Title: Demystifying Samyak Agraga from the women characters of the Mahabharata: a holistic leadership perspective

Authors: Hardik B. Bhadeshiya; Parag Shukla; Balakrishnan Muniapan

Addresses: Department of Commerce and Business Management, Faculty of Commerce, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat, India ' Department of Commerce and Business Management, Faculty of Commerce, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat, India ' School of Business and Administration, Wawasan Open University, Penang, Malaysia

Abstract: This paper presents the holistic leadership from the Mahabharata demonstrated by the women characters. The authors employed hermeneutics, which is a qualitative approach in analysing the characters from the Mahabharata. Twelve women characters have been selected and analysed from a holistic leadership perspective. The 12 women characters played a significant and vital role in many situations and influenced the process and the outcome of the events in the Mahabharata. The holistic leadership roles played by these women characters have a great significance to leadership theory and practice in today's world. The findings reveal that these women characters leadership approach is an inside-out rather than outside-in as they demonstrated emotional, mental, strength in dealing with any crisis, and they effectively changed the conventional image of a woman. This paper is expected to provide a framework for more research of underrated women characters from the Mahabharata within leadership and management.

Keywords: holistic leadership; women in leadership; Mahabharata; Indian management culture; Indian women.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2024.136593

International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 2024 Vol.31 No.1, pp.37 - 57

Received: 26 May 2022
Accepted: 13 Jul 2022
Published online: 08 Feb 2024 *

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