The divine scribe: A new interpretation of the Gaṇeśa episode from the Mahābhārata

The Gaṇeśa episode from the Mahābhārata, widely regarded as a late addition, narrates the mythical circumstances that led to the first written record of the poem: Vyāsa asks Gaṇeśa to write down the whole epic at his dictation. In the past, the episode was claimed to represent an attempt to promote the figure of Gaṇeśa, a god on the rise. Nevertheless, this explanation fails to account for the connection between the god and the act of writing an original work. A closer examination of the episode is therefore needed, with a view to reaching a more satisfactory interpretation. Our assumption is that the passage should be read as a realistic staging of the questions raised by the re- lationship between author, symbolised by Vyāsa, and scribe, symbolised by Gaṇeśa. In this context, the figure of Gaṇeśa serves to emphasize the relevance of the technology of writing and its professionals.