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.
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| 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).
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| 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.
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| death of a God |
Otherwise what arrow can kill a God?
