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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol.7, No.12

Publication Date: December 25, 2020

DOI:10.14738/assrj.712.9444.

Sahgal, S. (2020). Evolving Dharma Consciousness of Dharmaputra Yudhishthira within the Mahabharata. Advances in Social Sciences

Research Journal, 7(12) 14-26.

Evolving Dharma Consciousness of Dharmaputra Yudhishthira

within the Mahabharata1

Smita Sahgal

Department of History

Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi

ABSTRACT

The Mahabharata is an encyclopaedic epic. If "epic" means "long," then

the Sanskrit Mahabharata, traditionally estimated to be hundred

thousand verses long, is the most "epic" of them. The text is highly

heterogeneous, however, not only because of manuscript variation but

also because the narrative branches off into numerous sub-narratives

and is densely interwoven with theological discussions, ritual lore, legal

discourses, philosophical, cosmological, and astronomicalinstruction. It

professes, “What is here may be found elsewhere. [Yet,] what is not here

is nowhere to be found.”i . Discussing this statement, David Shulman

remarks that “the Mahabharata is conterminous with the world. It

presents itself not as a work of art but as reality itself. No boundary

marks off this text from the world.”ii This self-reflective perception of

the epic relates to its pivotal theme, the concept of dharma.

Key words: Consciousness, dharma, svadharma, sukshadharma, challenges.

The objective of the paper is to comprehend a deep implication of what dharma meant to

Yudhishthira through the length of historical events related to war and philosophical questioning

on the issue. He had to fight through so much in terms of pitting his intuitive understanding of

dharma against a whole gamut of mundane ideas of what dharma stood for. For instance, his

struggle with his brothers on the complexity of svadhrama and its rejoinder in form of

sukshadharma or knowledge of subtle consciousness. His inner conflict continued and there came

a time in the last parva, Svargarohana parva, when he just denounced dharma. It was through these

trials and tribulations that Yudhishthira was finally able to evolve his own idea of what real truth,

conduct, duty, morality and inner consciousness were about. In other words what was true dharma.

Through this paper the author attempts to tease out complexities of the philosophical queries that

bothered Yudhishthira and also trace his historical trajectory in the quest.

(II)

METHODOLOGY: LOCATING THE PROBLEM

SCOUTING FOR ISSUES

In order to understand Yudhishthira’s long philosophical journey, we need to address a number of

issues, starting from the very fundamental ones. What is dharma according to the Mahabharata? Is

1 This is a slightly modified version of a paper presented at DSC international conference hosted by Waterloo university

Canada and DEE on 22nd May 2020

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URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.712.9444 15

Sahgal, S. (2020). Evolving Dharma Consciousness of Dharmaputra Yudhishthira within the Mahabharata. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal,

7(12) 14-26.

definition fixed or is it dynamic? Do all people speak of it with the same voice? Is the notion of

dharma same for Yuthishthira and his Pandava brothers? Does his wife Draupadi subscribe to his

idea of dharma? If his notion of dharma changed over time, does it have anything to do with

changing consciousness of the society or at least some people within the society? Can we sense a

subtle move towards a shift from karma yoga to jnana yoga and finally to bhakti yoga? In this

changing paradigm where do we locate the dharma philosophy of Dharmaputra Yudhishthira,

especially when there comes a time when he himself begins questioning the idea of dharma? In a

sense his character brings out the dilemmas arising out of the differences in meanings and

approaches of comprehending the complexities associated with the concept of dharma.

The perception of dharma pervades not just the Mahabharata, but entire Hindu literature. However,

the Mahabharata reveals a living, searching concern for dharma, as the text unfolds from its first

parva. The Mahabharata calls itself a Dharma Samhita, i.e., a compendium of dharma, but it is unlike

other Dharma Samhitas because it treats dharma through a living story, through actual situations

which makes its various concepts come to life. What makes the work profound is the texture of the

story of the epic itself and what fascinates us is not the preponderance of the idea of dharma but the

open-minded enquiry into it.iii Dharma does not always come as a pronouncement but is arrived at

and remains many layered. Through varied moments of crisis, at personal, social and spiritual levels

the question pops up, what is dharma’? But there are no easy answers and the text does not provide

simple solutions. What stands out is the consciousness about dharma and through a play of events,

narration and philosophical mulling, the text seeks to sieve out its essentials.

Tracing the Roots

Today the word dharma is understood as something religious. That may not have been its starting

point in earliest literature. The Sanskrit root-word is dhr, 'to support', 'to sustain'. In other words,

it means that whereby whatever lives, is sustained, upheld, supported. More often than not, the

word dharma in its ancient usage denoted the moral realm in its widest sense, meaning both

morality as an ideal— man's eternal quest for the good, the right, the just—as well as the given,

actual framework of norms, rules, maxims, principles that guide human action. It was integral to the

doctrine of purushartha or that of the four goals of a human being; these being artha

(success/material possessions), kama (passion/procreation), dharma (virtue/religious duty),

moksha (self-perfection). All the four are intertwined. Before we take up the exploration any further

there is the need to historicize the text.

(III)

HISTORY OF THE MAHABHARATA

The Mahabharata is a complex and mysterious creation in which newer elements have been

superimposed upon the older ones, forming layer upon layer, becoming somewhat connected and

united in a kind of symbiotic system, demonstrating ‘an oil and water coexistence of historically

heterogeneous (philosophical and mythological) modes of thinking What came to be eventually

known as the Mahabharata (ascribed to Veda Vyasa) originally consisted of only 8800 verse, and

the text was called Jaya. Then it was enlarged to 24000 verses, and came to be known as the Bharata.

Finally, it was inflated to 100000 verses, and came to be called Mahabharata in the Gupta times, 4th

century CE. What had begun as an itihastradition based on folklore, legends, dramatized stories and

eulogic songs (called gathas, narasamsis, akhyana) ended as a great kavya or a work of artificial

poetry. It came to be translated in many languages and through the medieval and modern times

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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol.7, Issue 12, December-2020

came to be interpreted in a variety of ways. The Critical edition presented by Bhandarkar Oriental

Research Centre, Poona, and edited by V. Sukhtankar has taken numerous versions into account.

The Kashmiri Sharda edition (11th C CE) is considered least corrupted but the Vulgate (17th C) is

considered equally useful in dwelling over dominant ideas. We also need to remind ourselves that

unlike the Vedas and Dharmasutras that were conceived for or targeted male audiences, the epics

cut across class and gender divide to reach out to a wider audience. The result is that extant text

reflects societies and numerous philosophical strands that must have dominated the thinking of

mythographers and philosophers at different points in time.

(IV)

DYNAMICS OF THE CONCEPT OF DHARMA WITHIN THE MAHABHARATA

The principal problematics with the issue of dharma in the Mahabharata is the profusion of its

occurrences and its varied meanings. Moreover, the Mahabharata does not always speak with one

voice about the particular behaviour or behaviours that actually have the status of dharma. The

word is also used to acclaim (or its opposite, adharma to criticize) some agent's objects, ethical

sensibilities, or the general value of his or her life and amassed deeds. It is true that while many

characters of the epic showed respect to the concept of dharma, not all of them reiterate its

relevance the way Yudhishthira did. Draupadi, Bhima and even Krishna Vasudeva call its

fundamental value into question at different times, all asserting that this-worldly self-interest

[artha] is sometimes more important.

Dharma is recurrently said in the Mahabharata to be very subtle (suksma) and difficult to know and

at times confounding. This subtlety offers storytellers great opportunities for the development of

narratives focusing on personal or existential dilemmas, for situations could arise—or be

imagined—in which the demands of a person’s dharma seemed to be mutually contradictory. Whole

sections of the text develop the point that often what appear to be contradictory. Even as it appears

confusing at times, the overall idea is to work in the direction of evolving an equation.

Our focus in the paper is to understand dharma from the point of view of Yudhishthira, the eldest

Pandava, often referred to as the son of Dharmaraja and hence the epitome of dharma itself. His

conflict with dharma ensues from the tussle to comprehend its variegated forms; Apadhdharma,

moksha dharma, svadharma and sukshmadharma to spell out a few. Yudhisthira attempts to sort out

internal dialects that in turn would sharpen his own consciousness in this regard. Let us try and

understand Yudhisthira’s challenges on the issue right from the beginning of the text.

(V)

YUDHISTHIRA’S ASSESSMENT OF DHARMA IN THE SABHAPARVAN: STAKING OF DRAUPADI

IN GAME OF DICE

Not only was Draupadi put on stake in this parva, dharma itself was at centre of argument. The

climactic scene in Dyutparvan (II.59-65) contrasts silence with loudness, forcefulness with reserve,

authority with refusal to employ it, and truth with false interpretation of dharma. Draupadi had

been dragged in the court in court after Yudhishthira staked her and lost her. She was to be disrobed

and she protested loudly asking Yudhishthira the basis of putting her on stake when he himself had

been reduced to slavery. The question was opened up to the assembly at large when Draupadi asked

all to reconsider her argument. Chapter sixty-one consists of series of arguments and statements

applying dharma as the adjudicating factor in the question of whether or not Draupadi has been

legitimately won by the Kauravas. The central issue was the employment of dharma to justify her