THE CONUNDRUM OF THE LONGEST VERSE

"THE BALLAD OF VIRTUES"

THE JAYAM is something that has fascinated us over many years, infact right from the time of our birth! Now, the name JAYAM might have startled you a bit..... but no worries! By the end of this segment, it'll be crystal clear to you all what exactly does it mean!

So let's continue..... from the time when we were little infants we have been more familiar to the characters like Arjuna, Bheema, Yudhishtira, Karna, Bheeshma and many other impeccable personalities from the JAYAM than our own relatives! In fact, most of these even portrayed our futures to us in our little minds! All of us at one point in our childhoods have dreamt of becoming Bheema or have heard our mothers tell us to be as righteous as Yudhishtira!

And by now you might have guessed it, right? Yes, I’m talking about the great ballad….. THE MAHABHARATA! Literally this has been a part and parcel of our lives. But do we still know it all? Have we been able to solve those enigmas that still pose a problem to humankind? Certainly not!

Before beginning….. To all those of my friends and dear readers who are not quite familiar with MAHABHARATA….. here’s a brief overview->

The Epic Mahabharata belongs to the group of scriptures called Smriti - the remembered word of God. Narrated by Ved Vyasa to Lord Ganesha (who became the scribe of Ved Vyasa), this is the epic that contains about 110,000 couplets making it the longest poem in the world!

So let's continue....

**HOW DID THE MAHABHARATA GET THE NAME “JAYAM”?**

Actually the name Mahabharatha was the other name of the verse. The original name is JAYAM!

Sri Vaisampayana, disciple of Veda Vyasa, who recited it first in the court of Janamejaya starts his recital with the following verse➡

“Narayana namaskruthya naram caiva narottamam

Devi Saraswathim Vyasam thatho JAYAM udhirayet”

This means:

 “I pray to Narayana and Nara, Saraswathi Devi, sage Veda Vyasa and start my narration of JAYAM.”

**THE MYSTERY OF THE NUMBER 18 IN MAHABHARATA**

The number 18 has an abnormal and mysterious coincidence in the Mahabharata! Here are a few mind boggling facts:

1. (1) Mahabharata has 18 Parvas (chapters).
2. (2) The Bhagavad Gita too, has 18 chapters.
3. 
   
4. *For live hand-written manuscripts and Shlokas of the Mahabharata.... a gentle press here would do the trick!

1. (3) The war involves 18 Akshauhini armies, 11 of the Kauravas and 7 of the  Pandavas.
2. (4) Each Akshauhini army consisted of 21870 chariot force, 21870 elephant force, 65610 horse force and 109350 soldiers.... each number sums up to 18.
3. (5) Even the maze that held everyone in amusement i.e. the Chakravhyua had 18 layers of people blocking the paths.
4. (6) Battle between Kauravas and Pandavas lasted for 18 days.
5. (7) Only 18 persons were alive after battle in Kurukshetra.
6. 
   

**What does this recurring number 
mean?? Is it a code??**

Apparently, in Katapayadi Sankhya, an ancient numeric system, the number 18 (1 and 8) stand for the letters “Jayam”. That’s why Mahabharata is also known as “Jayam”. In Sanskrit often literals are given a value. The sloka that describes the governing rules is given below:

 “कादिनव टादिनव पादिपञ्चक यद्यश्टक क्ष:शुन्यम्” 

This means:

* Kaadi Nava: starting from ka, the sequence of 9 letters represent          1,2,..9.

* Taadi Nava: starting from ta.

* Paadi panchaka (1-5): starting from pa.

* Yadyashtaka (1-8) :starting from ya.

* Ksha : represents 0.

You will be amazed to know that our ancestors used this Ka-Ta-Pa-Ya-Di 
numeric system to find the value of pi upto 31 digits flawlessly! 

*To know more about the Ka-Ta-Pa-Ya-Di System, click here!

So the value of Jayam as you can see is 81. Mahabharata is filled with irony. The title is Jayam, meaning victory but in the end the victor's side loses everything, their brethren, kids, even their will to rule the kingdom that they won after a huge battle! I believe to show the irony, the number 18 is echoed throughout the text. It represents a kind of material indifference (vyraagya)!

You may wonder why has this only happened in Hindu religion?However,the number 18 has a special place in many religions all over the globe! 

Here’s a few interesting facts about them:

CHINESE (BUDDHISM)

In China the number 18 is considered a very auspicious number. It is associated with someone who is going to have great success and prosper! The reason is that when 18 is alternatively pronounced 幺八 (yāo bā), it strongly resembles the words “going to prosper”.

JEWISH (JUDAISM)

In Hebrew, each letter has a numerical value. The number 10 is the letter Yud. The number 8 is the letter Ches (Chet). Ches-Yud spells the word Chai, which means “Living” or “Life”. (The word “Chai” also means “raw” as in “uncooked”).

Many Jews have the custom to donate money in multiples of “Chai”, as a good omen for life. There are other numbers that are customary in some communities as well.

Thus in some way, anything that equals 18 has a connection to Chai/Life. This may be one of the reasons that we still call the Amidah prayer “Shemonah Esrei”.

There are both positive and negative words that equal 18, such as:

Ohavi – my beloved = 18

Aivah – a type of hatred = 18

Cheit – sin = 18

CHRISTIANITY

The Virgin Mary (Our Lady of Lourdes) showed herself to Bernadette Soubirous a total of 18 times in 1858.

So my dear readers, to conclude, I have been deeply intrigued by the mere thought of such appearances in our own mythology! There’s so much yet to discover and unleash to be brought forth others! Our childhood ambitious figurines have all of a sudden turned into somewhat mysteries!

This is but the beginning…. I hope that in years to come newer and even more fascinating facts will unfold themselves to prove how timid we are in this vast universe!

I urge you all to share this post and amplify its reach…. For who knows…. A real coincidence of you reading it with your friend might happen! :-)

THANKS A LOT FOR READING THIS POST! I'M SURE THIS CERTAINLY ADDED UP A LITTLE BIT TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE! HOPE TO SEE YOU READING SOON UNTIL NEXT TIME!

VEDANT GHODKE