​Was the Kurukshetra war fought over a property dispute?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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Thank you.
Hare Krishna. Was the Kurukshetra war caused by a property dispute? Answer, no. It was caused by the envy of the Duryodhana, the atrocious activities that he committed because of this envy, the dishonouring that he did of Draupadi and the persistent perpetuation of adharma that he did, that as a consequence of that the Kurukshetra war took place.
It is not just simply a property dispute. The Pandavas were so accommodating that they were ready to live with only just five villages. Just five villages.
They had been emperors of the whole world at one time and even Duryodhana had offered tribute to them. Not exactly a tribute in official sense because they were all part of the same family. But Duryodhana was clearly subordinate to them.
They were ready to let Duryodhana have the kingdom which they had won and they were ready to be satisfied with five villages. So, in no property dispute ever will such accommodating terms be offered. And even after being offered such accommodating terms, Duryodhana was so obstinate, so impudent that he said I will not give enough land to even stick the tip of a needle through.
And then Krishna who had gone as a peace emissary, Shantidut, Krishna told Duryodhana then war is inevitable. So, the point here is that it was not that Krishna did not, it was not that the Pandavas fought simply because of property dispute. The Pandavas fought to establish Dharma.
The property dispute was the trigger for the war. But because of the greed of property, Duryodhana committed innumerable atrocities. He dishonoured Draupadi.
He tried to disrobe Draupadi. He tried to burn the Pandavas alive. He had tried to poison Bhima.
He had done so many things against the Pandavas. And all of these were flagrant violations of Dharma. And from the Vedic course point of view, a person who is an aggressor, a person who attacks in these ways, you know, who tries to abduct, who tries to dishonour one’s wife, who tries to burn one’s house, one who tries to steal one’s property, one who tries to poison, one who tries to kill, all these kinds of people, they can be punished with death.
So, the Pandavas were ready to overlook all these atrocities which had been done against them, all these aggressions that had been done against them and they were still ready to live peaceably by just accepting five kingdoms, five villages, but Duryodhana did not offer even that. So, a person who could kill his own cousins, a person who could have the shamelessness to dishonour a respectable woman in public, if such a person was allowed to rule unfettered in the kingdom, then that person would break havoc. That person would perpetuate Adharma.
That person would cause a social ruination. Now, Duryodhana did not do too much harm during his reign because he knew that there would be a tussle for power after the end of the exile, after 14 years, after 13 years and he wanted to be in the good books of people. So, that’s why during that period, because he knew after 13 years there would be a challenge to his power, so he wanted to win people over and that’s why he gave gifts and he behaved nicely, but his inimical intentions, his evil disposition periodically kept popping out and if there had been no Pandavas to challenge him, then if his authority had been unchallenged, then nobody to trample it, nobody to counter it, then he would have unleashed his full atrocity and there would have been horrendous Adharma in society.
Now, if a person can disrobe a woman and dishonour her, can dare to do that in a public assembly in the presence of one’s elders, then what can such a person do when the person is unchallenged as the king? That person can become totally tyrannical. So, it was to establish Dharma and to remove Adharma that the Pandavas fought the war and that’s why Krishna, what he says, dharma samsthapnathaya sambhavami yuge yuge, Krishna says I have come to establish Dharma and the Kurukshetra war was fought to establish Dharma. So, it was that we could say the trigger, the external cause was a property dispute, who was going to inherit the kingdom, which had come to the Kurus, which is in the Kuru dynasty, but in among the contestants, one contestant was clearly Adharmic and other contestant was clearly Dharmic and thus the contest was not just for property, it was for Dharma.
Thank you. Hare Krishna.