Politics, Power, and Structural Transformation: Rethinking Conflict in the Mahabharata

Abstract

The Mahabharata, one of the world’s enduring epics, offers profound insights into the human relationship between politics, power, and morality through the prolonged conflict between two royal families: the Pandavas and Kauravas. The epic portrays the structural dimensions of the Kurukshetra conflict, focusing on unequal power relations, rigid structures of authority, and failed negotiations that ultimately led interpersonal dispute into large-scale violence. Although existing scholarship has examined the epic through historical, religious, and ethical perspectives, limited focus has been given to how its structural conflict, dimensions of power relations, institutional failure, and unequal structures generate and transform conflict when examined through contemporary conflict transformation theory. The paper argues that the Mahabharata reveals an understanding of conflict transformation as a process beyond the mere reduction of violence by emphasizing the significance of structural transformation, ethical reflection, and reconstruction of social and political relationships. Employing a qualitative textual analysis of the epic, the article applies John Paul Lederach's conflict transformation framework to examine the immediate conditions, underlying structures, and possibilities for constructive change within the epic narrative. Through the concepts of dharma, power, and moral ambiguity, the paper demonstrates how the epic represents conflict as both a destructive force and an opportunity for social transformation. The analysis reveals that peace in the epic emerges not simply from military victory but from the restoration of justice, harmony, ethical governance, and responsible exercise of power. By connecting ancient political thought with contemporary conflict transformation theory, this article contributes to broader discussions on power structures, political conflicts, and pathways toward sustainable peace.