What was "family" in ancient India?

Mythologist decodes the [ethical dilemmas] of family business

Devdutt Pattanaik (India Times, The Economic Times)
The oldest Greek stories, the Iliad and Odyssey, deal with the triumph of the heroic leader who breaks all the rules. The oldest Biblical narratives, Genesis and Exodus, deal with the value of compliance to the rules of the institution. In contrast, the oldest Indian epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, revolve around family dramas.

The Ramayana tells the story of Ram of Ayodhya and his antagonist, Ravana, king of [Sri] Lanka. The Mahabharata tells the story of Krishna and his warring cousins, the Pandavas and the Kauravas of Hastinapur. Another epic, the Bhagavata, often considered a prequel to the Mahabharata, tells the story of Krishna's early life in Gokul.

Together these three epics deal with every possible family-related issue from inter-generational conflict to succession planning to talent management to sibling rivalry.

It is filled with thoughts and ideas that are considered timeless, hence of value even to modern family businesses as they go through dharma-sankat, or "ethical dilemmas" in the new world order where the demands of institutional business tower over traditional family assumptions.

What is Family?
What is a family? Families in Ramayana and Mahabharata, significantly, are not defined by blood. Ram and Laxman are half-brothers, with a common father but different mothers. Of the five Pandava brothers, three have a common mother, and none have a common father. Krishna is raised by foster parents, and even his brother Balabhadra is actually his half-brother.

What defines a family then is not blood or law or custom, but trust. In a family governed by trust, there are no rules; only love defines actions, as in the Bhagavata. In a family with no trust, rules have no role; only power defines actions, as in the Mahabharata.

In between, stands the Ramayana, where there is love but also rules. How critical are rules to bind a family together? More>>