Mukesh Singh On Why Mahabharata Must Be Read Without Bias

Mahabharata Is History Not Mythology 

As stated by Singh, the Mahabharata itself has repeatedly stated itself to be 'Itihasa' or History, not Myth. The speaker strongly feels that it has content from all Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, and six schools of Indian philosophy hence it is a complete source of information and not fairytales and that we have to read the itihasa of our own ancestors (both heroes and villains) so that they can attain its deep meaning.

Myth Of Keeping Mahabharata Home

Another myth is about the belief regarding keeping Mahabharat in your home. Mukesh Singh has said that the end of Mahabharata contains verses discussing the benefit of having Mahabharata at home-having it brings victory and prosperity in life as well as peace, and it only occurs with readers who sincerely study it. The myth of conflict arising due to having Mahabharata at home rises due to the fact that people rarely study this text properly.

How should one read Mahabharata?

As stated by Singh, we should read the Mahabharata without any prejudgment, like you read the history of your own ancestors, if beforehand the person deciding is certain about who the villain is and who is the hero, then the person will only find those characteristics in it, otherwise the whole text is read from start till the end and one should also read all shlokas of the text and extract meanings from it, not from one here and one there.

Karna and Duryodhana: Kinds of Characters

The interview also focuses on the roles of Karna, and Duryodhana. Vyasa’s description clearly states Yudhishthira as 'tree of dharma' of which Krishna will be the roots, Arjun will be the trunk, Bhima will be the branches, and Nakul-Sahadeva will be the twigs and leaves.

Duryodhana is stated as the 'tree of adharma' of which Dhritarashtra is the roots, Karna the trunk, and Shakuni and Dushasana the twigs. According to Singh, the mention of Shakuni being the villain of Mahabharat is baseless as Shakuni plays a very minor role and there is no mention of his existence in the Mahabharat.