Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-2016
Abstract
Ahiṁsā or nonviolence might seem an unlikely topic for one of the world's greatest war epics. Any student of Indian philosophy or religion undoubtedly associates the Mahābhārata with Lord Krishna urging Arjuna to take up his weapons and fight and the bloodbath that follows. And despite the attempts of Gandhi and many others to make the struggle between the Pāṇḍava brothers and the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra metaphorical, no one can deny the reality of carnal savagery in the text, even on the part of the good guys.
Original Publication Citation
Chapple, Christopher Key. “Ahiṁsā in the Mahābhārata.” Sutra Journal, February 2016. http://www.sutrajournal.com/ahimsa-in-the-mahabharata-by-christopher-key-chapple, archived at https://perma.cc/5NTW-8Q2K.
Digital Commons @ LMU & LLS Citation
Chapple, Christopher Key, "Ahiṁsā in the Mahābhārata: A Story, A Philosophical Perspective, and an Admonishment" (2016). Theological Studies Faculty Works. 674.
https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/theo_fac/674
Comments
First published in Journal of Vaishnava Studies, Vol. 4, No. 3, 1996. February 2016.