Some Exemplary Characters of the Mahabharata

Mahabharata War was fought around the year 3000 BC.Lord Krishna – The epicenter of the whole story, although never made to appear as one. He has a simple role to play in the whole story – that of a charioteer of Pandava’s army’s fate. And truly how he does it leaves you dumbfounded. That someone can provide such profound lessons and lead a much weaker side to a victory so convincingly is possible only through a divine intervention. In doing so, the Supreme Lord plays tricks, makes people speak lies, plays with the forces of nature and still sounds truly convincing as to why He did what He did. Draupadi – The wife of the Pandava brothers. She becomes the reason behind Pandavas pledging to fight Kauravas and wiping them from the face of this earth. She represents the true power of the womenfolk. Can any fury be greater than a woman scorned? Then any greater than Draupadi scorned? Worship will not appease her. The blood of her tormentors will. Arjuna – The ace warrior and the crown in Pandava’s armor. Standing on the line between desire and duty, he is the most important character to compare you against. To me he represents true human behavior. He is selectively selfish and gives in into pleasures of life. He also feels sad at the prospect of killing men of tremendous discipline and outstanding characters just because fate has brought them face to face with him in a battlefield. He has his eyes set on his target firmly and is one of the best in his fields. Bhishma – The grandsire of the two sides. He has an amazing strength of character and is one of the greatest warriors of the age. Such are his arrows and their celestial powers that Pandava army can never imagine of winning the war with him in the way. He is fighting for the Kaurava army as he is bound by his pledge to always protect the kingdom. Duryodhana – No parent in their right minds would name their son as Dur-yodhana. "Dur" in Sanskrit means bad. So the name should have been Sur-Yodhana , but given his evil ways and haughty mannerism, no wonder his name got changed over a period of time. He represents the other end of spectrum as the Pandava Army does – villainous, cold-blooded and above all full of deceipt. Karna – He is truly a hero worth reckoning. He has a true friend in Duryodhana (the Kaurava prince) and his sense of duty comes from being bound by the sense of friendship and of loyalty even when he knows that all his real brothers are fighting on the opposite side and he has to kill them to ensure victory for his headstrong friend. Drona – The teacher to the royal clan of Kauravas and Pandavas. He is an ace-archer and his favorite pupil is Arjuna. Such is the largesse and favoritism of this guru towards Arjuna that it makes him pathetically narrow minded and prejudiced towards Arjuna. He also has to fight for Kaurava Army because he is also bound by duty. There are other characters which are very powerful (Yudhistra, Bhima, Dushasan, Shakuni, etc).