Title: The relevance of Mahabharata for the development of a spiritual model of good governance within the Indian context

Authors: U. Ravindra Shenoy; Balakrishnan Muniapan; Sudheendra Putty

Addresses: Department of Commerce, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Near 9th Block MIT Hostel, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India ' School of Business and Administration, Wawasan Open University, 54, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, 10050 Penang, Malaysia ' Cyient Limited, Plot No. 11, Software Units Lay Infocity, Madhapur Hyderabad, 500 081, India

Abstract: Good governance is essential for organisational sustainability in this VUCA world. Good governance has been explored from various dimensions by several scholars. Within the Indian context, good governance from the Ramayana has been analysed by numerous scholars. However, the Mahabharata (except for the Bhagavad Gita) has yet to be analysed in-depth within the context of governance. The authors therefore will explore the Mahabharata and present its relevance to good governance. This work not only fills a vacuum in the literature, but incorporates spirituality into the study of good governance. Hermeneutics, a qualitative methodology for interpreting texts, is used in this paper. The Mahabharata suggests a spiritual model of good governance with an intrinsic perspective of governance that extends from self-governance through corporate governance and eventually world or global governance. This paper is expected to offer an ancient philosophy, values-based philosophical, wisdom, and spiritual approach to good governance.

Keywords: good governance; management spirituality; the Mahabharata; Indian culture and leadership.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2024.137287

International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 2024 Vol.31 No.3, pp.310 - 321

Received: 23 Jun 2022
Accepted: 17 Sep 2022
Published online: 11 Mar 2024 *

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