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Anusha Hegde, JK Lakshmipat University, IndiaAbstract
The question of dharma, especially in the context of social duty and self-mastery, has been the central philosophical concern in the sacred texts of Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita. Individual action amidst tumultuous realities result in several contemplative phases of leadership, particularly affecting the characters in the Mahabharata. The Gita as a divine text carrying the message of the Supreme Divinity is an important prelude to the Shanti Parva, where the chaotic aftermath of the battle has left Yudhisthira at crossroads of renunciation and the life of an Emperor. Through this research paper, it is sought to unearth the fundamental lessons on dealing with the moral and existential crisis faced by a leader who has been involved in as big a scale of fatal and moral correction as the war of Kurukshetra was. This thematic study of selected verses, sections, and chapters of the “Shanti Parva” in Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita, is an exploration of the philosophical conundrums, existential complexities that surround a human being who has reached crossroads of choices and decisions. Four central themes are analyzed here: self-restraint in a leader, desireless action (nishkama karma), leadership as seva, and liberation for the worldly. The paper attempts to build the dharmic perspective of a leader in Shanti Parva and the Bhagavad Gita, with specific focus on epistemes on operational ethics, rationale of delegating social roles in the defined spectrum of a leader in a society. Dharma is an important precedent to ensure a leader is effective through self-mastery.
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