Ethics in Chaotic Times: Teaching the Mahābhārata at the Intersection of Social Upheaval and Personal Stakes in an Urban University Classroom

This paper is a discussion of the pedagogical utility of the Mahābhārata beyond captivating undergraduate students with stories of love and war or an introduction to several key aspects of Hindu beliefs, sociality, and literary fecundity. As students grapple with the turbulence of their local and global lived reality and desire to engage with contested issues, the epic holds a unique promise. It allows for a pedagogy for problem-solving that moves students beyond reacting to problems to critically assessing the tensions that constitute a problem in order to then think of perspectives to understand or solutions to solve them. Through examples from classroom, I illustrate the strong appeal for students to have a venue to grapple with their personal stake in an issue and to articulate and refine their ethics for uncertain, chaotic, or “messy” situations as they increasingly feel pressured to take and declare their stance on a matter.