Mahabharata

The other Indian epic, Mahabharata, is about the story of a war fought by the Kauravas and Pandavas over succession to the kingdom of Kuruksetra with its capital Hastinapura in the Ganges River valley in north India. There are five brave heroes in the story. They are the sons of the deceased king, Pandu. They are fighting against their cousins, the many sons of the blind king, Dhritarashtra. As anyone could guess, they hate each other. But it does not end there. (Otherwise, the story would be boring.) There are strings of personal conflicts, ethical puzzles, subplots, and plot twists. The whole thing makes for a prime tonight show.

 It is like the Trojan War between the Greeks and the Trojans in Iliad. Both might be based off of real historical events. One would not be surprised at all. Most myths and legends come from a piece of a fact in history. That is what makes a story stick longer in the minds of the audience. However, the history is not the reason for this lovely war epic. The Indians are not interested in the history. Religion, passion, and ancestral roots are the key elements in Indian literature. History is like one of the people backstage of the show.

The story is divided up into eighteen books like a comic book series. In total of the books, there are 100,000 verses to it. But that was only the beginning of it. The story has grown since then. It took 700 years to get to its current size today. In fact, Mahabharata is the second largest book in the world next the Gesar Epic of Tibet. I could not even commit to a story like that for so long. The stories were just little bits of gods, kings, and steers that were polished up by the priests to make them look better. It would make sense to do because the Hindus are a very religious group and they do not seem to want to talk bad about their gods and goddesses for fear of something bad happening to them. Then one day, somebody decided to add on and edit the story. But only the wealthy people received the pretty finished product. One would think after so long, that people would lose interest in such a story and abandon it for the readers to create an ending in their heads. But, no! Performance media managed to keep the story alive to this very day. They have done so with many different local genres of dance and theater throughout India and then Southeast Asia. Even the Sanskrit writing could not compete with that. It would seem that art was piggybacking off of art to still stay fresh after so long. This idea of piggybacking must have worked because even after today, Mahabharata still lives on. The epic lives in many literature and popular transformations in many of the non-Sanskrit vernacular languages of India and Southeast Asia, which began writing down stories after 1000 CE.

Mahabharata is completely different from Ramayana. There seems to be no real editor to these many poems. Religion plays a huge part in the story.

What makes this story an epic? It is a long poem in the form of a story. Epics mostly talk about the actions, travels, adventures, and heroic episodes. The protagonist is heroically is the big man or woman in the story. They are often the source and subject of legend or a national hero. In other words, they hold everyone up when things start to go down south. An epic must have the following:

The deeds of the hero are presented without favoritism, revealing his failings as well as his virtues. Yes it does with the five princes all the way.

The action, often in battle, reveals the more-than-human strength of the heroes as they engage in acts of heroism and courage. This is proved when the five sons are actually fathered by five gods. This all because their father is under a curse and cannot reproduce children.

The setting covers several nations, the whole world, or even the universe. The story takes place in the kingdom of Kuruksetra with its capital Hastinapura in the Ganges River valley in north India. That covers most of north India.

The episodes, even though they may be fictional, provide an explanation for some of the circumstances or events in the history of a nation or people. Yes, the story seems to be based off of historical events in the past.

The gods and lesser divinities play an active role in the outcome of actions. Like in the Iliad and the Odyssey, the gods, seers, and brahmins come to the five princes’ aids throughout the war. Krishna Vasudeva, the supreme God Vishnu, plays a huge role in the story. He is a cousin to both sides, but he is a friend and advisor to the five princes. It would not be a good story if the heroes did not have any help from a higher power. There is one thing I noticed in epics, that the people are just the pawns of the gods.

All of the various adventures form an organic whole, where each event relates in some way to the central theme. The central theme is just good vs. evil, very typical indeed. But yet, the epic teaches about loyal and purity like it is supposed to.

What are the themes to the story? The good old fight between the light and the darkness play center stage in the epic. The five princes are born of gods while their enemies are of demonic origin. It is almost like God and Satan. Loyalty also plays a part in the story with the brothers. There are many tests to see if the brothers will stay true to each other until the very end.

Mahabharata helped create the Hindu culture in India. It and Ramayana still continue to influence India and Southeast Asia to this day. The story is not a history book, but more of a long story of enlightenment. It seems to be the book to turn to learn about Indian culture.