07-06-2006, 07:33 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>The wisdom of Mahabharata </b>
Hiranmay Karlekar
Most Indian intellectuals are familiar with Lord Acton's famous observation, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." How many of them know of Bheeshma's observation on power in the Mahabharata? According to the Great Epic, Yudhishtira approaches the Kuru patriarch as lies on his bed of arrows, waiting for the Sun to begin its northward journey, to die, and requests to be told about the dharma of a king. His intense pain removed, and clarity of thought restored, by Krishna's blessing, Bheeshma begins to answer Yudhishtira's many questions, and says in response to one that power "changes men. A man who was scrupulously honest, can be corrupted by power and become dishonest" (Ramesh Menon, The Mahabharata: A Modern Rendering, Vol II, Rupa, 2004, pp 595-96).
While historians have debated as to when The Mahabharata was written, it was beyond doubt centuries before Lord Acton's (1842-1902) perceptive observation in a letter to a friend. Yet, this writer cannot think of a single Indian intellectual who has quoted Bheeshma on power while he can recall several of them quoting Lord Acton. Few other instances, perhaps, illustrate more poignantly the alienation of a large section of Indian intellectuals from their own intellectual and cultural well springs and identification with those of the West.
All this is not to belittle Lord Acton's astute observation or the intellectual and cultural traditions of the West, which, revived and enriched by the knowledge revolution since the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, has given modernity to the world. What merits criticism is an obsessive admiration for the West that leads to the neglect of India's own intellectual and cultural heritage, its great epics and monumental works of religion and philosophy. For one thing, it would mean the non-utilisation of the wisdom, insights, customs and practices that have evolved in the matrix of the country's history. Familiar to most people, these could be useful for promoting the kind of enlightened values a society needs for its progress, and framing policies as well as strategies for implementation. For another, pride in a country's achievements, which can only come through awareness of these, gives a nation a sense of destiny that enables it to find its rightful place in the world.
It must, however, be a pride tempered by wisdom and morality so that it does not become arrogant and exploitative chauvinism but a source of self-confidence making for triumph over even the most challenging odds. Also, it must be accompanied by knowledge, which enables a country to recognise its national interest, shortcomings, the greatness of the culture and intellectual traditions of other nations, and what it can profitably learn from these.
In India's case, the need to draw from its own repositories of wisdom is all the greater given the profound treasures they contain. <b>The Mahabharata is a striking example. While The Bhagavat Gita overwhelms with its breathtaking encapsulation of the metaphysics of The Upanishads and the grandeur of its metaphors, Bheeshma's answers to Yudhishtira's questions reflect a deep understanding both of the compulsions of realpolitik that would impress Chanakya as well as the high-minded morality that kings must practice.</b>
Bheeshma's answers to Yudhishtira cover a wide range of subjects including a king's virtues and his attitude toward his subjects, the appointment of his advisors, and the qualities to be sought in them and other important functionaries of the State. They also cover the character of his administration and matters like the deployment of spies. Some of his have a remarkable contemporary applicability. Those appointing judges should remember that honest and fully trustworthy men should be appointed to administer justice, and that the nation would become weak if the judges were corrupt. Leaders of political parties choosing candidates for elections to legislatures should bear in mind that legislators should not only be honest and sincere but "have the courage of the truth with them all the time" (Menon, Vol II, p 596). And, of course, Finance Minister P Chidambaram should remember that a "good king levies taxes as a bee gathers pollen from flowers, gently, without injuring the people" (Menon, Vol II, p 597).
Apart from Bheeshma's answers to Yudhishtira, there are pronouncements by Krishna (besides those in The Bhagavat Gita), Vidura and Sanjaya that are highly relevant to the management of the affairs of the State in today's world. What explains this is perhaps the fact that these feature not in a vacuum but in the midst of the unfolding of a profound epic that is a mirror to its contemporary society and has at its heart a gigantic conflict between the forces of Dharma and Adharma. Hence it not only tells what should be but what actually is in a highly imperfect world. Thus, in the Bheeshma Parva, it relates how, on the eve of the battle of Kurukshetra, the commanders of the Pandava and Kaurava armies meet and lay down the norms of honourable combat. One, however, encounters violations galore as the narrative unfolds the manner of Bheeshma, Abhimanyu, Drona and Karna's killing, and the nocturnal murder by Dhrishtadumnya and others by Ashwatthama, Kripa and Kritavarman being the most notable.
Also, The Mahabharata has stunning insights into the future. Thus Rishi Markandeya says that the kings of the Kali Yuga, which descended on the earth on the tenth day of the battle of Kurukshetra and prevails even today, "will be short-lived, greedy and rapacious", and that "wealth alone will confer nobility, regardless of a man's birth or his character; power will define virtue". Also, "Arrogance and sin will pass for wisdom and righteousness, brashness and a loud voice for scholarship. Only the poor will have any honesty of virtue left, and the powerful will make life so miserable for them that they, too, will become corrupt." More, "Terrible wars and demonic diseases will decimate the human race, and savage cold and scathing heat, scorching droughts and sweeping floods will terrorise the people...." (Menon, Vol I, pp 665-69).
Did Rishi Markandeya foresee global warming, AIDS and Katrina, which savaged New Orleans in the US? One does not know. It is unwise to read too much into past events and observations in the light of later developments, particularly since in an epic like The Mahabharata one does know where facts end and fiction takes over. One thing, however, is certain. It is a great treasure chest of wisdom and insights and the country will be the loser if it continues to ignore it.
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Hiranmay Karlekar
Most Indian intellectuals are familiar with Lord Acton's famous observation, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." How many of them know of Bheeshma's observation on power in the Mahabharata? According to the Great Epic, Yudhishtira approaches the Kuru patriarch as lies on his bed of arrows, waiting for the Sun to begin its northward journey, to die, and requests to be told about the dharma of a king. His intense pain removed, and clarity of thought restored, by Krishna's blessing, Bheeshma begins to answer Yudhishtira's many questions, and says in response to one that power "changes men. A man who was scrupulously honest, can be corrupted by power and become dishonest" (Ramesh Menon, The Mahabharata: A Modern Rendering, Vol II, Rupa, 2004, pp 595-96).
While historians have debated as to when The Mahabharata was written, it was beyond doubt centuries before Lord Acton's (1842-1902) perceptive observation in a letter to a friend. Yet, this writer cannot think of a single Indian intellectual who has quoted Bheeshma on power while he can recall several of them quoting Lord Acton. Few other instances, perhaps, illustrate more poignantly the alienation of a large section of Indian intellectuals from their own intellectual and cultural well springs and identification with those of the West.
All this is not to belittle Lord Acton's astute observation or the intellectual and cultural traditions of the West, which, revived and enriched by the knowledge revolution since the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, has given modernity to the world. What merits criticism is an obsessive admiration for the West that leads to the neglect of India's own intellectual and cultural heritage, its great epics and monumental works of religion and philosophy. For one thing, it would mean the non-utilisation of the wisdom, insights, customs and practices that have evolved in the matrix of the country's history. Familiar to most people, these could be useful for promoting the kind of enlightened values a society needs for its progress, and framing policies as well as strategies for implementation. For another, pride in a country's achievements, which can only come through awareness of these, gives a nation a sense of destiny that enables it to find its rightful place in the world.
It must, however, be a pride tempered by wisdom and morality so that it does not become arrogant and exploitative chauvinism but a source of self-confidence making for triumph over even the most challenging odds. Also, it must be accompanied by knowledge, which enables a country to recognise its national interest, shortcomings, the greatness of the culture and intellectual traditions of other nations, and what it can profitably learn from these.
In India's case, the need to draw from its own repositories of wisdom is all the greater given the profound treasures they contain. <b>The Mahabharata is a striking example. While The Bhagavat Gita overwhelms with its breathtaking encapsulation of the metaphysics of The Upanishads and the grandeur of its metaphors, Bheeshma's answers to Yudhishtira's questions reflect a deep understanding both of the compulsions of realpolitik that would impress Chanakya as well as the high-minded morality that kings must practice.</b>
Bheeshma's answers to Yudhishtira cover a wide range of subjects including a king's virtues and his attitude toward his subjects, the appointment of his advisors, and the qualities to be sought in them and other important functionaries of the State. They also cover the character of his administration and matters like the deployment of spies. Some of his have a remarkable contemporary applicability. Those appointing judges should remember that honest and fully trustworthy men should be appointed to administer justice, and that the nation would become weak if the judges were corrupt. Leaders of political parties choosing candidates for elections to legislatures should bear in mind that legislators should not only be honest and sincere but "have the courage of the truth with them all the time" (Menon, Vol II, p 596). And, of course, Finance Minister P Chidambaram should remember that a "good king levies taxes as a bee gathers pollen from flowers, gently, without injuring the people" (Menon, Vol II, p 597).
Apart from Bheeshma's answers to Yudhishtira, there are pronouncements by Krishna (besides those in The Bhagavat Gita), Vidura and Sanjaya that are highly relevant to the management of the affairs of the State in today's world. What explains this is perhaps the fact that these feature not in a vacuum but in the midst of the unfolding of a profound epic that is a mirror to its contemporary society and has at its heart a gigantic conflict between the forces of Dharma and Adharma. Hence it not only tells what should be but what actually is in a highly imperfect world. Thus, in the Bheeshma Parva, it relates how, on the eve of the battle of Kurukshetra, the commanders of the Pandava and Kaurava armies meet and lay down the norms of honourable combat. One, however, encounters violations galore as the narrative unfolds the manner of Bheeshma, Abhimanyu, Drona and Karna's killing, and the nocturnal murder by Dhrishtadumnya and others by Ashwatthama, Kripa and Kritavarman being the most notable.
Also, The Mahabharata has stunning insights into the future. Thus Rishi Markandeya says that the kings of the Kali Yuga, which descended on the earth on the tenth day of the battle of Kurukshetra and prevails even today, "will be short-lived, greedy and rapacious", and that "wealth alone will confer nobility, regardless of a man's birth or his character; power will define virtue". Also, "Arrogance and sin will pass for wisdom and righteousness, brashness and a loud voice for scholarship. Only the poor will have any honesty of virtue left, and the powerful will make life so miserable for them that they, too, will become corrupt." More, "Terrible wars and demonic diseases will decimate the human race, and savage cold and scathing heat, scorching droughts and sweeping floods will terrorise the people...." (Menon, Vol I, pp 665-69).
Did Rishi Markandeya foresee global warming, AIDS and Katrina, which savaged New Orleans in the US? One does not know. It is unwise to read too much into past events and observations in the light of later developments, particularly since in an epic like The Mahabharata one does know where facts end and fiction takes over. One thing, however, is certain. It is a great treasure chest of wisdom and insights and the country will be the loser if it continues to ignore it.
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