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kaadal-I would like to disagree on this...To quote T. S. Eliot...Krishna was the still point ...the catalyst ..who turned the whole Mahabharat around...On their own the Kauravas had better numerical strength and a galaxy of invincibles compared to the Pandavas...It was only because of Krishna's advice regarding reinterpretation of the rules of war and / or preempting threats by actively taking away the Kaurava invincible's strength was this far superior Kaurava edge shattered / blunted to the ultimate benefit of the Pandavas...Take any Kaurava invincible...he was thoroughly rogered by Krishna...e.g. Bhisma, Drona, Karna, Duryodhana, Ashwatama etc. etc.For e.g. He tries emotional blackmail through Kunti to make Karna crossover to the Pandavas...when the far superior than Arjun Karna demonstrates his loyalty and says he will stick with his only friend Duryodhana...he comes as a mendicant on Karna's birthday and seeks in alms Karna's golden armour given to him by Indra...and wearing which no one ..not even the might Arjun could have killed Karna...and the noble Karna gives these to Krishna even after recognizing him!...Krishna was so single-minded in his goal that he did not even spare the Pandavas..e.g.1) Yudhistir loses his Dharma status ...which he would not relinquish even during Draupadi's public disrobing ... on Krishna's advise where Yudhistir's response is critical to get Drona killed...2) He advises Bheem to send out his own son Ghatotkacha to create havoc in the Kaurava lines, only to make sure that Karna uses the Indrastra on him in order to kill him...instead of Karna's original plan on using it on Arjun ..and which Arjun would not have survived...Remember in the end...when he gets Duryodhana ...Gandhari's last son out of her hundred...also killed by Bheem who takes the advice of Krishna... who reintrerprets and bends the rules of the fight...Gandhari curses him..Gandhari says only Krishna had the moral and physical strength to face the Kauravas & Pandavas combined and single-handedly vanquish all of them...If he wished he could have stopped the call to war..but he did not...So she curses him that in the same way Krishna 'facilitated' the killing of brother against brother...so too will his Yadav clan meet its fate...To this Krishna touches her feet and thanks her...he says his objective was to destroy a civilization which had become morally bankrupt and decadent and putrid with decay...so that a new civilization appears...and now that the job is done...he has an excuse to leave the world...and a reason for the destruction of his mighty Yadav army which had no equal as a fighting force...Satyug ends and the world enters Kaliyug the day Krishna leaves his earthly remains...Another trivia...If you analyse all the principal characters of Mahabharat...only Krishna was born out of a normal father-mother wedded right relationship...Most of the characters are born out of wedlock...with other partners..So I like to think of Krishna as the Director ...the Maha Nayak...rather than the Narrator of this epic...
hggbai, when I said he is good as a Narrator here I was thinking more in the sense of the desires and ambitions of everyone which led to Mahabarath. On many occasions it does appear that Krishna is encouraging the great war but he did make every effort to stop it as well. But then his work itself was to get rid of the warriors who have forgotten their dharma, to stop their cruel deeds.
Krishna did try to mediate peace with Duryodhana but was never heard. So it was his duty which made him support the Pandavas. You may be right, he is like what they call the Sutradhar but nothing was for himself which is why I have felt his being there was more of fulfilling his duty. I am just taking baby steps in this, hggbai. I am sure will learn more from you all.
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