The Mahabharat is no ordinary tale of some Indian battle. It's the story of the rise and fall of Indian culture, the battle between good and evil, light and darkness. It's a story of conflict between relationships and its very basis. It's the story of the churning that brings up the elixir of principles and truth. Every era has to undergo this conflict on their personal battlefield. For every era's truth must battle the current evil. This story must be heard and imbibed all the time so that the present can prepare itself for its future.
This story didn't actually begin on the day Lord Krishna, gave Arjun the Gita discourse. Neither on the day Draupadi made fun of Duryodhan. The story began much earlier to the times of King Bharat who was the son of Dushyant and Shakuntala and ruled Hastinapur. King Bharat's greatness doesn't lie merely in the fact that he extended Hastinapur kingdom's borders from the Himalayas right down to the oceans and after whom this great country is named. Bharat's greatness lies in the fact that he initiated democratic rule in his court. Making a distinction between merit and birth he stated that life's worth lies in merit, not birth. To this reason he adopted Abhimanyu, son of Bharadwaj as his successor as his 9 sons didn't have qualities to become king. This was the unwritten first page of the great immortal epic Mahabharata! He was the first father in the history to deprive his sons of their right and upheld the qualities and duty of a true King by nominating a eligible successor for his people. But the bud of democracy in Bharat's political firmament, withered away after a few generations during the reign of King Shantanu. When birth took precedence over merit. When the present was put at stake for an unknown future. In actuality, that very day Mahabharata's Kurukshetra readied for battle. The story of King Shantanu starts thus
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