History accepts the Mahabharata characters and the Kurukshetra war in the form of an epic poem not as a historical event. The reach of the story in its essence percolated so extensively into our culture, drama, music, societal values, politics, religion and spiritual way of life that our society would be beyond recognition if the story of Mahabharata would not have been there. Specially, the character of Sri Krishna got so embedded into our day to day living that it becomes impossible to separate him. So, the real historicity is of little importance. Let us accept it, putting controversy at rest, that it did happen, even virtually, all characters and events take a factual dimension for millions of people.

It is up to us whether we would like to learn the lessons or ignore it at our perils. But what lessons do we learn from Mahabharata? The first and foremost lesson is Truth always triumphs but the price to be paid for its victory is costly. It poses a question as to whether we are ready to pursue Truth even at an enormous cost. Perhaps we are not ready to pay the price for Truth. We cite the example of Yudhisthir’s telling a lie in support of our being dishonest and overlook his other qualities like Justice, sagacity, tolerance, discernment and good behavior. The second lesson is to respect women, the mother force and its absence brings disaster to the society. The third lesson is that vanity needs to be kept to the minimum otherwise it will bring about the downfall of the individual, the more powerful the individual is so is the scale of devastation that follows. The fourth lesson is that all social laws to be interpreted taking into account the right context, social necessity and Dharma to be the guiding factors. The fifth lesson we learn is that prejudiced ideas bring ruin to the society; ideas need to be evolved as the society moves forward taking into account its logical, rational and pragmatic perspectives.

The purpose of taking up the study of the Mahabharata is to analyze different characters, their strengths and weaknesses, achievements and failures, love and vengeance, compassion and cold-heartedness, victory and disaster, knowledge and ignorance, pampering and uncompromising attitude and how these qualities affected the life of every individual, the rule of the King and the society at large. What is missing in Mahabharata is the story of common people, how they lived, their economic condition, relationship among family members, health condition, and education. Ordinary people existed only as a cog in the wheel of King’s administrative machinery. They did not dare oppose the king on any count.

The story starts from Sage Parashar and Satyavati. Parashar who got attracted to Satyavati, a beautiful maiden and the daughter of Fishermen chieftain. She was at that time named as Matsyagandha, while ferrying Parashar across a river in a boat he blessed her with a son and consequently Vyasa was born. Parashar gave her a new name, Satyavati(pure fragrance). Since then her body started emitting pure fragrance by the blessings of the Sage. Was it an impulsive act of the sage Parashar? Or was it a deliberate act to create a son of great character Vyasa? In fact, Sukdev, the son was born to Vyasa and Pingala who was much more advanced in spiritual attainment than his father vyasa. Vyasa excelled in writing epics like the Mahabharata and the Bhagvatam.

The next person who came to Satyavati’s life was Hastinapur King Shantanu. Satyavati’s beauty was so bewitching that Shantanu could not stop asking for her hand in marriage. Taking advantage of Shantanu’s depressive state of mind, Satyavati’s father demanded that Satyavati’s son would only inherit the throne of Hastinapur if Shantanu was determined to marry her. This was not possible because Devabrata, the son of Shantanu from his earlier marriage to Ganga, was the natural inheritor of the Kingdom. Seeing his father unhappy, Devabrata secretly found out the reason and took a vow before Satyavati and her father to remain a celibate throughout his life and would never claim the throne of Hastinapur but would remain the protector of the future kings. Now Devabrata became Bhishma because of his strict vows and clearing the path for his father to marry Satyavati. Knowing this vow of his son, Shantanu though felt distraught, but his infatuation for Satyavati was so strong that he let his son be glorified for his act of sacrifice but deprived him of his natural course of life. As a father it was an unjustified act. This laid the first seed of destruction of the kingdom setting a bad example as a king. The second seed was sown by Bhishma by forcing Gandhari to marry blind Dhritarastra using his clout as a great warrior. Prior to offer of marriage, Hastinapur in a war with Gandhar kingdom killed many of the brothers of Shakuni. In this backdrop, Gandhari agreed fearing for her father and brother’s life to marry the blind king. Shakuni went to Hastinapur with an avowed aim to destroy the Kaurava Clan. It was a revenge for taking Gandhari, who had a pair of lotus eyes to be proud of to marry the blind Dhritarastra! The whole responsibility lay on Bhishma. He could not foresee that he was digging a canal for inviting a crocodile.

In due course Satyavati gave birth to two sons, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. Chigrangada died in a war before even he could marry. Vichitravirya had two wives, Ambika and Ambalika. Shortly after his marriage Vichitravirya died in Tuberculosis leaving the throne of Hastinapur without any heir. Satyavati called her son Vyasa to father the grandchildren. Thus Dhritarashra, a blind child, was born to Ambika and Pandu to Ambalika. Vidura was born to Parishrami, a maid. Although the mothers were different but father was one, Vyasa. Satyavati continued to rule the kingdom with the help of Bhishma till Dhritarastra and Pandu came of age. Dhritarastra being blind was out of the race, so was Vidur, being born of a Maid. Thus, Pandu became the Ruler. He had two wives Kunti and Madri. Kunti gave birth to Yudhirsthir, Bhima and Arjuna, and Madri to Nakul and Sahadev. When Pandu died quite young, Dhritarastra became a care taker king. Dhritarastra had 100 sons and Duryodhana was the eldest. In fact, the most suitable candidate was Vidura being intelligent and a scholar in administration. Vidura’s only disqualification was that he was born of a maid. However, the prevailing social norm was that a child born of a maid could not claim inheritance to a throne, but a child born of a queen could do so even though father being the same. Satyavati’s decision to invite Vyasa to father her grandchildren a necessity but not appointing Vidura as king was a great mistake. Thus the 3rd seed of destruction was sown because an incapable person occupied the throne.

In Mahabharata, the main character is Krishna. His profound influence over others because of his sharp intelligence, power of discrimination, ability to foresee the future and a being a possessor of a deadly weapon in the form of a Disc(used it sparingly) but still he had his enemies. They were very powerful like Jarasandha, Kamsa, Sishupal, Salva. In his childhood Putana, Kaliya and many demonic tribes tried to put an end to his life. He eliminated them one by one in self-defense and in support of being a just ruler. Krishna was compelled to shift his capital from Mathura to Dwarika because of repeated attack by Jarasandha till Jarasandha was killed by Bhima in a bout. Krishna sided with Pandavas to consolidate the rule of Dharma as Arjuna was a fit instrument representing best of human beings. Sri Krishna took 18 chapters in Gita explaining ‘Karma, Jnana, Bhakti, and even showing the Universal Form to convince Arjuna to fight the justified war. It was not easy for Krishna to persuade Arjuna to wake up to the situation till he assured Arjuna that he would take care of everything if Arjuna surrendered to Him. Although it was not Krishna’s own war, but his involvement was in the role of a strategic expert not to let the boat of the Pandavas sink. To maintain the balance of power between Pandavas and Kauravas, Krishna offered his army to fight on behalf of Kauravas, and himself to side with Pandavas showing his impartiality of conduct. In a last-ditch diplomatic effort to contain the enmity between Pandavas and Kauravas, Krishna made a plea in the Court of Dhritarastra to give 5 villages at least to the Pandavas to stop the impending war. But his entreaty inflamed Duryodhana’s ego closing down all avenues to bring about an amicable solution to the war. Here we find Krishna who tried to arose the human conscience for the good of humanity but at the same time accepted the war stoically without being slightest disturbed. That is why he is called Yogeshwar, the Supreme Yogi.

Let us now look at the Pandavas and Kauravas from the days of their learning period under the tutelage of Dronacharya. Duryodhana was conscious of his father being sidelined because of his blindness that stopped him to become the king. While Duryodhana was not blind and being the eldest son of Dhritarastra had all the right to become the King in future. Moreover, the Pandava brothers, son of Pandu, proved themselves to be superior to Duryodhana and his brothers by virtue of better qualities. That naturally created jealousy in the minds of Duryadhana, Dushashana and the 97 others except Yuyutsu. After the passing away of Pandu then Dhritarastra became a care taker king in absence of any other brothers. Here Vidura could have been an ideal choice. Thus, boosting the ego of Duryodhana and his brothers. They started looking down upon the Pandava brothers. They were also guided by his Uncle ‘Shakuni’ on how to subdue the Pandava brothers consistently. One important point we must remember that Pandavas did not indulge in any unfair means except during war when it became a necessity.

Now the question comes whether Dhritarashra and Duryodhan are only responsible for this destructive war? Or others as well whom we know as persons of good moral character and possessing so called integrity?

To avoid a fratricidal war between Pandavas and Kauravas, the kingdom was divided into two. Yudhisthira was one year elder to Duryodhan and he became king of Khandav prastha later it become Indraprastha. Duryodhan remained a prince of Kaurava kingdom as long as his father did not vacate the throne. This also added fuel to the fire that was raging in his impatient heart. In the meantime, Yudhisthir conducts ‘Aswamedha Yagna’ and invites Dhritarastra and all other members of the Kuru clan. Here too visiting the wonderful palaces and its new technological marvels, Duryodhan, his brothers and Shakuni wonders at the progress made by Pandu’s sons. They feel envious of their achievements. Once Duryodhan fell into running water what seemed to be like a picture. This incident prompted Draupadi to comment, ‘a blind man’s son is bound to be a blind’ Thus Duryodhan felt humiliated and he resolved to take revenge. Thus the 4th seed was sown. As a diplomatic coup Shakuni tried to get Duryodhana married to Krishna’s sister, but by an intelligent ploy Krishna preempted Duryodhana’s attempt and got Subhadra eloped with Arjuna. This also enraged Duryodhana and he thought of denigrating the Pandava Brothers and finally doing away with them. Thus the 5th seed for the war was sown.

In a preplanned move, the first one in this direction was to send the Pandava Brothers, under the pretext of the King meeting his subjects at a far-off place where a new Wax Palace was built for their sojourn at Varnavat. The motive was to burn them by putting the building on fire. As this conspiracy became known to Vidur, it was foiled.

Duryodhana’s great weaknesses were his bloated ego, he gloated on his fighting ability and believing that good people cannot adapt to trickery or falsehood even when necessary. Krishna changed the picture completely. Krishna knew that Duryodhana and his army could not be defeated in a straight fight but needed all justified and unjustified means to defeat the forces of evil and establish Dharma. This was the main task; unfair means do not really matter if the end result is for greater good.

When the Pandava brothers along with mother Kunti was wandering in the forest to keep the news of their being alive from Duryodhan, the ‘Sayamvara’ of Draupadi was taking place in the kingdom of Panchala. Duryodhana failed in the test while Karna was refused by Draupadi as he was not a king, Duryodhan gifted him Angadesh and declared him a king. But still Karna belonging to Sudra caste(wrongly) was not allowed. This enraged Duryodhana in addition to his failure in the contest whereas Arjuna one of the Pandava brothers won the hand of Draupadi.

The second attempt was to invite Yudhithir to play Dice having known his weakness for the game. Here Dhritarastra became a willing partner of Duryodhan. Duryodhan knew Yudhisthir could not refuse the invitation going forth from the King Dhritarastra. As Sakunai was a master player in Dice and was confident that he could defeat Yudhisthira Easily.

As the game of Dice started Yudhisthir became so possessed that he forgot what he was betting for. As we know he lost all his brothers, wealth, kingdom and even his wife Draupadi in bet. We must remember here that in those days’ women were like property. They could be taken away by force. Bhishma set this example twice. When Draupadi was dragged to the King’s court and Dusshasan tried to disrobe her, the present ministers and officials except Vidur who fearlessly tried to bring some sense to Dhritarastra but in vain resigned to the fate of Draupadi. On Draupadi’s piteous call, Krishna arranged to protect her honor while all her 5 husbands hung their heads in shame. Imagine the social condition of that time, a shameless act being perpetrated in the King’s court, without being obstructed by any of the present except Vidur and Vikarna who made futile attempts to protect Draupadi, a young lad and brother of Duryodhana. It was a total breakdown of societal values. On Drapaudi’s valiant questionings whether a king who lost himself first could bet his wife in a gamble? Sensing a great wrong has been done, Dhritarastra gave back everything to Yudhisthira that he lost in gambling. The tragedy continued to strike again. On the insistence of Duryodhana, Dhritasastra invited Yudhisthir for another contest in the play of Dice. Again, Yudhisthira lost and as per terms of the game, he had to go to forest for 12 years and the 13th year to be lived incognito. But in case he is found out on the 13th year, another 12 years he had to live in forest. However, we see all his 4 brothers and Draupadi followed him. So that day the 6th seed of war was sown.

Draupadi’s test by fire did not end with this one. During the days in the forest, Jayadratha, the king of Sindhu, did kidnap her and being carried away and at the nick of time Arjuna and Bhima came to her rescue. The third humiliation she had to put up with when Kichak, the commander in chief of defense of Matsya Kingdom wanted to enjoy her. Here again Bhima had to put an end to Kichak’s life. Draupadi had to face this kind of humiliation and dishonor again and again. We can very well imagine if that was the condition of a Queen, what kind of treatment given to ordinary women of beauty?

Duryodhana argument was simple, as two tigers cannot stay in the same forest, so Duryodhana cannot stay with Yudhisthira and the Pandava brothers. Duryodhana’s hatred was so complete that in death only peace of the grave could prevail.

Another incident that strained the relationship further was when Duryodhan along with his brothers and friends went to forest on a pleasure hunting. There Duryodhana misbehaved with a Gandharva woman. He was on the verge of being killed by the Gandharvas but was saved by Bhima and Arjuna reluctantly. This indebtedness to his enemies made his living painful. He killed the spy who invited Bhima and Arjuna to save Duryodhana. Thus, war was brewing up perceptibly and hatred against each other reaching a point of no return. This way the7th seed of war was sown. .

Duryodhna had two plans, the first one is to locate the Pandava brothers while they were living incognito during the 13th year of banishment. As a consequence, following the terms of banishment, if they got exposed another 12 years of banishment would be followed. In case that does not happen and a war becomes inevitable still he will have an upper hand as he would be supported by Bhishma, the great grandfather, who had death at his command; Dronacharya, whom none could defeat him in war, Karna, who possessed a ‘Kabaja Kundala’ that made him invincible, Ashwathama, who had Brahmastra. Duryodhana also would get a larger number of armies fighting for him. He was also confident that Pandava brothers would not resort to any kind of deception to win the war. Here he was proved to be right but Krishna changed the equation. Henceforth Krishna guided the Pandavas with the secret clues to the downfall of the great warriors. Duryodhana did not know that Arjuna, being a warrior of a highest order would take refuge behind Sikhandi and shot arrows against Bhishma piercing him mercilessly when he put down his weapons of war and became defenseless; Dronacharya would fall prey to Yudhisthira’s half-truth of the news of his son’s death and be killed by Dhirthadumnya while Dronacharya sat in resignation, an act unethical as per the code of conduct. Karna would be killed by Arjuna in a most brazen manner, and finally Bhima would hit him below the belt in a mace fight unjustly breaking the rule of war. What Duryodhana could not dream of was that opponents could also employ unfair means shamelessly than he himself did.

Mahabharata has all the elements of human follies as well as excellence; infatuation, hatred, unimaginable violence, conspiracy most foul, deception, duplicity and a final elimination of the evil doers in contrast we also find a sublime life sustaining philosophy, love, compassion, supreme intelligence, miraculous use of power, ways to liquidate the supporters of evil and establishing a reign of truth even at the cost of bringing down the whole edifice of a civilization. Each character is so fascinating and intertwined that if one character is moved from the story the whole structure collapses. It was not only the defeat of the Kauravas, but the Pandavas as well had a share of afflictions having lost many of the near and dear ones.

So, we see both parties fought tooth and nail to win the war, means being fair or foul, one to continue enjoying the kingly life and the other not only to win over the kingdom what was legitimately theirs but also to establish the reign of Truth.