Srijan Bisht, BA LLB, Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad
ABSTRACT
Mahabharata is an epic tale from the 9th century BCE. It was written and compiled by Ved Vyasa. The epic holds great relevance in the Indian Context. It has taught our civilisation the meaning of dharma and principles. The tale follows a path of morality, humanity, divinity, spirituality, deception, cheating and detestation. The tale of Mahabharata also consists of the Bhagavat-Gita, which follows course of Arjuna’s dilemma and his questions before the battle of Kurukshetra, and Shri Krishna’s answers to the same. It is the leading Hindu holy book. Along the tale of Mahabharata, the readers encounter multiple ethical dilemmas that are faced by the individuals in the epic. We encounter the prince Devarata, who took the oath of Bhramacharya (celibacy) and vowed to never claim the throne for himself out of love and affection for his father Shantanu. He then became Pitamah Bhishmah. We encounter the ethical dilemma faced by the Pandavas, whether to obey the command their mother gave unknowingly, of splitting Draupadi among the five brothers, or not. We come across the ethical dilemma of Yudhisthira in choosing deception in order to defeat Dronacharya, his enemy and teacher. This paper will discuss and interpret the character of Kunti: the Rajmata of the Kuru Kingdom in depth and then discuss the various ethical challenges she had to face, and their impacts and consequences for Karna, her son that she bore divinely from the blessing of Surya Deva. This paper will cover important relationships she had with other figures in the story and how they impacted her actions and ultimately their consequences.
