The Vedic origins of "maattu-poNNu": - Part 12 (to be CONCLUDED)

[Guest guest]

(continued from Part 11 posted earlier)

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Dear friends,

 

Like many other lovers of the epic Mahabharatha, I too

have sometimes silently wondered how the great

"itihAsA" might have panned out -- i.e. how Sage Vyasa

might have possibly re-written the script -- if the

marriage of Satyavati to King SAntanu had never taken

place. It may seem like idle speculation but

nonetheless it is quite interesting trying to imagine

what might have happened if Bhishma had never

committed that grievous folly of bringing home a

"maattu-poNN" to keep his old but infatuated father

happy but lose, in the bargain, his own rightful claim

to a kingdom.

 

In the same vein, I have also often wondered, "If only

Bhishma had discreetly conducted for Satyavati the

famous pre-wedding "soil-test" -- (readers will recall

it from Part-6 of this series posted earlier and which

in ancient times the Vedic "gruhya-sUtras" had clearly

prescribed for selecting a "maattu-pOnn") -- might not

the tale of the Mahabhratha been very different from

the saga of bloody fratricide it eventually became?"

 

**************

 

"Once bitten, twice shy" is an old proverb of which,

obviously, the great BhIshmA of the Mahabharatha must

have been totally ignorant. Even after having made one

disastrous choice of a "maattu-peNN" in Satyavati, it

was really surprising the otherwise worldly-wise and

venerable "pitAmaha" did not learn sufficiently from

the experience. There was a tragic encore of the same

folly.

 

The Mahabharatha tells us how Bhisma made yet another

noble but monumental blunder in securing a bride, a

new "maattu-poNN", this time for his half-brother, the

minor Crown-Prince VichitravIrya (the second offspring

of Satyavati and deceased King SAntanu).

 

This time around too Bhishma, who was Regent for the

adolescent-prince, was guilty of the sin of going

about "vivAha-samskArA" in a very cavalier manner,

alien to "sAstra" and contrary to accepted customs of

those times (which again, readers should recall, the

Vedic "gruhya-sUtras" describe at length and a summary

of which was essayed in Post-3 through Post-10 of this

series). Bhishma paid a heavy and fatal price indeed

for this second misadventure.

 

Let us briefly recount the story.

 

************

 

When his royal ward, VichitravIrya, came of age,

BhIshmA, the venerable guardian-angel of the throne of

Hastinapur, set about looking for suitable young

brides --- i.e. good "maattu-poNNs" -- for the Prince.

 

 

The King of Kasi, a neighbouring warlord, had three

beautiful and nubile daughters, Amba, Ambika and

Ambalika. As was royal custom in those days, their

father, the King of Kasi, announced publicly that his

daughters would choose their respective grooms from

amongst a brood of royal suitors emerging victorious

from a ceremonial trial of strength involving martial

arts. Many young and brave princes, eager to win

brides, began to assemble at Kasi at the appointed

hour for the ceremonial "svayamvara". There was pomp,

pagaentry and tense expectation all around.

 

BhishmA's un-expected arrival there caused

consternation all around. Everyone wondered: What is

an avowed "brahmachAri" (celibate) doing at a

"svayamvara"? Is the veteran warrior bent upon

spoiling the prospects of princes far younger but more

eligible than him, but who were mere underlings by

comparison as far as martial skill was concerned?

 

Exactly as everyone feared, BhIshmA, entered the fray

and routed every other suitor who had the temerity to

take on the old warrior. With a dazzling display of

archery and other martial skills BhIshmA won the

competition comprehensively.

 

Turning then to the King of Kasi, BhIshmA spoke,

"Sire, I've won this match, fair and square! Your

lovely daughters are therefore mine. But fear not that

these fair maidens are betrothed to an old man like

me. I have no interest in matrimony as I have sworn

myself to lifelong celibacy. Your young daughters have

been won by me on behalf of my young half-brother,

VichitravIrya of Hastinapur. Amba, Ambika and Ambalika

shall be the royal queens of the Crown-Prince. They

shall be fitting consorts for the heir to the

Hastinapur throne. I will conduct these fair daughters

of yours --- or should I say these fair

daughters-in-law of mine -- safely and with due

honours unto VichitravIrya".

 

The King of Kasi had no qualms about the arrangement

and consented joyously to Bhishma's proposal. And so

did the three brides -- the 3 "maattu-poNNs" -- Amba,

Ambika and Ambalika journey forth with the "pitAmahA"

to their new home at the palace of Hastinapur.

 

The "arrangement" was fine and agreeable indeed to all

parties concerned but, in truth, it was a rather odd

one. It seemed to pervert the customary forms of

marriage contained in the "sAstra". The Vedic "dharmA"

(viz. the "vivAha gruhya-sUtra-s": pls. refer Post-4

in this series) defined 8 different types of marriages

in society:

 

"brAhmO-daivasthathaivAsah:

prAjapatyastatha'svrah:

gandharvO rAkshaschaiva

paisachAstamah smrtAh " (manu-smriti 3.21)

 

None of the above 8 modes of marriage really seemed to

fit or comply with the peculiar kind of "arrangement"

under which BhIshmA secured the 3 "maattu-poNNs" for

the royal palace of Hastinapur. It was what one may,

in those ancient times, have called an "a-sAstra"

marriage -- a marriage that went againt the canons of

Vedic custom and faith.

 

BhIshmA paid a terrible, terrible price for the

lapse...

 

**************

 

With the 3 lovely "mattu-poNNs" in tow, the great

BhishmA began the journey back to Hastinapur.

Everything that ought to have otherwise ended happily

ever after, quite suddenly took an ugly turn on the

way. And from there onward, matters rapidly began

spiralling away from one tragedy to another.

 

BhIshmA's entourage was suddenly attacked along the

way by another warlord, the young Salwa, who was king

of a neighbouring country called Saubala. Although

surprised by the ambush, the doughty BhIshma easily

fought off the attack and brought the young warrior to

his knees, had him bound by chains and ordered to be

summarily executed on the spot.

 

Just as the death-sentence was about to be carried

out, one of the brides, Amba, suddenly stepped forward

and fell at BhIshmA's feet, desperately and piteously

beseeching him to spare the offender's life. BhishmA

relented.... but not before he enquired and discovered

the real reason why Amba had intervened. It came to

light that Amba, the bride-to-be of Hastinapur, had

been secretly in love with Salwa...

 

BhIshma was deeply shocked and saddened by the

revelation. For one, it became clear that Amba was a

girl of very fickle mind --- and a fickle-minded

"maattu-poNN", Bhishma knew, is an unmitigated curse

upon the home she enters. If Amba had been firm in her

love for Salwa, BhIshma wondered, why did she

participate at all in the "svayamvara" announced by

her father?

 

Secondly, BhIshma was ill-at-ease being left with no

choice but to deliver into the hands of the young

VichitryavIrya, a somewhat tainted and unwilling bride

-- a "maattu-pOnn" who, from a moral standpoint, was

somehow less than virtuous.

 

And lastly, speaking of morals or "dharma", BhIshma

knew very well in his heart of hearts that, in

fashioning a marriage of rather strange sorts -- a

wholly "asAstra-ic" arrangement that he had sought to

conclude in marriage -- he had committed a gross

breach of the Vedic code.

 

Thus began all of BhIshmA's woes and misery in

life....

 

************

(to be CONCLUDED)

Regards,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

 

 

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