Kurus: Our Contemporaries - Dr. Kavita A Sharma

Part III

The question then is, was Duryodhana wrong and was the battle of Kurukshetra fought to protect certain moral or religious values. The answer is not easy because all is grey in Mahabharata as in life. It is almost impossible to decide that one side fights a just war while the other side is unalloyed evil.29 In fact, the storyteller is at pains to emphasize that the Pandavas did not win the war only through their powers but also by a favorable providence. After the war, Krishna asks Arjuna to get down from the chariot first and then he dismounts himself. As soon as he does that it is reduced to ashes. Krishna explains that the chariot had already been consumed by diverse kinds of weapons. It did not fall into pieces earlier because he sat on it. He goes on to state unequivocally to Yudhishthira:

"By good luck, thou hast won the victory, O son of Kunti! By good luck, thy foes have been vanquished! By good luck, the wielder of Gandiva and Bhimsena the son of Pandu, and thyself O King, and the two sons of Madri, have escaped with life from this battle so destructive of heroes, and have escaped after having slain your foes!"30

As far as Duryodhana was concerned, fighting with the Pandavas to secure the entire Kingdom and not just half of it was ethical. He was convinced that he had a natural right to the throne and he, therefore, tried to secure it by fair means or foul. For the time he ruled he was a good king. He was a proud man who staked everything to save his pride up to the end. Even on his death bed his straightforward and heroic replies to Krishna can only evoke admiration. That is why, perhaps, he ascended to heaven before the Pandavas.31

Footnotes

29. Jonardon Ganeri ed. The Collected Essays of Bimal krishna Matilal, pp. 93-94.
30. Mahabharata, "Salya Parva," Section LXII, Vol. VII, p.170.
31. See the discussion of Mahabharata in Vidyaniwas Mishra, Mahabharata Ka Kavyartha, Delhi, Allahabad: National Publishing House, 1985. I have taken several ideas from the work.

© "The Awakening Ray" (Nov./Dec. 2002) published by The Gnostic Centre, H-401, Som Vihar Apartments, Sangam Marg, New Delhi 110 022. Website: www.gnosticcentre.com. Part I of this article apeared in Splendour, March 2006. Reprinted with permission.

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