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Unknown Facts about Mahabharata -1

While in exile, the Pandavas were travelling all across the country. At one time, it so happened that they reached a forest near Dwarka. They were all resting under a tree when prominent Yadavas came to meet them. The Yadavas were raged at the condition of the Pandavas. They proclaimed that this is not how these virtuous men must suffer. Warriors like Satyaki and others insisted that they shall all go right now and destroy Duryodhana. They argued that the Pandavas were under oath to not attack, not the Yadavas. All were spirited to march to Hastinapur for war. Krishna was silent and everyone looked to him for sermon. Krishna merely pointed at Yudhishthira and said that if this man agrees, then we shall go to war. Yudhishthira folded his hands and said that you all must please leave us in our state as of now. My dharma has already been fixed. There is an understanding that myself and Duryodhana have arrived at. It is adharma to interpret it differently and fish for loopholes. I must follow my dharma.

#mahabharata

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Arjuna

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#mahabharata #bheema #comics #india #hindu

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#mahabharata #brahma

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Arjuna

#mahabharata #arjuna

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The greatest warrior of Mahabharata

Bhishma Pitamah. I am just going to state some facts that help us understand why he is THE greatest warrior in Mahabharata.

" He was an unparalleled archer and he won the battle against his Guru Parashurama and this battle continued for 23 days." For those who don't know, "Parashurama is the 6th Avatar of Vishnu, descendant of Brahma and pupil of Shiva"

"Bhishma was well versed with tactical formations of the military in those days and only Drona, Krishna, Karna, & Arjuna could be compared to the vast knowledge that Bhishma possessed."

"At one stage Arjuna's disinclination to fight him, nearly made Krishna break His vow not to raise a weapon in the war. Not even Arjuna was able to defeat Bhishma, because in addition to being a peerless warrior he was blessed with choosing the moment of his death."

In Mahabharata war, Bhishma vowed not to kill any of the Pandavas, as he loved them, being their grandsire. Duryodhan often confronted Bhishma alleging that he was not actually fighting for the Kaurava camp as he wouldn't kill any Pandava but would let them kill Kauravas. But in fact, Bhishma was the strongest barrier that had protected the Kaurava camp from impending defeat.

The war was thus locked in a stalemate. As the Pandavas mulled over this situation, Krishna advised them to visit Bhishma himself and request him to suggest a way out of this stalemate. Bhishma knew in his heart that the Pandavas were righteous and chaste, and that he stood as the greatest obstacle in their path to victory, so when they visited Bhishma, he told them that if faced by an other gender that is a gender which has both features of a male and female in battle he would cease to fight and not lift weapons against her.

Bhishma was the supreme commander of the Kauravas for 10 days and he roughly killed 10,000 soldiers of Pandavas every day.

"The spirit of Parashurama's father, Jamadagni and his grandfather, Rucheeka, spoke to Parashurama:    O son, never again engage in battle with Bhishma or any other Kshatriya. Heroism and courage in battle are the qualities of a Kshatriya, and study of the Vedas and the practice of austerities are the wealth of the Brahmans. Previously you took up weapons to protect the Brahmans, but this is not the case now. Let this battle with Bhishma be your last. O son of the Bhrigu race, it is not possible to defeat Bhishma. —Mahabharata 188:5"

Parashurama acknowledged that his former student was truly invincible, telling Amba: Using even the very best of weapons I have not been able to obtain any advantage over Bhishma, that foremost of all wielders of weapons! I have exerted now to the best of my power and might. Seek the protection of Bhishma himself, thou hast no other refuge now.—Mahabharata 189:1

#mahabharata

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Role of Yadava warriors in Mahabharata war

Interesting question. I do not think that there was any problem that needs justification. This is the way I see it. This was a war in which almost ALL the Kshatriyas took part and fought. The two who did not were Balarama (who could not take sides) and Rukmi (who was rejected by both sides). The Yadavas did not fight in the war. The only two who did were Satyaki (a friend of Arjun) and Krittavarma (an enemy of Krishna and hence a friend to Duryodhana). Interestingly these two were among the very few who actually survive the war. Which means that ultimately the Yadavas did not suffer in this war; no one died and since the war was fought well away from their land, they lost no property either. Coming to the Narayanisena which Krishna offered to both Arjun and Duryodhan: I suspect that it was an army of mercenaries and not really Yadavas. I also think that Krishna, who wanted to be on the Pandava side out of his love for Arjun (more than balancing dharma-adharma), had to offer something so that both sides would think they had won. He was related to both sides and HAD to appear to be fair. So from the leadership point of view (and let us not analyse it with values and morals of today), Krishna did perfectly right - he sided with his friend and incidentally the side of dharma and managed to do that by offering worthless (compared to him) bunch of mercenaries who were probably  not Kshatriyas of high birth anyway. Remember that the all those codes applied only to Kshatriyas - they were pretty ruthless when it come to others (remember Khadav forest burning if you doubt this).

#mahabharata

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Mahabharata Picture

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Mahabharata Starts with a Dog and Ends with a dog

Mahabaratha started with a dog's story, ended with a dog. Also the intresting point is one of the greatest turning point in Mahabaratha in middle was also due to a dog (Ekalavya's episode). First I will describe the story and later go into the deeper meaning of what it means. Ugarshavasuvu, goes to niamishaaranya, where sounkaadi maharshi and others were performing dheerga satra yaga (12 years). Ugrashravasuvu is a sishya of vedavyasa (the current vysa's name is krishna dvaipayana). Vedavyasa divided vedas into 4 parts, rig, yajur, sama and atharva. after which he wrote 18 maha puranas. He wrote Mahabaratha after completing puranas. Mahabaratha is also called panchama veda (5th veda). Sounakaadi maharshi and other ask Ugarshavasuvu where he is coming from then he tells them that he visited Samanthaka panchakam and Janamejaya's yagashala. Janemejaya is the son of parikshith, grandson of Abhimanyu and great grandson of Pandavas. So  Ugarshavasuvu starts describing about his visit to Janemejaya's yagashala. This is where Mahabharata starts. Janemejaya was performing a yaga for the welfare of his country/people. outside the yagashala a small dog ( you can call it a pup) out of curiosity was looking at what is going on. This pup is the son of sarama ( a deva shuni or a celestial female dog). If a dog enters the yagashala then devatas dont accept the offerings made in the yaga. So Janamejaya's three brothers Shrutasena, Ugrasena, Bhimasena closind in on the pup didnt let it escape and trashed it inflicting lot of pain. So this poor pup goes and cries and tells its mother that I didnt go inside and didnt do any harm to anyone near the yagashala, but these rajakumaras beat me so much not even letting me escape. In the meanwhile the yaga was completed. Sarama came to Janamejaya and complained. Your younger brothers without any consideration beat my young pup, though it didnt commit any mistake. Sarama didnt curse Janamejaya. It just wanted to convey its point and leave. It didnt ask Janamejaya for justice. With out any consideration and without thinking twice if a person in authority commits crime/ vilence towards a sadhu (gentle/harmless person), poor there will be a consequence for such an act, which is a fear/danger without any logical reason. Since a harmless small pup cried and felt pain for no mistake of its own, the person who is responsible for such act will face a danger without any reason ( the reason is their bad karma).Sarama finished whatever it wanted to say and left. Then Janmejaya went looking for his purohit. This is how Mahabharata starts. After reading this we think what is this story, what relevance does this really have.  First reason is, this kind of writing style creates a curiosity in the readers mind. (in sanskrit it is called uthkanta). Now there are a number of questions that come up in the readers mind. 1. Dog especially a pup is a pretty harmless creature to drive it away just threatening to hit it will drive it away, why do you need to beat it to inflict so much pain 2. The persons who hit the pup are no ordinary people. They are the brothers of janamejaya, grandsons of pandavas. They are prince's of the kingdom. Do Janemejaya's brothers need to drive the dog away themselves. Dont they have a vast army. Cant they ask some soldier to do it. Why do they have to trash it so badly?  And then feel proud that they drove away a small pup and think themselves as great ksahitrayas (warriors) and go back to finish yaga. This incident is very revelant in the current age. which is why Veda vysa gave this story. In general there can be only 3 types of person who we meet. 1. equal to us in terms of status/power 2. lower 3. greater What do we see in the current society, there are many instances of misuse of the power they have. Peolple who are in power try to abuse, and treat who are under them. I am not trying to generalize. But I am just trying to show what veda vyasa tried to tell us. He tried to tell us how not to pursue our life. If we dont follow our bad karma will have an affect and in that situation we will be left with no clue why we are going through a bad phase in life. Mahabharata is full of dharma's revelant to our everyday life. It is said that anything and everything can be found in Mahabharata. If it not there in Mahabharata it is not there anywhere else. It is up to the reader to find and interpret in a proper manner.

#mahabharata #India #hindu #dogs

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The Lotus Battle Formation aka Chakravyuha

One of the heartbreaking sub-story of Mahabharata is that of Abhimanyu. A prince born to Arjuna who matched his father's skill. However was killed by the Kaurava's in what was called "Chakravyuha" or "Padmavyuha".

Battle formations were the way different battle unites were deployed on the ground the way they were moved as battle progressed. Padmavyuha was one of the most complex battle formation which was aimed at encircling a single individual and getting him killed.

So the dark lines above were the soldiers standing next to each other. If you notice there is one opening. The idea is to catch a warrior in that opening. Once anyone has reached there all other soldiers would move one step to their left.

If you imagine this, you will notice that it actually rotates the whole structure such that the enemy warrior find himself even deeper into the enemy circle. If the formation keeps moving to right, eventually the warrior is deep inside the formation cutoff from his friends where he can be killed very easily.

The best warriors stood inside the circle to face the trapped enemy. If you observer carefully if you are inside the circle and if the circle is moving continuously towards left, (i.e. rotating around you) it is next to impossible to navigate your way out.

Here is a chinese version of lotus formation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=r4qbQCJ9QKs

#mahabharata #padmavyuha #chakravyuha #abhimanyu

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A comparison between Mahabharata and Song of Ice and Fire

A lot of people claim that a comparison between these two epics is not really possible because they are so different. As different as apple and oranges. But then comparison between heterogeneous things is not always without meaning.  Okay, lets admit that both of them fall under the broad category of "Fantasy". Some people may claim that Mahabharata is based on real events but then lets also keep in mind that Song of Ice and Fire is not entirely out of GRRM's imagination either. He too has borrowed heavily of medieval history of  western Europe.  So let us reflect on both the epics in purely a reader's point of view who have never heard of either of these before.  Important Note: This is not a judgement on either of the epics. If you try to read any kind of judgmental observations, you are reading it wrong.  1. The Entertainment.  Unlike Mahabharata, GRRM specifically wrote the story to entertain the reader. Mahabharata on the other hand had not so such purpose to please anyone or to evoke any particular feelings among the readers. Mahabharata is more like talking about nature of individuals rather than telling a good coherent story.  2. The Story.  Very few people actually read the complete Mahabharata. If you read all the 18 parvas you will realize that the story of Mahabharata is spanned over several years, across various geographies (including those outside of earth) and also move back and forth in time. At the same time a lot of parts of the story are totally irrelevant. Song of Ice and Fire has a coherent story. There is very clear character development. Their motives are either deliberately known or deliberately left unknown. GRRM wanted to write a gripping tale and hence, motives, actions and climax are essential. His characters move like work of clock.  3. The meaning of it all  Lord of the Rings was a story about victory of good over evil. Notwithstanding what you might have heard, both SoIaF and Mahabharata are not about such sweeping moral. Mahabharata's real name was Jaya. It was 1/10th the size of current Mahabharata. In the end of the story when Dharmaraja is in heaven he sees that all Kauravs are in heaven where as Pandavas are in hell. Why ? Because Kaurav died in a holy land of Kurukshtra. This angers Dharmaraja, and he realizes that suddenly everything he fought for was meaningless. Life is nothing but randomness and true victory is not Vijaya but Jaya (victory over self).  We do not know the climax of Song of Ice and Fire but I expect GRRM to come up with something like Mahabharata.  SoIaF scores several points on other Fantasy novels on this issue and that is why it can be even compared to Mahabharata.  3. The Hidden Meaning There is one area where Mahabharat seems incomparable is the amount of time gone it writing it. It was passed through oral tradition for literally thousands of years. Literally millions of human hours were spent on passing it to us today.  But there is a side effect of this procedure. Look at the following tree bark. 

You see, it is a tree. But when you cut it ant look at those rings it tells you a story which is not really the primary purpose of the tree but a side effect. A tree bark tells you about the environment in which the tree grew up. You can figure out that 50 years ago there was a good rainfall and 100 years ago there was a wild fire.  With a microscope you can tell a much detailed tale.  Same is try for Mahabharata, while it is just a tale like SoIaF it evolved over a time period and as the time passed just like that wood it went on adding a ring. Remember that there is no strict book of Mahabharata, it exists in various forms and with good degree of change. A Tamil Mahabharata is different from Marathi and it is different from Bengali Mahabharata.  Every tale in the story tells us about Hindu philosophy, how it evolved and how it reflects upon various issues of the world.

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★ Who was the greater warrior, Karna or Arjuna, according to original phrases from the Mahabharata?

Since the question explicitly asks for opinion based on original phrases in Text here it is. Short Answer: Arjuna is better than Karna by an inch. The eight chapter of Mahabharata is named Karnaparva and describes day 16 and 17 of the Kurukshetra war. Besides this chapter the descriptions of Karna's bravery are plenty but this chapter perhaps bring the most of Karna as a warrior. Krishna first praises Arjuna and then describes Karna as:

  "'Vasudeva said, "O wielder of Gandiva, save thee there exists no  other man that could vanquish those whom thou hast vanquished with this  bow of thine. We have seen many heroes, who, endued with prowess like  that Sakra, have attained to the highest regions, encountering thy  heroic self in battle! Who else, O puissant one, that is not equal to  thee, would be safe and sound after encountering Drona and Bhishma and  Bhagadatta, O sire, and Vinda and Anuvinda of Avanti and Sudakshina, the  chief of the Kambojas and Srutayudha of mighty energy and Acyutayudha  as well? Thou hast celestial weapons, and lightness of hand and might,  and thou art never stupefied in battle! Thou hast also that humility  which is due to knowledge! Thou canst strike with effect! Thou hast  sureness of aim, and presence of mind as regards the selection of means,  O Arjuna! Thou art competent to destroy all mobile and immobile  creatures including the very gods with the Gandharvas! On earth, O  Partha, there is no human warrior who is equal to thee in battle.  Amongst all Kshatriyas, invincible in battle, that wield the bow,  amongst the very gods, I have not seen or heard of even one that is  equal to thee. The Creator of all beings, viz., Brahma himself created  the great bow Gandiva with which thou fightest, O Partha! For this  reason there is no one that is equal to thee. I must, however, O son of  Pandu, say that which is beneficial to thee. Do not. O mighty-armed one,  disregard Karna, that ornament of battle! Karna is possessed of might.  He is proud and accomplished in weapons. He is a maharatha. He is  accomplished (in the ways of battle) and conversant with all modes of  warfare. He is also well-acquainted with all that suits place and time.  What need is there of saying much? Hear in brief, O son of Pandu! I  regard the mighty car-warrior Karna as thy equal, or perhaps, thy  superior! With the greatest care and resolution shouldst thou slay him  in great battle. In energy he is equal to Agni. As regards speed, he is  equal to the impetuosity of the wind. In wrath, he resembles the  Destroyer himself. Endued with might, he resembles a lion in the  formation of his body. He is eight ratnis in stature. His arms  are large. His chest is broad. He is invincible. He is sensitive. He is a  hero. He is, again, the foremost of heroes. He is exceedingly handsome.  Possessed of every accomplishment of a warrior, he is a dispeller of  the fears of friends. Engaged in the good of Dhritarashtra's son, he  always hates the sons of Pandu. No one, not even the gods with Vasava at  their head, can slay the son of Radha, save thee, as I think

#Karna #Arjuna #Krishna #war #mahabharata

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Age of Pandavas during the War

Yudhishthir - 91 years; Bheem - 90 years; Arjun - 89 years; Nakul & Sahdev - 88 years.

Yudhishthir ruled for 72 years in his 127 years of life!

#mahabharata #pandavas #war

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The army in Mahabharata (Akshahouni)

Formation of Akshouhini(अक्षौहिणी) Army:- a)1 Patti(पत्ति)= 3 horse, 1 elephant, 5 foot-soldiers and 3 horses. b)3 Patti(पत्ति) = 1 Senamukha(सेनामुख) c)3 Senamukha(सेनामुख) = 1 Gulma(गुल्म) d)3 Gulma(गुल्म) = 1 Gana(गण) e)3 Gana(गण) = 1 Vaahini(वाहिनी) f)3 Vaahini(वाहिनी) = 1 Pritana(पृतना) g)3 Pritana(पृतना) = 1 Chamoo(चमू) h)3 Chamoo(चमू) = 1 Aneekani(अनीकिनी) i)10 Aneekani(अनीकिनी) = 1 Akshouhini(अक्षौहिणी) so 1 Akshouhini(अक्षौहिणी) Army segment is formed with :- a)21,870 Chariots b)21,870 Elephants c)65,610 Horses d)1,09,350 Foot-soldiers. Altogether 2,18,700 humans and 87,480 animals would together form an Akshouhini Army. In Mahabharata 18 Akshouhini Armies were destroyed, Therefore, 39,36,600 humans and 15,74,640 animals were killed.

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The story of Barbarik

Story of Barbarik is quite interesting. Barbarik was the grandson of Bhima and the son of Ghatotkacha. Barbarik was supposed to be a brave warrior having learnt the art of warfare from his mother. Lord Shiva pleased with Barbarik's talent as a warrior granted him a Three special arrows. He also got a special bow from Lord Agni (God of Fire). It is said that Barbarik was so powerful that according to him the war of Mahabharata could end in 1 minute if he alone was to fight it. The story goes like this: Before the war started, Lord Krishna asked everyone how long would it take for them to finish the war alone. Bhisma replied it would take 20 days. Dronacharya said it would take 25 days. Karna said it would take 24 days whereas Arjuna said it would take him 28 days. Barbarik had expressed his desire to watch the war of Mahabharata to his mother. His mother agreed to let him go watch it, but asked him before leaving as to which side he would join if he felt the urge to take part in the war. Barbarik promised his mother that he would join the side that was weaker. Saying this he set up on the journey to visit the battlefield. Krishna having heard of Barbarik and wanting to examine Barbarik's strength disguised himself as a Brahmin came in front of Barbarik. Krishna asked him the same question about how many days would it take to finish the war if he were to fight it alone. Barbarik replied it would take him only 1 minute to finish the battle if he was to fight it alone. Krishna was surprised at this answer of Barbarik considering the fact that Barbarik was walking towards the battlefield with just 3 arrows and a bow. To this Barbarik explained the power of the 3 arrows.

The first arrow was supposed to mark all the objects that Barbarik wanted to be destroyed.

The second arrow was supposed to mark all the objects that Barbarik wanted to be saved.

The third arrow was supposed to destroy all the objects marked by the first arrow OR destroy all the objects not marked by the second arrow.

And at the end of this all the arrows would come return to the quiver. Krishna eager to test this out asked Barbarik to tie all the leaves of the tree that he was standing under. As Barbarik started meditating to perform the task, Krishna took one leaf from the tree and placed it under his foot without Barbarik's knowledge. When Barbarik releases the first arrow, the arrow marks all the leaves from the tree and eventually starts revolving around Lord Krishna's feet. Krishna asks Barbarik as to why the arrow is doing this. To this Barbarik replies that there must be a leaf under your feet and asks Krishna to lift his leg. As soon as Krishna lifts his leg, the arrow goes ahead and marks the remaining leaf too. This incident scares Lord Krishna about the phenomenal power of Barbarik. He concludes that the arrows are truly infallible. Krishna also realizes that in the real battlefield in case Krishna wants to isolate someone (for eg the 5 Pandavas) from Barbarik's attack, then he would not be able to do so, since even without the knowledge of Barbarik, the arrow would go ahead and destroy the target if Barbarik intended so. To this Krishna asks Barbarik about which side he was planning to fight for in the war of Mahabharata. Barbarik explains that since the Kaurava Army is bigger than the Pandava Army and because of the condition he had agreed to with his mother, he would fight for the Pandavas. But to this Lord Krishna explains the paradox of the condition he had agreed with his mother. Krishna explains that since he was the greatest warrior on the battlefield, which ever side he joins would make the other side weaker. So eventually he would end up oscillating between the two sides and destroy everyone except himself. Thus Krishna reveals the actual consequence of the word that he had given to his mother. Thus Krishna(still disguised as a Brahmin) asks for Barbarik's head in charity to avoid his involvement in the war. After this Krishna explains that it was necessary to sacrifice the head of the greatest Kshatriya in order to worship the battlefield and that he regarded Barbarik as the greatest Kshatriya of that time. Before actually giving his head, Barbarik expresses his desire to view the forthcoming battle. To this Krishna agreed to place Barbarik's head on top of the mountain that overlooked the battlefield. At the end of the war, the Pandavas argued amongst themselves about whose was the greatest contribution to their victory. To this Krishna suggests that Barbarik's head should be allowed to judge this since it has watched the entire war. Barbarik's head suggests it was Krishna alone who was responsible for the victory in the war. His advice, his strategy and his presence was crucial in the victory.

#Hindu #Mahabharata #krishna #Barkabirk #india #mythology

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What Makes Mahabharata so amazing ?

1. Mahabharata and Ramayana were some of the first attempts to create literature that is not strictly "religious". 2. Mahabharata is said to have written by Krishna-Dwaypayana (The dark on born on an island) but several authors contributed to it over a period of years adding multiple layers and characters. Which also means the books is highly unstructured compared to say Ramayana. 3. Rama belonged to Solar dynasty and the Kuru's to the lunar dynasty. Mahabharata is generally believed to be about the conflict between descendants of Shantanu only but this is not true. The original Mahabharata contains almost complete genealogical tree of the lunar dynasty. 4. Krishna Dwaypayana wrote Mahabharata in 100,000 shlokas. 5. There was an appendix to Mahabharata called Hari Vansha However today we have only 90,000 shlokas including Harivansha which means we lost pretty much half of Mahabharata in the course of time. 6. Even with 90,000 shlokas it is easily bigger than every other epic in the world. It is 4 times bigger than Ramayana. 7. Mahabharata as it is available today has around 2 million words. Compared to: Lord of the Rings: 570,000 (Half million) Song of Ice and Fire: 1,770,000. (Around two million)(This is work under progress and might break the record of Mahabharta) Harry Potter: 1,084,170 (One Million) Homer's Illiad: 340,000 Note that all these are modern books. Mahabhrata was never written down until last 800 hundred years. Over centuries this was passed to the next generation via Oral tradition. Try to imagine the billions of human hours that were spent in reciting and by hearting the Mahabharata so that it could be passed to next generation. 8. This is how Krishna Dwaypayana wrote the Mahabharata 8900 - Jaya Expanded to 24,000 as Bharata Expanded to 90,000 as Mahabharata He added another 400,000 shlokas to it called Maha Puranas (total 18 in number). 9. Mahabharata received contribution from several authors besided Krishna Dwaiyapayana. It is possible that many sholkas attributed to him were actually later additions. This proces is estimated to be around 800 BCE to 400 ACE. 10. Even in the modern world with diminishing familiarity with Sanskrit it was hard to preserve this Epic. The current authentic version of Mahabharata is prepared by illustrious Bhandarkar Institute of Oriental Research in Pune.  (BORI). The project was started in 1919 and completed in 1966. This authentic text was vetted by several scholars after going through several interpolations and variations of the Mahabharata. 11. Even though the project was completed in 1966, it did not contain Hari Vansha. Hari Vansha compilation was completed in 1970. 12. Interesting thing to note is that BORI has not just published the Critical Edition but has also published all the other variations it has obtianed during the project. Such as regional translations of Mahabharata in Kannadda, Marathi, Bengali etc. 13. Mahabharata is generally assumed to have 18 Parvas but in the real classification the 18 parvas are actually subdivided into 100 paravas. 14. University of Chicago Started the translation project in 1970 but it is not yet complete. 15. The oldest and undisputed recorded even in Indian history is MahapadmaNanda's ascending to the throne dated as 350 B.C.E. The genealogical records of Puranas write that he was a descendant of Janamejaya who died 1015 years before this event (There is a dispute as 1015 or 1050). Mahabharata is assumed to be getting it's final shape during that time. If the Puranas to be believed Mahabharata got it's present form 1400 BCE and the war happened before that. 16. Mahabharata could have been written before Ramayana. The linguistic analysis of Mahabharata suggests that the first edition of Mahabharata had formed before the Ramayana but got popular and expanded in size only after Ramayana. For example Drinking human blood or killing children in sleep was unbelievably unprincipled during Ram's period. These primitive rules of war were likely to be in practice before Ramayana and not after. 17. It is said that Star Wars creator George Lucas was inspired by this very epic and some of the underlying subplots. Subjective Opinions 1. In Mahabharata the bad people follow the rules good people break them. For example Dhuryodhana always goes by the rules. None of the things he had done were technically wrong us per the prevailing laws of Dharma. The gambling, disrobing of Panchali everything was pretty much allowed on technical grounds. The Pandavas on other hand break several laws of Dharma. Dharmaraja is forced to lie, Arjuna to use Shikhandi to attack Bhishma. Attacking Karna when he was unarmed etc. etc. 2. Mahabharata was probably first literature that took politics into account. Yadavas were the weakest. But Krishna smartly forms marriage alliances to increase his acceptability and strength. He kills most of his opponents without any fierce battle but by his cunning. By the start of the war Krishna has built a new city for Yadavas which is both rich and safe. This is his rise from ashes. 3. A very different take on male-female relationship and sexuality Mahabharata is probably the only massively popular epic that has polyandry as a very central theme of the story. Polyandry does not seem to be popular even during the Mahabharata period but despite that people had no problem having it in the story. No other epic covers gender variance as well as Mahabharata. Besides polyandry the book gives details as to how these husbands shared the one wife. Arjuna becomes Brihannadaa (eunuch) during their exile. Brahmins are hired to impregnate royal woman, Matsyagandha is hired by Parashar just for sexual intercourse and he promises to give back her virginity after sex. Shikandin a transgender plays pivotal role in the War.

#India #hindu #mahabharata