The serial ‘Mahabharat’ first aired more than 30 years back.Most of us in our 20s have only heard stories about how the telecast of the serial would stop daily life altogether.Back then,TV sets were not so common & watching serials was a community experience.This was similar to the ‘Ramayan’ phenomenon which had started airing just a few months before ‘Mahabharat’.Now after three decades,nature has decided to unleash a virus that would force us to stay home for a while.Amidst this,India’s I&B ministry decided to restart airing many popular shows of yesteryears.’Ramayan’,’Mahabharat’,’Byomkesh Bakshi’ & ‘Circus’ will air every week now.I have long been fascinated by ‘Mahabharat’.The common perception is that it’s about the victory of ‘good’ over ‘evil’.The Pandavs blessed by Lord Krishna were the victors in the monumental 18-day battle at Kurukshetra.However,I have insisted that the story is about so much more.Every small decision sets the ball rolling for big things in the future.And lessons are peppered everywhere.As Ganga remarks in Ep. 2,”bhavishya ateet ki kokh se hi janam leta hai”,i.e,the future is borne out of the past’s womb.I have decided to try & highlight the key takeaways from these episodes.I will also provide a summary of each episode at the same time.Here goes:
Episode 1:
The story starts with ‘Samay‘,i.e.,Time itself,reciting the tale of Mahabharat.This gives the story a neutral footing & elevates it’s authenticity since time is eternal & time has definitely been the direct witness of everything including the events narrated in ‘Mahabharat’.It’s a smart narrative choice.Harish Bhimani’s voice is a joy for the ears.Next,we see the king Bharat being distressed about his successor.He has nine sons but is unable to decide who to coronate as his heir.He visits his ‘guru’ and maternal grandfather for advice.Bharat is advised to look for the most eligible king.The guru reminds Bharat of his duty towards justice.Bharat must find the most capable person for the job.The duty of a king is to think about his society,’praja‘.The king’s duty is also referred to as ‘Rajdharm‘.Bharat returns satisfied & after contemplation declares in his court that none of his nine sons are worthy of being a king.He then declares Bhumanyu as the rightful heir.We are told that Bhumanyu is not the king’s blood.This decision is not hailed in the court.It also sends Bharat’s mother into a tizzy who questions his fatherly instincts.Bharat tells her that she is blinded by her motherhood & fails to see that her grandchildren lack capability.Bharat’s decision is a breakaway from the tradition of direct blood heirs.Thus,he put ‘Karm‘ before ‘Janm‘,i.e.,actions before birth.This creates a precedence for all his successors.The story then jumps to Shantanu who is out on a hunting expedition.He spots a woman clad in white & is immediately smitten by her beauty.He proceeds towards her and tells her his longing for her.They introduce each other.The woman is Ganga,the famous river of India,in human form.Shantanu surrenders to her in his love induced trance and makes a subtle proposal.Ganga postpones her decision to the next day.Shantanu spends a restless night.The next day,Ganga asks him to make a promise.The promise entails that Shantanu never question Ganga,no matter what happens.If Shantanu breaks his promise,Ganga would leave him forever.Shantanu gives his complete agreement.He assures her that he won’t even try to find the reason behind her action(s) This is the first mistake he makes.Shantanu is so lost in his love that he forgets his duty as a king.He never thinks that anything that Ganga does could go against his praja.This blind promise would haunt him later.The relationship blossoms,they get married & Shantanu spends his nights smitten with Ganga’s beauty,describing her features with utmost romantic poetry.We are told that Shantanu has been in his quarters for months on end without doing his royal duties.His minister is unfazed & let’s the king have his pleasures.Ganga bears their first kid.The king is overjoyed and proceeds to Ganga’s quarters to have a look.Meanwhile she has already left and is proceeding towards the river.Perplexed,Shantanu follows her.Ganga drowns her kid into the river.Appalled but still bound by his promise,Shantanu can only watch.He goes through endless agony.His minister questions his wisdom to not give the murderer of his kids the death penalty.There is some nice wordplay here.Shantanu continues to be stumped with Ganga but he’s still in love.Ganga bears another kid.This one too,undergoes the same fate.This happens again and again.So much so,that the praja starts gossiping about Ganga.They abhor her motherhood but sympathise with the King,unable to fathom why he persists with his queen.Shantanu’s agony continues.His Rajguru admonishes him for his blind promise.His temptation superseded his duty.He has to live with the consequences now.
Ep. 2:
We open with Shantanu angry,sad & powerless against Ganga’s actions.But on the birth of their 8th kid,Shantanu is no longer able to hold back.He breaks his vow.Ganga reminds him of his promise.Shantanu reasons that the king gave the promise but the father is breaking it.Ganga now narrates the whole story of his previous birth.Shantanu was a celestial being in his previous birth.He was Indra’s friend,Mahabhisha.They were watching the dance of some apsaras in Indra’s court.Brahma was moving around with his daughter,Ganga.Mahabhisha was immediately struck by Ganga’s eyes.Ganga too kept staring at him.Just then,a gust of wind blew a part of Ganga’s garment.All members present looked down but Mahabhisha,lost in his trance continued to marvel at Ganga.Brahma,the father was furious at their callousness.He cursed both to be born on ‘Mrityulok’,i.e.,the world of death,the Earth.This is why Shantanu & Ganga had to spend time on earth.Shantanu is still curious about Ganga’s cruelty towards her sons.How could a mother kill her sons?! Ganga tells him that their children were not drowned.They did some sins in their previous birth and were cursed by Rishi Vasishtha that they’d never be able to attain Moksh.Ganga,saddened at their plight took it upon herself to liberate them.Thus,these men were re-born through Ganga’s womb who was to liberate the eight of them.Alas,the eighth kid couldn’t be liberated and would have to spend time on Earth.Shantanu is happy again.But his happiness is short lived.Since he broke his vow,Ganga would no longer be with him.She was free of the curse.Shantanu demands that she leave his son with him.Ganga denies his request but promises that Devavrat will be returned to him soon.Without a child and now without a wife,Shantanu spends all his days in a pathetic state.On one of his lonely days besides the river Ganga he hears the cry of infants.He discovers two newborn babies lying on the bed of an animal’s skin.They are surrounded by materials possessed by Rishis.Shantanu considers this divine intervention.He thanks the Rishi and tells his companion that Rishis are beyond a Kshartiya’s understanding.He picks up the kids and since they were both found through the Rishi’s grace,they are named ‘Kripa’ and ‘Kripi’.Shantanu returns to his kingdom and meets the Rajguru.Shantanu was a father awaiting the return of his son but leaving two helpless infants in the wild went against his idea of justice.At the same time,he couldn’t father these kids so he asks the Rajguru to adopt them.Then he goes back to his lonesome,weary self.Again he forgets his duties as a king.He prioritizes his woes over his kingdom.A king unable to rise over his woes is unable to protect his society.Thus,so far Shantanu has been a pretty bad king.He has harmed his kingdom unconsciously.While longing for Ganga one day,Shantanu spots a barrage of arrows stopping Ganga’s flow.He is surprised and goes to the shore with his weapons.Just when he’s about to break this barrage,Ganga appears.Shantanu is introduced to his 16 year old son.He has been educated in the arts of weaponry,politics,philosophy and the duties of a King.Shantanu is a happy man now.Ganga takes his leave and bids her son goodbye.She blesses Devavrat to create history.Now without his mother for the first time since his birth,Devavrat cuts a sorry figure.He tells Shantanu about his incompleteness…he’ll always be the kid who could never have his father’s and mother’s love at the same time.Shantanu assures him that he won’t miss his mother’s love.They proceed and Shantanu’s charioteer greets him and the prince by saying their ‘Jai’.Devavrat asks him to hail the kingdom instead.He reasons that the kingdom is greater than the king or the prince and thus only the kingdom must be hailed.On his arrival,the kingdom is overjoyed.They are besides themselves after finally getting an heir.Devavrat is carried to the palace amidst much fanfare.Shantanu soon discovers that his son has high wisdom.Every decision of Devavrat is backed by strong principles.Shantanu recognizes some of his teachers through their teachings.It turns out that Devavrat has gained knowledge from Shukr,Brihaspati,Parshuram and many other eminent contemporary thinkers.Shantanu hails him as ‘vidya-dhani’,i.e.,rich in knowledge.Devavrat rejects this.He says that a mortal is always a student.The only vidya-dhani is God himself.Humans can only receive the offerings of absolute knowledge and not absolute knowledge itself.Shantanu,embarrassed but more proud at his son continues to enquire about other things.Devavrat narrates a Sanskrit shlok that translates to:
Knowledge gives you modesty,
modesty gives you capability,
capability gives you wealth,
with wealth you do your duties
and by doing your duties you attain joy.
Devavrat at the tender age of 16 has such high ideals as his guide! Next we see Father and son share a game of dice(Kuru family members were said to be fond of the game of dice) Devavrat is asked about his time in Devlok.He tells Shantanu that the game of dice in that world is different.The thrower of the die is time itself and the pieces are humans.Time moves the die and the pieces.Their conversation is interrupted by a merchant.The merchant boasts of a glorious horse.He claims that this horse could even become the puller of Sun’s chariot.This is a reference to the idea that Sun was carried around in the skies by his chariot and 8 other horses.Shantanu strikes a deal with the merchant.If the horse doesn’t live up to his claims the merchant will get the death penalty.If it lives up then the merchant will be promoted to a ‘Kshatriy‘ and granted possession of 50 villages.Shantanu & Devavrat go out to see this fabled horse.The merchant continues his boasts.He tells them that in the whole of Bharatvarsh(ancient name of India) no one has been able to put a saddle on the horse.Shantanu’s soldiers now take up this task.However,the horse reacts wildly and resists their attempts.Devavrat watches the horse and seems to have come up with a solution.He asks his father’s permission & takes a 360 degree view of the animal.He easily puts the saddle and mounts the horse.He subtly scolds the merchant for playing tricks.The horse was not a glorious one who resisted riders.He was just scared of his own shadow.Devavrat saw through and mounted the saddle in a region where there was no shadow.He then takes the horse for a spin.En route,he finds a large army headed towards their kingdom of Hastinapur.Devavrat cautions the enemy king.The king,arrogantly asks him his identity and taunts Devavrat to flow away like his mother.The enemy advances.Devavrat unleashes a barrage of divine arrows.A cyclone torments the enemy camp.In his first battle ever,Devavrat subdues a formidable enemy all by himself.
Thus,the two parts highlight the duties of a king.The decision of Bharat is in sharp contrast to the long held tradition of the king’s son taking up the throne.Shantanu forgets his duties as a king.He forgets the justice his ancestor was famous for.He makes a blind promise to a woman he loves,jeopardizing the future of his kingdom & thus his ‘praja’.He violates Rajdharm.The consequences are not easy.Shantanu has to undergo endless moments of agony.First on seeing his seed being drowned by his wife and then living without a queen and without a son for many years.Devavrat comes in as a knight in shining armour,vitalising the thoughts of Shantanu and introducing him to new ideas.Even at a tender age,Devavrat is very wise.The story of the merchant is a very relatable one.Even today,we have companies making ads where they talk about how ‘different’ their product is.They add some adjectives like ‘pro’ or ‘plus’ or ‘advanced’ to increase the appeal.The merchant with the horse,confidently narrates the made up glory of his product.Shantanu smirks at the ‘boasts of merchants’.Devavrat’s exposé of the merchant validates the fact that merchants have always been smart at trickery.They offer good stuff but that alone won’t fetch a great price so it’s important to add some spice.
That’s it for the first 2 episodes.
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