India and Indian culture are often seen as being averse to change. This land is often
viewed as a place where things happen because of fate and not due to human effort.
But is this really true?
Do the Ramayana and the Mahabharata teach us that caste matters? What do the epics say
about ties of blood? What lessons can we learn from the epics on the matter of social hierarchy?
The answer is CHOICE -- The epics teach us that often, what matters is not the family
you are born into, but the people you choose to make your family.
Here are some examples from the Ramayana that indicate blood relations are secondary to
relationships of choice.
Ram and Lakshman were not born to the same mother. Their mothers were Kaushalya and Sumitra respectively
In fact, Lakshman had a twin brother by the name of Shatrughna but he preferred
the company of Ram, the eldest of the four sons of Dashrath. Lakshman's devotion to Ram
lasted a lifetime, with him choosing to follow Ram into exile and even into war. At no point
in the Ramayana is Lakshman's love for his elder brother in question because they are
not related by blood.
And here is another interesting fact - Dashrath was not the biological father of any of his
sons. Ram, Bharat, Shatrughan and Lakshman were born after the king gave his three wives
kheer that came from a yajna conducted by Rishyaringa.
In the Mahabharata, none of the Pandavas -- the five-brother team named after their father
Pandu -- were actually the sons of Pandu. Though Pandu acknowledged them as his sons
and legitimate successors, all five brothers had different biological fathers.
Yudhisthira was the son of Yamraj, the god of death and truth. Bhima was the son of Vayu
the wind god. Arjuna's biological father was Indra, the ruler of Amaravati. And these three
were only the sons of Kunti - Pandu's first wife. His second wife Madri gave birth to
two sons - Nakul and Sahdev, both of whom had the Ashwin twins for fathers.
Not only were the Pandavas not related to Pandu by blood, we might even say that the
elder three were not related to the youngest two. What brought the five heroes of the Mahabharata
together was the name of Pandu and the will of Kunti.
Also in the Mahabharata, Krishna and Balram were not related to each other by blood. Krishna
was the biological son of Devaki while Balram was born to Rohini. Despite this, Krishna
and Balram remained close for their entire lives.
In the Ramayana, Vibheeshan was the blood brother of Ravana and yet he parted ways with
his family and his people to side with Rama and the vaanaras.
Let us move ahead and leave family ties behind. Let us talk about caste. Despite India being
nearly seventy years into independence, we are still often told that caste matters. That
the caste we are born into determines the shape your life will take.
And yet, the epics are full of examples that say it is an individual's actions and not
his birth that determine his destiny.
Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, was a Dasyu - a forest bandit - and not a Brahmin.
But he is acknowledged as a poet and sage today because of his work -- the Ramayana.
It was not his birth, but his choices that elevated him.
The composer of the Mahabharata -- Ved Vyasa -- was also not of high birth. His father
was a sage by the name of Parashar. But his mother was a fisherwoman by the name of Matsyagandha.
Despite this, he is known as one of the most illustrious poets.
Hanuman, perhaps one of the most beloved gods of the Hindu pantheon, was part of a forest
tribe and hence, had no caste. He was part of vanara society that lived in the forests,
far from the urban culture where varna vyavastha was prevalent. This never affected his acceptability
among Hindus. If anything, he holds a more exalted position than many higher deities.
Ravana, the villain of the Ramayana, was the son of Sage Vishrava, a Brahmin. Yet he is
known to be a dastardly villain whose ill-deeds caused him to be eventually slain by Rama.
Karna, the son of Surya the Sun god, lived his whole life as a soot-putra despite being
of royal and divine lineage. He was born into a high caste -- his father was a god and his
mother Kunti was a princess -- but this did nothing to alleviate the suffering he had
to undergo his whole life.
Ekalavya, the forest-dweller, despite being caste-less and untrained, became a great archer.
So great was his skill that he managed to shame Arjuna, who was a bona fide disciple
of Drona, the greatest teacher of that age.
The epics therefore, are not about static social values and fate. They are also about
individual will and effort.
They are about being but they are also about becoming.
People's position in life is not wholly dependent upon what they are born as. It is also shaped
by how they act and the choices they make.