Introduction: Characters (Cont.) : Krishna

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (the first Bengali novelist) said while analysing Krishna’s character that ‘it is wrong to try to understand Krishna as only human or only God. Some traits of him are too human while some other traits are divine.’

Since I think of the Mahabharata as a purely political story I have for long considered Krishna only as a brilliant politician which of course presented me with the problem of explaining his divinity to which I did not have any convincing answer.

An year back when a certain yogi decided to run for election I was suddenly reminded of the huge influence of religion in politics, which would have been even more so 5000 years back and it also struck me that Krishna was not a king (he was a descendant of Yadu, who was cursed by his father Yayati that nobody in his bloodline will ever become a king again) but still he is referred to as ‘Dwarkadhish’ (the sovereign leader of Dwarka). So if he is not a King then it can only mean that he was a different kind of leader, the kind of leader who claims to be an incarnation of Vishnu and nobody thinks he’s lost it. In fact, people believe him. People think of him as a God and also he periodically keeps on repeating that to them.

Krishna

From this you’d think either he is an extremely ambitious, arrogant and cunning politician or a delusional mass leader. I believe he’s a bit of both or better to say my version of Krishna is a combination of both. An unbelievably wise, intelligent and cunning leader who does not care about the path to achieve what he believes is right also he is a bit delusional who does not only believe that he is doing God’s work rather he himself is an embodiment of Vishnu himself (to tell the truth I think all great prophets are). However, his delusion does not make him an imposter because never in the epic we get the idea that he tried to take advantage of this belief he created about himself for his personal gain or to justify any of his ‘immoral’ act.  

As the normal traits of people who are so extraordinarily talented Krishna is lonely who is unable to relate to anybody.

His big brother Balaram is so distant from the material world that to Krishna he seems like a still rock from a prehistoric time and it seems if he is bothered at all by anything then it is trickery and lie, an art where Krishna really is a God.

His wife Rukmini is like a prize and probably the person who come nearest to understanding him. Satyabhama probably loves him more but Krishna is beyond her comprehension and her love hence carries the essence of awe and respect (the kind of love a person can have for a God may be).

His cousins, the Pandavs are his passport to enter the politics of Hastinapur and while he himself is an extraordinary warrior in matters of Hastinapur Arjun is the arm who will shoot his arrows in the direction he wants (after all, it does look like intrusion if he is anything more than a counsel to the political figures of Hastinapur).

The charioteer

In the end, there are two more things about the ‘Dark one’ that needs mentioning.

First, is his relationship with Draupadi, which is hardly anything more than a friendship, and yet it is so important that it goes to the extent where she thinks of Krishna when it comes to save her virtue in the courtroom of Hastinapur or be it satisfying Durvasa’s hunger in the forest. It is to Krishna that Draupadi tells “when you speak of peace in front the court of Hastinapur do remember this hair (Duhshasan had grabbed her by her hair and dragged her to the court of Hastinapur to disrobe her when Yudhisthir had lost her in the game of dice)”. I have heard theories that say Krishna’s relationship with Draupadi was not just any friendship, it was a love that, for obvious reasons never went beyond friendship. I feel that is an unnecessary assumption given Pandavs never had a lot of friends at their disposal who could be of help other than Krishna. He seemed to be almost always around and Mahabharata gives us ample examples where friends have done so much more for each other. But given Krishna’s super power to charm women and Draupadi’s ethereal beauty it is also possible that they had a weakness somewhere for each other but that we can never know for sure, also I am not going to assume they were anything beyond friends.

Secondly, his role in the destruction of his own clan. For someone as active as him, the indifference of him that led to the destruction of his clan, seems almost intentional. I think it was out of the despair of realizing exactly how bad the war had affected them and how hopelessly they were beyond repair, his tribe, his people whom he had brought together were splitting up again, the people he thought he could save from killing each other and create a formidable power was going back to dying out fighting each other. Probably it was the realization that ‘his only true talent was successfully wiping out races because apparently he had no talent when it came to saving one’, that killed him.

death of a God

Otherwise what arrow can kill a God?

Introduction: characters (cont.) : Arjun

Arjun 

Now I have to be a bit honest here, i really don't know how Arjun  sees the world except that he sees the eye of the bird. I have no idea how or what he feels if, of course, he does feel anything at all other than the satisfaction of success and the frustration of failure. 

For me, Arjun does not feel any differently about a human being from a rock or nothing at all. The only thing that he's bothered about is the target that he needs to shoot. 

Arjun is a warrior and warriors love war and women. So I think when we talk about Arjun we need to talk about his wars and his women to understand him.

In war, he needs to be the best, because for long he has worked hard to be the best, and for long his archery talent has known no parallel. From his very childhood he grew up with the notion that he is in fact the best and he grew up accustomed to the respect and awe from the people around him.

So when Karna Suddenly comes in and defies his supremacy and shows that he is as great an archer as Arjun and some of his skills does even surpass that of Arjun's, bringing him down to the level of a commoner who is not above competition he hurts his pride. He makes Arjun jealous of his skills to some extent, but in the end he knows Karna is just the match for him and he will need to fight him, and beat him to prove his superiority. 
He is the Achilles to Karna's Hector.
Yes, Arjun has more reasons to fight the war as compared to Achilles who just sought glory but there's no denying he enjoyed fighting more than anyone and he contemplated the bloodspill more than anyone and he awaited for this war, that will bring him the ultimate glory, more than anyone.

Arjun hearing Geeta from Krishna at Kurukshetra

And that is why it is he who falls weak seeing that his glory would come at the cost of killing his own keith and kin, his grandsire Bheesma, His teacher Drona, Kripa, the people he dreamt to share his supreme glory. Because though he has fought with all of them before and defeated them before this war was different. This war was not going to end in triumph or defeat, it was going to end in life or death, in the end this war was not going to have a winner but just survivers.

For Arjun, his women are trophies, modes of making poitical alliances, and in case of Ulupi, a companion who will share her wisedom and knowledge with him.

Arjun at the Swayambar of Draupadi

He wins Draupdi because the eye of the fish is a challenging target to hit and the prize is the woman everyone is after. Also needless to say politically how important  it is to have the kingdom of Panchal on their side when their primary enemy are the Kauravas.
Subhadra is that beautiful creature that Arjun needs to possess. Like a child passing a toy store, he just have to hav that one toy that caught his eye. 
Chitrangada again is a purely political marriage to have the kingdom of Manipur on their side.

But however, in the end, being an inhuman archery prodigy or all the women who loved him does not make him a hero. He's just one of those figures who was born for glory, lived for glory and lived in his own glory.The struggle i his characterdoes not show. But then, some people are just that charismtic, some people are just above the level of average for whom hardship is not struggle and emotions are not personal and everybody looks upto him not because he's the hero but he's the one warrior who will win the war for their hero and for them.


Again that's it for now, happy reading. 
And hey, do let me know your feedbacks whether you are liking it or not and what can I do to make it better. 

Introduction: characters (cont.) :

Bhim

Bhim is the muscle that we all wish to have by our side. The emotionally vulnerable, simple (almost innocent) bulldozer that is ready to take on the world for his brothers.

True, he is not the brightest of the warriors. He excelled at mace fighting but even there he was not a very tactical or skillful fighter, the weaknesses that Duryadhan exploited in fighting him. However, his size and strength did seem to make up for  what he lacked in efficiency most of the time.

In appearance Bhim is huge, not exactly obese but not an well toned body either. From more detailed description it seems Bhim had a moon face, lack of facial hair and Incredibly long arms ( OK, now I am inclined to think he had hypogonadism. :/ ). 

Bhim killing Jarasandh, the king of Magadh.

Bhim is the bully. Among all the other events leading to the great war Bhim's treatment to his uncle Dhritarashtra's sons can't be overlooked. Bullying the cousins as a child may seem to be pretty harmless, but it definitely didn't help the the cousins bond the way Yudhisthir or any other elder would have wanted. 

But still Bhim is the loyal and honest at heart who lived by the simple rule of loving those who love him and crushing those who decided to be his enemy. Some find him too emotionally vulnerable. Though I myself used the same term for him at the very beginning, I do feel that the way it is meant is usually insulting and intends to make him look stupid. Today in our world where we have so many problems rising from hollow over smartness that only aims at shifting every responsibility to the next available shoulder from their's and finds meaning only in pointlessly criticizing anything and everything they ever come across, I think the world would be better off without the lot of them and with a few like Bhim who may not be the brightest but who are honest in what they believe and who actually get some work done. 

That's it for now. Will come back asap for more. Happy reading.

Introduction: Characters

Before I start with the story of the Mahabharata, I'd like to share some basic outline about the key characters in the way I have imagined them. I think this will help the readers to understand my version of the story better since It's being told through these characters. They are the ones who narrate the entire story in bits and parts and since there are no such thing as an unbiased narrator I think a basic introduction about the characters are important.

Yudhisthir

Yudhisthir is the hero of the Mahabharata. It is his story. He is the reflection of us, common people, who are not as outstanding warrior as Arjun, nor possess the monstrous strength of Bhim, goes through moral dilemma regarding the choices we have to make. 

A friend once told me, "how can you say Yudhisthir is the reflection of common man? There's nobody who are so truthful."

Very true, but in my opinion, like morality truth is also relative. Stating mere facts is not always telling the truth. It's like Stephen Fry once said," We want to tell the truth but facts come in the way."

If we look at Yudhisthir's character we see the good king, the troubled human, the hopeless gambler, impressionable commoner...

The game of dice

But above all these what really makes him the hero is the fact that he has to take his own decisions. Vidur, Krishna and all his counsel men at best can only give him suggestions, at the end of the day he is the one who has to take the decision. The decisions that will decide his future, the future of his brothers and the future of his world and like us he is confused when it comes to take a decisions, like us sometimes he makes decisions out of compulsion against his will, like us he feebly tries to defend them against strong opposition of the decision... and in the very end it is he who has to face the ultimate dilemma when he sees his own brothers are in hell and all that he fought against in his life is there to greet him at the gate of heaven.

However, having said this, I must remind that I am about to tell the story in multiple narrative and in each narrative the narrator have their own views and thoughts about the characters and above all, like we all love to believe that we are the hero of our own story the characters in here are no different. In their world, their story they are all heroes... in their own way. In an epic there are different levels of battles the character goes through, and I believe in someway every character in the Mahabharata becomes a hero at some point of time, irrespective of their ultimate motives.

Unfortunately that's all for now, will come back as soon as possible, do share your views about the blogs at the comment box below. Happy reading.

disclaimer

This is to inform my reader that the posts in this blogs are going to be about my views on the Mahabharata and that these views are completely personal and are absolutely not intended to hurt any religious sentiments. Being amused by the great Indian epic for about 8 years now I just want to share my thoughts about the Mahabharata you are absolutely welcome to share your likes or dislikes or even hatred. In fact I am inclined to insist my readers that they do share their thoughts. However, just a suggestion I have taken help of several theories regarding the development of the characters which are not necessarily proven to be true so I will suggest that my readers take my writing as purely a work of fiction and the claims made in the posts should at no point be considered as work of proven research.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it. Just keep an open mind.

Happy reading.