Stri Parva

The Stri Parva (Sanskrit: स्त्री पर्व), or the "Book of the Women," is the eleventh of eighteen books of the Indian Epic Mahabharata. It traditionally has 4 sub-books and 27 chapters, as does the critical edition.[1][2][3][4]

Stri parva recites the pain and trauma of women after the 18-day war, where they lost their fathers, husbands and sons. Sage Vyasa counseling Gandhari - Kaurava mother who had lost all her sons at war (shown).

Sometimes spelled Stree Parva, it describes the grief of women because of the war.[2] The parva recites the grief of men too, such as of Dhritrashtra and the Pandava brothers.[5] The chapters include a treatise by Vidura and Vyasa on passage rites with words of comfort for those who have lost loved ones, as well as the saṃsāra fable of the man and a well.[6][7]

Structure and chapters
The men and women performing last rites in memory for those who died during the war.

This Parva (book) has 2 sub-parvas (sub-books or little books) and 27 adhyayas (sections, chapters).[1][8] The 2 sub-books are:[9]

1. Stree vilapa parva

Stri Parva recites the trauma and grief of women after the war. It opens with a statement of Dhritrashtra's grief at the death of all his sons and grandsons.[2] Vidura- Minister of Hastinapur kingdom and sage Vyasa console his grief with a treatise on death and emotional loss. These chapters present the theory of birth-rebirth. Dhristrashtra and Kaurava women then visit the battlefield. Dhritarashtra on his way met with those 3 remaining Kuru warriors. Having met the king thus, those brave warriors, separated from one another. Kripa went to Hastinapura, Kritavarman repaired to his own kingdom, while the son of Drona set for the asylum of Vyasa, where he later encountered the sons of Pandu in Sauptika Parva and was vanquished by them. The women express their grief from loss and question war - they criticize both sides for unleashing the war and death.[1]

Pandava brothers and women from Pandava side meet Dhristrashtra. The Kaurava king attempts to kill Bhima by crushing him with his arms in retaliation for Duryodhana's death. Ascertaining the evil intentions cherished by him towards Bhima, Krishna dragging away the real Bhima, presented an iron statue. Dhritarashtra broke that statue, then laments for Bhima's death. Krishna tell him the truth and criticizes his actions at which Dhristrashtra repents. The Pandavas with Krishna and sages thereafter go to see Gandhari, the upset and weeping Kaurava mother who had lost all her sons and grandsons at the war. Gandhari, afflicted with grief on account of the death of her sons, wished to curse king Yudhishthira. Sage Vyasa appears and reminds her of the wisdom she taught to her sons, "victory follows righteousness", then counsels that the war was one fought for righteousness. Gandhari replies that she forgives the war, but finds it difficult to forgive actions during the war that were unjust.[5] She demands to know why the rules of just war were abused, why cruelty (adharma) was practiced during the war. They debate whether the promise of quicker peace justify use of weapons that kill indiscriminately, other war crimes and horrors by one side against the other side. Then she gets angry with Bhimasena's actions during his duel with her son and also his other cruel acts in war like quaffing Dussasana's blood. Sage Vyasa then reminds her, her sons cruel acts against Pandavas. Gandhari then asks where is king Yudhishthira, in wrath. King Yudhishthira, trembling and with joined hands, approached her. He accepts his faults and in soft words asked her that he deserves to be cursed. Unto Yudhishthira who spoke such words, who was overcome with fear, Gandhari anger became pacified. The sages then present provide a different perspective.[2] After Gandhari, the Pandava brothers meet Kunti and Draupadi, two women on the side of Pandavas, who express their own grief for the war. They grieve and suggest war is easy to start but war never ends, and its consequences are painfully long.[2]

2. Jalapradanika parva

In later chapters of Stree Parva, Gandhari absorbed in grief, ascribed every fault to Kesava, for not doing anything even though he had the power to prevent the slaughter and unjust actions during the war. She then curses Krishna that his own Yadava clan will perish in similar manner as Kuru clan perished. And ladies of his race, shall weep and cry even as the ladies of the Bharata race. Krishna accepts her curse, and with faint smile said unto her that she aided him in the accomplishment of his task, of slaughtering all human beings in this world, possessing knowledge of celetial weapons, for what he came to earth. Dhristarashtra asks Yudhishthira as to how many people died and escaped from the 18-day Kurukshetra War on the two sides. Yudhishthira replies more than 1,660,000,000 men died, while 240,165 people escaped the Kurukshetra war.[5] Then Dhritarashtra asked the king to perform funeral rites of those that have none to look after them. Kunti's son Yudhishthira of great wisdom commanded his priests to perform it. Those dead bodies were piled together in thousands of heaps and, at the command of Yudhishthira, were caused to be burnt by Vidura.

The two sides then together perform passage rites in river Ganges, in the memory of those who gave their lives during the war, with spouses of heroes, presented a spectacle of sorrow and cheerlessness. Then Kunti, weepingly addressed her sons that Karna was their eldest brother. Offer oblations of water unto that eldest brother of theirs who was born of her by the god of day, with a pair of ear-rings and mail. Hearing these painful words of their mother, the Pandavas began to express their grief for Karna. Copiously indulging in lamentations like these, king Yudhishthira the just uttered loud wails of woe, then offered oblations of water unto his deceased brother. All the ladies then griefs with loud wails and king Yudhishthira, then caused the wives and members of Karna's family to be brought before him. Having finished the ceremony, the king, with his senses exceedingly agitated, rose from the waters of Ganga.

Stri parva includes Vyasa's and Vidura's treatise about death and grief, passage rites in last two Chapters, as well as saṃsāra through the fable of the man, the forest, the bees, the honey, the elephant and a well in Chapters 2 through 7.[6][10]

English translations

Stri Parva was composed in Sanskrit. Some Sanskrit manuscripts discovered in different parts of India title the sub-books differently. Several translations in English are available. Two translations from 19th century, now in public domain, are those by Kisari Mohan Ganguli[1] and Manmatha Nath Dutt.[2] The translations vary with each translator's interpretations.

Clay Sanskrit Library has published a 15 volume set of the Mahabharata which includes a translation of Stri Parva by Kate Crosby. This translation is modern and uses an old manuscript of the Epic. The translation does not remove verses and chapters now widely believed to be spurious and smuggled into the Epic in 1st or 2nd millennium AD.[11]

Debroy, in 2011, notes[9] that updated critical edition of Stri Parva, after removing verses and chapters generally accepted so far as spurious and inserted into the original, has 4 sub-books, 27 adhyayas (chapters) and 713 shlokas (verses).

Quotes and teachings

Jalapradanika parva, Chapter 2:

When all else is asleep, Time is awake, Time is irresistible.
Youth, beauty, life, possessions, health, and the companionship of friends, all are unstable.
It behoveth thee not to grieve for what is universal.
Do not indulge in your grief.
Grief itself, by being indulged in, never becomes light.
By dwelling on it, one cannot lessen it.
On the other hand, grief grows with indulgence.
One should treat mental grief by wisdom, just as physical grief should be treated by medicine.
Wisdom hath this power.

— Vidura, Stri Parva, Mahabharata Book xi.2[12]

See also

References
  1. Ganguli, K.M. (1883-1896) "Stri Parva" in The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (12 Volumes). Calcutta
  2. Dutt, M.N. (1902) The Mahabharata (Volume 11): Stree Parva. Calcutta: Elysium Press
  3. van Buitenen, J.A.B. (1973) The Mahabharata: Book 1: The Book of the Beginning. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, p 477
  4. Debroy, B. (2010) The Mahabharata, Volume 1. Gurgaon: Penguin Books India, pp xxiii - xxvi
  5. Murdoch, J. (1898) The Mahabharata - An English Abridgment. London: Christian Literature Society for India, ppp 105-107
  6. Satya P. Agarwal (1 January 2002). Selections from the Mahābhārata: Re-affirming Gītā's Call for the Good of All. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 123–. ISBN 978-81-208-1874-3. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  7. van Nooten, B. A. (1972) The Mahabharata. Twayne Publishers. ISBN 978-0805725643
  8. Stri Parva The Mahabharata, Translated by Manmatha Nath Dutt (1897)
  9. Bibek Debroy, The Mahabharata : Volume 3, ISBN 978-0143100157, Penguin Books, page xxiii - xxiv of Introduction
  10. James L. Fitzgerald, The Mahabharata, Volume 7, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-25250-7, pages 27-74
  11. Kate Crosby, Book X and XI, The Clay Sanskrit Library, Mahabharata: 15-volume Set, ISBN 978-0-8147-1727-1, New York University Press, Bilingual Edition
  12. Stri Parva The Mahabharata, Translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli (1889), Chapter 2, page 6 Abridged
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