On the Subtle Art of Dharma

Mahabharata is an epic which needs no introduction (at least in India that is the case). Yet I was a stranger to it for such a long time. I was aware of there existing such a book as the Mahabharata but not well versed with the progression of the story.

My first encounter with Mahabharata would be the time when I was 6 or 7 years old and was visiting my native village 110 kms away from Jaipur. Every time we went there, we would visit the nearby holy places as well. Our village was the focal point of 3 holy places or Tirtha Stans. One of them was a place called Lohargal. Surrounded by the Aravalli range I was always happy to go there in the monsoon season as the beauty of the mountains increased exponentially during that time. It was a small public bath or Kund, not more than 10 people would be able to bathe without discomfort. The legend goes that when the Pandavas returned from the war with their blood-stained weapons, they stopped in front of this well and remove all the dirt. They washed their blood-stained weapons too and kept them aside to dry while they were bathing. On returning they found their weapons damaged; they had melted. Hence, the name Lohargal, (literally “iron melts”). The rationale back then had been that due to such excessive killings, it was karmic force which melted those weapons. But it was later explained that there had been some chemical reaction which led to them melting.

My second encounter with the epic was when I was going for a trek to the Himalayas. The destination was a valley called Har-Ki-Dun. When the Pandavas had commenced their journey towards heaven after renouncing everything, it from Har-ki-Dun that Yudishthir and his dog passed and reached the doors of heaven.

Since then, I had forgotten all about the Mahabharata until my friend starting reading the translation of the books done by Bibek Debroy and brought it up in our conversations. I had planned to read that series but then somehow it didn’t transpire. Again, Mahabharata was out of my life. Then came the pandemic and for some reason channel operators opted to telecast the old Mahabharata and Ramayana again. My grandfather is fond of watching television and these 2 shows coming on the T.V for him was a gift for him. All of us would eagerly sit and watch T.V in the evening together and although the show is very old and badly made, I honestly wouldn’t mind sitting there for the sake of being with them at nighttime.

Religion had played part in my childhood years. Even today it does but for some reason I had stopped feeling the same love for my religion and culture due to a variety of reasons.

 Primarily as I was growing up religion meant being uncool so to be accepted one would naturally let go of its hold. Then a few years later I started to realize the wrongs that religion had to certain sections of our society. It again reinforced the idea that religion meant oppression and cruelty. All the while it also seems unscientific on surface level so, why would one want to associate with religion? I even became ashamed of my religion and started leaning towards atheism. Even claiming to be a Hindu would’ve felt like a crime to some of my friends and for me as well.

There are a few things which nobody can explain. Faith and religion are such things. Many in their youth renounce religion only to return to it in the twilight years of their life. Faith is such a huge phenomenon. No reasoning will be able to explain the effect that it has on an individual.

There were times when I would spend a few hours in a temple aarti and feel like I’ve never felt before. These feelings can’t be described. Nevertheless, I had become an atheist adult and was despising religion.

In the past few months, a feeling of religiosity was originating within me and my surroundings and reached the zenith after finishing this book.

The author confessed at the beginning that he faced the same dilemmas of having to deal with his secular liberal minded leftist friends in confessing his love for the Mahabharata, while trying hard to stay away from the grasp of the right-wing fanatics. It was a thin line and he succeeded in completing that journey with aplomb.

The reason why Mahabharata appeals to so many people around the world is because the characters are faced with moral dilemmas all the time and behave in a similar fashion as some human beings would. Every character has a touch of humanity. And barring a certain instance it is easily applicable to our present world. In fact, it is timeless and will remain so as long as we remain humane. Take any character you want and he would’ve committed a mistake or wouldn’t have behaved in a moral way in the epic. No one is flawless. Least of whom is Krishna, the God of the epic.

This work isn’t only about Mahabharata, it is a curious mix of ancient western philosophical as well as modern work in the fields of law, warfare, morality, religion, and politics.

Das has done what many would have dreamt of accomplishing; tying up the teachings of the Hindu epic with the theories of modern and ancient philosophers and yet it is the epic which comes out on top always. The characters of the epic are in so many ways similar to these philosophers. One can’t help but appreciate the task the creator of Mahabharata, Vyasa has taken. And yet the epic has evolved and made amends in its story. It will continue to grow, for the audience reading it will change and interpret it in a new light always.

The original translation of Mahabharata is extremely lengthy and written in a much difficult to read manner, this is why the present book makes the story and interpretation of Mahabharata more accessible to us. The author would keep the theme of “Dharma” in the background, which one would expect as the subtitle of the book is “On the Subtle art of Dharma”. It’s fascinating on the whole and illuminating as well.

Thank you for sticking by.

Have a good day!

-Manvendra