Post 2/?
It seems to be the usual reason that sees the confluence of hosts of Hindu Gods all manifesting in some fashion on Bhoo at this point in time and in the appointed place, in time to take part in the great drama: the MBh appears to be expressly mirroring on earth a major decisive battle between the Devas and Asuras in the Beyond. Same as happened with the Ramayanam where Rama and his Vaanara Senaa fighting the raakShasas were repeatedly described as mirroring Indran and his Devasena fighting with the Asuras.
So while Duryodhana, the villain made incorrigible by fate, kept wondering in non-understanding what in the world impelled him to be unreasonably unlikeable to his cousins and why he should hate them so blindly, MBh narratives (repeated colourfully in a children's MBh book from my childhood written by a TN Swami as well as a popular Hindu painting, for example) tell the listener/reader about Duryodhana's dream where the Asuras promise him that they will be on the Kauravas' side in the upcoming war, and tell of how the Asuras were doing counter-sacrifices/rites to ensure the victory of the Kauravas over the Pandavas, in order to thereby ensure their own (Asuras' own) victory over the Devas. As the listener, we are made privy to this dream so that we may know exactly what is really going on. Not that it wasn't obvious from the existing pattern from Hindu epics.
I think the Asuras are to have been trying to topple dharma by increasing adharma in the various lokas again, and so the Devas stage the grand show of the MBh with intent to make it famous in order to provide longevity to memory in bhooloka/among Hindoos of what constitutes the (implicitly exlusively Vedic) Dharma and imprint this strongly in even subconscious Hindoo recollection. And the memory's lasted until now, through hijackings and subversions by missionary religions and the onslaught of the christoclass memes. But has apparently not been able to survive self-subversion/de-heathenisation.
It seems straightforward that some Gods would need to manifest on the Kaurava side too and play out their parts there in order to not make the battle - wherein the lessons on Dharma are embedded, and which constitutes the MBh - laughably one-sided. Likewise, a Goddess, invoked by the Asuras to ensure the Kauravas' victory against the Pandavas - and consequently the intended parallel Asura victory over the Devas - also plays along in deceiving the Asuras until the play's end. A young Kunti's decision to give up Karna would merely have been part of the overall intention, so too Arjuna's slight of Karna (=device) which was an influential step in the route to fixing Karna in the Kaurava camp.
Ultimately, the Pandavas and their elder brother Karnan are *all* Hindu Gods - and not quite "new" Gods either, but the familiar essences of known Gods. (But, as stated, these 6 weren't the only Gods on the scene either.)
As a consequence, all 6 brothers are *all* worshipful to the Hindus, hence the Hindus have ancient Kovils to them. The entire MBh is a divine play, with a great many Gods in it. One where not even the plain vanilla "villains" are actual villains. They need to have shades of grey, since that is what real life is like, and hence makes the lessons on Dharma more potent. It is not mere history to be recorded, but an instruction to be understood and learnt: that shades of grey (including characters on the other side that one can't help sympathise with and respect for their admirable qualities) ultimately do Not wipe out a very clear line that distinguishes between dharma and adharma. That *line* is not grey. And it may never be allowed to become or be perceived as grey. There are some things that should be fundamentally unacceptable, and for which man should be prepared to go to war over and for which principles man should even be willing to part with his (her) own life.
The battle is about Dharma and is intended as a lesson to the earthly Hindoos for whose benefit the divine play is ultimately staged. Only one side is on the Right (Dharma), and the other is on the wrong side since their choices increase adharma. The actors on Dharma's side are obviously meant to win, they are *meant* to be the indisputable heroes. (And since the drama is about Dharma, they must have characters to match the requirement of indisputable heroes.) The unavoidably-obvious giveaway is that Yudhishthira is known as Dharmaraaja - being the essence of Yama Dharmaraaja - so whatever side YudhiShThira is on is *literally* the side of Dharma. (Him being the literal manifestation of Dharma.)
So the Pandavas etc all fall on the Right side, while Karna and Bheeshma fall on the wrong one, but the point is that the important story that the Gods are playing out on earth as an example needed to be impelled to its logical conclusion. And that can't happen unless you have superhuman characters on the other side to balance it. The likes of Surya and the Vasu Raaja are merely conspicuous in obliging for these roles. But they're hardly villains. Karna was unquestionably heroic and his admirable sides naturally come out. We're meant to sympathize with him - and on occasion even sympathise with more extreme characters like Duryodhana - but beyond the sympathy and consequent admiration, we're meant to realise that these good points merely underline their larger flaws: they are doomed for their larger errors. Individuals are the sum of their choices - our choices make up who we are at life's end. Karna made some really bad decisions about important matters. Despite being born with a natural tendency for a better character, he still *would* say and do the wrong (adharmic) things here and there at crucial crossroads - and Bheeshma criticises him for it, though himself still not budging from Duryodhana's side either, thereby sealing Bheeshma's own fate.
But the Gods were all just playacting - the entire thing is so *obviously* a staged play. This is repeatedly underscored when various Devas or YakShas come in disguise and test the heroes with questions on Dharma; the answers to which the heroes *clearly* know, and the only true beneficiary of their Q&A exchange and their illuminating answers is us - the Hindoos who're born after they have finished their Divine Play. In this respect, it is perhaps more obviously a Divine Play than even the Ramayanam is.
Note: Am not at all saying the MBh is a myth/story, but as History allows heathens no room for Gods there is no advantage in making appeals to history. (Though religio-history is history - at least in some sense - to heathens.) Am merely saying that the MBh is *true*. And that it is in fact literally true. It further has important lessons on dharma to impart as its main objective.
De-heathenised Indian seculars who often want to claim a share in a concoction called "Indian civilisation" are frequently willing to forego a claim to Ramayanam - for being "obviously Hindu" - but yet idiotically declare that the Mahabharatam is "secular Indian". Nothing could be further from the truth. The Mahabharatam - no less than the Ramayanam - is not remotely secular/all-Indian/other Indic (Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, bla) or anything else. MBh is naturally populated by the Hindoo Gods and is firmly in heathen i.e. Hindoo cosmology. Further, MBh IS the Vedam and the Vedam alone - in different but equivalent form - and since ancient times advertised as being so. Making MBh an embodiment of the Hindu Gods and the Vedam (and there's already an equivalence between the Hindu Gods and the Vedam as being embodiments of each other.)
It seems to be the usual reason that sees the confluence of hosts of Hindu Gods all manifesting in some fashion on Bhoo at this point in time and in the appointed place, in time to take part in the great drama: the MBh appears to be expressly mirroring on earth a major decisive battle between the Devas and Asuras in the Beyond. Same as happened with the Ramayanam where Rama and his Vaanara Senaa fighting the raakShasas were repeatedly described as mirroring Indran and his Devasena fighting with the Asuras.
So while Duryodhana, the villain made incorrigible by fate, kept wondering in non-understanding what in the world impelled him to be unreasonably unlikeable to his cousins and why he should hate them so blindly, MBh narratives (repeated colourfully in a children's MBh book from my childhood written by a TN Swami as well as a popular Hindu painting, for example) tell the listener/reader about Duryodhana's dream where the Asuras promise him that they will be on the Kauravas' side in the upcoming war, and tell of how the Asuras were doing counter-sacrifices/rites to ensure the victory of the Kauravas over the Pandavas, in order to thereby ensure their own (Asuras' own) victory over the Devas. As the listener, we are made privy to this dream so that we may know exactly what is really going on. Not that it wasn't obvious from the existing pattern from Hindu epics.
I think the Asuras are to have been trying to topple dharma by increasing adharma in the various lokas again, and so the Devas stage the grand show of the MBh with intent to make it famous in order to provide longevity to memory in bhooloka/among Hindoos of what constitutes the (implicitly exlusively Vedic) Dharma and imprint this strongly in even subconscious Hindoo recollection. And the memory's lasted until now, through hijackings and subversions by missionary religions and the onslaught of the christoclass memes. But has apparently not been able to survive self-subversion/de-heathenisation.
It seems straightforward that some Gods would need to manifest on the Kaurava side too and play out their parts there in order to not make the battle - wherein the lessons on Dharma are embedded, and which constitutes the MBh - laughably one-sided. Likewise, a Goddess, invoked by the Asuras to ensure the Kauravas' victory against the Pandavas - and consequently the intended parallel Asura victory over the Devas - also plays along in deceiving the Asuras until the play's end. A young Kunti's decision to give up Karna would merely have been part of the overall intention, so too Arjuna's slight of Karna (=device) which was an influential step in the route to fixing Karna in the Kaurava camp.
Ultimately, the Pandavas and their elder brother Karnan are *all* Hindu Gods - and not quite "new" Gods either, but the familiar essences of known Gods. (But, as stated, these 6 weren't the only Gods on the scene either.)
As a consequence, all 6 brothers are *all* worshipful to the Hindus, hence the Hindus have ancient Kovils to them. The entire MBh is a divine play, with a great many Gods in it. One where not even the plain vanilla "villains" are actual villains. They need to have shades of grey, since that is what real life is like, and hence makes the lessons on Dharma more potent. It is not mere history to be recorded, but an instruction to be understood and learnt: that shades of grey (including characters on the other side that one can't help sympathise with and respect for their admirable qualities) ultimately do Not wipe out a very clear line that distinguishes between dharma and adharma. That *line* is not grey. And it may never be allowed to become or be perceived as grey. There are some things that should be fundamentally unacceptable, and for which man should be prepared to go to war over and for which principles man should even be willing to part with his (her) own life.
The battle is about Dharma and is intended as a lesson to the earthly Hindoos for whose benefit the divine play is ultimately staged. Only one side is on the Right (Dharma), and the other is on the wrong side since their choices increase adharma. The actors on Dharma's side are obviously meant to win, they are *meant* to be the indisputable heroes. (And since the drama is about Dharma, they must have characters to match the requirement of indisputable heroes.) The unavoidably-obvious giveaway is that Yudhishthira is known as Dharmaraaja - being the essence of Yama Dharmaraaja - so whatever side YudhiShThira is on is *literally* the side of Dharma. (Him being the literal manifestation of Dharma.)
So the Pandavas etc all fall on the Right side, while Karna and Bheeshma fall on the wrong one, but the point is that the important story that the Gods are playing out on earth as an example needed to be impelled to its logical conclusion. And that can't happen unless you have superhuman characters on the other side to balance it. The likes of Surya and the Vasu Raaja are merely conspicuous in obliging for these roles. But they're hardly villains. Karna was unquestionably heroic and his admirable sides naturally come out. We're meant to sympathize with him - and on occasion even sympathise with more extreme characters like Duryodhana - but beyond the sympathy and consequent admiration, we're meant to realise that these good points merely underline their larger flaws: they are doomed for their larger errors. Individuals are the sum of their choices - our choices make up who we are at life's end. Karna made some really bad decisions about important matters. Despite being born with a natural tendency for a better character, he still *would* say and do the wrong (adharmic) things here and there at crucial crossroads - and Bheeshma criticises him for it, though himself still not budging from Duryodhana's side either, thereby sealing Bheeshma's own fate.
But the Gods were all just playacting - the entire thing is so *obviously* a staged play. This is repeatedly underscored when various Devas or YakShas come in disguise and test the heroes with questions on Dharma; the answers to which the heroes *clearly* know, and the only true beneficiary of their Q&A exchange and their illuminating answers is us - the Hindoos who're born after they have finished their Divine Play. In this respect, it is perhaps more obviously a Divine Play than even the Ramayanam is.
Note: Am not at all saying the MBh is a myth/story, but as History allows heathens no room for Gods there is no advantage in making appeals to history. (Though religio-history is history - at least in some sense - to heathens.) Am merely saying that the MBh is *true*. And that it is in fact literally true. It further has important lessons on dharma to impart as its main objective.
De-heathenised Indian seculars who often want to claim a share in a concoction called "Indian civilisation" are frequently willing to forego a claim to Ramayanam - for being "obviously Hindu" - but yet idiotically declare that the Mahabharatam is "secular Indian". Nothing could be further from the truth. The Mahabharatam - no less than the Ramayanam - is not remotely secular/all-Indian/other Indic (Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, bla) or anything else. MBh is naturally populated by the Hindoo Gods and is firmly in heathen i.e. Hindoo cosmology. Further, MBh IS the Vedam and the Vedam alone - in different but equivalent form - and since ancient times advertised as being so. Making MBh an embodiment of the Hindu Gods and the Vedam (and there's already an equivalence between the Hindu Gods and the Vedam as being embodiments of each other.)
Death to traitors.