Having being born and brought up in
Hindu family, epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana are not new to
my noesis. We grow admist the stories of five pandavas and their friend Krishna
and the princely Kauravas. The perception also grew within for the pandavas
to be the good ones whereas the Kauravas were the one who were
forged since childhood. Having read the book the long adjudged percept of good
and evil juddered having me think earnestly on what actually is good and am I
anywhere close to being one.
I have admired Gurucharan Das in
various arenas and his mythos and manners of presenting his view point whether
it is the present book or the previous ones. The dynamic pitch keeps one glued
and interested in the book till the last page. This book was special as the
coherences of anecdotes from current times make believes that history does
repeat itself and if things keenly understood, many errs could have been
annulled.
Duryodhana’s Envy towards the
prosperity of his cousin’s pandavas has always been resolved as the
primary reason for Mahabharata; but it is very intelligibly clarified by
the author in first chapter that, it’s a Kshatriya man’s supreme obligation
towards his social class to be envious and it is then only that he prevails, expands
and flourishes, so does his kingdom. The envy is explained to be of two forms:
eternal sickness and healthy competitiveness; excused through the example of
Ambani Brothers and their success.
The grounds for Mahabaharata
were laid on the Draupadi’s chagrin when she was dragged to the royal
court in single cloth and was attempted to disrobe. With the respectable Bhishma,
Dhritrasthtra, Drona, Vidur, even Pandavas found themselves incapacitated
to respond to her cries for help. Paanchali questions the mighty
warriors that what is Dharma of the king; witnessing the most unfortunate event
and not being able to end the misdeed. It is then when Bhisma altered “Dharma
to be subtle”. It is when the sva dharma and sadharan dharma is
navigated through.
When quoted time again that Pandavas
were the good mortals, why was so that they faced the most hardships and
deceived by the Kauravas; what good being good was for them? This question
is asked by Draupati to the Yudhishthir, to which the presumption
made was that a person should act or follow Dharma not because it yields
something but because its ones duty to act.
There are divergences in the
characters of Mahabharata and their dilemmas; Arjuna, the great
warrior in the beginning of Kurkshetra was grief stricken to fight with
and kill his own brothers and loved ones. When told about the dissembled and
lured into the thought of getting heaven he is unmoved; it is then when he was
dashed by the god form of Krishna into thinking that one should be
intent on their action and not on the fruits of action.
Bhishma’s selflessness is
discussed in the book through the time takes the vow of celibacy for his father’s
marriage to Satyavati, to him acting as tutelary for the empire throughout
his lifetime, even at his deathbed he represented himself to be the most
impudent for the Kuru dynasty by explaining the final words of wisdom to
bereaved Yudhishthir. He projects out to be the most significant mortal
in history of time. But him being selfless made the Kuru phratry pay a huge
price in terms of kurukshetra. The final question remains does
selflessness too bespeaks selfishness in so many ways?
Similar misfortune is observed in
the Karna’s fate, he being the most deserved in the Kuru clan, falls
pray of whimsy like inequality, caste, fidelity and even generosity. Author
equated the scenario with existent caste system in India quoting Eklavya.
Justifying the reservation policy’s existence and the disastrous end that it
came to.
Having understood the Kurukshetra
war was already a rigged affair; as Krishna’s explanations are delivered
to the befuddled Arjuna on the war front about being the medium accomplishing
purpose of being. The didactics of manipulations, untold truths and partial
lies are the way Krishna led Pandavas to wining path. Krishna
has been called a cynic, who preaches the highest moralities and stoops to
practice the lowest tricks.
The book deals with regrets and remorse
at the end of the war individually in forms of Ashwatthama and Yudhishthir.
Both are brokenhearted in the ending days of the war, ashwatthama because
he did not expect the level of adulterous act to win the war by Pandvas,
whom he and his father were in favour of since beginning but were duty bound towards
Kauravas. But in case of Yudhishthir he is truly and unfeignedly
suffering from isolating and difficult to console frustration. This made Yudhishthir
chose the pursuit of justice and the avowedly role of a kind towards his
kingdom and mortals.
In this uneven world this book takes
us to the very different dimension of the great epic, teaches the subtlety of
dharma, and nishkaam karma. The analysis of the view points of the personas
in Mahabharata. The cause of the war, people who are entwined in it and
later the uncovering of the truth, they being mere medium to achieve the
concluding outcome- the ultimate balance of universe. The book successfully
defines the middle path of Mahabharata grounded in enlightened self-interest
with pragmatic, upright statesmen like Bhishma and Krishna, who
have responsibility of running a state, should follow. In the world of power
politics, the dharma of a person cannot follow moral perfection; hence the
subtleness of Dharma comes to being. The very first quote of the book delimitates
it altogether:
“What is here is found elsewhere
What is not here is nowhere.”
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