The Saunaka Line

The Mahabharata is narrative that is structured as a story within a story. There are multiple layers to this narration, the innermost probably being the core story about the Kurukshetra War as narrated by Sanjaya, the charioteer to Dhritarashtra, his king; the outermost layer of the narrative is the narration of the whole epic along with its subsidiary stories by the Suta bard, Ugrashrava to the sages and hermits gathered at the Naimisha Forest for the twelve-year long sacrifice of Saunaka Kulapati.

The exact identity of Saunaka Kulapati remains hidden in the epic. Of the two names that he is known by, Kulapati is more of a title referring to the head of the gurukula or the hermitage whereas Saunaka is more of a patronymic that indicates that he is a descendant of Sunaka.

The lineage of Saunaka is explained by Ugrashrava in the beginning of the epic before the start of the actual tale of the Bharata clan. The Saunakas were descendants of Sunaka, himself being a descendant of the Bhrigu line.

The history of the Saunaka line is explained through two separate tales. The first tale is about the kidnapping of Puloma, Bhrigu's wife, by the rakshasa named Puloman to whom she had been betrothed to as a child. Also contained in the same tale is the story of the birth of Chyavana and the naming of the Vadhusara River. The narrative uses this tale to explain Agni's gluttony as a result of a curse by Bhrigu. Agni's gluttony finds a link to the main story of the Bharata where Bhrigu's curse is redeemed when Arjuna and Krishna help Agni in consuming the Khandava Forest. The second tale is about Ruru, Chyavana's grandson and Pramadvara, his lover and wife who is once bitten by a snake and almost dies as a result. This tale ends rather abruptly with a chronological discrepancy. Ruru is trying to kill a Dundubha snake which is protesting its own innocence. The snake asks Ruru to ask his own father about the Pandavas; the Pandavas being from a period which is to the future of Ruru's own lifespan.

A third intermediary tale in the timeline of the Saunakas is that of Chyavana and Sukanya. The tale while not being a part of Ugrashrava's narrative about Saunaka history, finds its way into the epic as a story of Sukanya narrated by Lomasa to the Pandava brothers when they are on a thirthayatra or pilgrimage while on exile.