Historical Literature: Mahabharata
Throughout its history, mankind has utilized various mediums to record its deeds, pose important questions, and challenge nature. As humanity advances into the twenty-second century, technological innovations appear to be the way of the future. But as impressive as this technology may be, the written word of the book remain the most important medium of human expression in history.
When discussing literature, the majority of Americans and the remainder of Westerners, the promoters of “literacy” during the era of colonization, tend to think of the works of Shakespeare, Twain, or Voltaire. These men were authors of great literature; however, such a occidental inclusivity prevents one from recognizing the significance of much older, much less western, literature. An incredibly influential and important literary work of just this type was penned in India, around the fourth century BCE. Entitled the Mahabharata, it is a Sanskrit epic that details the events of Kurukshetra War. In addition to this, the Mahabharata also discusses important philosophical concepts, such as religion and conflict.
While this work has offered historians a window into India’s past, perhaps the more significant contribution this work has made was not in the form of a history, but as a sacred scripture. Utilized as one of the holy books for the Hindu faith, the religious and philosophical discourses presented in the Mahabharata assisted in crystallizing the beliefs of the Hindus. As the textual backbone of the Hindu religion, it became a foundation for the great Indian societies of the later centuries. The introspective nature of the Mahabharata also influenced the evolution of Indian philosophy, which remains quite prevalent both in India and around the world.
The legacy and influence of the Mahabharata may also be found in more recent contexts. For example, during the Indian Independence Movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Mahatma Ghandi and other leaders cited the work as an inspiration. Also significant is the notion of a “just war.” This concept, presented as a discussion between characters in the Mahabharata, has been attacked and defended throughout history, from the justification of the Crusades by both Christians and Muslims to the current hostility between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, and even to the current North Korean and Iraqi testing of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology. Perhaps the most famous recent quotation of the Mahabharata was made following the first successful test of the atomic bomb at Alamogordo, New Mexico. Pulling from a section of Mahabharata known as the Bhagavad Gita, the director of the Manhattan Project, Robert J. Oppenheimer, uttered the following words upon seeing the mushroom cloud erupt into the desert sky: “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
The Cave 