03-09-2005, 03:31 AM
Sunil wrote
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Hi AJay,
Actually the line of Pandu barring the five brothers and Parikshit is wiped out in the War. Parikshit survives only on account of Krishna's direct intervention. This is the point everyone seems to latch on to - the idea that if you declare a "Moral War" then somehow magically God will save your a**. Our jihadi neighbors certainly take this idea very seriously.
What people I feel tend to miss is that the Line of Dhritarasthra actually all ascend to Heaven while the Line of Pandu is left to suffer the grief of the loss of its loved ones on Earth. The entire significance of the walk up the mountain is lost on most people - that the line of Pandu had to account for their actions - including all the transgressions of moral conduct in the war that they approved of. Barring a handful of people that I know of, most do not acknowledge that the psychological burden of having initiated a destructive war bore heavily on the Pandu brothers and perhaps that caused them to turn to "Moral justification" as a way of dealing with that. No one I know admits that the manner in which the storytellers ascribe moral conduct solely to the five brothers could easily be a reflection of the fact that victors alone influence the writing of history.
For the DCH this may come as a bit of a surprise. To most people I know the philosophical subtlety in the story is lost.
I tend to view the Mahabharat - with its complicated discussions of politics in an advanced civilization, of the moral of leadership and of war, and of the horrific consequences of war - as the best guide to people who want to think about war (esp. nuclear war) in the modern context. From the perspective of discussion on BRF, it is unfortunate that there is a theistic implication associated with the Mahabharat - this makes a fuller discussion of its details difficult within the limit of forum guidelines.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Hi AJay,
Actually the line of Pandu barring the five brothers and Parikshit is wiped out in the War. Parikshit survives only on account of Krishna's direct intervention. This is the point everyone seems to latch on to - the idea that if you declare a "Moral War" then somehow magically God will save your a**. Our jihadi neighbors certainly take this idea very seriously.
What people I feel tend to miss is that the Line of Dhritarasthra actually all ascend to Heaven while the Line of Pandu is left to suffer the grief of the loss of its loved ones on Earth. The entire significance of the walk up the mountain is lost on most people - that the line of Pandu had to account for their actions - including all the transgressions of moral conduct in the war that they approved of. Barring a handful of people that I know of, most do not acknowledge that the psychological burden of having initiated a destructive war bore heavily on the Pandu brothers and perhaps that caused them to turn to "Moral justification" as a way of dealing with that. No one I know admits that the manner in which the storytellers ascribe moral conduct solely to the five brothers could easily be a reflection of the fact that victors alone influence the writing of history.
For the DCH this may come as a bit of a surprise. To most people I know the philosophical subtlety in the story is lost.
I tend to view the Mahabharat - with its complicated discussions of politics in an advanced civilization, of the moral of leadership and of war, and of the horrific consequences of war - as the best guide to people who want to think about war (esp. nuclear war) in the modern context. From the perspective of discussion on BRF, it is unfortunate that there is a theistic implication associated with the Mahabharat - this makes a fuller discussion of its details difficult within the limit of forum guidelines.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->