Rajadharma in Mahabharata

With Special Reference to Shanti-Parva

Priyanka Pandey

• Publisher: D.K. Printworld
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9788124610084
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Hinduism

About The Book
The idea of politics hardly finds an expression elsewhere as clearly as in Mah?bh?rata. This work thus investigates the political thought explicit in ??nti-Parva and emphasizes that Mah?bh?rata is a text in the study of politics, apart from the perception of it being a great epic and a text of high literary value. Whatever be the notion of politics we contemplate upon, it finds an articulation in Mah?bh?rata. As the Greek tradition of thinking is the base of Western politics, ??nti-Parva of Mah?bh?rata represents the Indian notion of political thinking, though there remain many similarities and dissimilarities between the two systems.
This volume navigates one to how to read Mah?bh?rata as a political text; the idea of political thoughts, the constituting principles of politics and the political institutions in ??nti-Parva; and the relevance of these political thoughts in modern time. Topics such as da??an?ti, origin of state, the seven elements of state, functions of state, types of state, kinship, judiciary and administration are discussed in detail, among many other issues of political importance.
The book collects, analyses and examines the internal evidences from ??nti-Parva and also from other parvans of Mah?bh?rata to reach a decisive conclusion, making the work a composite result of textual analysis, related literature and subjective contemplation. It clearly shows that the idea of politics is not separated from the idea of ethics. Rather they are intertwined. About the Author
Dr Priyanka Pandey is an upcoming Sanskrit scholar with a penchant for serious researches on Indian classics. She got her PhD for the thesis, "Perspectives of R?jadharma in Mah?bh?rata: A Critical Analysis" from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. This book R?jadharma in Mah?bh?rata with Special Reference to ??nti-Parva is an offshoot of her research project.
Dr Pandey has presented articles in many national and international seminars and has ten articles published in journals/books of repute to her credit.

1

Mahābhārata : An Introduction

majjet trayī daṇḍanītau hatāyāṁ

sarve dharmāḥ prakṣayeyurvibuddhāḥ |

sarve dharmāścāśramāṇāṁ hatāḥ syuḥ

kṣātre tyakte rājadharme purāṇe ||

sarve tyāgā rājadharmeṣu dr̥ṣṭāḥ

sarvā dīkṣā rājadharmeṣu coktāḥ |

sarvā vidyā rājadharmeṣu yuktāḥ

sarve lokā rājadharme praviṣṭāḥ || — Śānti-Parva LXIII.28.29

In the history of literature, world literature in general and Sanskrit literature in particular, Mahābhārata occupies a central place. Perhaps after Rāmāyaṇa this great epic has deeply influenced the minds of scholars and researchers as well as of common people. So many of the scholars considered it as Itihāsa1 (itihās purṇābhyāṁ vedaṁ samupbr̥hayet), Purāṇa,2 Ākhyāna,3 Saṁhitā,4 Kāvya5 and the sources and basis of all the legends. It is the fifth Veda, namely, the Kārṣṇa Veda,6 i.e. the Veda of Kr̥ṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa, being Kr̥ṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa its author. It is mentioned in the Svargārohaṇa-Parva that Vyāsa completed this work after working hard for three years:

tribhirvarṣairidaṁ pūrṇaṁ kr̥ṣṇadvaipāyanaḥ prabhuḥ|

akhilaṁ bhārtaṁ cedaṁ cakāra bhagavān muniḥ|| — Svargārohaṇa-Parva V.48

Mahābhārata is considered as the essence for all the Vedas. By itself it is equal to, nay, even greater than the remaining Vedas.7 Hence one should study the Vedas with its help:

itihāsapurāṇābhyāṁ vedaṁ samupabr̥ṁhayet ||

bibhetyalpaśrutād vedo māmayaṁ prahariṣyati | — Ibid. I.267-68

Besides these it is known as Dharmaśāstra, Arthaśāstra and Kāmaśāstra.8 There is much truth in Vyāsa’s challenge that:

dharme cārthe ca kāme ca mokṣe ca bharatarṣabha |

yadihāsti tadanyatra yannehāsti na tat kvacit || — Ibid. I.62.53

That which occurs here about dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa (four ends of human life), occurs elsewhere and that which does not occur here, occurs nowhere else.

It is really an encyclopaedia of Indian intellectual tradition in which social, moral, ethical, economical and political conditions are described extensively. It removes ignorance the way sun removes darkness.9 By its name, it is self-explanatory. In Svargārohaṇa-Parva, it has been stated that the significance of Mahābhārata lies in its greatness and weightiness. In Ādi-Parva, the meaning of the two compound words (mahā-bhārata) finds mention in more clear terms. Being a voluminous (mahat) work and heavy (bhāravat) to lift and carry, the great epic came to be call...

Table of contents

• Preface
• Contents
• List of Tables and Figures
• Map of Bharātavarṣa in the Mahābhārata period
• Abbreviations
• Transliteration Key
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Mahābhārata : An Introduction
• 2. Politics in Western Tradition
• 3. Political Ideas in Śānti-Parva
• 4. Interstate Relations and Forms of Government
• 5. Judiciary and Ethical Concepts
• 6. Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index