5 The Epics : rāmāyaņa and mahābhārata

Devaraj P.I

1. Introduction

The Hindu scriptural literature is so vast and comprehensive that there is no branch of knowledge left uninvestigated by the great thinkers of India. These scriptural texts of the Hindus are broadly divided into two categories- the Śruti and the smŗti. The Śruti texts are ‘God revealed’ and the smŗti texts are ‘Man realized.’ While the Śruti texts deal with eternal principles, the smŗti texts deal with the practical application of those eternal principles according to the changing times. In the Hindu religious thought, ‘Śruti’ stands for the Vedas. Śruti literally means what is heard. Great ŗişis are said to have heard the eternal truths of religion and have left a record of them for the benefit of others. smŗti collectively means the secondary scriptures. They derive their authority from the Śruti because their object is to expand and exemplify the principles of the Vedas. The difference between Śruti and smŗti is that Śruti is the eternal Veda, not the compilation of any mortal being, while smŗti is literature composed by various sages on the basis of their spiritual insights. Therefore Śruti is regarded as superior to the smŗti. According to some scholars, smŗti texts consist of – (1) codes of law (dharmaśāstras), (2) epics (Itihāsas), (3) legends (purāņas), (4) manuals of worship (āgamas), and (5) schools of philosophy(darśanas). Among these dharmaśāstras cater to the needs of intellectuals, the purāņas and itihāsas are mainly directed to the masses that need more of an emotional satisfaction from religion. The teachings of the Vedas are so subtle and abstract that they are very difficult of being grasped and assimilated by the ordinary man of the world. But the quintessence of the Vedas has to be mastered by the common man to have a thorough knowledge of the highest Truth. So our ancient sages have reduced the Vedic ideals into simple and understandable compositions commonly known as the purāņas and itihāsas. They are in the form of stories and narratives with a historic touch behind them which not only impress the reader but also expound the philosophical truths in such a lucid style that a sincere spiritual aspirant will get a spontaneous urges from within to live the ideals in his own life. As the seeker progresses, he finds new and higher meanings in the same text which take them forward in their spiritual pursuits. Thus they help to grow from bhakti to jňāna and from there to realization.

2. Epics (Itihāsas)

Itihāsa (Iti-ha-asa) literally means ‘It-so-happened.” It also means that ‘It is happened.’ So these are considered as permanent histories of human life and endeavour. The Rāmāyaņa and the Mahābhārata are the two great itihāsas or epics of the Indian tradition. These two epics have exercised a profound influence upon India. They are very popular among the Hindus as the repository of great ethical and human values. Presented in their essential force and implication they are out and out moral. The Rāmāyaņa inculcates within its body almost all the moral ideals which may be connected with the human life in all its personal, domestic, social and political aspects in their fullest perfection. Here ethical percepts and ideals are not talked of separately, but are intertwined within the flow of the story itself in all its steps. On the other hand, the Mahābhārata deals with the moral percepts separately also in the form of moral counsels from Bhīşma, Yudhiştira and others. The Gītā, which form a part of Mahābhārata may be treated as a treatise on ethics itself. Over and above these ethical concepts, the legends which comprise them, the national heroes who they celebrate and the truths implied in these great epics have supplied poets, dramatists, theologians, political thinkers, painters and many others with their principal themes. Along with the educated section of people, uneducated group were also familiar with them. Hence directly and indirectly, they have permeated into the national consciousness from the highest classes to the lowest of the Indians. Public and private recitations of these two epics are common and incessant and this testifies to the religious and moral significance of these two great epics. While the Vedas are very sophisticated, prosaic and abstract, the Rāmāyaņa and the Mahābhārata form a popular ‘Veda’ and provide the simplest and most graphic introduction to the Hindu thought, culture and philosophy.

2.1. The Rāmāyaņa

The Rāmāyaņa is regarded as the first poetical work (Ādikāvyam) of purely human origin in the literature of India, and its traditional author, Vālmĩki as the first Indian poet (ādi kavi -) since he was the first author in Sanskrit who produced ślokas. Before his time there were only the mantras of the Vedas which were difficult to understand. Vālmĩki himself says ‘sańkalpithaāthapradam Ādi kāvyam,’ which means that with whatever sańkalpa you approach this book; you will get that meaning out of this book. The word ‘Rāmāyaņa’ is a combination of ‘Rām’ and ‘āyaņ’ which means ‘going of Rāma’ or the ‘travels of Rāma.’ The Rāmāyaņa consists of 24,000 verses in seven cantos divided into 500 songs. The seven cantos are: Bālakāńdam, Ayodhyakāńdam, Āraņyakāńdam, Kişkindakāńdam, Sundarakāńdam, Yudhakāńdam and Uttarakāńdam. It has been translated into most of the Indian as well as several foreign languages including Russian. Among the many versions of Rāmāyaņa, the most important is the original Sānskrit version and the Tamil version of Kambar. Equally important is the Rāmacharitamānas which is a Hindi version of Rāmāyaņa written by Tulasidas. It is the story of Rāmāyaņa retold in Hindi version with a poetry and deep devotion. Tulasidas looks upon Śrĩ Rāma as the supreme incarnation of the divine being, born for the salvation of mankind. Other notable translations are that of the Kannada poet Narahari Kavi’s Torave Rāmāyaņa and Thunchath Rāmānujan Ezuthachan’s Adhyātma Rāmāyaņam Kilipattu in Malayalam. As stated earlier, Rāmāyaņa is the story of Rāma. According to Swāmi Nityānanda, ‘Through the vehicle of an interesting story centering around the incarnation of Vishnu as Rāma, the Prince of Kosala (capital of Ayodhya) believed to have happened in Treta yuga, and his queen Sĩta; the Rāmāyaņa instructs humanity how to lead a fruitful life and attain the Puruşārthas, the summum bonum of human birth and existence. In the ultimate analysis, it is an allegory of high philosophical knowledge- the story of the progress of man- which is the secret of its every growing and immense popularity.

2.2. Social and Ethical Aspects of the Rāmāyaņa

The Rāmāyaņa is pregnant with the highest philosophy that mankind can ever conceive of. It represents the true Hindu spirit of unconditional adherence to the law of righteousness and the performance of one’s prescribed duty. To assert the greatness of a life of activity based on the righteousness underlying the law of the Divine Being is one of the main aims of the Rāmāyaņa. According to this work dharma is the soul of life. Śrĩ Rāma represents in himself the ideal son, the ideal brother, the ideal husband, and above all the ideal king. Through the characters in it the Rāmāyaņa teaches man how he can fulfill the demands of dharma. Social life and spiritual life are wonderfully harmonized in it. Ahimsā and Kşatriyadharma are brought together in it. Bhakti yoga and karma and jňāna are fused into it. Social life is emphasized here, for man is a member of society and without society’s good, his good cannot be achieved. And without God’s grace no individual and no society can progress. Śrĩ Rāma’s government is a specimen of ideal administration. It is in fact an earthly representation of the divine government of the universe under the supreme sovereign, the almighty. To bestow due attention on dharma, artha, kāma and mokşa, on the individual, the society, the nation and their relation to the universe as a whole is the duty of an ideal monarch. Śrĩ Rāma, the hero of Ramayana, is such a ruler. In fact, the vision of an ideal state presented in the Ramayana has been an important aspect of Indian political thinking from ancient times till today so much so that Mahatma Gandhi, a contemporary political thinker, used the term ‘Ram Rajya’ for his conception of the ideal state. The ideal organization of the Rāmarājya has been providing constant inspiration to Indian political thought from the period of the Rāmāyaņa till the present. Indian political thought has consistently supported the state, but the ideals of the king stated in the Rāmāyaņa are humanist ideals, which is made clear from the fact that Rama banished Sĩta on the basis of the allegations made by a simple washerman. Hence, the advocacy of kingship in the Rāmāyaņa is ultimately based on humanist postulates. The state was a means to public welfare, which was the purpose for which it was created, and since human welfare was impossible in a state of anarchy, the political state was considered essential. However, since the basic objective was public welfare, the Ramayana also, like the Mahabharata, evinces the humanist viewpoint in its socio-political thought.

2.3. Metaphysical Teachings of the Rāmāyaņa

Vālmĩki commences his poem with a description of the ideal individual. He then gives the description of the ideal society, ideal administration of country and the ultimate ideal of life, the attainment of God. This epic tries to bring to light that all our attempts and endeavors based on adharma and selfishness are doomed to failure at the iron hands of the Divine law. The Rāmāyaņa thus portrays the victory of dharma and the final defeat of adharma. This great work pays due respect to the physical, the vital, the mental, the moral and the spiritual values of life and teaches a gospel of the integration of these in the Divine Harmony of the Supreme Being. In Rāma and Sĩta, we behold the embodiment of Brahman in his dual aspect, the unmanifest and the manifest. Rāma represents the impersonal absolute and Sĩta represents the personal, creative and self-projecting absolute. Rāma is the embodiment of all virtues especially the virtue of truthfulness. It is for the sake of truth that he loses his kingdom. His extreme devotion to truth is to be understood in the light of the characteristic Hindu belief that is this quality by which God himself is chiefly known. God is truth. The man who loves truth must therefore in the end, love God.

The Rāmāyaņa suggests that through one-pointed devotion to God one can get over the influence of māyā and attain the goal of merging oneself in the Paramātman. In worldly life whatever might be the spiritual progress one has achieved, he will never attain mokşa unless he is detached from all worldly ties. This aspect is fully depicted in the ascetic march of Sri Rama. Sri Rama was in front, Sita in the middle and Lakşmaņa at the back. While on their march, because of Sita’s presence in the middle, Lakşmaņa could not see his brother properly and at frequent intervals he used to request his sister-in-law to make room for him to see Rama. In this context, Sri Rama is to be compared to Paramataman and Lakşmaņa the individual soul, jĩvātman. Jĩvātman constantly endeavours to attain oneness with the Paramātman but māyā (Sĩta) stands in the way, but with an intense yearning it is possible to get rid of māyā and attain the goal of merging oneself in the Paramātman. In Yoga Vaśişţa, the derivative Rāmāyaņa, also we can see the traces of metaphysical aspects. In this poem Sage Vaśisţa, the chief priest of king Daśaratha, is instructing Śrĩ Rāma about the unchangeable Reality through many interesting stories. Śrĩ Rāma, while he was young, had a feeling of detachment from the world and he brooded on the fate of human beings. Vasişţa through this poem convinced Śrĩ Rāma that by right thinking and diligent discrimination we attain to the truth of Brahman.

Thus the study of the Rāmāyaņa will be a useful guide to the true aspirants in treading the path of spirituality leading to complete emancipation from the cycle of birth and death. This great work has under its possession a unique moral and spiritual treasure capable of inspiring the whole human race. It may provide the right solution for almost all human problems and miseries. It is capable of giving what has been missing, in spite of everything that science and technology has given us. The great leaders who have shaped the destiny of India, and continue to shape it, have all been consciously or unconsciously influenced by the Rāmāyaņa and its eternal virtues. The Rāmāyaņa is probably one of the few epics in the world to remain a living literature. We are proud that the centuries old valuable literature is still living for us till today. We regard Ramayana as heart and soul of India because our age old culture, high principles and great ideals together with universal spiritual values and their underlying truths, have been truly depicted in it. In spite of the fact that it has been part and parcel of Indian life from time immemorial, Ramayana now belongs to whole mankind because of its universal appeal based on all time great message and still greater divine inspiration.

3.  The Mahābhārata

The Mahabharata has the honor of being the longest epics in the world with one lakh ślokas. Hence it is called ‘śatasāhasri,’ It is the monumental work of the great sage Krişņna Dvaipāyana, Badarāyaņa, Vyāsa, commonly known as Veda Vyāsa, because he was the person who first collected and codified the Vedas. Vyāsa is considered as a personality with powers far beyond those of most mortals. He has divine insight that enables him to gain knowledge of all things in all times. The story goes that when Vyāsa planned to compose the Mahābhārata, he could not find a competent person to take his dictation. Finally, he approached Lord Ganeşa to take up this difficult task. The Lord agreed upon one condition that his pen must not stop for Vyāsa to think things over. This was difficult because poetry requires a perfect arrangement of perfect words which needs thinking. Vyāsa agreed, but added that the Lord must not write down any verse without first understanding its meaning. Making use of this clause, Vyāsa composed more than eight thousand complicated verses which even the Lord found it difficult to understand. This gave Vyāsa the required time to compose a great many verses. That is how this great epic was completed. By composing this great epic, he brought religion and the value system more closely to the common people as it was enough to know the highest truth given in the Vedas. It is divided into 18 sections or parvas written in Sānskrit. The eighteen parvas are: Ādiparvam, Sabhāparvam, Āraņyaparvam, Virātaparvam, Udyogaparvam, Bhĩşmaparvam, Droņaparvam, Karaparvam, Salyaparvam, Saupātikaparvam, Streeparvam, Sāntiparvam, Anusānaparvam, Aśwamedhaparvam, Āśramavasaparvam, Mausalaparvam, Mahāprasthānaparvam, Swargaparvam.

It is a rich collection of many histories and many legends. It contains virtually all the ancient legends of Hinduism which are also very much a living tradition to this day. The sage Vyāsa is traditionally named the author of the Māhābhārata. But he is more likely to have been its compiler. There are scholars who think that this is not the work of a single author. The epic seems to be a collection of writings by several authors who lived at various times. According to Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, ‘The great Vyāsa himself mentions five direct pupils. It has passed through different stages marked by the names Jaya, Bharata, and the Mahābhārata. There are many editions, manuscripts, translations in different languages. The Mahābhārata is not merely a historic work, but it reflects the dynamic culture of India.’ It represents a whole literature rather than a single homogenous work. The core event of this great epic is the great battle that was fought on the field of Kurukśetra between the five sons of king Pāńdu, the Pāńdavas and the hundred sons of king Dhritarāştra, the Kauravas. But there are hundreds of other major stories linked with that main story. It deals with almost every subject and politics, economics, astrology, wrestling, diplomacy, finance, ruler of conduct, prayers of God, birth and death, life before birth and after death, philosophy, psychology, chronology, cosmology, origin of the world etc- all find a place in it. Hence it is given in it:

‘Yadhi haasti tadanyatra Yannehaasti na kutra chit,’

‘That which is herein can be seen elsewhere, but that which is not herein cannot be seen anywhere else.’ This verse gives us an idea of the comprehensive coverage of the subjects contained in it. The famous the Bhagavadgĩtā, the most popular exposition of Hindu philosophy, religion and way of life is a part of the Mahābhārata. It comes under the Bhĩşmaparva. The ethical parts of the Mahābhārata have so decisively influenced the later Hindu philosophers and law-givers that they have conferred on it the title of the fifth Veda. The book is full of lofty instructions on all aspects of human life and endeavour. The guiding spirit throughout the epic is the divine figure of Lord Krishna who brings home unto Him the pure and the virtuous and exterminates evil and evil-doers. The central theme of the work is ‘Yato dharmastato Jaya’- which means where there is Dharma, there is victory. The ultimate triumph of good over evil is the underlying theme of the epic and the story in it is only a vehicle to convey eternal philosophical truths of the highest order.

The whole story which forms the chief theme of the Mahābhārata Mahabharata makes up only about a quarter of the poem. It also contains a number of other popular stories, including the tales of Nala and Damayanti, Sāvitri and Satyavan, Sakuntala and many others. The battle of Kurukşetra offers an opportunity to discuss military strategy. Some scholars are of opinion that the modern day chess originated from chaturańga, the board game mentioned in Mahabharata. But the underlying theme of the Mahabharata concerns moral duty and right conduct.

3.1. Ethical Aspects of the Mahābhārata

The Mahābhārata deals with moral percepts especially in the form of moral counsels from Bhĩşma, Vidhura, Yudhiştira and so many other characters including Lord Krishna. Gita which forms an important part of it can be considered as a treatise on ethics itself. The ethical ideals in the Gĩta gives us a clear picture about the development of Indian moral thought from its crude and rudimentary form in the Vedas to a very fine and elevated position as in the Gĩta. Though the importance of Vedic ritualism and virtues of individual purity are not ignored, it gives equal importance to the high ideals of social morality also. The primary aim of moral conduct, according to the Mahābhārata is social good or social welfare. This was made clear by Dr. Surama Das Gupta when he wrote, ‘The standards of morality as preached in the Mahābhārata..recognize both the absolute and relative nature of morality. There the ideals of social progress through the maintenance of social equilibrium are partly determined by scriptures and partly by the standard of public good, the latter sometimes superseding the injunctions of scriptures and sometimes being supplementary to them.’ Along with the observance of varņāśramadharma, the Mahābhārata also advise to follow certain general duties like non-violence, truth, avoidance of anger, egoism, avoiding of speaking ill of others etc. We can see the emphasis of the ideals of social good such as lokasthiti, lokasańgraha, lokakalyana, lokayatra etc in it.

Another important ethical aspect of the Mahābhārata is that it propounds an internal conception of morality. It emphasized that what rewards or stains is not the outer action, but the inner motive, will or intention. So, according to the Mahābhārata one should avoid narrow egoistic passions while doing actions and one should do his duty selflessly. All our action should be aimed at either social good or individual liberation. Even the performance of Vedic rituals with narrow egoistic aim is discouraged and depreciated. For morality, inner purity is needed and not mere external work will not do. As stated earlier, what stains, according to Mahabharata is bad motive and ill-will, and not the action. This idea will lead us to the ideal of Nişkāma karma, the basic philosophy of the Bhagavadgĩtā. Ethics of the Bhagavadgītā may be shortly described as the advice to practice Nişkāma karma and svadharma. The former means passionless actions and the latter means one’s duty in accordance with one’s station in life as determined by one’s varņāśrama dharma. The Bhagavadgĩtā holds that God realization is the ultimate end. It is the sole end of all actions. It has preached the dharma of varņāşrama, but the fulfillment of this dharma becomes a duty because it has been ordained by God. The daily duties also have been ordained by God. The daily duties also have been elaborately discussed in the Gĩtā, according to which every man has some determined action to perform. He can achieve his ultimate end and also the social end by performing these determined actions. But all these activities should be performed with the intention of submission to God. The desire of result is the cause of enchantment and leaving or abandoning it brings everlasting peace.

The ethics of the Gĩtā, thus, arranges for and organizes the proper development of all aspects of man. It synthesized both social and individual interests. The ultimate end is absolute perfection of the individual but this perfection can be attained only through consolidation of society and God realization. According to the Gĩtā, the only way of freeing the soul from its various limitations is social service and devotion to God. This is a humanistic ideal and it is attainable through knowledge, devotion or action. The Gĩtā provides a detailed consideration of each of these paths. It provides a harmonious blend of external action and internal peace, activism and renunciation, involvement and detachment, knowledge and devotion, individual freedom and social solidarity. Thus the most important teaching of the Gĩtā is the devotion to one’s duties in society. It holds that the establishment of social harmony is a must and man has to follow it without attachment.

The sole aim is to suppress righteousness and establish dharma. It stands for the universal brotherhood of all beings and highlights the importance of selfless service to benefit the entire cosmos. It instructs people to perform their duty without caring about rewards. When each one does his duty, without selfish desires, the well-being and the solidarity of the world is preserved. The Gĩtā thus preaches the message of lokasangraha or welfare of all. This message of the Gĩtā is universally comprehensive and everlasting. In today’s atomic age, when human society is grievously endangered by excessive materialism some of the message of the Gĩtā like that of Nişkāma karma yoga have assumed an even greater importance.

3.2. Political Aspects of the Mahābhārata

According to the Sāntiparva in the Mahābharata, Vişņu first created a monumental text on life and administration, and then established a king, government and state. This implies that power should not be used as a means by the state. This implies that power should not be used as a means by the state, instead the state should be considered as a means whereby power is concretized so as to help in the maintenance of social organization. We can understand from this that from very ancient times to the present day, the state has been a means to public welfare in India. According to the Mahābhārata, administration is a part of the normal social organization. The duty of the state is to establish the varņāśrama system. The state should create such an organization in which every individual should be able to perform the duties appropriate to his station and stage of life.

The Mahābhārata theory concerning the origin of the state postulates the concept that not merely men but even the Gods consider it the king’s divine duty to promote the welfare of the populace. If the king fails in this duty not only men but even the Gods consider it necessary to depose him and to replace him with one who is devoted to his fundamental duty. The king’s duty is assumed to be the establishment of social harmony without which he cannot administer the state. So in the Mahābhārata as in the Vedas and Upanişads, the harmonious relationships between different classes have been considered as important for political organization. These texts support the theory of welfare state, because its objective is security and happiness and the people have been directed to show patriotism to the state. The state must create conditions which are conducive to the achievement of the values of dharma, artha and kāma. Although wars appear frequently in these texts, these wars were considered religious wars which were characterized by the observance of certain moral rules. We can see that the Mahābhārata though it deals with the selfishness of princes, wars and threats of war, it ends with an invocation of peace. Gandhi may be having this fact in his mind when he said that the Mahābhārata did not encourage war but it portrayed its futility by showing the amount of bloodshed and destruction it can bring about. We all know that the Bhagavadgĩtā was a source of inspiration for him till the end of his life. For the modern Hindus, the Mahābhārata and the Bhagavadgĩtā in particular, is one of the most authoritative scripture of his tradition. The teachings of this great epic as we have discussed above are a vital source of inspiration in confronting the ethical, political, social and religious dilemmas of life.

4. Summary

We can say that these two famous epics- the Rāmāyaņa and the Mahābhārata –drive home to all Hindus the laws of smŗtis and the principles of the Vedas through their heroes. We get the earliest notions of our religion from these stories. The ideal characters like Rāma and Siĩa, Krişņa etc firmly establish the Hindu dharma in our minds. Therefore Vālmĩki and Vyāsa, the authors of these works are looked upon as great nation builders because the Hindu society is still following the lines chalked out by them. Even today our domestic, social and national ideals are dominated by characters in the Rāmāyaņa and the Mahābhārata.

Web Links

• www.gnosticteachings.org
• www.infinityfoundation.com
• http://en.wikipedia.org
• www.asianstudies.org
• www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/mahabharata
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ramayana
• www.iep.utm.edu/category/traditions/indian/
• www.ancient.en/india/
•  www.encyclopedia.com

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