Mahatma Gandhi famously argued that Bhagavad Gita needs to be seen as a metaphor of internal war, and has nothing to do with violence. Western scholars argue that the book does the very opposite. It actually promotes violence and is therefore favoured by Hindutva. To understand these contradictory views, we must revisit the 19th Century, when a poetic retelling of the Bhagavad Gita became very popular in Europe.
Edwin Arnold had composed ‘The Song Celestial’ based on Bhagavad Gita after the success of his book ‘The Light of Asia’, which explained the life of Buddha. Suddenly, two major ideas of India became popular in the intellectual circles of Europe. On one side was the Buddha, the pacifist, who wanted to conquer desires and end suffering, and on the other side was Krishna of the Bhagavad Gita, motivating Arjun to fight a war, despite his resistance.
At a time when the British were busy following the divide-and-rule policy, and undermining Hinduism, this provided another example of the religion of the Brahmins as a violent oppressive religion, one that wiped out peace-loving Buddhism, and promoted war, an idea endorsed by Babasaheb Ambedkar who opposed Gandhi on many issues.
Everybody finds something in the Bhagavad Gita to suit their politics. In the process, we forget what the problem is to which Krishna offers a solution.
It all starts with Arjun’s issue with the war. His problem is that he does not want to fight a war against his relatives. He has no problem with killing people, he has no problem with war, he has no problem with murdering strangers. He has done so in the past. But, when it comes to fighting relatives—his cousins, his uncles, his teacher—he has an ethical dilemma. Is he not supposed to protect them? How then can he attack them?
This leads us to the key of Bhagavad Gita. Who do you define as relatives and who do you define as strangers? Who do you consider as yours, and who do you consider as not yours? It all revolves around the possessive pronoun: mine. For Kauravas, Pandavas are not family with whom wealth has to be shared; they are strangers, outsiders, trying to claim a share on their property. For Pandavas, Kauravas are cousins who are not sharing family land.
Devdutt Pattanaik is an Indian physician turned leadership consultant, mythologist, author and communicator whose works focus largely on the areas of myth, religion, mythology, and management.
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