Mahabharata....True Or Just A Story?????

[paul120]

Hi....

Its Anderson from Hawaii..I have a lot of hindu friends from India. I heard a lot from them about the stories of Mahabharata. But I am not sure does Mahabharata has some historical background over it or it is just a story that is being told by some old sages of India. If anyone have any idea then participate in the discussion.

[anbu_kathir]

Hi....

Its Anderson from Hawaii..I have a lot of hindu friends from India. I heard a lot from them about the stories of Mahabharata. But I am not sure does Mahabharata has some historical background over it or it is just a story that is being told by some old sages of India. If anyone have any idea then participate in the discussion.

Mr. Anderson (a la 'Smith' from 'The Matrix' :D )

The Mahabharata and the Ramayana are called 'Itihaasa' in Sanskrit, which in english could be translated to ' Thus indeed it happened'. That apart, there is no evidence of these events having actually happened in any part of India, although there exist several actual places which are mentioned in these itihaasas.

Whether it happened or not, that hardly means anything in the context of these myths (unless one is emotionally attached to the 'reality' or the 'fiction' of them). To quote from http://brainstorm-services.com/wcu-2004/mythology.html


Joseph Campbell, a leading scholar in the fields of mythology and comparative religion, explains that myth has four basic functions: metaphysical/mystical, cosmological, sociological, and pedagogical.

Its metaphysical function is to awaken us to the mystery and wonder of creation, to open our minds and our senses to an awareness of the mystical "ground of being," the source of all phenomena.

Its cosmological function is to describe the "shape" of the cosmos, the universe, our total world, so that the cosmos and all contained within it become vivid and alive for us, infused with meaning and significance; every corner, every rock, hill, stone, and flower has its place and its meaning in the cosmological scheme which the myth provides.

Its sociological function is to pass down "the law," the moral and ethical codes for people of that culture to follow, and which help define that culture and its prevailing social structure.

Its pedagogical function is to lead us through particular rites of passage that define the various significant stages of our lives-from dependency to maturity to old age, and finally, to our deaths, the final passage. The rites of passage bring us into harmony with the "ground of being" (a term often used by Joseph Campbell to refer to an unnamed, unspecified universal mystical power) and allow us to make the journey from one stage to another with a sense of comfort and purpose.

One thing to be noted is this: Mythology is never meant to convey actual history. That is out of its domain, although there could be distorted actual events appearing in the myths, they possibly never happened in anything beyond the minds of the people who were involved with them, the ones who wrote them down, the ones who inspired them, the ones who followed them, and the ones who read them for multifarious reasons.


For me, the tools of understanding mythology are several. They include the myth itself, the Bardo Thodol (aka 'the tibetan book of the dead' ), the Abhidhamma Pitaka of the Tripataka of Buddhism and all the modern psychoanalysis texts , like those of Freud, Jung, the culmination of all these being with the great works of Joseph Campbell, and ultimately my own mind and psyche and soul. It takes a lifetime, and its no joke, but it opens you up to yourself and that is just ______ :).

Love and Light.

[paul120]

Hi anbu_kathir,

Thanks for clearing my doubt about the indian mythology. It seems as if you bear ample knowledge about indian culture and indian mythology. Do you have know any link by reading of which I can be more clear about "Mahabharata". If yes then please post and let me know.

Thanks for participating.