The Mahabharata – Its
Meaning and Its Relevance Today
Prof. V. V. S. Sarma
Part VII
The Great War – Issues and Lessons
1. Introduction
The story of the
Mahabharata centred round the fortunes of two rival branches of an ancient
royal family of India.[1,2]
Their mutual jealousy and quarrels led to a devastating war, which ended in
almost complete annihilation of that large family, along with the allies and
the supporters of both the sides. Of the eighteen akshauhinis[3]
of armies, which met and fought in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, on that
tragic and fateful occasion, there survived only nine souls. The five Pandavas
and Krishna on the winning side and three warriors, Aswaththama, Kripacharya
and Kritavarma on the losing side were the only survivors. This is the terrible
lesson, which humanity learns at the end of every war and seems to forget
sooner or later to let a scenario develop for another war.
The Mahabharatha
war is not the only war that is described in the epic. There are others. In
fact, right from the beginning of the epic, there were several situations
suggesting the imminent major war. The seeds of the conflict between the two
sides were sown in the first section, Adi
Parva itself. Even from childhood, Duryodhana was envious of the Pandavas.
He could not bear the strength of Bhima or the talent in archery of Arjuna.
Even while they were young, Duryodhana made several secret plans to kill
Pandavas and Bhima in particular. In Adi
Parva, the story comes up to the marriage of the Pandavas to Draupadi. In
the second section, Sabha Parva, the kingdom is divided between Kauravas and
Pandavas. Pandavas develop Indraprastha as their capital and Yudhistira performs
the Rajasuya sacrifice. This added to the jealousy of Duryodhana leading to the
fateful match of dice between the two parties.
1.1 Krishna’s Role
The role of
Krishna is central in the Mahabharata war. Krishna first appears in the
Mahabharatha at Draupadi’s Swayamvara. Krishna
comes there along with Balarama and other kinsmen. He comes there more as a
spectator rather than as a participant. He surveys the scene and sees Pandavas
there disguised as brahmanas. After Arjuna succeeds with his bow where all others
fail, Arjuna and Bhima fight with all the kshatriyas assembled there, who are
outraged that Draupadi is won by a brahmana. Krishna conciliates the kings that
Arjuna has won Draupadi in a righteous manner (dharmena labdheti). Krishna is present when the Pandavas accepted
half the Kuru kingdom. He helps them build the city of Indraprastha. He
participates in the burning of the forest, Khandavavana.
He asks Maya to build Maya Sabha,
where Duryodhana would later make a fool of himself. Krishna participates in
the Rajasuya yajna of Yudhistira. He
encourages Bhima to destroy Jarasandha, who is one of his own surviving major
enemies, before the Yajna. Jarasandha
is the father-in-law of his maternal uncle Kamsa. Kamsa was slain by Krishna
much earlier. Krishna kills Sisupala, another enemy of his, at the time of the
Yajna itself, for insulting him and obstructing the proceedings. In fact,
Krishna has carefully eliminated the evil persons of the time one after
another, throughout his whole life, without wasting anytime, since his early
childhood.
Krishna is absent
in the climatic scenes which close Sabha
Parva. He is not present at the two dice games, which result in the
humiliation of Pandavas, loss of kingdom and exile to forest, although he is
said to have come to the rescue of Draupadi through a miracle. In the Aranya Parva, Krishna visits the
Pandavas in the forest, assures Yudhistira of the punishment of his enemies in
the future, consoles Draupadi and gives her a glimpse and an assurance of the
war to come thus. “Surely the wives of
those at whom you are wrathful shall also weep, seeing their husbands covered
with the arrows of Arjuna, bathed in torrents of blood, slain and having
abandoned life, lying on the earth’s surface. You shall be the queen and my word
will not be in vain.”
1.2 Indian Situation – the
Past and the Present
Indian kings,
through out the long history of India have forgotten this role model’s
behaviour in dealing with sworn enemies of the state. The present day rulers
permit themselves to be blackmailed and bullied by bandits, terrorists, mlechchas (foreigners belonging to other
cultures bent on destroying the culture and dharma
of the land), super powers and enemies in a continuing saga of armed insurgency
within and cross-border terrorism perpetrated by inimical neighbours. Raja dharma describing the principal duties of a king was
emphasized time and again by the sages and Bhishma through several anecdotes
and legends all along in the epic for the benefit of Yudhistira, the future
emperor. Yudhistira was able to
reestablish and protect dharma.
Much later in
Indian history, King Asoka was moved by the destruction of the Kalinga War and
embraced Buddhism. Buddhism spread far and wide since then. Even after Sanathana Dharma was reestablished, the
influence of Buddhism and Jainism, which emphasized ahimsa, has somewhat distorted the outlook of kings towards the
inevitability of wars. This continued till the age of Muslim invasions and even
till the present time. Misguided mercy, which kings such as Prithviraj Chauhan
of Ajmer and Delhi, had shown to the likes of Muhammad of Ghur (or Ghauri) had
led to the wholesale destruction of North Indian kingdoms during the conquests
of Muslim rulers from the North West. Muhammad lost the war in 1191 and
attacked again in 1192 and defeated Prithviraj. King Jaichand of Kanuaj did not
help Prithviraj because of petty jealousies and lack of understanding of the
intentions of Muslim invaders. There are several ballads and folk tales popular
in North India about these incidents. (Recently when India named its missile
Prithvi, Pakistanis named their missile Ghauri recalling this Chapter of Indian
History.)
An analogy may be
found in the story of Nala and Damayanti of Aranya
Parva. King Nala saves a snake, Karkotaka from forest fire. The snake
immediately bites the king. Nala is surprised and asks the snake why the snake
should bite a person who was helpful to it. The snake immediately answered that
Nala chose to follow his Arya dharma of extending the protection to
some one asking for help, while the poisonous snake has exhibited its own
character of biting the available prey.
In the
post-independence India, there has been no organized effort to study the
psychology of the nation states and the patterns of their relationships with
other countries. The democratic, secular and multi-religious India is
positioned against an Islamic dictatorial state of Pakistan, whose policy of
independent existence is based on an anti-Indian and anti-Hindu mindset,
responsible for its very creation. Such an adversary is aided and supported by
the communist super power, China.
The Indian
problem is compounded by the agendas of diverse sections of its own population:
1)
Some are aligned with the jehad-based politics of
Pakistan. The spread of the influence of the intelligence agency of Pakistan,
ISI, to remote corners of India is a proof for the existence of this
section. It is a pity that some of them
identify themselves with the invaders of the country such as the Mughal (Mongol)
king Babur.
2)
The Communists, with their media support, and
academic bastions such as the JNU, find ideological allies in China and provide
the initial “brain-washing” educational foundation for terrorist groups such as
the Naxalites, and fight for their “human (?)” rights.
3)
The Christian Evangelists try to lure the poor and
backward sections into the folds of multi-national churches of Rome and the USA
shifting their spiritual centre from, say, Varanasi to Vatican. (It is shame
that the Prime Minister of India had to report on the welfare of Christian
population of India to the Pope.) They make plenty of promises and threats such
as “Those who believe the supposed only son of the only true God are saved and
those who do not are punished” advertised in every street corner. Every town in states such as Andhra Pradesh
is surrounded by the rapidly emerging fortresses of Christian missionary
organizations, with frontal organizations such as schools and hospitals.
4)
The indifferent Indian intellectuals have their sole
objective in life as bringing up their own children to be future citizens of
the Western nations. They realize their goal to be achieved through admitting
their children in the elitist educational institutions created for this
purpose, such as the IITs, IIITs and the IIMs. They seem to have no concern for
the less fortunate people of the country. The urban dwellers cut off their
links with their villages while their children migrate to the West and in the
process become rootless people.
5)
The social scientists are worried about irrelevant
and obsolete problems such as the almost-dead caste system and anti-brahminism
kept alive only by politicians, long extinct social practices such as
untouchability and the non-existent Sati. Marginal gender inequality and
exploitation of women exists everywhere in the world (the White House in the
USA being no exception as exposed in the Monica Lewinsky episode).
6)
The rationalist scientists are more worried about
the so-called blind beliefs of the masses, without realizing that their own
belief that massive investments in science and technology alone can alleviate
human suffering is blind and basis-less.
They are the modern priestly class exploiting every one, in the holy
temples erected by Nehru. While criticizing the caste system of four varnas, they created for themselves
eight grades of hierarchy of scientists in the Indian government – categories A
to H.
2.
The War Scenario
The fifth section
Udyoga Parva deals with the
preparation for the war and diplomacy. Out of the eighteen parvas or sections of the epic, the sixth to the eleventh sections,
starting from Bhishma Parva to Stree Parva, are actually dedicated to
the war. The Bhishma Parva describes the initial drawing up of the Armies at
the Kurukshetra. This section also contains the Bhagavad-Gita, in which Krishna convinces Arjuna that it is his
moral duty to wage the war against the Kaurava side, including his teachers and
elders such as Bhishma, Drona and Salya. The Gita continued to give inspiration to this day, for any one who
approaches it, in their day-to-day conflict situations. National leaders such
as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Sri Aurobindo and Mahatma Gandhi had drawn inspiration
from the Gita during India’s Freedom
struggle. In the post-war portion, Santi
Parva and Anusasanika Parva, deal with the teachings of Bhishma to
Yudhistira from his bed of arrows in the battlefield.
The epic Ramayana
deals with the character and achievements of Rama as an ideal human being and
as an ideal ruler. Ramarajya has been
aimed as a goal to be attained for the newly born Indian State, by leaders such
as Mahatma Gandhi. Fifty years of independent rule has shown that the Ramarajya ideal could not be achieved.
In the Ramayana, Rama could single handedly eliminate the enemies of the state,
before his coronation. While the war in Ramayana, appears to have been
motivated by Ravana’s abduction of Sita, in effect it turned out to be the
recurring war between Devas and Asuras. Rama also was continuously
involved in the destruction of Asuras
and evil persons and in reestablishing dharma
in Lanka, Kishkindha and Ayodhya. Reestablsihing Ayodhya as the spiritual
centre of India as a step towards realization of Ramarajya has become the concern of the majority in the nation even
today. The task looks to be equally difficult even at the present time.
The Mahabharata
is, of course, the more appropriate epic for the establishment of dharma in a situation occurring in an
age of moral decadence (Kali Yuga).
Krishna, as the world teacher (Jagadguru)
has identified the strategy and the path with his personal example in the
Mahabharata. Right from childhood, as illustrated by the killing of Putana,
other rakshasas and Kamsa, up to the
Mahabharata war, his sole objective was to destroy the evil forces, which is
the only way to protect the innocent and good citizens.
The present day politicians of India, on the
other hand, have permitted the birth and growth of enemies all around and could
never acquit themselves well either in diplomacy or in wars. Even after India
had been partitioned in 1947 into two countries – remaining India and Pakistan-
on the basis of two-nation theory, the two countries could never live in peace.
The newly independent India had to wage four wars with Pakistan (in 1947, 1965,
1971 and 1999), and one war with China (in 1962). The debacle of Pancha Sheel in relationship with China
and the failure of successive pacts with Pakistan – Tashkent, Simla and Lahore
agreements with Pakistan have not so far provided any lessons for the successive
rulers in Delhi. In spite of Nehru’s attempts to study Indian and World
histories, he abandoned the cause of Buddhists Tibet and committed the
Himalayan blunder of teaching principles of Buddhism, in the name of Panch Sheel, to Chinese communists. In
the process the cultural identity of Tibet was destroyed and India faced an
aggression from China in 1962 leading to loss of large areas in the
Himalayas. Indian army was also involved
with mixed results in Sri Lanka, and Maldives apart from liberating Hyderabad
and Goa. In addition, it has been continuously, but not very effectively,
playing the role of the police in counter-insurgency operations in the North
Eastern states and in Kashmir. For even a casual observer, it is obvious that
the performance of the political leadership with reference to the defence of
the country from both the external and the internal enemies has been totally
unsatisfactory. A compulsory critical study of the Mahabharatha would go a long
way in training our politicians in statecraft. They can truly hope to become
leaders rather than merely being MLAs or MPs, often inheriting the seat from a
dead husband or father. The tragedy of the country started when the deserving
Bhishma made a sacrifice for the undeserving father King Santanu, for
satisfying his desire of marrying Satyavati, leading to successive incompetent
rulers of Kuru Vamsa such as
Vichitravirya, Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana.
In a democratic set up, thinking of and promoting dynastic leadership is
an act of treachery on the part of political parties.
3. Pre-War
Diplomacy and Negotiations
3.1 The Meeting at Upaplavya
After the Pandavas have successfully
completed the twelve-year vana vasa
and the one-year ajnata vasa, the
marriage of Uttara, daughter of Virata and Abhimanyu takes place. Krishna, the
Pandavas and their allies meet at Upaplavya, a town in Virata’s kingdom.
Krishna advises Yudhistira to send a messenger to Hastinapur, to demand that
Duryodhana comply with the terms of the dice game and return their half part of
the kingdom. In case Duryodhana rejects the messenger’s entreaties, Pandavas
must summon Krishna and other kings. Drupada advises that allies must be
approached as soon as possible for support because the party which approaches
first is likely to get favourable
response and promise for support. Drupada also says that he would send his
purohita to the Kaurava court for requesting them to return their share of the
kingdom, the Pandavas having met the conditions laid down at the game of dice.
3.2 Negotiation with Krishna
Both sides
understood that even Krishna must be courted in this way for the support of
Yadavas in the war. Suyodhana (more
popular as Duryodhana) himself comes to Dwaraka for seeking support for the
Kaurava side and Arjuna comes from the Pandava side. They come one after
another at about the same time and they find Krishna sleeping. Suyodhana sits
on a choice seat near the head of Krishna while Arjuna sits by his legs in a
bowing posture. When Krishna wakes up, he sees Arjuna first, while Suyodhana is
the first to speak with Krishna conveying to him the information that he
arrived earlier. Krishna acknowledges this fact and also mentions that he saw
Arjuna first, as soon as he woke up from sleep. While supporting the parity of
the claims of both the sides to him, Krishna says that he would try to help
both the parties and gives the choice of one of the options. He asks them to
choose between his large fighting army on one side and he alone on the other
side, with the added condition that he would not fight or handle weapons. In
addition, he gives the first choice to Arjuna, who is the younger of the two
and who is only an emissary of his elder brother Yudhistira. Arjuna chooses
Krishna on his side while Duryodhana is happy that he got the large army. (The decision of Arjuna has many lessons for
today’s politicians. God alone can protect a person, while a large army cannot
protect him from danger. In democratic “India,” today’s leaders are afraid of
people and are scared to move around freely. The SPG cover, which has become a
status symbol for them, is obtained at an enormous cost to the nation and we
may have to soon go for World Bank loans for protecting the precious lives of
our politicians!)
3.3 Krishna as Emissary of
Pandavas
Krishna’s role is very conspicupous in Udyoga Parva. He represents Pandavas at
Hastinapura, and acts as a catalyst for conditions to build up to the
inevitable clash. He comes to the court of Kurus as the last emissary. He
places before Kauravas a series of pro forma exhortations for peace and
compromise and knowing fully well that Duryodhana will not accept any of them
he lists the grievances of Pandavas and presents threats of war and the likely
results. Duryodhana walks out of the court. Appeals of Gandhari are also of no
avail. Duryodhana hatches a secret plan along with sakuni, Karna and Duhsasana
to seize Krishna by force. Krishna presents his Viswarupa and saying that Duryodhana can not arrest him, walks out
of the assembly with Satyaki and others who accompanied him.
Krishna knows that Kauravas will not agree for a
compromise of even giving five cities to Pandavas. As he explains to
Yudhistira, he goes to the Kuru court:
(a)
To remove the doubts of all men, by praising the
virtues of Yudhistira and denouncing the misdeeds of Duryodhana,
(b)
To persuade not only the members of the royal court
but the population at large and
(c)
To observe the plans and inclinations of the enemies
first hand.
In addition, he meets Karna
and tells him the story of his birth. He says that Karna will be the emperor as
the eldest son of Kunti after the war and that also he will get Draupadi to
serve him as wife. This meeting itself can be studied at two levels. One is at
the level of diplomacy of trying to get a very important person on the enemy
side to the side of Pandavas and the second at the level of God giving him a
final chance of taking the side of dharma.
Karna, of course, was not tempted by the offer. He prescribes his own norm of
righteousness in continuing his friendship with Duryodhana and rejecting the
suggestion of Krishna. At mundane level, Karna appears as an ideal friend, with
a remarkable sense of gratitude. But in reality, he failed in his life by
choosing the side of adharma. While
visiting Hastinapur as an emissary, Krishna is not tempted by the hospitality
offered by Kauravas, preferring to stay with Vidura in stead. This is in sharp
contrast to what Salya does. Salya is tempted by the reception of Kauravas and
had to fight on their side.
3.4 The story of Salya
Hearing that war is likely, Salya the king of Madra and
brother of Madri, sets out with his troops to join forces with the Pandavas.
But when Duryodhana learns of this, He has built festive halls to welcome him.
Salya thinks that these halls are built by Pandavas for his sake and enjoys the
hospitality provided there. He promises support for those receiving him with
such fanfare. When he learns that it is Duryodhana who welcomed him, he agrees
to fight on the Kaurava side. When he visits Dharmarja, Salya explains his
predicament and Dharmaraja seeks a favour from him. When Salya is driving
Karna’s chariot, he should do his bit in discouraging Karna and destroying his
spirit to fight. The episode of Salya, is a pointer for the need for wise
negotiations before a war.
3.5 Questionable acts or
Sins?
The critics of the Mahabharata are not tired of pointing
out several questionable acts committed by heroes on the Pandava side. It is
also said that the guiding hand, almost always, is that of Krishna.
1.
In Bhishma Parva, on the night of the ninth day of
the war, when Bhishma inflicted extra ordinary damage to the Pandava side,
Krishna offers to fight with Bhishma even going against his own word that he
will not take up arms.
2.
In Drona Parva, Krishna steps in front of
Bhagadatta’s Vaishnava weapon and turns it into a garland of flowers.
3.
Krishna urges Arjuna to cut off Bhurisrava’s arms
from an unseen position to protect Satyaki.
4.
Krishna creates the illusion of sunset so that
Arjuna could kill Jayadradha.
5.
Krishna calls Ghatotkacha into war and creates a
situation when Karna has to use his weapon Sakti,
which he saved for Arjuna.
In addition, there are
lapses of Yudhistira in the war. Krishna encourages Yudhistira to obtain the
means of defeating Bhishma from Bhishma himself. They find out that the only
way of defeating Bhishma is to create a condition where Bhishma will be
indisposed to fight. Such a condition is to put up Sikhandi (who was Amba in
the previous birth, did tapas to kill
Bhishma and was born as a man) before Bhishma. Arjuna uses this to attack
Bhishma. In case of the next commander Drona, the ploy that is used to make Drona believe that Aswatthama
(son of Drona) is dead. Bhima kills an elephant by that name and Yudhistira is
made to utter loudly that Aswatthama is dead followed by a meek statement that
it is an elephant. In case of Karna, several factors come into picture. Salya
destroys his confidence through his words. (Salya becomes, in his own words, a mitramukha satruh, an enemy with the
face of a friend.) This is in sharp contrast to the Arjuna-Krishna pair on the
opposite side. Kunti extracts promise that he will not kill Pandavas other than
Arjuna in the war. By sacrificing Ghatotkacha, the Sakthi weapon given by Indra
is made to be of no avail for a second time. Karna was finally killed when his
chariot sinks in the earth below because of another curse. Indra helped by
asking for Karna’s Kavacha. Through
Parasurama’s curse he could not use his divine weapons obtained from his guru.
The death of the final major commander was that of Salya. He is not a Kaurava,
but is supposed to represent the support of all other kings to the Kaurava
side. Salya is slain by Yudhistira alone. This was the latter’s share in the
battle. One interpretation was Salya represented earth and her distress due to
the over population of Asuric elements.
Yudhistira’s victory symbolizes his being the new emperor reinstating dharma on earth.
We shall continue with the
issue of the war in the subsequent section.
[1] The name Bharata Varsha for India comes from king Bharata, son of
king Dushyanta and Sakuntala, whose story forms Kalidasa’s classic work, Abhijnana Sakuntalam. Bharata’s great
grand son was Hasti, on whose name Hastinapur was founded. King Samvarana was a
king in the same dynasty after several generations. His wife was Tapati. Their
son was Kuru and the dynasty was known as Kuru
Vamsa since then. Kurukshetra, where the battle was fought, also derives
its name from him. King Santanu was born in Kuru
Vamsa several generations later.
[2] There is another explanation, probably more true for the name Bharata (bha+rata), the land interested in light, brilliance, meaning knowledge. That means Indians are interested in seeking jnana.
[3] A basic unit of army at that time includes 1 chariot (ratha), 1 elephant, 3 horses and 5
soldiers. Multiples of 3 give higher units. (2187 = 3 raised to the power 7,)
An akshauhini consists of 21870
chariots, 21870 elephants, 65610 horses and 109350 soldiers. The death toll in
eighteen days of the war is about 3.9 millions. For a comparison, the death
toll of the Vietnam War, which lasted several years and which ended around
1973, was 3 million Vietnamese and about 58000 Americans.
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