Gita Gyan Part -1

Wars before Ramayan and Mahabharat

I am not considering smaller battles between Vishnu and Hiranyaksh/Hiranyakashipu etc because they were combats and not wars as armies were not involved.

1. Indra - Vritrasur war (Vritrasur took all the water sources hostage and Indra fought him to release the waters) vritrasur could not be killed by any and all the weapons of Devas combined and so at Vishnu's advice Indra received Vajra a weapon made from the bones of Rishi Dadhichi
2. Tarakasur War - these were a series of battles starting with Mahishasur, Shumbh-Nishumbh, Rakta bij killed by Durga /Kali and Tarakasur himself killed by Karthikeya (Shiva- Parvati son) and finally Shiva killed Tripurasur (Taraksur's three sons).
3. Deva - Asur war prior to Amrita Manthan (Deva side was led by Sakra and Asura side by Bali). It was a war lasting for several years till Devas finally gained Amrita and became practically invincible. But Bali did fight back and threw Indra out of heaven and he had to request his mother Aditi to get Vishnu's help. eventually Vishnu took an avatar as Vamana Indra's younger brother to get heaven back from Bali as donation
4. The Dasrajna or war of 10 Kings - we had Trstu - Bharata King Sudas supported by Vashishtha fighting with other 10 vedic tribes supported by Vishwamitra. Sudas won the war with timely help from Indra
5. Kartavirya Arjun - Parshuram war -Par shuram fought alone with Armies of Kartavirya Arjun,then his sons and finally his sympathiser kings. He won.
6. Ravan's war against Devas - Ravan won this led by Meghanad. Eventually Brahma intervened to save Indra.Meghanad became renowned as Indrajit after this.

Timeline for Incarnations of Krishna

Matsya Avatar is timed around the great deluge at the end of ice age, which is when human life moved towards south Asia with land connection between Africa and India getting submerged.

The Varaha, Narsimha and Kurma Avatar are dated around the time when continents were one land mass and human life was concentrated in Africa and what is now south India.

Vamana and Parshuram Avatar is primarily concentrated in what is south and western central India today.

By the time of Rama Avatar civilization has moved northwards and during Rama's reign is when a unified civilization is established in the Indian subcontinent, infact Bharat - Rama's brother establishes the Gandhar kingdom in Afghanistan (Takshila and Peshavar was named after his sons)

The timeline of Avatars till Krishna ends 5000 years ago. avatars till Krishna happened before a civil human society was established in Rome or China . By the time of Krishna Avatar human civilization is spread to Europe and China. Greece and it's ruler Kalayavan is mentioned in Mahabharata as ally of Jarasanda who is killed by krishna.Yavanas (Greeks) and Cinas (China is mentioned as a tribe of barbaric hunters who also participated in Mahabharata war for Kauravas as mercenaries)

Atheist in Vedas

Only instance of atheistic debate is about Rishi Jabali a counsellor of Dasrath using atheistic arguments to convince Rama to return and accept the throne after his father's demise. He had accompanied Bharat to bring Rama back.

He however failed in his efforts as Rama was not convinced.

Who Recited and who wrote Mahabharat.

Mahabharat, Harivansh and Vishnu Puran is by Vyasa (Krishna Dwaipyana)

Bhagvatham is by Suka (Vyasa's son)

Since Mahabharata and puranas was transmitted orally for several generations and then transcribed by brahmins.

The earliest written transcript available today for Vedas from 1st century CE in brahmi script from nepal. For Ramayana it is from 6th century CE found recently though most people prefer the complete unabridged version dated 11th century CE again found from Nepal a 15th century incomplete transcript of Mahabharat in maithili script

All unabridged versions of Mahabharat start with quote that Vyasa composed Mahabharat. The first chapter explains in detail how he composed it initially as a smaller version Jaya and then expanded it. How his disciple Vaishyapayan narrated it for the first time in Arjun's great grandson Janmejaya's Sarpasatra where Vyasa was also present. And that how the present narrator's father lomaharsha heard it there and from him the present narrator Ugrashrava heard it and now was reciting it amongst the largest gathering of sages of that era in Naimisha forest for an event organized by Rishi Saunaka.

Then in the same chapter a Brief summary of the story is narrated with number of chapters, content summary of each chapter and number of verses in it

From there whoever heard it passed it on similar but the first chapter remained the same, explaining the original composition of Mahabharat

So the original foreword and table of contents has remained the same in every transcript obtained so far and hence we know the original composer/author was Vyasa.

Reasons /  Need for Mahabharata

We need to first understand Kshatriya code

What was this Kshatriya Dharma or Kshatriya code

1. Obey the elders, rishis and brahmanas
2. Fulfill an oath taken whatever be the cost
3. Sacrifice what you possess (wealth, kingdom, family, personal interest) if asked for by a brahmana or an elder in a yagya or otherwise
4. Prove your masculinity / valor by fighting a war to gain back whatever has been taken away from you by force as long as it is not due to point 1 2 and 3.

But this was not right. the first and foremost dharma for a kshatriya is to

• Use his might and valor to protect the helpless and innocent and uphold Justice and fairness.

And all other codes have to be abandoned for the sake of this first code

Now let’s return to original questions the reasons/ need for Mahabharata

1. The epic is narrated by Vaishampayan (Vyasa's disciple) to Janmejay (Arjun's great grandson). The first question Janmejay asks is why did the Mahabharat war happen. To which Vaishampayan says Bhumi devi goes to vishnu to seek his help in destroying the kshatriya who had become oppressive and Vishnu obliges her and says I will incarnate on earth as a human and bring about a war that will destroy these kshatriya.
2. When Draupadi emerged out of Drupad's yagya fire a divine voice says she is born to fulfill the purpose of God's and will bring about the destruction of adharmi Kshatriya like Kauravas in due course

Krishna before the war kills several kshatriya himself starting with Kansa and ending with Salwa of Sauba kingdom. (Dantavakra, Narakasur, Shishupal etc) And all the kshatriya kings he himself killed had solid proof in public domain against them as murders, kidnappers rapist plunderer etc.

For other Kshatriya vyasa narrates their crimes before killing them. But what about the rest of the guys starting from Bhishma to Shalya to Drupad himself and others how can they be punished without any evidence of crime

The humiliation of Draupadi at Dyut Sabha was the evidence to show how these kshatriya had become evil.

A Dronachary or yudhishthir and his brothers see glory in keeping quiet while Draupadi is being assaulted in front of them

Duryodhan or Karna see glory in dying on the battlefield to prove their masculinity than giving five villages to save the life of a million soldiers

Another reason Krishna Wanted war to happen

Nature does not tolerate extremes. It does not allow anyone to be too strong or too weak. Mahabharat war was one such course correction involving total annihilation of a group of people who had become so strong that they had upset the balance in society. In Dvapar Yuga Kshatriya had become stronger than what was acceptable on the basis of their weapons . Such that they had started consuming all resources to fight wars. How many digvijaya who has done, how many kingdoms who has defeated who has the strongest weapon of mass destruction. Who will subjugate All kings and be an emperor. All the wealth the two classes of vaishya and shudra were producing were getting consumed in wars.

This continued till it reached a situation that people started looking at death in battle as ultimate glory, they became self destructive

Reference to Ramayan in Mahabharat

The story of Ramayana is recited twice in Mahabharat

Once when Hanuman meets Bhima near Gandhamadan mountain in the last stage of 12 year exile he narrates a brief summary of Ramayana to him

Second after Draupadi is rescued from jayadrath and Yudhishthir is depressed about their condition Rishi Markandeya recited Ramayana to console him. This was a detailed discourse on Ramayana listened to by all Pandavas and Draupadi

(Aforesaid has been compiled from write up by Preeti from Tamil Nadu)