Ethical consideration for Analysing Mahabharat

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1. The Framework of Time, Place and Perceptions

 Now, Before we begin analysing the text it is essential to understand that the values discussed in Mahabharata are always relative to time and place.  Also, for many Indians the Mahabharata is not an imaginary tale, it represents real events that took place around 1000 B.C. Thus it is important that the events in the Mahabharata must be judged in the context of their time and place. The social values of those days supported the social order. The social order then was male-dominated, polygamous and class oriented. It is in this social framework that our work is situated.

 2. Ethics and Dharma
Before we can talk of ethics, it is necessary to keep in mind that the word used in
Mahabharata is dharma and while the two are interrelated, the latter is wider in scope and more complex. Both deal with issues of what we ought to do but ethics seems more concerned with the moral conduct necessary for the survival and maintenance of a social group or social order while dharma also takes in its ambit, inner motivations and convictions and evolution of the human spirit through action. 

 Dharma maintains a balance between societal norms and individual actions in a way that life remains dynamic without becoming irresponsible. It continuously tests its postulates in the ever-changing relationship between the individual and society, nature and man and, whenever necessary, redefines itself. It is neither only spirituality nor is it merely ritual or modes of worship but encompasses all aspects while leading to the transcendence of the immediate to evolve towards the ultimate. 

 Hence it is not a static code of principles or actions. It evolves with time continuously discarding the outworn and absorbing the new values but at all times maintaining its equipoise and aspiring to a transcendental perfection.



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