As seen in classic world literature, varying from works by Homer to those of Dante, as well as in pop culture today, seen through both comic books and Hollywood movies, there is high demand for a hero. But what really makes a hero? Is a hero born or is a hero made? According to the culture surrounding the Bhagavad Gita, as described by editor Martin Puchner, heroes of war are born into their line of work; in the caste system there are the “brahmanas (priests), kshatriyas (warriors), vaishyas (traders), and sudras (servants and cultivators)” (Puchner 684). In order to truly become the foretold hero, or warrior, one must endure the hardships of humanity, yet they must also stay true to their destiny with little regard to the emotional costs. While the cause of the war is justified according to the traditions of the people in that time, the war is between the royal dynasties of the Kauravas and Pandavas who must…show more content… Is the writing a factual recount of an event in history? Is the writing a fictional piece to be pondered upon? The Bhagavad Gita is both: it is a “philosophical poem” according to Martin Puchner, who introduces it as something that “does not provide simple answers but offers explanations that are appropriately difficult because they involve dilemmas that cannot be resolved once and for all,” (Puchner 727). The poem is unlike the poems that came before - in the sense that the epic poem is predominantly conversational - and it is also unlike contemporary pieces for the same reason as well. The narrator, Sanjaya, is telling the king about Arjuna’s conversation with Krishna, and it becomes clear that this is a recount from an outside perspective, but still during the unravelling of events; it is just as much history as the historical accounts of Jesus Christ rising from the dead, which is told by one of Christ’s
