Part I: Myths-Sec. 2-Anec 9&10

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagavatas,

Given beloe are Anecdotes 9 and 10 from Section 2 of Part - I Myths.

Dasoham

Anbil Ramaswamy

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9. The power of chastity (Damayanti, Mandavya and Savitri).

 

Damayanti

 

King Nala of Nishada country and Damayanti,daughter of King Sura of

Vidharba country had heard about each other and fell in love and their

love was strengthened by a swan that was a sort of go-between for them.

When Sura arranged for a Swayamvara

(the girl choosing her husband from among princes specially invited for

the purpose), the four Lokapalakas (guardians of the world) viz Indra,

Agni, Varuna and Yama learned about the beauty of Damayanti and also

about the love Damayanti and Nala had for each other. They approached

Nala himself and asked him to go to Damayanti to request her to marry

one of them. Damayanti refused and wanted to marry Nala only. The four

suitors came to the Swayamwara hall taking the form of Nala so that

there were five look-alikes, Damayanti was so steadfast in her love for

Nala that soon she could spot him apart from the other suitors. The

secret is that the feet of Devas would not touch the earth while that of

a human being would. The Lokapalakas revealed themselves and praised

Damayanti for her shrewdness and helped in uniting Nala and Damayanti.

 

Mandavya

Sage Mandavya was doing penance under a tree near his hermitage. Some

robbers brought their booty and found no place to hide it. So, they hid

it in the Ashram of the sage for safe custody thinking that nobody would

suspect the sage. The king's men who came searching for the robbers

found out the booty hidden in the hermitage. They thought that the sage

was an accomplice and reported the matter to the king. Without making

proper investigations, the king ordered the sage to be crucified on a

spike and expected him to die by sunrise the next day.

 

Mandavya's wife was a model of chastity and she invoked her chastity to

declare that the sage should not die and that the Sun should not rise

until and unless the punishment was revoked. Accordingly, the sage did

not die but was in a deep trance nor was there a sunrise the next

morning. The king was surprised and rushed to the spot. On learning what

had happened, he apologised for his mistake and immediately released the

sage from the spike and then only there was the Sunrise.

 

Savitri

Savitri was the beautiful daughter of King Aswapathi of Ujjain. She fell

in love with Satyavan, the son of a hermit. Sage Narada appeared and

clarified that the hermit was none other than a former King Dyumatsena

who lived as a hermit having lost his kingdom and his eyesight and

therefore it would be a marriage between two kshatriya families. But,

Narada also cautioned that Satyavan was fated to die one year after his

marriage.

 

Savitri was undaunted. She had chosen Satyavan to be her husband and

even if he were to die the next day after marriage she said, she would

live as a widow for the rest of her life. The wedding was celebrated and

Savitri went to the hermitage as a dutiful wife and a dutiful

daughter-in-law.

 

Satyavan was not aware of his fate as no one ever informed him. Just on

the day of wedding anniversary, Savitri beseeched him to take her along

on his outing. And, Satyavan consented.

 

While climbing a tree, he suddenly fell sick and in a moment fell flat

motionless on her lap. The messengers of death who came to take away his

soul could not approach the body of Satyavan as the chastity of Savitri

was like a burning flame. When they reported the matter to the lord of

death, Yama, Yama himself came to the spot on his buffalo and with all

his insignia. But, he also could not go near Satyavan's body. He

announced himself to Savitri and explained his mission. Savitri holding

tightly to the body of Satyavan asked Yama to take her life also, since

a wife followed her husband through life and death. Yama could not

concede as he had no authority to take her life. Instead, he offered to

grant her a boon.Savitri desired that her father should have a son. She

still followed Yama who could not ward her off and offered to grant

another boon. This time she asked that her father-in-law should regain

his kingdom and his eyesight.This was also granted but Savitri still

pursued Yama. Not knowing what to do, Yama offered to grant her a final

boon. Saviti caught him unawares when she asked that she should have one

hundred sons through Satyavan each born after an interval of 100 years.

Yama thoughtlessly said "It shall be so". Now, Savitri stood right

across Yama's path and demanded Satyavan to be returned alive since she

could not have sons through Satyavan without his being alive. Yama

realized the truth in her plea and had to yield. Thus, by dint of her

chastity and self-sacrificing devotion, she won her point with Yama and

returned home with her husband. Her father-in-law regained his kingdom

and eyesight and her father also was blessed with a son

 

Comment

 

Damayanti

The story of Damayanti aims to show that when a woman is steadfastly in

love with a man she had chosen to be her husband,no force on earth that

can stand in her way. She can by her chastity bring about a change of

heart even in the competing suitors to help her in uniting with her

lover.

 

Mandavya and Savitri

To understand and appreciate the moral of the stories, it would be

necessary to forget for the moment whether such events are possible at

all. One should develop an empathy with the characters in the stories,

accept whatever the story requires one to accept and believe what they

ask one to believe.

 

Though Mandavya and Satyavan were fated to die, the stories suggest that

Hinduism is not that fatalistic as some would have us believe. There is

always some margin of choice within the limiting circumstances of fate

and destiny. A judicious exercise based on firm grounds of

devotion,chastity,truth,steadfastness and sincerity can change even the

course of fate- ordering even the heavenly bodies like the Sun and the

Gods like Yama to obey their commands and wishes.

 

The moral of these stories is to highlight the importance of chastity

and other virtues- which have value and validity today as they were in

the days of Damayanti, Mandavya and Savitri.

 

10. The power of Compassion ( Sibhi)

 

Sibhi was an emperor known for his compassion. To test the depth of his

compassion, Indra took the form of an eagle and Agni the form of a

dove.The eagle was chasing the dove as if in hunt. The dove suddenly

fell on the lap of Sibhi who was sitting on a bench in his garden. The

eagle came to him and demanded him to give up the dove which was its

natural prey. Sibhi who felt that the dove had surrendered to him

seeking protection from the eagle wanted to save its life. He refused to

yield the dove but offered the eagle anything else as food. The eagle

demanded that it could be satisfied only if Sibhi could offer his own

flesh of weight equivalent to that of the dove. Unperturbed, Sibhi

started chopping off flesh from his thigh. However much of flesh he

placed on the scale, the weight of the dove seemed to be heavier.

Finally, he got on the scale and offered himself as food for the eagle.

That was test enough and the angels showered confetti of flowers on

Sibhi. Indra and Agni revealed themselves to Sibhi and praising Sibhi

for his unprecedented compassion,restored him to normality and blessed

him. Sibhi who was prepared to sacrifice himself in an effort to save

one who had surrendered to him earned everlasting fame and name.

 

Comment

 

As indicated earlier, we have to take 'as it is' what the story wants us

to take, believe what it would have us believe. An undue obsession with

whether an eagle could talk and whether any person in his senses would

venture to cut off flesh from his own body and that for the sake of a

mere bird- should be ruthlessly set aside, if we are to appreciate the

finer sentiments underlying the story. Any legend in any religion does

have a liberal sprinkling of hyperbole if only to bring home graphically

some subtle point. That being compassionate and rushing to the rescue of

a person in distress especially when that person had sought refuge in

one who has the capacity to protect - is a salutary lesson that this

story conveys. And, in doing this, no amount of personal loss, injury or

inconvenience should be allowed to detract. The extent to which one

could accomplish this determines the moral stature of the protector.

This moral is as valid today as in the days of Sibhi. Great men and

women in history have time and again proved the efficacy of

self-sacrifice for the good of others.

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