Studies in Mahabharata

The Embassy of Sri Krishna

There are two views; that Sri Krishna really tried to establish peace but failed and the other that he deliberately intensified the enmity between the Pandavas and the Kauravas and hastened the Kurukshetra war.

It seems to me that the second view is the correct one. Otherwise, there can be no explanation of the Gita Message, in which he encourages and inspires Arjuna to fight.

But the question is to be viewed in­ a broader aspect. Could peace have been established? - which leads to the larger question, what were the causes of the War?

Three causes are mentioned, only one of which could have been adjusted.

The first is the division of the Kingdom. A critical study of Mahabharata will show that this was at best a pretext and not a real reason.

The second is the imperialistic ambitions of the Pandavas aided by the Panchali’s, and above all the humiliation inflicted on all the kings by sacrificing one of their order at the Rajasuya Yagna. During the Rajasuya, Narada is reported to have rejoiced at the assured prospect of a general War.

In blessing Draupadi on her entry into her house as the bride of Pandavas, Kunti hopes that her husbands will perform the Rajasuya. In the Ramayana, when Rama proposed to perform Rajasuya, Bharata opposed on the ground that it would lead to a general war.

According to my view of Rajasuya, it was a Yegna in which a king was killed as a sacrifice and it was this function of killing that was assigned to Krishna by Pandavas. That is why Krishna is given Agra-Puja on the well-known ground that he who consents to do an act like that for the sake of others should be given the highest worship and reward.

The kings thus humiliated at the Rajasuya, it is stated, joined Kauravas and since they were out to wipe off that insult, peace would be impossible.

The third cause is the mortal insult offered to Draupadi, which is mentioned by Gandharva as the real cause of the War. The strange manner of putting to public disgrace a royal lady has to be explained and my view is that it was an excessive retaliation on Draupadi for the insult of the Rajasuya – disgrace for disgrace; humiliation for humiliation. No other motive could be conceived. It is over­reacting.

The Udyoga Parya and the Aranya Parva are clear proofs that both Draupadi and Kunti were bent upon war, for it is generally established that the Pandava house-hold would have been rent in pieces.

Kunti, Draupadi, Bhima and Sahadeva were for a war to the finish and the others reluctantly agreeable to Yudhishtira’s idea of peace. So Krishna’s position of a peace-maker was impossible. Neither the kings who had joined Dhritirashtra nor the family of Yudhistira would have tolerated peace. Appearances had to be kept up and he went as the Ambassador. It was because he wanted to find out the real intentions of Kunti that he stayed as the guest of vidura in whose house Kunti was living instead of accepting the royal invitation of Duryodhana. Kunti made it clear to him that unless the insult offered to Draupadi was wiped out in blood Pandava’s name would be disgraced for ever. So peace being impossible Krishna tried to secure another object dear to Kunti and which, she knew when the facts were known, could be equally dear to the Pandavas and that is winning over Karna to the Pandavas’ side.

That, I fancy, was the real motive of his visit to the court of Duryodhana and though he was not able to win over Karna, he secured a great advantage to the Pandavas. As soon as Karna was informed that he was the son of Kunti and the Pandavas were his brothers, he lost all zest for the war and he practically made up his mind to die for the sake of his younger brothers, while retaining as much as possible his loyalty to Duryodhana. This is symbolised by the change he effected in his war emblems. In the Virata Parva his war-flag was a Sankha, the loud roaring symbol of his valour. In the Great War, that is replaced by the Hasti-Kakshya, meaning the rope by which an elephant is tied down. After the visit of Krishna and Kunti to him, Karna was fighting with his hands and spirit tied down and no longer as the implacable enemy of Pandavas.