Why are the Epics effective means of transmitting dharmic values?
The Ramayana and Mahabharata Epics are literature devised in a time period when Hindus needed guidance. The Epics provided a source of conduct for humans that followed dharmic values. Dharma is the cosmic order of the way things should be done. Dharma is a person’s duty in life to follow and it is often in conflict with karma. The Epics were written in a manner that illustrated the social groups’ interests of that time (Rodrigues, 151). It provided detailed guidelines and duties for all castes, males and females, ages, and anyone in between.
The Ramayana Epic consists of eight books written between 400 BCE and 400 CE. The Ramayana Epic features the Prince Rama, an incarnation of Visnu, and the perfect husband yet a flawed human (slide 5) who is forever dharmically true to is his pure and saint like wife, Sita. Instead of becoming king, Rama was banished into the forest, which he did so without fuss because it is a king’s dharmic duty to always keep his word. Sita joined him because it is a wife’s dharma to follow her husband. Sita always …show more content…
It tells a story of family at war with one another. The five Pandava brothers were the embodiment of all that is good and right. They were the sons of Gods. The one hundred Dhrtarashtras, sons of the blind King Dhritarashtra, were known as the Kauravas. The Kauravas were malicious and evil. Krsna, who is another incarnation of Visnu, was a family friend of both sides. He offered his armies to one side and his counsel to the other. He then became the dharmic advisor of Arjuna while his armies joined Dhartarashtra. Krsna persuaded Arjuna to attack his family on the grounds that it was his dharmic duty to “rectify the cosmic balance.” The conversation between the two became known as the Bhagavad Gita or Song of the Lord (Rodrigues,
The Ramayana and Mahabharata Epics are literature devised in a time period when Hindus needed guidance. The Epics provided a source of conduct for humans that followed dharmic values. Dharma is the cosmic order of the way things should be done. Dharma is a person’s duty in life to follow and it is often in conflict with karma. The Epics were written in a manner that illustrated the social groups’ interests of that time (Rodrigues, 151). It provided detailed guidelines and duties for all castes, males and females, ages, and anyone in between.
The Ramayana Epic consists of eight books written between 400 BCE and 400 CE. The Ramayana Epic features the Prince Rama, an incarnation of Visnu, and the perfect husband yet a flawed human (slide 5) who is forever dharmically true to is his pure and saint like wife, Sita. Instead of becoming king, Rama was banished into the forest, which he did so without fuss because it is a king’s dharmic duty to always keep his word. Sita joined him because it is a wife’s dharma to follow her husband. Sita always …show more content…
It tells a story of family at war with one another. The five Pandava brothers were the embodiment of all that is good and right. They were the sons of Gods. The one hundred Dhrtarashtras, sons of the blind King Dhritarashtra, were known as the Kauravas. The Kauravas were malicious and evil. Krsna, who is another incarnation of Visnu, was a family friend of both sides. He offered his armies to one side and his counsel to the other. He then became the dharmic advisor of Arjuna while his armies joined Dhartarashtra. Krsna persuaded Arjuna to attack his family on the grounds that it was his dharmic duty to “rectify the cosmic balance.” The conversation between the two became known as the Bhagavad Gita or Song of the Lord (Rodrigues,