Dharma and Grief: Secularisation of a Sacred Emotion

Abstract

The presentation begins with the moving scene of Vālmīki’s grief over the bereavement of the survivor of the two birds in amorous union as one of them is pierced by a hunter’s arrow. After considering Abhinavagupta’s doubt about the genuineness of Vālmīki’s grief, the paper moves to Mahābhārata as the women from the warring clans bear witness to the horrendous carnage ensuing from the battle, and the constant rebuke that Yudhiṣthira, head of the Pāṇḍava clan, faces from Draupadī for wandering the earth without finding a stable foundation for Dharma or grounding it in firm absolutes. We liken Yudhiṣthira to Mahatma Gandhi facing the near-collapse of the Indian sub- continent as it was being rent apart with communal violence on the eve of its Independence. But we also compare Yudhiṣthira with Hamlet, the tragic grief-ridden character, who is equally bewildered and confused by the array of emotions and sensations that overwhelm his lingering body upon news of the death of and ghostly encounter with his murdered father. With this as the context, we take the occasion to explore recent thinking on the ‘hard emotions’, in particular, grief, sorrow and mourning, and link the challenging inner and social condition to the calling of Dharma (righteous law, normatively worthy action). Drawing from some comparative work (academic and personal) in the study of grief, mourning and empathy, we shall discuss the treatment of this tragic pathos in classical Indic literature and modern-day psychotherapy. We shall demonstrate, despite being secularised, these emotions continue to serve as the sites of imagination at a much more personal and inter-personal level that are not antithetical to a Dharmic (sacred) quest despite their haunting presence even when ‘the four walls collapse around one in the intensity of duḥkha (suffering, sorrow)’ (Tagore).