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STORIES · THE MAHĀBHĀRATA · Kannada · regional retelling

Kumaravyasa and the narrator behind the statue

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Kumaravyasa's epic stops mid-way because he looked at his divine dictator.

Local tradition says Narayana narrated the story to poet Kumaravyasa from behind a temple statue, on condition he not look. The poet broke the condition and the narration stopped for good, so the Karnataka Bharata Katha Manjari (Dasha Parva Bharata, ten parvas, ending with Duryodhana's death) is incomplete. Still sung in Gamaka style.

Who: Kumaravyasa, Narayana

Bound to

Vyāsa dictates, Gaṇeśa writes: the scribe of the epic mirror

Places: Karnataka

Where this comes from

• folk-oral · Wikipedia: Kumara Vyasa

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