The Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two Sanskrit epic poems in
India. It is believed to be the source of information for Hinduism. According
to Wendy Doniger's article, Mahabharata consisted of 100,000 verses and is preserved both orally and in manuscript. It
is considered to be the longest epic in the world of literature.
Mahabharata is a story about two branches of family: the
Pandavas and Kauravas. The story begins with Pandu being crowned as the new
king instead of his elder brother, Dhritarashtra. Dhritarashtra pass his to his
brother because he got blind. Pandu was being curse that he could not be a
father, because of this, Pandu and his wife prayed to the gods to give them
children. The gods abide their request which result to the birth of
Yudhishthira the son of the god Dharma, Bheema (Bhima) the son of the wind god,
Arjuna the son of Indra, and the twins Nakula and Sahadeva son of the Ashvins.
The Kaurava is considered to be the senior branch of the family but their
eldest, Duryodhana is younger than the eldest son of the Pandava, Yudhishthira.
Duryodhana and Yudhishthira claimed to be first in line to inherit the throne.
Out of Duryodhana's hatred, the Pandavas are forced to leave the kingdom when
their father died. The Pandavas married Draupadi when Arjuna won a game of
shooting an arrow through a row of targets and they also met their cousin
Krishna. After a few years of their exile, the Pandavas returned to the
kingdom. Yudhishtira in hope of getting the throne loses against his cousin
Duryodhana in a game of dice. Because of this, it leads to a great battle of
Kurukshetra, in which the Pandavas fought against the Kauravas. The Pandavas
won the battle but unfortunately their cousin Krishna accidentally died when a
hunter who mistakes him for a deer shoots him. The Pandavas together with their
wife set on a journey to go to Indra's heaven. On their long journey, only
Yudhishthira was able to reach the gate of heaven. Yudhishthira reunited with
his brothers and Draupadi, as well as their cousins the Kauravas.
The themes found in the story include hatred, brotherhood,
love, faithfulness, and sacred duty. There are plenty of characters in the
story, the main characters are the Pandavas which include Yudhishthira, Bheema,
Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva, along with their wife Draupadi. There are also
the Kauravas which include Duryodhana and his brothers. Its conflict is man versus man because the story focuses on the conflict between the Pandavas and the Kauravas.
Based on the story, I learned that hatred sometimes leads to conflict and chaos, just like what happen in the story, Duryodhana's hatred against the Pandavas leads to conflict and out of this conflict, it causes chaos which is the war. I also learned about brotherhood, because the Pandava brothers has a strong connection to each and they never leave each others side despite the situations they are facing. I also learned about the value of love, a love for one's sibling, in real life, our sibling/s are sometimes the ones we can trust and the ones who will love us. I'm also impressed with Draupadi's faithfulness because she never left the Pandavas even though they are already facing difficult situations.
The most important thing I learned from the story is that, we should learn how to fight on what we think rightfully belongs or what really belongs to us because if we just allow other people to take what we own, that means we are allowing ourselves to be manipulated by others.
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