Historical Krishna - Part 15 The Peacemaker

Krishna did not want the Mahabharata war. Yet he knew that Mahabharata war was inevitable. He knew the consequences and he knew his larger duty as a friend of Pandavas and as an incarnation to set the wheel of dharma running for ages to come. He knew that given the attitude of the Kauravas towards the Pandavas, given their greed and hatred, a peace treaty was not possible. Duryadhana was sure of his superiority. He had Bhisma, Drona and above everybody else Karna to fight for him. Yet one thing he did not have, dharma, on his side. His mother told him before the beginning of the war - yatah dharma tatah jaya, but he did not listen. He was sure that Pandavas with their limited resources esp. after spending 13 years in the forest and in exile would not be able to muster enough manpower to wage a war. Even if they dared to do so, he had his full army, support of many kings whom he had won over a period of time through either good behavior, bribe or treachery, warriors like Bhisma, Drona, Karna, Aswathvama, Kripacharya, Kritavarma, Jayadhratha and other hosts of kings who were inimical to the Pandavas. There was no reason why he could not win the war, so why go for a peace treaty and return the kingdom of the Pandavas. Krishna knew the psychology very well. He knew that the pride, ego, greed and other vices of the the kings of bharat varsha would cause their destruction. The imminent war was the only way to ensure the mass destruction of all the arrogance of the kshatriyas. But he also knew that unless he sincerely tried to make peace everybody will blame him for the war. Some will say, Krishna was God, had he wished he could have stopped the war, yet he didn't. Some others, the secular "liberals" , would say, can a God be a violence lover? Krishna was no God, he was just a war monger. If there were a Buddha, he could have stopped the war. Some others would blame the Pandavas - that their greed for kingdom caused such a wanton destruction, and Pandavas would be too willing to believe that and thereby suffer from a terrible guilt and shame. The bad, the powerful, the greedy, the corrupt would be emboldened to take the possession of the virtuous and dharma would suffer. Krishna knew that he had a very critical role to play in shaping the history of India for many many years to come, to establish the way of dharma, to show to the mankind that not to act against evil is to encourage the evil to grow and the only way evil can be destroyed is to act decisively against it. 

Nevertheless, Krishna, whose whole life was full of warfare, right from his childhood days, was loathe to violence. He left Mathura to prevent the killing of innocent when he and Balarama could have easily destroyed Jarasandha. He simply did not want bloodshed. But then again he himself was the creation and destruction. The entire world is the play of the God, He is creating and preserving and destroying and in a pure advaitic sense there is neither creation, nor destruction, the Supreme Being is everything - what is created and what is destroyed? There is nothing apart from Him. Krishna knew this, nay, he was the very knowledge itself that he imparted in the form of universal message of Gita. But he had to act according to the script that he had prepared for the world. He therefore volunteered to act as a peacemaker and set out for Hastinapur from Upaplavya. Dhritarastra did everything possible to bribe him, by enticing him with all the luxury he had. Krishna was indifferent to everything. He was not Salya who could be bribed easily. He cared for nothing.When Duryadhana's overtures became too much for him to endure he became a guest with Vidura, his devotee and an upholder of Dharma, nay, the incarnation of Dharma. The simple meal that Vidura offered was like nectar to him and the whole night they discussed on the strategy.

In the morning Krishna went to the sabha of Hastinapur. He made an impassioned speech keeping the interests of the Pandavas in mind. Dhritarastra was afraid by listening about the might of the Pandavas. Bhisma and Drona were already in the side of peace. But Duryadhana would not listen. He, Karna, Shakuni and Duhsashana even tried to bind and arrest Krishna. Satyaki who was with Krishna had guessed and he had been ready for fighting. But Krishna came out triumphant, the plans of Duryadhana had gone awry. Even it was too much for Dhritarastra, he severely reprimanded his errant son. Gandhari was furious, so was Bhisma. Everybody now knew that the destruction of Kauravas was very near. But nobody could blame Krishna. He had severely compromised and had asked for five villages for the the five Pandavas - the five that were associated with the atrocities of Duryadhana, including Varanavat, where he had tried to murder them by setting fire. As he foresaw, Duryadhana rejected the proposal. In his arrogance he replied that he would not give even that amount of earth that would come up on the mouth of a needle, without a war. 

Krishna's purpose was served. Nobody could blame him of not trying. He even tried another route. He tried to win over Karna. He knew that Duryadhana depended on Karna as he thought that only Karna could defeat Arjuna. He told Karna of his birth, told him that Pandavas were his brothers and that he would be made king and knowing Karna's secret admiration of Draupadi he even offered that he could marry her as well. Today's feminists would be aghast. But Krishna was sincere. If by that route a war could be avoided and many lives could be saved why not give it a try! After all Karna was the brother of the Pandavas and a son of Kunti, Pandavas would be only too happy to know that Karna was their elder brother and as elder brother Karna will be their king. But as he knew very well, Karna refused that offer. Karna was a great man, a great man being brought up among a lowly environment who suffered from an inferiority complex. Nevertheless he was a great man, he could never be ungrateful even at the cost of his life and his family. He would give up everything for his friend Duryadhana who helped him, albeit out of his own selfish interest. Also Karna was driven by hatred for Arjuna, his own desire to establish himself as the greatest warrior ever, far greater than Arjuna. So he could never come to the Pandava camp. But it was another attempt to ensure peace and as he knew very well, that attempt failed. 

Krishna tried other means, he prevented Yadavas from fighting in the war - either for the Pandavas or for the Kauravas. Exceptions were Satyaki and Kritavarma. The former being a disciple of Arjuna and very dear to the Pandavas would risk everything for them. The latter, a friend of Duryadhana and a hater of Satyaki, would fight against the Pandavas. But his tactics partially succeeded as Balarama, Pradyumna, Shambo, Gada and all other Vrishni heroes stayed away from the war. Balarama and Shambo (who was a son of Krishna) were openly in favour of Duryadhana, Duryadhana was Shambo's father in law. Pradyumna was a great friend of Abhimanyu but he would not fight for the fear of antagonizing his uncle Balarama. Krishna himself vowed not to take up weapon and to prove his neutrality he offered his best narayani sena to the the one who would not solicit his help. So when Arjuna and Duryadhana both came to seek his help, Arjuna got Krishna and Duryadhana got the Narayani Sena. Of course all these happened before Krishna was enlisted as a peacemaker and an envoy from the Pandavas.

So Krishna failed in his mission. He knew what was inevitable, he was equally stoic in success and failure as he was above them. The destruction was imminent, peace was possible only through war, only by the destruction of the evil forces.