Amongst the enormous corpus of Hindu literature, Mahabharata stands out as a text of great magnitude, originally comprising of 100,000 Sanskrit shlokas, say about 2 million words. ‘Vedvyasya’, the author of Mahabharata has weaved a plethora of characters in this great Hindu epic, through which he takes the reader through every conceivable human emotion and situation, thus making it possible to identify with it even today. It even boasts, ‘What is here is found elsewhere. What is not here is nowhere else’ (Das 2010, Prelude, Pg.xxxi).
Mahabharata is a narrative text with its core concern revolving around dharma. Like any other story, Mahabharata also comprises of protagonists and antagonists. Pandavas can be seen as good, Kauravas as bad and …show more content…
Hinduism belief is that there is a preexistent macrocosmic order, called ‘rta’, which is beyond human control and knowledge, supposed to be controlled by ‘The Divine’ or ‘The Supreme’. In congruence, there is a self-controlled microcosmic order called ‘dharma’, basically meaning “the privileges, duties and obligations of a [person], their standard of conduct as a member of [their community], as a member of [their profession], [and] as a person in a particular stage of life” (Sikand 2007, Pg.6). There is no single and clear definition of Dharma. It has many meaning and dimensions. It may resemble ‘ethics’ at some point yet appear to be ‘unethical’ in some other situation. Thus, Dharma is the choice of an individual to do the right thing at a given situation. It is choice one has to make based on his wisdom, insight and human values. In response to the path chosen (dharma) by an individual, his action and subsequent reaction or result from that action has been broadly termed as karma. It may also be noted that since Dharma is a choice, there are no static laws or codes attached to it. Hence, in times of conflicting situations when a person is faced with two or more moral obligations simultaneously, where he feels unable to discharge one without breaching the other, he faces an ethical dilemma and it is the choice he makes between them which tests his moral fiber. …show more content…
He has been shown to be the master craftsman of events, revelations and teachings to impart the right dharmic values in each of the characters and mold the situations to restore order. Some of the events of war appear to be unethical on the part of Pandavas, like a.) using Shikhandi as a shield by Arjuna to kill Bhishma, b.) killing of Guru Drona by falsehood deployed by Yudhisthira in telling Guru Drona that his son Ashwatthama has been slain, thereby filling his heart with sorrow and forcing him to drop his weapons, whereas actually an elephant sharing similar title was slain, c.) killing of Karna by Arjuna when he was unarmed and trying to free his chariot wheel from the mud in which it was stuck, d.) killing of the main antagonist Duryodhana by Bhima by hitting him below the belt which was against the battle rules. So it seems that Pandavas, who were the main heroes, were violating their dharma. For Pandavas their Kshatriya dharma demanded them to take up arms, fight, protect their subjects and maintain justice and order, yet be ethical and follow the rules of war to prevent violating other sub-orders of dharma. Hence in all these situations, where Pandavas either resorted to avoid fighting rather than kill their teacher and grandfather, or to tell a lie or break war rules to kill a person, Krishna is there to explain each action to the Pandava brothers about
Mahabharata is a narrative text with its core concern revolving around dharma. Like any other story, Mahabharata also comprises of protagonists and antagonists. Pandavas can be seen as good, Kauravas as bad and …show more content…
Hinduism belief is that there is a preexistent macrocosmic order, called ‘rta’, which is beyond human control and knowledge, supposed to be controlled by ‘The Divine’ or ‘The Supreme’. In congruence, there is a self-controlled microcosmic order called ‘dharma’, basically meaning “the privileges, duties and obligations of a [person], their standard of conduct as a member of [their community], as a member of [their profession], [and] as a person in a particular stage of life” (Sikand 2007, Pg.6). There is no single and clear definition of Dharma. It has many meaning and dimensions. It may resemble ‘ethics’ at some point yet appear to be ‘unethical’ in some other situation. Thus, Dharma is the choice of an individual to do the right thing at a given situation. It is choice one has to make based on his wisdom, insight and human values. In response to the path chosen (dharma) by an individual, his action and subsequent reaction or result from that action has been broadly termed as karma. It may also be noted that since Dharma is a choice, there are no static laws or codes attached to it. Hence, in times of conflicting situations when a person is faced with two or more moral obligations simultaneously, where he feels unable to discharge one without breaching the other, he faces an ethical dilemma and it is the choice he makes between them which tests his moral fiber. …show more content…
He has been shown to be the master craftsman of events, revelations and teachings to impart the right dharmic values in each of the characters and mold the situations to restore order. Some of the events of war appear to be unethical on the part of Pandavas, like a.) using Shikhandi as a shield by Arjuna to kill Bhishma, b.) killing of Guru Drona by falsehood deployed by Yudhisthira in telling Guru Drona that his son Ashwatthama has been slain, thereby filling his heart with sorrow and forcing him to drop his weapons, whereas actually an elephant sharing similar title was slain, c.) killing of Karna by Arjuna when he was unarmed and trying to free his chariot wheel from the mud in which it was stuck, d.) killing of the main antagonist Duryodhana by Bhima by hitting him below the belt which was against the battle rules. So it seems that Pandavas, who were the main heroes, were violating their dharma. For Pandavas their Kshatriya dharma demanded them to take up arms, fight, protect their subjects and maintain justice and order, yet be ethical and follow the rules of war to prevent violating other sub-orders of dharma. Hence in all these situations, where Pandavas either resorted to avoid fighting rather than kill their teacher and grandfather, or to tell a lie or break war rules to kill a person, Krishna is there to explain each action to the Pandava brothers about