Mystified by Mahabharata (Part 1)

[The article will appear in two installments. This is the first installment.]
Grappling with the usual bane of procrastination, one of the authors was sifting through the ragtag collection of books (that usually serves to stoke a false and deluded pretension to rarefied cerebral loftiness) in search of inspiration. A dog-eared, moth eaten, yellow stained book caught the author’s eye. It was none other than a Bengali translation of the Sanskrit epic, Mahabharata, which the author had received as a birthday gift, nearly two decades back. Turning over the pages, the author tried to ascertain the exact reasons as to why this old Indian classic was found to be such a compelling read.
Several days hence, both the authors were still reading and making numerous sorties to the net, clarifying issues and eventually ended up buying a few more books on Mahabharata, replete with weighty explanations and varied interpretations. Now the authors understood why this ancient composition is held reverentially as a classic at par with the Iliad.
Even if you strip away the phantasmagorical components that seem to be stock in trade of the ancient classics (divine siring of heroes with human consorts; combats between human heroes and celestial deities; a single woman giving birth to 101 children; the alleged author Vedvyas’ narcissistic imposition of himself as the patriarch of the feuding Pandava and Kaurava cousins etc), one cannot be blind or immune to the timeless appeal of the tale.
It contains startlingly modern insights of the human psyche- the painful choices that we make out of inherent moral dilemmas and contradictions; the pull of tradition , society , religion and loyalty that serves to fetter our conscience and prevents us from doing the right thing; the perils of jealousy turning to envy; the pitfalls of implacable hatred and vendetta; the havoc that can be wrought by listening to wicked counsel; the twin curses of nepotism and flawed justice that corrode the vitality of the state; the unforeseen cost of greed and lust for power; the bitterness engendered by polarisation and factionalism; the madness of war and its human cost and its eventual futility. Freud and Jung’s work seems rather amateurish in comparison.
It would be a gross oversimplification to say that the Mahabharata is the tale of war between the righteous Pandavas and the wicked Kauravas. The hallmark of the Sanskrit epic is that almost all the leading protagonists have shades of gray that make them appear fallible and human. Within the Pandavas, Yudhister, the crown prince is the embodiment of justice and righteousness, who forever advocates patience and self restraint. Yet, he is an inveterate gambler, who literally loses his entire kingdom and pawns off his wife and brothers at the throw of a dice.
Bheem, the byword for strength and courage, is a glutton who is mean and rude to his social and class inferiors; Arjun, the magnificent archer, the chivalrous warrior, hailed for his single minded focus and dedication to his craft, stoops to exhorting his mentor, Drona to neutralise the threat posed to his ambition of becoming the world’s best archer by the talents of the tribal Nishada prince, Eklabya( Drona cruelly asks for the finger tip of Eklavya as Guru dakhina-payment to the teacher, in order to ensure that his prowess with the bow is irrevocably diminished).
Draupadi, the wife of the five Pandava princes and a throwback to the times of polyandry, is hailed as an ideal wife from the Puranas in conjunction with Sita, Satyavati, Sati and Damayanti. Yet, at her swayamver, she denies Karna a chance to win her hand, fair and square at the archery competition, by haughtily saying that she will not wed a charioteer’s son. Class conceit and class discrimination could not be more baldly expressed. Karna, smarting from the cruel taunt, swore to avenge this humiliation, thus precipitating the eventual conflict. Krishna, the demigod despite all his wisdom and knowledge, did not refrain from urging the Pandavas to adopt underhand ploys and unfair means to win a righteous war.
The Kauravas seem to get a bad press-No character could be more reviled as Duryadhana and his evil counselor, Shakuni. Yet, Duryadhana, was a good ruler and was loving and caring to his brothers, relatives and friends. Nobody forsook him even at the brink of defeat and destruction. One of the key concerns of Yudishter, after winning the war was how to match Duryadhan’s popularity among the subjects of Hastinapur. Imagine a man’s agony of having to be denied from his inheritance due to an accident of birth of his father-the blind Dritarashtra. How many of us have not been embittered when we were denied our due?
Shakuni though vile and scheming was a dedicated brother to his sister, Gandheri and wanted to advance her children’s cause. He could not forgive the Kauravas for using intimidation and might to wed his beautiful sister to a blind man. How many of us have not nursed a sense of vendetta for past wrongs on our near and dear ones?
Bheesma, the self sacrificing patriarch of the Kuru clan, vehemently protested the evil designs of Duryadhan and co and incessantly argued for the rights of the Pandavas. However, he too was bound to blind adherence to clan loyalty and tradition and service to the state to fight on the side of the righteous Pandavas. How many of us can not break free from the chains of relationship and confines of stifling tradition to pursue the right course of action?
Drona, the mentor and weapons preceptor of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas, was known for his predilection for Arjun. However, he could not resist being drawn to the Kaurava side due to his blind emotional attachment to his son Ashwatthama, who was a boon companion of Duryadhana. His desire to be a warrior, a Kshatriya, despite his Brahmin origin, caused him to endure scorn, derision and economic hardship. The contempt of his erstwhile childhood friend, Drupad, the King of the Panchals, caused him to strive relentlessly for social parity and recognition. How many of us are not driven by the same overpowering impulse?
Shalya, King of Madra and maternal uncle of the Pandavas (Nakul and Sahadev) though being a brave warrior and accomplished fighter, is doomed to fight for the Kauravas against his very nephews due to his archaic sense of honour and the lure of lucre. He admits as much to Yudishter, when he says Duryadhan’s gold has weighed him down like a heavy chain. How many of us have quieted the pinpricks of our conscience for career advancement and fortune?
What can one say of Karna- the doomed anti hero of the epic? Eldest among the Pandavas, the out of wedlock son of Kunti was abandoned by his fearful mother, who could not bear to face the inevitable social backlash and stigma. If we are to take the Gupta period as the probable period for the final composition of the Mahabharata, it still gives us a span of nearly 1600 years. Despite the advent of empowerment and rights for women, how many unwed mothers can bravely go ahead and bring a child without any paternal recognition in this patriarchal society?
Brought up by a charioteer and his wife, Karna grew up as a man with an enormous chip on his shoulder. Blessed with phenomenal natural skills, Karna aspired to be a warrior- the sure sign for advancement in a caste and class riddled society. Time and again, he was denied instruction by Teachers, who clung to the iniquitous view that people of lower castes did not have the right to learn the arts of war that were the birthright of the Kshatriyas. The Pandavas took great pleasure in publicly calling him a Suthputra (son of a charioteer). The animosity towards the Pandavas was exacerbated by the merciless jibe of Draupadi at her wedding.
On the other hand, the warmth and respect shown by Duryadhana made him a lifelong ally of the Kauravas. His feats of valour in war and loyalty for the Kaurava cause show him to be a man of firm principles. He refused to be swayed by Kunti’s revelation that he was in fact her son and scornfully rejected the temptation of the offer to rule as the King of Pandavas and Draupadi’s hand in marriage. His acts of generosity were proverbial. The poet painstakingly goes to great lengths to show the inner conflicts and deep-set frustrations of an honourable man who is more a scapegoat of capricious fortune-more sinned against than sinning.
Which other epic could boost such a litany of compellingly human and hence utterly believable characters?
Parvez Karim Abbasi is Assistant Professor in Economics at East West University, Bangladesh. parvez_abbasi@yahoo.com 
Shahab Enam Khan is Chair and Associate Professor in International Relations at Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh. Shahab.e.khan@gmail.com