Ten Things to Know about the Mahabharata: #4
Javanese shadow puppet of Karna, a character in the Mahabharata
4. Caste counts. Caste has a long, complex, and politically fraught history in India. This post merely outlines a few basics that are relevant to a reading of the Mahabharata.
Humans in the epic are born into a caste that determines their status and lifestyle. Caste resembles but is not quite the same as a social or feudal class. It determines the the jobs a character may hold, whom they may marry, and their duty toward members of other castes, among other things.
The castes you’ll encounter in the epic are mainly the kshatriya, who tend to be warrior and rulers, and the priestly brahmins.
A man of the kshatriya caste studies the art of weapons and statescraft; he’s likely to become a warrior or a ruler. His duties often include ruling justly, defending his kingdom, treating holy men with respect, and keeping his word. Many of the main characters, including the Pandava brothers and their cousins, belong to this caste.
A man of the priestly brahmin class studies the Vedas, or Sanskrit scriptures, from childhood, and officiates at religious rites. They lead ascetic lives of near-poverty and often live on donations of food. A notable brahmin in the epic is Vyasa, the sage who transcribes the Mahabharata as the god Ganesh tells it and appears as a character in the story.
Assumptions about caste are so strong that the warrior princes can disguise themselves by behaving like members of other castes. When they need to hide from spies, the warrior brothers dress as brahmins and beg for alms. This ploy succeeds until they hear of a demon who has been forcing villagers to sacrifice one of their youths for his supper. One brother, Bhima, is so outraged that he kills the demon, an act that unfortunately “outs” him as warrior. The brothers later conceal themselves by taking unusual jobs for warriors in a palace: a cook, an animal keeper, a lady-in-waiting, and so on. When the local prince goes to battle, though, the “lady-in-waiting” can’t help but take the field.
One can hardly identify a single attitude toward caste in the enormous, episodic work. It does, however, raise recurring questions. What happens when a man’s skills and aspirations appear to conflict with his birth? Drona, the heroes’ weapons instructor, also happens to be a brahmin; Vishwamitra, a kshatriya king, becomes a respected sage.The most famous example is Karna, a brother of the heroes who was born and abandoned before their mother was married. Karna had been adopted by a chariot driver. When he challenges the great Pandava warrior Arjuna in a contest, Arjuna refuses to fight someone of a lower caste. Arjuna’s enemy Duryodhana takes the opportunity to offer Karna a kingship so that he may have the status to fight. Here begins Karna’s alliance with the enemies of his brothers. Later, when Karna wants to participate in an arms contest to win the princess Draupadi, the princess declares that she is not interested, presumably because of his birth. Arjuna then wins her hand.
A more minor but no less memorable figure is Ekalavya, a low-caste man who wants to become a warrior. When the guru Drona refuses to train him, Ekalavya makes a clay version of Drona and, treating it as respectfully as he would a teacher, trains himself to be quite extraordinary. He’s so good that Arjuna, the Pandavas’ most skilled warrior, feels threatened and asks Drona to do something about him. Drona knows Ekalavya reveres him as his guru and will do anything he asks, as is proper for a student. So he asks Ekalavya to cut off his thumb so that he can no longer use the bow and arrow as well. Ekalavya dutifully gives his guru his thumb. The episode suggests that skills and aspirations are not a matter of birth, but of what a man’s fellows allow him to have.
Another question about caste: What is the duty of a warrior when it conflicts with his duty as a brother, son, husband, student, or devotee? This brings us to number #3…
