The Mahabharata discloses a rich civilisation and a highly evolved society, which though of an

older world, strangely resembles the India of our own time, with the same values and ideals.
India was divided into a number of independent kingdoms.
Occasionally, one king, more distinguished or ambitious than the rest, would assume the title of
emperor, securing the acquiescence of other royalties, and signalised it by a great sacrificial
feast. The adherence was generally voluntary. The assumption of imperial title conferred no
overlordship. The emperor was only first among his peers.
The art of war was highly developed and military prowess and skill were held in high esteem.
We read in the Mahabharata of standardised phalanxes and of various tactical movements.
There was an accepted code of honorable warfare, deviations from which met with reproof
among Kshatriyas. The advent of the Kali age is marked by many breaches of these conventions
in the Kurukshetra battle, on account of the bitterness of conflict, frustration and
bereavements. Some of the most impressive passages in the epic center round these breaches
of dharma.
The population lived in cities and villages. The cities were the headquarters of kings and their
household and staff. There were beautiful palaces and gardens and the lives led were cultured
and luxurious. There was trade in the cities, but the mass of the people were agriculturists.
Besides this urban and rural life, there was a very highly cultured life in the seclusion of forest
recesses, centerd round ascetic teachers. These ashramas kept alive the bright fires of learning
and spiritual thought. Young men of noble birth eagerly sought education at these ashramas.
World-weary aged went there for peace. These centers of culture were cherished by the rulers
of the land and not the proudest of them would dare to treat the members of the hermitages
otherwise than with respect and consideration.
Women were highly honored and entered largely in the lives of their husbands and sons. The
caste system prevailed, but intercaste marriages were not unknown. Some of the greatest
warriors in the Mahabharata were brahmanas. The Mahabharata has moulded the character
and civilisation of one of the most numerous of the world's people.
How did it fulfil, how is it still continuing to fulfil, this function? By its gospel of dharma, which
like a golden thread runs through all the complex movements in the epic. By its lesson that
hatred breeds hatred, that covetousness and violence lead inevitably to ruin, that the only real
conquest is in the battle against one's lower nature.