ramayana mahabharata divine incarnation

Ramayana and the Mahabharata offer a cohesive explanation of the Hindu concept of the avatar, the manifestation of divinity in various forms. The god that practices avatara most is Vishnu, the Lord of Preservation whose intervention in the world has a direct impact on the lives of human beings and the outcomes of human civilization itself. Vishnu practices avatara in order to promote dharma, which refers to ethical duty and right action.

The avatar concept is explored most deftly and explicitly in the two Hindu epics comprising the Itihasa, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Both narratives demonstrate that divine avatars are necessary for restoring cosmic and social order and for redeeming humanity. The protagonists of these two tales are both avatars of Vishnu, but the Ramayana and Mahabharata relay completely different concepts of dharma and ethics. Dharma to Lord Rama is related to family and the commitments between men and women in the marriage relationship.

The central issue for Rama is restoring order to his household. Dharma to Lord Krishna in the Mahabharata is related to political issues and much less so to the interpersonal relationships central to the Ramayana. This is why Rama as Vishnu is portrayed in human terms, whereas Krishna as Vishnu is unabashedly and unapologetically a god.

Yet in spite of the obvious differences in characterization, plot, and theme, Ramayana and Mahabharata both convey similar ideals for the cosmological, theological, and social order and use avatara to achieve their goals of divine intervention. Both epics show that avatars are required when humanity is at a low moral ebb. Human society is depicted as being cyclical, going "from the heights of moral perfection to the depths of depravity," (Woods, 2014, p. 26). Except in rare occasions, human beings do not fully learn their lessons or achieve moksha.

As it is Lord Vishnu's role in the cosmic order to ensure that humanity never fully self-destructs, the god incarnates at critical moments in human history -- when there is some crisis point where chaos reigns over law, order, or morality. "Whenever negative energies are rampant and the world is in great peril, in danger of imminent destruction or chaos, Vishnu is said to return.

He comes to guide humanity back to righteous living (dharma) in order to preserve the harmonious order of the universe," (Halligan, n.d., p. 89). Both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata show the core function of avatara, as Vishnu incarnates specifically to restore order and "rejuvenate" the society, lifting it up and redeeming it from its wayward ways (Woods, 2014, p. 26).

Thus, even if the setting, plot, and characterization are different, Ramayana and Mahabharata still explicate the concept and purpose of avatara in this way because it is integral to Hindu cosmology, metaphysics, and theology. In fact, the methods and means by which Vishnu manifests reflects the social mores and norms that governed ancient Indian society and continue to do so in the 21st century -- hence the enduring relevance and popularity of Ramayana and Mahabharata even as these narratives reinvent themselves for each successive generation.

The hero of the Ramayana, Lord Rama, preserves cosmological and social order through a pragmatic dharma that focuses almost exclusively on the political and social domains of human life. Those domains are best preserved and consecrated through patriarchal marriage and community life. In fact, Vishnu incarnates as a human, Lord Rama, rather than as a divine being, in order to underscore the human psychological and social dimensions of the moral lessons being taught in the epic narrative.

Chastity and monogamous commitment in a heterosexual marriage are established as premier social norms. Sita is the avatar of Lakshmi, Vishnu's cosmic counterpart. As above, so below, as the husband and wife team incarnate as a couple together to deliver an instructional message to humanity about the divine importance of commitment in marriage. In the Ramayana, Vishnu's nemesis Ravana abducts Sita but fails in his attempts to sexually assault her -- but the burden of proof is placed not on Ravana but on Sita.

Had she been raped, she might have been considered unfaithful to her husband. The patriarchal social order can only be maintained through the sexist double standard. Sita in fact has to prove her chastity by being willing to self-immolate, a symbolic act that has been grossly distorted into an actual political practice in the subcontinent. Human beings have a tendency to confuse the symbolism of avatar with real life; the same can be said for the Christian myth (Halligan, n.d., p. 89).

On the other hand, the hero of the Mahabharata, Lord Krishna, incarnates as a fully divine being who self-consciously instructs the world of humans on the cosmological and theological order, which is presented as being far more important than the world of human affairs. Monogamy, marriage, and chastity are unimportant in the bellicose world of the Mahabharata. The heroes of the epic battles depicted in the Mahabharata have greater concerns than whether they are sexually faithful or not.

As avatars in the Mahabharata, like Krishna and Draupadi are in fact proudly polyamorous, partly to show the moral irrelevance of sexuality. The love that blossoms between two human beings engaged in sexual union is presented as being a mundane version of bhakti, devotion to the gods. It is bhakti that is far more important to the Mahayana than chastity.

The battle that forms the center point of the Mahabharata is actually an amoral one, too, albeit one in which Vishnu as Krishna can prove the efficacy of cosmological hierarchy and the importance of human ritual devotion to the gods. Krishna but especially his nemesis is depicted as being beholden to sets of rules that are rigidly followed, presenting a Hindu version of deontological ethics.

Both narratives present human battles as mirrors for cosmic battles between deities like Vishnu that are dedicated to preserving the dignity of human life and demons who wish to destroy it. The avatars provide critical intervention, for human beings would be powerless on their own to return to the dharma. Moreover, the avatars provide direct instruction on the dharma. Dharma is what steers humanity back in the right moral and ethical direction, something that would be impossible without divine intervention.

As Jones (2015) puts it, the avatar is a hierophany, in which a divine being or any sacred element "breaks through" into the World; a miracle would also be a hierophany (p. 3). Demonic forces can also "break through," as witnessed in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. As with the gods, the demons have differential avatars according to the current needs of humanity. In the Ramayana, the demonic force is represented by the arrogant Brahmin Ravana, who symbolizes the destruction of the sacred institution of marriage.

Vishnu as Lord Rama represents his counterpart, as does Lakshmi as Sita. The battle between Rama and Ravana is fought in the realm of humanity but it directly reflects a cosmic battle between the gods and asuras. Likewise in the Mahabharata, the ongoing battles between the Pandavas and Kauravas are cosmic in scope even if they are rendered into action on the stage of human affairs. Yet there is much more to the battles than the preservation of marriage.

Righteous social and political order is required for human dharma; law and order are integral to dharma and ethical duty. This lesson is important enough to require a fully divine manifestation of Vishnu. Unlike Lord Rama, Krishna is a god incarnate on earth; he remains a supernatural element in the world of human affairs and is self-conscious of his divinity unlike Rama. Krishna does not take part in the fighting; he oversees it and influences it, thereby providing a different approach to the method of divine intervention.

There is a greater distance between the gods and humans in the Mahabharata, than there is in the Ramayana. Vishnu disguises his true nature from those.