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The Mahabharata consists of a collection of legends and tales revolving around the great Bharata War between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, two groups of cousins of an ancient Indian dynasty. A few of the events of the Mahabharata can also be reviewed from a section of the epic called the Bhagavad Gita (Translated from Sankrit as the Song of the God) is one of the most important religious texts of Hinduism. However, there are life lessons that this epic leaves behind for the generations to come and it is worth while to note a few of these!
Of all the verses of the Mahabharata, the of first sloka is :
नारायणं नमस्कृत्य नरं चैव नरोत्तमम् ।
देवीं सरस्वतीं व्यासं ततो जयमुदीरयेत् ।।
nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya naraṁ caiva narottamam
devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ tato jayam udīrayet
When translated: Om ! Having bowed down to Narayana and Nara, the most exaltedmale being, and also to the goddess Sarasvati, must the word Jaya be uttered.
Brief Story
The Mahabharata is set in the kingdom of Kurukshetra on the northern plains of India along the Ganges River. The opening parvans (books) explain the ancestry of the major characters and provide background for the central conflict of the work. That conflict begins when the rightful heir to the throne of Kurukshetra, a blind prince named Dhritarashtra is passed over in favour of his younger brother Pandu. Instead of taking the throne, however, Prince Pandu goes to the Himalaya mountains to live as a hermit, leaving Dhritarashtra on the throne after all.
Before the Prince Pandu left Kurukshetra, his two wives Kunti and Madri gave birth to five sons, who are need no introduction are often collectively called as the Pandavas They lived at the royal court with their cousins, who were the one hundred sons of Dhritarashtra known as the Kauravas. The Kauravas were born to Dritharshtra and his wife Gandhari as a result of her boon from lord Shiva.
Both the groups of cousins eventually grew together in the court at the kingdom of Hastinapur. When the Pandavas came of age, the eldest, Yudhisthira demanded the throne from his uncle, claiming that he was the rightful heir. This led to a cold war between the two groups of the family, and eventually the Kauravas forced the five Pandavas to go into exile in the forests.
During the period of their exile, the Pandavas entered a tournament to win the hand of a beautiful princess named Draupadi. The Kauravas also entered the contest, but the one of the Pandavas, named Arjuna, won the princess. However, according to rules back then, Draupadi ended became the common wife of all five Pandavas and hence she gets the name ‘Panchali’ (Translated to Panch= five, Aali= wife; the wife of five).
After the Swayamvar of Draupadi, King Dhritarashtra realised his mistake and then called the Pandavas back to his court and divided the kingdom among them and his own sons. However, the Kauravas were unhappy with this settlement, and hence the Kauravas challenged the Pandavas to a game of dice (the modern day ludo) and won back the entire kingdom by cheating. They also attempted to disrobe Draupadi in the assembly of the court at Hastinapur. However, lord Krishna saved the respect of Draupadi. By the end of the day, once again, the Pandavas were forced into exile.
After many years of wandering, the Pandavas returned to reclaim the kingdom, but the Kauravas refused to give up control and both sides prepared for war not only to win the kingdom but to avenge the embarrassment that Draupadi had to face amongst the eminent and notable people. In this war, Lord Krishna supported the Pandavas. Although he took no part in the fighting, he served as charioteer for the Arjuna and gave him advice. Their conversations prior to the war and during the war at the Kurkshetra are the ones that constitute the section of the Mahabharata known as the Bhagavad Gita.
The Pandavas and Kauravas fought the battle for fourteen days at the ground of Kurukshetra. In the end, the Pandavas emerged victorious after killing all their hundred cousins, including their army. The Pandavas gained the kingdom, and the oldest brother, Yudhisthira was crowned as the King of Hastinapur.
The Pandavas ruled peacefully, although their uncle Dhritarashtra mourned the loss of his sons and frequently quarrelled with his nephews. However, as time passed, Dhritarashtra eventually went to live in the forest along with his wife Gandhari and is said to have died there. A while later after this, King Yudhisthira gave up the throne and went with his four brothers and their wife, Draupadi, to live on Mount Meru, the abode of the god Indra.
In this story, the Kurukshetra war between the Pandavas and Kauravas constitutes just a part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. It includes many stories and legends about deities and heroes. An enormous range of topics and life-lessons are covered in this epic.
Theme of Mahabharata
One of the major epics of India and in Hinduism; and the longest poem in the world, the Mahabharata is a sacred Hindu text and needs no formal introduction amongst Hindus who grow up listening to stories from the Mahabharata. In Hinduism, tradition holds that an ancient sage, or wise man, called Vyasa authored the Mahabharata, it was almost certainly composed by a number of different poets and then collected into a single work. The epic reached its present form about two hundred years later. It contains nearly one hundred thousand verses and is divided into eighteen books called parvans (also called as sections). The work reflects Hindu beliefs about the historical rulers of a region of northern India, and also provides details about worship and codes of conduct in ancient Hindu culture.
The main theme of the Mahabharata is the idea of sacred duty. Every character in the epic is born into a particular social group, or caste, that must follow the duty prescribed to it by sacred law. The characters who perform their sacred duty are rewarded, while those who do not are punished. This is the great lesson that Lord Krishna gives Arjuna when he begins to doubt his role in the battle. Obeying one’s sacred duty is a key pillar of the Hindu religion.
Life lessons of Mahabharata
The epic narrative of Mahabharata had been written ages ago. However, this tale continues to find prominence in every form of art, and continues to overwhelm us even today. This is not only because of its poetic grandeur but that these stories and legends of the characters of the Mahabharata are the ones that almost all of us have grown up with hold relevance even during present times. Below are some life lessons that we can learn from the Mahabharata:
One should watch their actions
Mahabharata may revolve around the war of duty. But we cannot escape the fact that the major reason behind the destruction of all was revenge. The Kauravas lost everything to their blinded desire to ruin the Pandavas. The war did not even spare the children, including Draupadi’s five sons and Abhimanyu.
Stand by what’s right, even against your loved ones.
Arjuna was initially hesitant to wage war against his kin. But Lord Krishna reminded him that one has to stand by Dharma (duty), even it meant going against one’s own family. Therefore, Arjuna had to fulfill his responsibility as a great warrior of Dharma. For an instance, once in an instance Bheema who was one of the five Pandavas was humiliated by the Kaurava brothers, then Yudhistra said to Bhim:
भवन्ति भेदा ज्ञातिनां कलहाश्च वृकोदर।
प्रसक्तानी च वैराणि कुलधर्मो न नश्यति ।।
यदा तु कश्चिज्ज्ञातीनां कुलम्।
न मर्षयन्ति तत् सन्तो बाह्येनभिप्रदधर्षणम्।।
परै: परिभवे प्राप्ते वयं पञचोत्तरं शतम्।
परस्परं विरेधे तु वयं पञ्च शतं च ते।।
When translated: Hey Bhima! There is always some tussle between brothers. Sometimes there is even animosity. But relation of blood never dies. When an outsider challenges family, then a wise man should not tolerate that act. When there is a matter within the family then there are 5 us and 100 them. But when there is outside challenge then we are 105 brothers.
This implies that even when there is a relation of blood, if the question is about Dharma then you have to fight against your own family and this cannot be wrong.
Friendship – As an eternal bond.
The importance of friendship is very important in life. The friendship has to be like the friendship between Krishna and Arjuna. Krishna’s unconditional support could only save Arjuna and the Pandavas from many ill designs of Shakuni and Duryodhana and also in the Mahabharata battle. There was another friendship between Duryodhana and Karna in Mahabharata but it was based on the wrong intentions to support injustice and was against the law of the land and hence lost its importance. The real credit for the success in the battle of Mahabharata goes to Lord Krishna.
The friendship of lord Krishna and Draupadi cannot be ignored too. None of us can forget the epic dice scene where it was Krishna who came to Draupadi’s rescue while her husbands gambled her away to disgrace. The friendship between Karna and Duryodhan, on the other hand, is no less inspiring. Therefore, select your friends properly and keep the unconditional bond strong.
Half knowledge is proven dangerous
Abhimanyu, the young son of Arjuna was deployed for the fight in the Chakravyuh (a circular formation of the army) war with Kauravas. Abhmanyu knew only how to enter the Chakravyuh formation but didn’t know how to come out. He was caught inside the Chakravyuh and could not come out. As a result, he was slain inside it. Therefore, to be successful, one has to achieve perfection. Half knowledge is dangerous.
Do not give up, despite a million hurdles your way.
Who can be a better example for this than Karana? Right from his birth, the ‘suta-putra’ battled his way through life, fighting discrimination and disgrace at every stage. He almost became a puppet in the hands of fate. But no obstacle could ever deter him from pursuing his goal. And his devotion towards his mother knew no bounds, to the extent that he even gave up his kavajkundal (his life-saving power) on her demand.
Being a woman is not less than any man.
In the Mahabharata, Draupadi had to step into taking five husbands, she was humiliated by the Kauravas for the fault of her own husband. She was violated infront of the crowd and other eminent people but she was bold enough to take a stand. She ensured she got justice by vowing to wash her hair with the blood of Duryodhana and Dushanana – perhaps another reason that led to the war. A woman like Draupadi will not be passive, she will be fiery, she will fight for herself.
Keep your skills right.
In the Mahabharata, Arjuna is said to be a great warrior. He is known to have grasped whatever came his way. Not only did he learn the best of military science from Drona, but he was also interested in learning about divine weapons from Indra. He learnt about Pashupatastra from Mahadev as well. Additionally, he treated Yudhishtara and lord Krishna as his mentors too, and continued learning whatever they had to offer.
Eklavya is yet another epitome of dedication and passion. He was a tribal who wanted to learn archery from Guru Dronacharya. As Dronacharya was a Royal Teacher of Pandavas’ and therefore he was not supposed to teach archery to any commoner. Eklavya was refused to enroll as a student. Eklavya didn’t lose hope but made a statue of Guru Dronacharya and practiced archery in front of the statue with full honesty, passion and dedication. He was proved to be a better archer than even Arjuna. Therefore, the dedication and passion are must for excellence and success in life.
Always mind your company
The Kauravas were under the light and guidance of their maternal uncle Shakuni. He is known to be a bad, greedy and dishonest person. He was maternal uncle of Duryodhana. Duryodhana was too much dependent on Shakuni who out of his bad and selfish habit, always provoked Duryodhana and played tricks to finish Pandavas so that Duryodhana remains as unchallenged inheritor of the kingdom. The bad company and the ill advice of Shakudi led to the destruction of the entire Kuru clan. Therefore, choose your friends and companions right and avoid bad company else that might cost you a lot in the long run.
