Peter Brook's "The Mahābhārata" (1989)

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It was my daughter’s lifetime ago (she was born in 1989) when I first saw the six-hour film version — cut down from the 1985 stage version (which took nine hours to perform) — of The Mahābhārata, co-written and directed brilliantly by Peter Brook. I have watched it a few times since, and each time I’ve viewed it again, I have been even more impressed by the production than the last time I saw it. Happily, the entire three-part film can now be viewed online in HD, courtesy of Michigan State University (see below for the links).

The Indian epic upon which the play is based is famous not only for the immensity of the work (“more than 200,000 individual verse lines,” as Wikipedia points out — and one can read the Wikipedia entry on the work by clicking here) but for containing what is unquestionably the most beloved text of India’s religious literature — the dialogue between Arjuna, the third of the five Pandava brothers, and Krishna, the avatar of the god Vishnu, who acts as Arjuna’s chariot driver. We know this exchange, of course, as the Bhagavad Gita, “The Song of God.” Perhaps the most striking paradox of the latter is that this 700-verse dialogue (making up just an exceedingly tiny portion of the Mahābhārata), in which Krishna teaches Arjuna a religious philosophy of great depth and delicacy, crowned by the overwhelming vision of his godhead, is set just before the mass slaughter of the Kurukshetra War. The upshot is that Arjuna is being counseled to do his duty as a Kshatriya (warrior), even though his combat skills will be employed to destroy many of his friends and kin. Some have compared the Gita to the Gospel of John (there is, in fact, one Indian scholar who has written commentaries on both works), but — whereas there are a few notable resemblances between the Gita and the Gospel — the differences in their contexts and the final aim of Krishna’s exhortation, when contrasted with Jesus’ teaching, are hard to overlook. Still, the Gita is a majestic work, as is the entirety of the Mahābhārata.

Regarding Brook’s adaptation of the great work for the stage, Wikipedia has this to say in its summary of the complicated plot:

In general terms, the story involves epic incidents between two warring families, the Pandavas (representing the good side) and the Kauravas (representing the evil side). Both sides, being the offspring of kings and gods, fight for dominion. They have both been advised by the god Krishna to live in harmony and abstain from the bloody lust for power. Yet their fights come to threaten the very order of the Universe. The plot is framed by a dialogue between the Brahmin sage Vyasa and the Hindu deity Ganesha, and directed towards an unnamed Indian boy who comes to him inquiring about the story of the human race.

I will admit to feeling a particular fondness for the story about Yudhishthira (the eldest of the Pandava brothers) and the dog who follows him on his journey to heaven, which occurs near the conclusion of the epic. He is informed from on high that he may enter Paradise but he must leave the dog behind. Here is the dialogue:

“Leave this dog, and enter,” says the voice.

“I can't leave this dog,” replies Yudhishthira.

“Why?”

“He's followed me ever since I left the city.”

“Paradise isn't open to dogs! Leave him behind! It's no cruelty, your brothers are here already. Enter! Come and join them. Leave this dog!”

“Abandon a creature who loves me? Who's alone and defenseless? I can't.”

“You've given up everything... Give up this dog, otherwise, you won't get past this door.”

“I will stay out here in the freezing cold, with this dog,” answers Yudhishthira.

“Enter,” says the voice from above. “The dog is another form of Dharma, your father.”

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Here, then, are the links to the three parts of (what I consider to be) Peter Brook’s masterpiece, The Mahābhārata. Click on each to access the apposite link.

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

Addendum: Peter Brook discusses what brought him to direct the play: