Swasti Prawidya Mukti

Battle of Battle Stories

Two of the world’s greatest epics are Ramayana and Mahabharata. Telling about kingdoms and wars, both were written in India around the 4^th century. I dare say that they are among the world’s most eminent literatures because up to now they still own big influence on Indian and Hinduism culture for they have a lot of messages that people follow as their guide of life; in another words, they are also considered as a kind of holy book. Despite those excellences, Ramayana and Mahabharata have several differences which are on the main problem of the story, the characters, and the plot arrangement.

The very first difference is on the main problem of the whole story; what causes the conflict. In Ramayana, the conflict is caused by a fight over a woman named Sita, Rama’s wife who is kidnapped by Rahwana. It is also a fight for honor then, since for a king, his queen is his dearest pride. While in Mahabharata, the war between Pandawa and Kurawa is caused by a quarrel over the rights to rule Hastinapura Kingdom. Accordingly, the difference on the main problem makes the plot remarkably diverse since the problem affects the story from the beginning up to the end.

Another difference between these two epics is on the characterization. In Ramayana, only few characters appear frequently as the main characters such as Rama, Rahwana, Indrajit, Wibisana, Laksmana, and Hanuman. The others are just side characters who help Rama or Rahwana in the warfare, for example Satrugna, Sugriwa, and Bharata. This way of characterization is caused by the fact that the conflict is only between two men. Meanwhile, the war in Mahabharata is between two families, Pandawa and Kurawa, which mean that more people are involved in the warfare. Pandawa themselves consist of five men; all of them turn up so often as the major characters. On the side of Kurawa, although it consists of 100 men, only Duryudana and Dursasana turn up a lot. In addition, some characters who do not belong to either Pandawa or Kurawa like Abimanyu, Kresna, Bisma, Sanjaya, Widura, and Karna can be regarded as major characters since they appear quite often and they hold important rules in the story. Inevitably, every single character is unique and cannot be separated each other. Thus, distinction on the number of the characters makes the story remarkably different because more characters create more delicate story.

Moreover, these two epics have noticeable difference in on the plot arrangement. Ramayana has smoother current of events than Mahabharata. The events in Ramayana focus on the main problem, about how Rama attempts to get his wife back, with a few side-stories to clarify the main story.  On the contrary, Mahabharata has numerous side-stories that explain past events, morality, or somebody’s life. Side-stories might be found useful to help the readers in comprehending every sequence of the story. Unfortunately, side-stories might also sidetrack the reader from the main story and blur the actual plot because they make the story go back and forth. In conclusion, the difference on the plot arrangement that is triggered by the number of the side-stories contributes significant amount of appeal to the readers.

Despite those differences, both Ramayana and Mahabharata have their own outstanding charm, and are surely too noteworthy to be missed. Their content of cultural, moral, and spiritual values melts all together in the stories of the battles, which are hard to find in any modern literature. I do suggest you to read them, and I assure that you will not be able to close the book until you meet the last page.