History: The original version of the Tale of Mahabharata presents a least distorted account of human psychology in a very novel style. It had exposed bare emotions when it was not the norm. It is still not a norm, but that is another thing. A dozen doctorate degrees would not honor its creator enough. It continues to intrigue me as I see its chapters unfolding all the times, all around.
Mahabharata Live!
As a teacher publishes a pupil's thesis in his name,
As a reportee bears the brunt of his boss' shame,
As a factory effluents poison the rural resources,
As a man is blinded, misled at bigoted discourses,
As an offical deducts share from a poor's food,
As a hawker is shooed away in a tone very rude,
As facts are veiled to nip competition in bud,
As intellectuals get engrossed in slinging mud...
Compassion is killed, ethics are omitted,
A Drona is created, an Eklavya is cheated,
An Arjun is exalted, a Karn is defeated,
And The tale of Mahabharata is repeated.
Nice one!
ReplyDeleteMahabharata has so often become a tool for justification of the wrong!
Hi Nikesh, Thanks for reading and commenting :)
ReplyDeleteIt might sound philosophical and very boring, but misuse of Mahabharata lies in the fact that it is taught as a scripture, a sort of 'bhagwaan leela' though it was not really created with that intention. It was a pure 'manav leela' without any sort of idolization!
I remember defending my own wrongdoings as a kid with a simple line, 'Mahabharata mei bhi to bhagwaan ne aisa hi kiya tha!'.
yeah ... absolutely
ReplyDeletewonder if you have read a book called "yuganta" ... it is a take on mahabharata ... and its characters being all "humans".
Nope, I haven't...now I can't wait to read it!
ReplyDeleteRead it...its one of the most scandalous piece of writing I have ever come across! I did not like its take in general becuase I found it very narrowly focussed...it looked more of a religious propaganda against Mahabharata rather than someone's honest and different viewpoint!
ReplyDeleteAnd a very incoherent take for that matter...you write something, then after a few days someone gives you another point to criticize something and you get excited and add it in haste!
And found lots of stuff very contradictory... for example, at one instance she says that abducting a princess was one of the accepted ways of the time, at another she criticizes Bhishma for doing just that!