The Ideal Kshatriya

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The Ideal Kshatriya The central theme in the epic Mahabharata is that of the power struggle for the throne of Hastinapura between the Kaurava clan and their cousins the Pandavas. Their antagonism, which starts at a tender age, finally culminates in the great battle of Kurukshetra. At the end of the battle, the Pandavas, supported by Krishna, the divine himself, are victorious. Though their conflict over the claim to the throne seems to be the main reason for the war, Krishna insists that no matter what they did or didn’t do, the war would have taken place because the dwapara yuga was ending and the kali yuga setting in. The noble warrior race of the kshatriyas, which can be traced back to the Devas themselves, “had grown arrogant and greedy”, even tyrannical and were practically invincible. The kshatriyas who according to Ramesh Menon, were created by God “to establish dharma, justice, in an anarchic world” were doing just the opposite. The war served as a means for Krishna, the Avatara and his five cousins, the Pandavas to destroy the power of the kshatriyas forever. This was the true raison d'être for the Kurukshetra war. Who kshatriyas are and what the ideals were as well as the Dharma of the kshatriyas, starting from their birth right up their death, is shown through Mahabharata. In the Santi Parva, Maharishi Brigu says “ The Creator created human beings with their four divisions, brahmanas, kshatriyas, vaisyas and sudras.” Kshatriyas were one of the four castes of ancient India. They were the royal class, the rulers, the fighters, the protectors, and the enjoyers of luxury. In the Mahabharata, one is a kshatriya only if one is born with a kshatriya parent. That is how the Pandavas, though born with gods for fathers are kshatriyas because of their kshatriya mothers and Pandu, their father. Karna, though technically a Pandava, is called throughout the

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