Dharma Dwells Within Tradition

The Mahabharat is full of people doing terrible things correctly. The dice game is played by the rules of hospitality; the wager is technically accepted; Bhishma's silence in the assembly is defensible from his vow. Form is observed throughout, and the catastrophe proceeds on schedule.

The epic's persistent argument is that custom carries dharma but is not identical to it, and that the two can come apart without any rule being broken. Krishna is the character most willing to say so out loud, which is also why he is the most argued about.