Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mahabharata, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Dharma
Pursuing Enlightenment
Heroism and Warfare
Grief, Loss, and Mourning
Stories and Storytelling
Summary
Analysis
PERSEVERANCE. After the wedding of Abhimanyu, Krishna gives a speech to try to avoid a destructive war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Others, like Drupada, however, argue for a more forceful approach to Duryodhana, in order to take back Yudhishthira’s kingdom. Krishna advises them to only to resort to this if Duryodhana refuses to make peace.
The battle at the end of the previous book foreshadows growing trouble between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, since it left many issues unresolved. While Krishna is powerful and capable of violence, here he advises Yudhishthira and the others to attempt peace first, suggesting that in spite of the potential glory of warfare, it should only be an option when peace doesn’t work.
Themes
As both sides make preparations for war, Duryodhana travels with a small force to a city where he hears Krishna is staying. He asks Krishna to help him in the upcoming conflict. As it happens, Arjuna is also around. Krishna refuses to take a side, saying that, while Duryodhana asked him for help first, Krishna saw Arjuna first. Krishna offers a choice to Arjuna (because he’s younger): he can either gain 100 million fighters known as Narayanas, or he can gain Krishna himself (although Krishna will not wield weapons or actually fight). Arjuna chooses Krishna himself, leaving the 100 million Narayanas to Duryodhana, which pleases him too.
The choice that Arjuna has to make—Krishna or 100 million extra soldiers—is symbolic. While the 100 million fighters might seem more practical from a military tactics perspective, the point of this passage is that Arjuna made the right choice and that the favor of Krishna is worth more than even 100 million soldiers. As an incarnation of Vishnu, Krishna’s favor is like the favor of the gods, and so Arjuna affirms his belief that the gods are more powerful than even the largest quantity of mortals.
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After Duryodhana leaves, Krishna asks Arjuna why he chose him over the 100 million Narayanas. Arjuna says he did it because Krishna has fame and Arjuna also wants to be famous. Krishna is pleased to see that Arjuna is competitive, so he agrees to be Arjuna’s charioteer in battle.
Arjuna’s choice here has echoes of Karna’s earlier choice to give up the armor that made him invulnerable for the sake of fame. Krishna’s approval of this decision suggests that fame is one of the highest purposes of battle, perhaps even higher than winning itself.
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INDRA’S VICTORY. Yudhishthira hears about a time when Indra himself suffered a setback, and he asks to hear more about it. In the story, one of Indra’s enemies creates a demon named Vritra that is too strong even for Indra. The other gods despair, and Vishnu decides he needs to intervene to make peace between Vritra and Indra. Vritra agrees to the peace terms, but then Indra finds a loophole and kills him. Afterwards, Indra feels guilty. Eventually Indra atones for what he did by offering a horse sacrifice and performing other deeds in penance.
This passage is a direct precursor to some of the events that will happen later in the Kurukshetra War between the Pandavas and Kauravas. The Pandavas will also face the choice of whether or not to use tricks to overcome their enemies. This passage does not necessarily offer an easy answer—while the actions of a great god like Indra might seem like a worthy example, Indra feels guilty about his choice afterwards, raising the question about whether even a supreme god like Indra makes mistakes sometimes.
Themes
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SAMJAYA’S MISSION. Meanwhile at the Kauravas, Dhritarashtra gives instructions to his aide, Samjaya. Dhritarashtra disagrees with Duryodhana’s warlike attitude, and so he wants Samjaya to go to the Pandavas and say whatever it takes to stop a war. Samjaya goes to present this message to the Pandavas, who agree they want peace but warn that their dharma allows a king to go to war against someone who seizes his land. Samjaya reports back to Dhritarashtra that he believes Duryodhana’s aggression against the Pandavas will lead to the Kauravas’ doom.
Dhritarashtra, for all his weaknesses as a leader, still has a sense of the danger that the Kauravas will bring on themselves by antagonizing the Pandavas. While the Pandavas warn Samjaya about the possibility of violence, Krishna has advised them to try peace first, and so Dhritarashtra has a genuine opportunity to stop the impending war here. This passage emphasizes that Dhritarashtra has both the power to stop the war and knowledge of the consequences of failing to do so—and this means he must live with whatever decision he makes.
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WAKEFULNESS. Dhritarashtra summons Vidura, saying he’s been disturbed ever since Samjaya’s visit to the Pauravas. Vidura tells Dhritarashtra that there are many different types of wisdom and foolishness and that the best advisor is one who can give good but unwanted advice.
Dhritarashtra’s unsettled state of mind shows that he understands the importance of the decision he’s about to make. Vidura’s comment about there being many different types of wisdom and foolishness relates yet again to the idea of dharma, where what is wise for one person might be foolish for another.
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SANATSUJATA. Dhritarashtra speaks with an immortal seer named Sanatsujata and asks him why Sanatsujata believes there is no death. Sanatsujata doesn’t quite answer the question, explaining instead that he believes distraction and passion are death and that ascetism is the best course of action.
Dhritarashtra’s conversation with Sanatsujata shows that he is still concerned about the decision he has to make. Sanatsujata’s condemnation of passion seems to be an indictment of the passionate jealousy that motivates all of Duryodhana’s actions, whereas Sanatsujata’s praise of asceticism recalls the more temperate attitude of Yudhishthira.
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WAR AND PEACE. At dawn, the Kauravas all assemble in a hall. Samjaya enters with a message from Arjuna: if Duryodhana doesn’t relinquish Yudhishthira’s kingdom, the Pandavas are ready to go to war. At the hall, Bhishma also speaks up against Duryodhana. Dhritarashtra believes that it would be a disaster to fight the Pandavas, and yet Samjaya counters that Dhritarashtra nevertheless keeps listening to Duryodhana.
Dhritarashtra’s first war meeting begins with just about everyone advising him that war would be a disastrous idea. Notably, even though Bhishma recently fought against the Pandavas during the cattle raid, he advises against continuing to fight them. Bhishma represents how complicated the various loyalties could become during war—although he has no personal grudge against the Pandavas and believes they are too strong to overcome, at the end of the day, he remains faithful to his leader, Dhritarashtra.
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Duryodhana and Karna both speak up saying they want to fight anyway. After everyone leaves, Dhritarashtra privately asks for a prediction from Samjaya, who says that he believes the winner will be whoever has Krishna on their side, and right now that’s the Pandavas.
Duryodhana and Karna’s dislike of the Pandavas hinges on personal feelings rather than a reasoned assessment of the situation. They have succumbed to passion, as Sanatsujata warned in a previous passage, and their feelings threaten to bring the rest of the Kauravas into war with them.
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THE MISSION OF THE BLESSED LORD. Yudhishthira asks Krishna for advice about how to proceed, and Krishna agrees to go to the Kauravas in person to try to bring about a peaceful solution. Uncharacteristically, Bhima also strongly calls for peace, causing Krishna to laugh at how unusual this is. Bhima gets angry at his laughter, saying that he’s not afraid of war and simply advising what he thinks is best. They all discuss strategy in more detail, until finally Krishna leaves to see the Kauravas.
As this passage shows, even though Krishna isn’t able to fight in battle, he still gives advice to the Pandavas. Coming right after the Kaurava war meeting, where Duryodhana and Karna try to recklessly lead their side into battle, this passage emphasizes the value of having a cooler head (like Krishna) to give advice—even the warlike Bhima begins to think more cautiously. All of this reaffirms that Arjuna made the right choice by choosing Krishna over the 100 million soldiers.
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Dhritarashtra plans to receive Krishna lavishly, although Vidura warns him that no amount of opulence will sway Krishna away from the Pandavas. When Krishna arrives, he refuses to eat a meal until he’s finished with his mission. In the morning, there’s a great assembly where Krishna speaks in front of many of the Kauravas and their allies.
Although providing hospitality is usually an important duty for a king, here Dhritarashtra doesn’t realize that his duty as a leader involves more than just providing hospitality—he needs to take this opportunity to make peace with the Pandavas. Once again, this illustrates how a person’s dharma changes depending on the circumstances.
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Krishna gives a speech about how Duryodhana has led them all away from dharma. He says the Kauravas are strong, but he asks them to imagine how much stronger they would be with the Pandavas on their side. Krishna talks about how Yudhishthira follows dharma and how his request to return his old kingdom is reasonable.
In his speech, Krishna connects dharma to the ever-important issues of lineage and legitimacy—Yudhishthira has a right to his throne, and it is against dharma for anyone to refuse to acknowledge that right.
Themes
DAMBHODBHAVA. Krishna’s speech silences many in the audience. Rama Jamadagnya, however, tells a story about a mighty but boastful warrior king named Dambhodbhava. Dambhodbhava picked a fight with a great seer, however, and the seer defeated him by nullifying his arrows, then throwing reeds at his army. After finishing the story, Rama Jamadagnya warns that Arjuna and Krishna are like that great seer from the story.
Rama Jamadagnya’s story continues on the same theme as Krishna’s—while Dambhodbhava is strong, he makes the same mistake that the Kauravas are on the brink of making, trusting his own military prowess while ignoring spirituality. The great seer demonstrates how religion is more powerful than mere mortal strength by defeating a whole army with just reeds.
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MATALI. The adoptive father of Śakuntula, who is a greet seer, speaks up to tell a different story to Duryodhana. His is about Indra’s charioteer Matali, who believes no god or mortal is good enough as a husband for his daughter, so he goes to the snake realm in the underworld. There, he finds a suitable serpent husband for his daughter. Indra confers long life on the new husband. A celestial bird named Garuda complains, so Vishnu intervenes to ask him to support the weight of his arm. Garuda can’t deal with the weight, and this shows the arrogance of questioning the gods.
This story provides yet another example of a mortal who, while strong, overestimated his own strength compared to that of the gods. The moral of both these stories is that, because it’s dharma for Yudhishthira to rule on his throne, the Pandavas have the gods on their side—and so it would be foolish to attempt to challenge them in war with mere mortal strength.
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GALAVA. Now Narada has a story to tell in the hall of the Kauravas. He warns Duryodhana not to be stubborn by telling him about Galava, a student of the greet seer Viśvamitra. Viśvamitra sends Galava out into the world, but Galava wants to bring him back a gift. Viśvamitra asks for 800 white horses with one black ear. With some help from Vishnu and from the king Yayati, Galava manages to fulfill this request.
Viśvamitra gives Galava a request that is supposed to be impossible, and yet by seeking out help from a god and a righteous king, Galava is able to do so anyway. This story is yet another morality tale about why the Kauravas should be cautious about the might of the Pandavas.
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For his role in helping, Yayati regains his celestial form and goes to heaven. When he arrives, he asks Brahma why he fell back to earth in the first place. Brahmas replies that he fell due to his pride. Ending the story, Narada believes that Duryodhana similarly risks being brought down by his pride.
This passage provides yet another example of the power of stories—the story conveys the danger of Duryodhana’s pride more vividly than a simple argument would.
Themes
Hearing all this, Dhritarashtra says he definitely wants to make peace with the Pandavas. Krishna appeals to Duryodhana directly to try to convince him of the same. He reiterates that the Pandavas are powerful allies and that the Kauravas are likely to lose if they try to challenge them. Bhishma gives his own speech agreeing with Krishna, then Drona does the same. Vidura and even Dhritarashtra all tell Duryodhana that it is dharma to listen to Krishna.
This passage makes it clear that Duryodhana himself has heard all the good reasons for not going to war. The poem really emphasizes that whatever decision Duryodhana makes, he did so with full knowledge of the consequences—and the same applies just as much to Dhritarashtra, who has the power to stop Duryodhana. The idea that Duryodhana has the agency to make a choice is important—the most enlightened figures in the poem are the ones who are able to use introspection to reach the correction decision.
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Angry at the advice, Duryodhana defends himself to the others at the assembly. He promises Krishna he won’t surrender any land to the Pandavas, not even a piece of land as small as the tip of a spear. Krishna laughs angrily and tells the whole assembly the various ways Duryodhana has provoked the Pandavas and why they are justified to fight back. Eventually, Duryodhana gets so angry that he leaves the room.
Rather than considering the evidence or seeking self-knowledge, Duryodhana lashes out angrily, showing how he lacks the enlightened perspective of more introspective figures in the poem. Although the previous stories have all demonstrated the dangers of unearned confidence, Duryodhana nevertheless continues to make bold threats, having learned nothing.
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Krishna suggests to the remaining people in the assembly that their best option is to bind Duryodhana and present him to the Pandavas. Dhritarashtra sends Vidura to fetch Gandhari for advice. She agrees that Duryodhana is acting foolishly and should be handed over to the Pandavas. They bring Duryodhana back so his mother can tell this to him directly.
In spite of Duryodhana’s unreasonable response, Krishna remains committed to the idea of peace, suggesting that if Duryodhana is being unreasonable, then at least the other Kauravas could find a way to make peace. This passage is where Dhritarashtra shows his real weakness as a leader—just as he hesitated to kill Duryodhana as a baby for the greater good, he still hesitates to hand over Duryodhana as a prisoner, even after learning the consequences from Krishna and others of letting Duryodhana’s pride drive the Kauravas into war.
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Duryodhana refuses to accept their advice, and so he schemes with Śakuni about how to capture Krishna. But a wise warrior named Satyaki sees their conversation and figures out what they’re planning, so he goes to Vidura with a warning. Krishna hears the news and tells Dhritarashtra that if anyone tries to restrain him, he won’t fight back, even though he could destroy all his assailants. Dhritarashtra decides to make yet another attempt to get Duryodhana to see reason.
Duryodhana’s decision to try to capture Krishna rather than listen to him shows a total lack of respect for the will of the gods. Krishna doesn’t fight back due to his earlier promise not to fight in battle against them—while Krishna is extremely powerful, he is ultimately more interested in letting mortal affairs play out than in trying to single-handedly shape them.
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Duryodhana still doesn’t change his mind. But when he approaches Krishna to capture him, Krishna laughs and scolds him. All of a sudden, various gods seem to flow out of Krishna’s body, like Brahma and Indra, and so do the five Pandavas. Many in attendance close their eyes in fear. Krishna returns to his normal form and then gets in his splendid chariot to leave and go back to Yudhishthira.
Krishna only demonstrates his true power on rare occasions. His display here frightens many in the audience but doesn’t seem to move Duryodhana, showing the extent of Duryodhana’s self-delusion—he is so convinced of his own strength as a mortal that he doesn’t fear the gods even after witnessing direct proof of their power.
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THE INSTRUCTION OF VIDURA’S SON. Krishna rides his chariot to Kunti to tell her of how Duryodhana has refused peace. She has her own messages to pass on to the Pandavas. Krishna travels onward with Karna and talks with him for a while.
Having failed to convince Duryodhana, Krishna moves on to Karna, who has been one of the most vocal advocates against the Pandavas but who nevertheless seems to have a more reasonable temperament than Duryodhana.
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PERSUADING KARNA. Samjaya was riding with Krishna and Karna, and he reports back to Dhritarashtra what they discussed. Kunti (Karna’s biological mother, as well as the biological mother of the three oldest Pandavas) tried to convince Karna to switch sides and join the Pandavas so that all her sons can be together. Karna refused, but he promised that the only Pandava he wants to kill is Arjuna.
Karna’s attitude toward the Pandavas is much more reasonable than Duryodhana’s, but his pride still leads him to make bad decisions. His special grudge against Arjuna goes back to their childhood, when Arjuna constantly received praise that Karna never got due to how his status as Kunti’s child had to be hidden. Rather than accepting that he has a different dharma than Arjuna, Karna can’t help craving what his half-brother has.
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MARCHING TO WAR. Both the Pandavas and the Kauravas prepare their armies. THE INSTALLATION OF BHISHMA. Duryodhana puts Bhishma in charge of his forces. Dhritarashtra asks Samjaya to give him an update on Duryodhana’s battle plans.
Now that Krishna has properly made the case for peace and the Kauravas have rejected it, both sides start preparing for war, which seems to be inevitable. Notably, even skeptics like Bhishma maintain their loyalty to Dhritarashtra when the time for battle actually draws near.
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ULUKA’S MISSION. Samjaya begins telling Dhritarashtra about battle preparations. Uluka, son of Śakuni, delivers an inflammatory message to the Pandavas. They get predictably enraged, and so Duryodhana orders his troops to be ready for battle. THE REVIEW OF THE MAJOR AND MINOR WARRIORS. Samjaya continues his summary, describing how Duryodhana had Bhishma name all his major and minor warriors.
Uluka's speech emphasizes how the Kauravas are acting based on emotion rather than introspection or reasoning. Bhishma’s list of all the names of people involved in the war is yet another example of part of the poem that serves little narrative or thematic purpose but ultimately helps the poem achieve its purpose as an encyclopedic reference.
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AMBA. Duryodhana hears the story of how Bhishma will not kill Sikhandin, a mortal male warrior who used to be female and who is a reincarnation of the princess Amba (sister of Ambika and Ambalika). Bhishma initially kidnaps Amba, but although he returns her, this starts a rivalry between him and Rama Jamadagnya. Rama Jamadagnya and Bhishma fight an epic battle that lasts days and leaves both seriously wounded. At last, each man’s ancestors help convince the two of them to put aside their disagreement.
This passage describes a rivalry that spans across reincarnations, with Bhishma kidnapping Amba in the past and then, later, having to deal with her new incarnation as the male warrior Sikhandin. One of the recurring themes in the poem is how a person’s choices in one life affect what happens to them in the next life, and so Bhishma’s abduction of Amba comes back to haunt him when Amba gets reincarnated.
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Amba isn’t happy with this outcome, wanting Bhishma dead, and so one day when Śiva offers her a boon, she asks to be reborn as a warrior who defeats Bhishma. To hasten this rebirth, she burns herself on a pyre. When Drupada requests a son from Śiva, Śiva gives him a daughter, Sikandini, whom they raise as a boy named Sikhandin. This causes a scandal when Drupada marries Sikhandin (formerly Sikhandini) to a princess, but a boon from a Yaksha transforms Sikhandin to have full “maleness.” Nevertheless, Bhishma refuses to fight Sikhandin because he used to be a woman.
Depending on the perspective, sex and gender in the Mahabharata can feel either very modern or very dated by today’s standards. On the one hand, Sikhandin becomes a noble warrior, and the figures who doubt his abilities (because he was born as the female Sikhandini) ultimately get proven wrong. At the same time, however, this transformation arguably reinforces gender roles by suggesting that women can’t be warriors and that the only way for a woman to take on a male role is for a boon to biologically transform her.
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