The Mahabharat in the modern millennium

The epic of the Mahabharata over the millenniums has been interpreted and understood by different scholars in various ways.



The compulsive discourse (Bhagwad Gita) of Lord Krishna on dharma and action (nishkam kama), his justification of the holy war of Kurukshetra between the Pandava and Kaurava cousins, the polyandry of Draupadi, the indecisiveness and inaction of Bhisma Pitamaha (the senior patriarch) over the insult to Draupadi after Yudhishthira, the oldest of the Pandavas, loses her in a dice game, the treachery of warriors on both sides—all of these have made the epic of the Mahabharata, written by Ved Vyasa, a compelling saga that never ceases to amuse readers with its magical art of storytelling.[break]



However, the message that it used to communicate earlier is now very different, albeit being told in the same way, due to the contextual changes in human behavior. That is how Gurcharan Das, an erudite writer and social thinker, presents the epic in the modern context.




In his earlier books, Unbound India and Elephant Paradigm, Das appears to have expounded the leapfrog economic progress that India has made after the end of the License Raj that crippled its economy for decades. The two books tell us about how economic liberation opened the floodgate of social transformation in the lives of millions of Indians – the victims of the Hindu Growth Rate that staggered between 2 to 5%. To understand his latest book, The Difficulty of Being Good, we need to understand his humble beginning and meteoric rise as the CEO of Proctor and Gamble India.



A Harvard graduate, Gurcharan Das, whose father belonged to a god-fearing middle-class family, retired early to become a fulltime writer. He studied philosophy and Sanskrit at different universities in the USA. Married to a Nepali lady, Das, in this book, departs from the theme of his earlier tomes. The main motif of his latest book is his quest for Dharma and the relevance of the Mahabharata in modern society, and is a product of his sabbatical sojourns in the USA.



"The Mahabharata is about our incomplete lives, about good people acting badly, about how difficult it is to be good in this world," writes Das in the prelude to the book. Drawing references from various books written over the last two centuries in several languages, he compares the characters of the Mahabharata with Anil Ambani and the likes to exemplify the envy of Duryodhana, the evil leader of the Kauravas.

Sibling rivalry, as it is known today in the corporate world, is the core of the discontent of the Kaurava clan as fuelled by Dhritarashtra´s paternal love for his son, Duryodhana. Unlike other commentaries that have been written on the Mahabharata, Das is more subtle and balanced in “The Difficulty of Being Good” as he tries to justify the actions of Duryodhana, the virtues of Karna, and the quandaries of the five Pandavas’ common wife, Draupadi.



While doing so, the author praises the uprightness of Vikarna, the younger brother of Duryodhana, who defended Draupadi against all odds at a time when even Bhisma, the grandfather of both the Kauravas and Pandavs, resigns to his fate, admitting that he cannot resolve Draupadi´s dilemma.



Das, as is his wont, is good in drawing examples from the Greek epic Iliad by Homer, which was written around the same time as the Mahabharata, to dramatize his writing. Just like Arjuna of the Pandavas, the protagonist of Iliad, Achilles, also fought against injustice.



"The Iliad is bloodthirsty, driven by anger and violence. The Mahabharata is just as gory, but it questions the violence," writes the author. In the Mahabharata, according Das, the main characters question the morality of killing on ethical grounds; but in the Iliad, they get on with it without remorse.



The Art of Dharma, as he refers to in his book, is the moral law that sustains society, the individual and the world. And the Mahabharata is entangled with Dharma that perplexes everyone, including Bhisma; it is also a dilemma that makes Draupadi confused when her husband loses her to the Kauravas in gambling. But the envy that Duryodhana nourishes against the success of the Pandavas leads to the war of Kurukshetra, thus questioning the relevance of dharmayudha, the war of righteousness.



In The Difficulty of Being Good, Das examines the Mahabharata from a historical perspective after reading most of the books, commentaries and treatises written on it. Though he is repetitive, referring to the same thing here and there, it is unjust to undermine his knowledge of both Eastern and Western philosophies. He delves into the genesis of Dharma, its complexity and its relevance in the modern society. Of all vices, he points out, envy is the most evil and dangerous.



The modern interpretations of the Mahabharata by Das should enlighten the cyber generation of today whose upbringing has uprooted the moral values that epics such as the Mahabharata subtly disseminate. The ways in which politicians, for one coterie, are grooming their children as their political heirs, have not been changed ever since. Dhritarashtra and his ambition is found everywhere in the world, especially in South Asia, including Nepal.



The Difficulty of Being Good is a good example of a book based on an old theme with new innovative ideas and experiences. The missing point in this book is that Das ignores the interpretation and commentaries on the same epic by Indian scholars and spiritual gurus with western outlooks, such as Sri Aurobindo and Swami Vivekananda. Perhaps the incorporation of thoughts and ideas of such renaissance Hindus would have made this book more balanced and subtler.

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