Mahabharata

From ArticleWorld

Mahabharata is said to be recited without a pause by Veda Vyas and written down by Lord Ganesh. It is an illustration of traditions and practices of those times. the evils and virtues within the society co-exist and the eventual glory of truth prevailing over corrupt and unethical practices is the theme and soul of this religiously followed narration by the Hindus.

Mahabharata revolves around a war over a kingdom between two branches of a single clan-the Kaurava's, and the Pandava's. Egotism, Duty, Greed, sacrifice, lust, loyalty, righteousness, treachery, helplessness and other human virtues and failings have been personified and it a huge effort to incorporate the multitude of characters interwoven with incidences and stories to illustrate the various ethos of Hindu way of living. Each relationship and its place in the society as a whole make an interesting reading. The interesting life to death characterization of each personality has been the landmark of the work. The morals taken from the story are left to the imagination and analysis of the reader.

The story begins with a dynasty called Kuru whose descendants are the Cousins- Kaurava and Pandava clans. The fight is over a flourishing Kingdom- Hastinapur. Enmity is shown to begin right at their childhood and many characters contribute to fan the seeds of hatred therein. The culmination of antagonistic feelings is the decision to wage a fair war on the premises of ‘winner takes it all’. There are rules to the war, too. Embodiment of the right and wrong are illustrated by the Pandvas choosing to be on the side of Dharma-literally meaning religion-righteousness, and the Kaurava’s deciding to go without Dharma. Krishna, embodiment of Dharma is the bodily incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

Dharma wins over the Adharma-meaning atheists, people following the righteous path of life vanquish the wrong-doers and attain moksha- salvation, which is according to Hindus, the ultimate goal of human life.

Mahabharata seeks to clarify that each person in the society has role to play and is a cog in the wheel of time designated by the almighty. It’s the duty of all to carry out his role irrespective of his part- large or small, all the while following Dharma.

There are many lessons that seek to be explored by the reader. Various meanings of the work are still being sought. One of the main teachings it seeks to explain are to remain detached from the fruits of labor one undertakes- to remain an ascetic even as one carries out his worldly affairs.