The Longest Poem: Writing with the Mahabharata Class 2 Handout

Mahabharata Story and History

• The Mahabharata centers around the moral questions raised by the conflict between the Pandavas (5 brothers) and their cousins the Kauravas (100 brothers), who fight the war to end all wars—nominally over a kingdom, but in the bigger picture it’s over the moral balance of the entire universe o While many think that the Mahabharata is the story of just that war, only books 6-10 of the 18 books of the Mahabharata actually narrate the great war o The remainder sets the war in its moral context ▪ The ethical follies by both sides that precipitate it ▪ The devastation even for the victors in its aftermath ▪ And the overall context of the world entering the Kali-Yug, the last and most morally corrupt of the four cosmic time cycles after which the world is to be destroyed and remade anew o The war itself is devastating—over 10 million people lose their lives, and it ends with each side having only 3 and 7 warriors survive, respectively • This comes in the context of the god Vishnu, who is the preserver of the balance and harmony of the universe, incarnating himself as Krishna and playing a critical role of putting his thumb on the scale, as you saw in the previous excerpt o Krishna does not fight, but he is on the side of the Pandavas—who are the protagonists—and takes many otherwise immoral actions that help the Pandavas o Conversely, the Kauravas—the nominal antagonists—are often learned and noble in their own right, and truly seem to be on the right side of the moral equation at times • In the Mahabharata, everyone does terrible, terrible things at different points—even the most ethical character, Yudhisthira, cannot refuse the dice game that, at some level, causes the entire war by making him gamble away the kingdom o Yudhishthira also tells a white lie to kill his teacher Drona—by telling him his son has been killed and therefore causing him to lay down arms • But all of these actions are always put in the big-picture context of the soul, ego, freedom from the cycle of rebirth, cosmic time (which is unimaginably massive in scale), reincarnation, and the overall movement of the universe towards balance and harmony • What constitutes the right state of mind and the right action for a given situation? • Central concept: dharma (right action) o Four classes ▪ Brahmins (priests/religious scholars) ▪ Kshatriyas (warriors/rulers) ▪ Vaishyas (merchants) ▪ Shudras (working class/servants) o Four life stages (ashramas) ▪ Brahmacharya (student) ▪ Grihastha (householder) ▪ Vanaprastha (retired) ▪ Sannyasa (renunciation)

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o Four life goals ▪ Dharma (righteousness) ▪ Artha (wealth) ▪ Kama (desire) ▪ Moksha (liberation) • Dharma is an over-arching, moment-to-moment goal that can result in achievement of the other goals • But—the same collective dharma may result in different individual actions o Eg, Arjuna and Bhima both meet women who fall in love with them during their periods of celibacy—one spurns the advance, and the other does not • Context of the Gita: at the start of the war, the great warrior Arjuna refuses to kill his cousins. o Krishna sings the Bhagvad Gita to Arjuna to help him understand the eternal nature of the soul, in contrast to the temporary and misleading nature of the ego. Krishna shows Arjuna his eternal, cosmic form, eliciting the following reaction:

“The sight made Arjuna aware of the enormity of the cosmos and his relative insignificance. He felt like a grain of sand on a vast endless beach. If Krishna was an ocean, this moment, this war, was but a wave. So many waves, so many opportunities to discover the sea. This war, this life, his rage and frustrations, everything in this world was a pointer to the soul.” (Jaya, Devdutt Patnaik)

• Even more broadly, the Mahabharata can be taken together with other Hindu texts to illustrate fundamental tensions. For example, in the Ramayana, God (in the form of Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, the Hindu god of preservation) is an archetype of duty and justice, while in the Mahabharata, God (in the form of Krishna, another incarnation of Vishnu) is a rule-breaker who must take upon himself the responsibility of morally questionable choices to restore the balance of the universe. o Both epics raise complex ethical conundrums that continue to be deeply examined by scholars of successive generations.

• Historically: world’s longest poem, and a seminal Hindu text • Four times the length of the Iliad and Odyssey combined—over 100,000 verses long • Hinduism stands in contrast to other religions that rely on a single, seminal text (or person) for spiritual authority o Instead, Hinduism’s major texts reflect the religion’s diversity and fluidity. • There are many, many versions of the Mahabharata o Resists standardization o Even the critical edition has been criticized

Class and Class Politics in the Mahabharata

• As with so many of the other Mahabharata’s ethical dilemmas, class and class politics become complicated

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• On the one hand—the text frequently mentions that action outside of one’s assigned class role is “adharma” or non-righteous o Even Krishna says to the Kauravas when they try to capture him that they can no more aspire to do so than a shudra can aspire to hear the Vedas recited • On the other hand, that notion is also frequently challenged o Duryodhana notes that valor and prowess are the distinguishing characteristics of a kshatriya, and that’s what should count when assessing Karna’s worthiness to fight Arjuna • Karna: Compelling character—almost the living embodiment of the ethical and practical dilemmas and moral shades of grey that characterize the Mahabharata o Oldest brother of the Pandavas o Abandoned at birth and raised by a charioteer, he eventually comes to know he is the eldest Pandava o But continues to fight on the side of the Kauravas, because their leader (who he secretly knows to be his eldest cousin), the anti-hero Duryodhana, befriended him and treated him as a king when the Pandavas mocked his supposedly low birth o The battle at the core of the war is that between Arjuna, the third Pandava and their greatest warrior, and Karna, his eldest brother o Karna could not have been defeated in a fair fight—so he’s saddled with a variety of curses, including Krishna conspiring to strip him of his powers and give Arjuna the advantage o Karna knows all this, and yet continues to play what he believes is his moral role to help the supposedly “bad’ side • Drona and Drupada—another space of complicated class relations o Drupada and Drona were friends as children o Drona becomes a penniless Brahmin, while Drupada becomes a king o Drupada rejects Drona, saying friendship must be between equals o Drona vows revenge, and teaches weapons to the Pandavas and Kauravas to defeat Drupada o After Drupada’s defeat, he prays for vengeance, and begets Drishtadyumna (who is destined to kill Drona) and Draupadi (who is destined to destroy nearly the entire Bharata race) o Is this cycle of vengeance a cautionary tale?

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Writing Exercise: Shades of Grey

The Mahabharata is full of characters who act counter to their larger role in the narrative—“bad” or “negative” characters perform positive or heroic deeds, and vice versa. For example, Duryodhana befriends Karna, a seemingly low-caste individual, and rewards him with a kingdom on the basis of his merit as a warrior, while the Pandavas (largely the “good” or “positive” characters in the story) mock Karna for his supposedly low birth. Write a piece that involves a character considering or taking actions that run counter to the larger narrative (or counter to the supposed fundamental nature) of that character. Focus on the character’s unique mental makeup or self-image that might make such actions possible. If needed, use some of the Mahabharata’s own “shades of grey” characters such as Karna, Duryodhana, Krishna, or Arjuna as models.

Writing Exercise: Accidents of Birth

Many characters in the Mahabharata struggle to overcome the circumstances of their birth—whether because of their assigned class/caste, or because of a curse or other predestined event. For example, Drona, born a brahmin, nonetheless becomes a teacher of weapons and a warrior because of his desire for revenge on Drupada—and is criticized during the war when he wields celestial weapons to destroy mortals. Write a piece exploring the ways in which the circumstances of a character’s birth create tensions in the life of that character. What hidden burdens or struggles might result from those circumstances? Will those circumstances prove too much to overcome in the end, or conversely, is there peace to be found in conforming to them? Consider incorporating ideas about classes, life stages, and life goals found in the Mahabharata.

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