My 4 year old son categorises the entire world as "good" or "bad". "Chingum Sir" is good. "Veer" is good. His friends are all good. "No Baal", "Mad Max" and all type of virus and germs are bad. So as I was reading a kid's version of Mahabharat to him, I was least surprised by his queries on helping him put the characters of Mahabharat in his "good" and "bad" basket.
He pointed towards a drawing of Duryodhan and Karn and asked, "Are they good or bad?". I said, "They are good, but some of their actions were not good." To add to his confusion, I further said, "Nobody is good or bad. Their actions are. Like when you don't listen to Mummy when she asks you to brush your teeth at night. You are being bad at that time. But when you practise your lines for your show-and-tell, then you are being good". It was too much for his little mind to master. Most probably he also wanted to put the topic of brushing quickly off the table. So he ignored, (I don't know which basket he has put them in) and went on to point towards Bhishm's drawing and repeated the same question.
This was confusing even for me. Legend and tradition puts him on the good side. A loving great grand-grand father towards the Pandavs, who had to take side of the "bad" because he was so truthful towards his oath and promise. He pledged to protect the throne and never set eyes on it irrespective of the circumstances. He had no riders in his pledge. He was so bound, that he could not even raise his mighty skills as a warrior to protect the dignity of a woman that was being vandalised by his grand-grand-children. If not as a warrior he could have definitely tried to advise strongly to the throne (that he had pledged to protect) that the events being unfolded in the dice game were utterly wrong and would bring immense harm to the kingdom and throne. But no, he chose to play the mute spectator. Thus, it is not a pity that he had to lie on a bed of arrows from the 10th day of the war.
But then, look at his life! His mother took him away from his father as a new born. When he returned to the materialistic world as a young prince, he was stuck with his father's mis-adventures. He took an oath and his father gave him a boon that became a curse. He could not die unless he could know that the borders of the kingdom were safe and secure. He was a learned and wise man. He could differentiate between "good" and "bad", but his "karm yog" was to support the bad. He paid the price, both by flesh and by mind. He knew he was on the wrong (and weak) side, yet his "karm" forced him to be on the weak side.
I think Bhishm's good versus bad tally matched and that he was relieved from the cycle at the end. But then, next up is Karn. Did his tally match?
This epic is a gem.
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