Learning about Ancient Civilization from the Indian Mahabharata Essay

Learning about Ancient Civilization from the Indian Mahabharata I believe that the Mahabharata historically teaches us about ancient Indian civilization wonderfully. Whether the epic really happened or not, many in present day India really do believe in the mystical world of god, goddesses, and god-like warrior kings. For them to have such faith in the epic says a lot about their culture, which is rich of soul and in my opinion imagination. Is it safe to say that some of the cultural make-up exhibited in the Mahabharata such as male and female roles pass on to today India? I think so. Of course India has grown much since the telling of the Mahabharata, but through the lives of the Dhritarashtra and Pandu's families we can see how historically ancient Indians thought, which may or may not flow into how they think today, but it's an interesting concept to ponder. In this essay I will discuss the male and female roles within the ancient royal families and back-up my opinions with stories from the Mahabharata. Due to the importance of dharma males roles differed, but for most the male was a hunter and provider for his family. Besides the time when Yudhisthira embarrassed Draupadi with his gambling issue, one male role was to protect his wife. The Pandavas wife traveled with them and they cared so much for her that they would kill on her command. For example, when Kichaka pursued Draupadi even after her warnings of her five husbands Bhima, one of the Pandavas, took care of the problem by squishing Kichaka into a round ball of flesh. Through most of the epic the Pandavas tried to protect their wives from danger, but there is only so much you can do in times of war. Another male responsibility was to obtain wives, ... ... the sake of the future of the kingdom. The males were skilled in battle and fashionably wore there hair back. Males did not really dance much either. Then for the females, they did dance. The girls were expected to eventually become a wife. As a wife the females were the baby makers and support system for the family. She was caring and a friend to her husband. This of course does not really depict the ancient civilization as a whole. For example, this way of living does not include the prostitutes. These roles that I have studied from the Mahabharata are really only of the royal families, because the majority of the story was about kings, queens, princes, and princesses. Overall, the epic was a great analysis of how people in ancient India viewed the world and how through the roles of men and women everything was kept in balance within the kingdoms.