Mahabharata: A Tale of Relevance

            Recently I read the epic tale of Mahabharata as a modern adaptation of the original sanskrit version written by Ramesh Menon. For those of you who don't know, Mahabharata is one of the greatest mythological tales written in ancient India by Sage Vyasa. The other equivalent mythological story being the Ramayana, a tale about the great prince of Ayodhya Rama and his epic battle with Ravana, the evil king of Lanka. The story of Mahabharata and Ramayana are based almost five centuries apart. Ramayan is the previously written literature and was penned by Sage Valmiki, who was regarded as the first poet of India. According to the Indian culture, both the epics belong to the genre of Itihaasa or a narrative of past events that capture the values of an ideal person. 

Scenes from the Mahabharata

This concept of an ideal man has always intrigued me and reading the Mahabharata made me further ponder on the different values and vices that men possess. In ancient Indian culture, time has always been divided into four yuga's or era's: Satya yuga (age of Truth) Treta yuga (age of perfect morality) Dwapara yuga (age of jealousy, courage and competition) and the Kali yuga (age of apocalypse). The era Mahabharata was based in is the Dwapara yuga. The God's had created the race of Kshtatriyas or Warrior Kings to rule the world with Dharma or Duty. Dharma as a concept in Hinduism is the highest ideal a person can achieve. It is as integral a part of our lives as the river is to its surroundings. As Indian culture states, every living being follows a never-ending cycle of life and death. Dharma is our sense of duty that frees us from this cycle and helps us in attaining Moksha or eternal freedom. 

The path to liberation is through both sorrow and joy. In short, we must not only live life and accept all the burdens and joys that come with it, but also find that sense of purpose that we are born to fulfill. The story of Mahabharata exemplifies this concept as a kshtatriyas dharma to fulfill his obligation of destroying his race inorder to achieve his purpose of reining in the Kali yuga. It is as Professor Dolores Umbridge said in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 'Progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged.' Similarly destroying the tyrannical and arrogant warrior race of kings was a necessary step towards achieving the last era of destruction. As Shiva (god of destruction) is required to destroy the old and Brahma (god of creation) is required to renew, so was the destruction of ten million kshatriyas on the battlefield of Kurukshetra necessary for the universe to rebuild itself. 

The birth of  Bhagvad Gita 

The story of Mahabharata begins with the birth of Veda Vyasa who was regarded as one of the great sages in ancient times. It is the story of how Lord Vishnu, the God of God's was reincarnated into the world as Krishna of Dwarka with the purpose of ending the Dwapara yuga and ushering in the Kali yuga. The great war of Mahabharata was fought on the battlefield of Kurukshetra which is the present day State of Haryana. It was a battle that lasted eighteen long days in which every king of India took one of the two sides. The legend of Mahabharata begins with King Shantanu of the House of Kuru. He ruled from Hastinapura, known as the city of elephants, which was also the capital of the Kuru empire. Shantanu married Ganga who had taken a women's form and a few years later a son named Devavrata (later known as Bheeshma) was born to them. However, Bheeshma never sat on the the Kuru throne and instead Shantanu's blind grandson Dhritarashtra became the king. The blind king had a hundred sons called the Kauravas. His brother, Pandu was the king in all but name, and his five sons were known as the Pandavas. 

As with every story, the main theme of Mahabharata is a fight between the powers of good and evil. It captures the enmity between the Pandavas and Kauravas and shows us how envy is man's ultimate downfall. The Pandavas were gods incarnated to fight for Dharma, whereas the Kauravas were forces of evil led by the charming Duryodhana. The only fault Duryodhana possessed was the envy and jealousy he felt for his cousins. Although he was generous to a fault, a loyal friend and a loving brother, his arrogance and greed were his downfall. He would have made a magnificent king had it not been for this one significant vice. The principles we as a society believe in are loyalty, compassion, honesty, charity, patience and justice. However having only values and no vices is just not human nature! The same goes to say for the Pandavas, Yudhishtira the eldest of the Pandavas, gambled away his entire kingdom in a game of dice. He might have committed the same amount of sins as Duryodhana had he not decided to overcome his addictions and master his desires. This one act in the name of Dharma helped him become more virtuous and achieve enlightenment. 

Over time as rationality and knowledge grew the element of nature's mystery disappeared. Fear and knowledge have always been contradictory in nature and with the sudden increase in knowledge the fear of the unknown has been reduced greatly. In the olden days we put our faith in God and thought more about our dharma in this life as well as the next. This sense of faith and duty to a higher being bound us as a community and created respect of the unknown. However, the age we live in is now filled with selfishness, indulgence and lack of emphathy. According to the ancient indian scriptures this age is also known as the Kali yuga. I think that it is important for all of us to take time out and remind ourselves of a simpler age when we believed in the greater good. 

Scriptures found at the Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai

In todays world the story of Mahabharata is more relevant than ever! It reaffirms human nature and the strife between good and evil. Indian culture unlike any other has always emphasized the importance of Dharma or Duty. It is this dharma that brings us to the right path and lets us lead a satisfied life. Experience has always taught me that following ones conscience is and always will be the best way to make any life changing decisions. That applies to the limits we set on ourselves and how well we react to situations that test our principles. However, if we are true to our dharma we achieve the impossible and find our purpose in life. 

Author's Note:

I would like to dedicate this blog post to my amazing grandfather, Sheshrao Saravade who passed away at the age of 82 on June 30, 2013. He was a great intellect who loved having conversations about life, society and politics. He found his passion early in life and made his mark as a well renowned lawyer. He later became a spritual person who loved to read Sant Dnyaneshwar and Sant Tukaram's work. My grandfather always encouraged me to follow my dreams and I would like to say that I miss him very much and hope that he finds peace and happiness in the next world as well.