Neither friend nor foe

War was imminent. Drupada, father of Draupadi and father-in-law of the Pandavas, was addressing an assembly of kings in Virata's court. The Pandavas had just completed 14 years in exile with the final year being spent incognito in King Virata's service. Drupada thundered: "Let us send word to our friends that they may collect an army for us. Let speedy messengers go to Salya and Dristaketu and Jayatsena and the prince of the Kekayas."*

The Pandavas could not fight this battle on their own and Drupada was signing up allies. Marriage, old friendships and favours bestowed in times of need - the Pandavas played every chip they had as they readied for battle; just like present-day political parties. Smart alliances, data indicates, have helped increase vote shares of the national parties in every election.** No surprise then that the political landscape is bustling with frenetic parleys between friends, foes and strangers for seats and votes; quite like the way it must have been in the time of the ancient epics.

The Pandavas were masters at sewing up strategic alliances. Arjuna's marriage to Ulupi, the sea princess, and Bhima's to Hidimba from the rakshasi clan were hugely advantageous relationships. Ghatotkacha, son of Hidimba and Bhima, killed several Kauravas and forced Karna to use a weapon that he had been saving up for Arjuna against him. Ulupi provided access to the might of the Naga army. In the larger Mahabharata narrative, however, both were treated poorly. Krishna rejoiced at Ghatotkacha's death and Ulupi was never allowed to live in the main palace with the other wives. The victor does not always play fair.

Another powerful partner for the Pandavas was Virata - his daughter had married Abhimanyu, Arjuna's son. He supplied soldiers and elephants and his sons fought valiantly on the side of the Pandavas. Choosing the right ally was always critical. In Odyssey, Athena who plays mentor to Telemachus, son of Odysseus, tells him to seek out his true friends to find his father. He finds Nestor, Menelaus and Helen who help him by providing him with clues and moral support.

The Kauravas were not as fortunate in their choices. Few kings and princes were willing to ignore their deep familial bonds with the Pandavas and even fewer believed in Duryodhana's cause. Karna was the exception, but he sat out most of the battle because of his grouse with Bhisma; somewhat like Achilles in the battle of Troy.

To add to his woes, Duryodhana also chose poorly. He accepted and was even elated at the prospect of having Krishna's army by his side, while Krishna chose to be Arjuna's charioteer. Without their commander, the soldiers were not as effective; and Krishna provided a huge moral, tactical and psychological advantage to the Pandavas, even though he did not fight on the battlefield. Some of Duryodhana's choices also did more damage than good. Shalya, uncle to the Pandava twins, was tricked into joining him. Shalya was on his way to align with the Pandavas. But Duryodhana's men intercepted him and his army, asking them to rest a few days before resuming their journey. Unaware that he was Duryodhana's guest, Shalya and his men agreed. And so pleased was he with the attention and care he received that when he discovered that it was Duryodhana and not Yudhisthira who was his host, he felt obliged to ally with the Kauravas. However he asked to meet Yudhishthira and his nephews before the battle to which Duryodhana agreed. At the meeting, Yudhishthira asked Shalya "for my sake though it may not be proper to be done"* to break Karna's spirit in the battlefield. Shalya as Karna's charioteer did just that, demoralising him and shattering his resolve as he went to battle against Arjuna. Snatching friends of rivals is never a good idea or an enemy's friend is never a good ally.

Strategic relationships have been a critical aspect of the mythology of the subcontinent. Vishnu, for instance, who is part of the trinity and highest in the hierarchy of gods, rides on the Garuda (a mythical bird) and rests on the Ananta Nag (the world serpent). The two were strong animistic deities who were assimilated into the Vedic fold, albeit in positions lower than the main gods. Alliances with tribal gods helped spread the Vedic way of life. They widened their influence.

Fighting wars and elections can't be done without allies. Not only do they provide access and influence, they can also be invaluable in the propaganda war. Drupada, for instance, not only brought in an army of kings, he also sent his priest to Dhritarashtra and asked him to sing the glory of the Pandavas: "If you speak words of righteousness unto Dhritarashtra, you will certainly gain the hearts of his fighting men. Vidura will also make use of those words of yours and will thus alienate the hearts of Bhisma, Drona and Kripa and others." Breaking the enemy's spirit was important and Drupada knew that. Given the scramble for alliances today, Drupada would definitely have been a sought-after campaign manager for the 2014 elections.

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*Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva, Translated by K M Ganguli
**"The mathematics of the Modi Wave,"Praveen Chakravarty, Business Standard, March 3, 2014

Right and Wrong

In the Ramayana, after the battle has been won and Ravana vanquished, the epic instead of winding down to a happy ending throws up a dilemma. Should Rama allow the words of one of his subjects to influence his life with Sita? Should he, as king, listen to his people who believed that Sita's chastity had been compromised due to her abduction, or should he, as husband, stand by her. Especially since she had put herself through a trial by fire at his request! Finally he chose his kingly duties over that of a husband and would-be father, and banished Sita to the forest.

The choices that stared at Rama were the choices society was grappling with at the time. Who is a good king? Should kings be answerable to their people more than they are to their families? And what makes the perfect man? Myths, epics and other literature of the time explored these issues in myriad ways and, in a way, helped communities deal with questions that had no straight answers.

Different people offered different perspectives. The concept of perfect man, for instance, was the concern of both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. While the Ramayana offered a template for perfection, the Mahabharata seemed to say there was no such thing. Wendy Doniger explains (The Hindus: An Alternative History; Penguin/Viking) that The Ramayana says, "There is a perfect man and his name is Rama," and the Mahabharata says, "Not really; dharma is so subtle that even Yudhisthira cannot always fulfill it." Dharma was an invigorating, but extremely complex concept. It meant making choices, taking stands and adopting behaviour patterns that were at times difficult to reconcile with other societal constructs such as family, love and loyalty. The epics reflected the quandary of the people over the concept of dharma: some believed that it had to be firmly defined while others imbued it with shades of grey.

The Occident was similarly preoccupied with the concept of justice. Homer grappled with it in Iliad and Odyssey as did Aeschylus in Orestia. The concept of revenge as a form of justice was explored in great detail in Orestia. Agamemnon was murdered by his wife. As per societal norms, he had to be avenged by Orestes, his son. Orestes was faced with a dilemma: not avenging his father's killing would be a crime as would be killing his mother. The code of ethics or morality that prevailed at the time said that a son had to act on behalf of his father but Aeschylus's plays sought a new form of justice, one that freed society from the cycle of revenge and retribution. Both Homer and Aeschylus were trying to offer an understanding of justice that looked beyond the immediate concerns of the family and tribe; one that was not tethered to the ancient Greek concept of 'miasma'. Miasma is envisioned as a cloud of pollution. It was believed that miasma hovered around evil deeds and stuck to one involved in an act of crime and to anyone who happened to be around the scene at the time. This was built on the philosophy that bad things do happen to good people and the only way to explain this is through miasma. By getting their heroes and other characters to deliberate and debate different ideas around revenge and fairness, the Greek epics helped build a more nuanced understanding of justice.

The epics - Indian as well as Greek - were also burdened with the task of defining what it meant to be a good woman. A woman's dignity, her position in society and her rights were issues that were dealt with through characters such as Kunti, Sita, Draupadi, Helen and Penelope. In the Mahabharata, the disrobing of Draupadi in a court full of people was meant to evoke anger as well as to fuel debate. Among the many questions that the scene raised were: what right did her husband have to wager her on the dice board? Are women the property of their fathers and then of their husbands? Did Draupadi have the right to be offended? While the Mahabharata was unequivocal in its condemnation of the act and understood her anger and desire for vengeance, it was less definitive about the culpability of the men who allowed this under their watch. Bhishma, when questioned by Draupadi, pointed out the difficulty of adhering to dharma at all times.

Interestingly, we live in times where the concepts of justice, role of women and a host of other issues are in a state of flux, yet again. It is not just India but people in several parts of the world are being forced to confront the knotty and tangled web of choices that circle these problems. Gordon Brown, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, put it most eloquently in a lecture to students at Edinburgh when he said, "We need to underpin the development of our new society by a global ethic that makes sense of our responsibilities to each other."

It may be time for communities across the globe to go back to the treasure chest of questions raised in our myths and epics.

(This article was first published in Business Standard Weekend) http://goo.gl/lkVvC8