Vasudevan Nair has mentioned in his notes to his epic novel RaNdaamoozham, these sidelines could have been added by different poets through ages. But each story is, some way or other, connected to the main thread of the epic story. And I find, the poet has left many gaps in each story-line, leaving the reader to fill them in his own imagination. Some such gaps have, I tried to fill in, in this series. Thank you very much for reading and leaving the comments. I invite you to read all the poems in the series. Also, my poems Messenger and non-Violence are also based on Mahabharat stories. Pl do read them.

The story is not complete here. I request you read the next three poems I have already posted in ph. There is more to come, until I conclude the fable. I just want your comments on how you look at the way I have tried to narrate it: Each poem, in the form of a soliloquy, telling his/her version of of the story. Now, I have narrated the versions of Yayati, Kacha, Devayani and Shukra. I do believe, Sharmishta has something to tell us! I am still speaking to her on it. Then, the final Act. There could be more characters. I am trying to keep each poem as brief as possible. So there could be gaps. Nosheen, if you not able to connect, pl tell me. I could try to fill the gap in the next poem, if that is possible. Thank you very much for the invaluable comments. I expect more such words from you. That the story is new to you, may make you enjoy the poem better. I hope itr does. Thank you very much.

Hi Susan, Yes. This a story in the sidelines of the great epic Mahabharata. It is the story of three races: the suras (devas) continually at war with asuras. And of course, humans, of which Yayati is the emperor. Shukracharya is the head-priest of Asuras, who has secured a mantra (magical chant) Mrutasanjeevani, that could give back life to those dead. At war, devas continue to die and dwindle in number. The dead asuras get up and fight again, after Shukraacharya gives back the life using Mrutasanjeevani. The story unfurls with devas sending 'Kacha', son their head-priest to secure the mantra. I will try to post the entire story in three or four poems in sequence.