An Analytical Study of Cultural Intermediaries through the Select Tales of the Mahabharata

Since the emergence of language, humans have been indulged in learning and developing the art of narrating a social or public event either in order to amuse or to be didactic. In the history of Indian literature, epics like the Mahabharata and Ramayana, were composed to convey the real teachings of Vedas and Upanishads to the common people in comparatively a simplified language. The telling and re-telling of the tales embedded in these texts depend upon the prevailing language of people and the system of understanding. We help ourselves to derive new meanings through culturally oriented texts especially the epics as they are replete of stories from our origin, life and death. As Collins dictionary defines ‘culture’ as a ‘particular society or civilization, especially considered in relation to its beliefs, way of life, or art’. It is important to understand that art which is being explored in the Mahabharata is an integral part of life through which we understand the basis of human life. Cultural Intermediaries were the taste makers who developed the knowledge and contributed to the attitude of life which resulted in as a ‘thinking society’. This research paper attempts to answer the questions about universal impact of the cultural elements as presented in the tales of the Mahabharata which is a worldwide acclaimed piece of literature. It also presents the expression of people’s life and living, cultural understanding at universal level.