Book Two
Parents
‘Janamejaya, in your family, a son suffered for the sake of the father.’
8
Mahabhisha becomes Shantanu
For merits earned during his lifetime, a king called Mahabhisha was granted entry into Swarga. There he enjoyed the dance of the Apsaras and the music of the Gandharvas in the company of the Devas. He was allowed to drink Sura, the drink which fills one with joy. He was even given access to the tree called Kalpataru, to the cow called Kamadhenu and to the gem called Chintamani, each of which had the power to fulfil any wish and grant every desire.
One day, the river-nymph Ganga paid a visit to Indra’s sabha. While she was there, a gentle breeze caused her upper garment to fall exposing her breasts. The assembled Devas lowered their eyes out of respect but Mahabhisha, spellbound by Ganga’s beauty, kept staring unashamedly. This display of unbridled passion so angered Indra that he cursed Mahabhisha to return to the earth.
Ganga who had enjoyed Mahabhisha’s shameless attention was also instructed by Indra to leave Amravati and return only after breaking Mahabhisha’s heart.
Mahabhisha was reborn as Pratipa’s son Shantanu in the city of Hastina-puri.
Pratipa, a descendant of Puru, renounced the world as soon as he felt his children were old enough to rule the kingdom in his stead. The crown should have gone to his eldest son, Devapi, but Devapi had a skin disease, and the law clearly stated that a man with a physical defect could not be king. So Shantanu, the younger son, became king instead. Devapi chose to become a mendicant, refusing to live in Shantanu’s shadow.
One day, while Pratipa was meditating on a river bank, Ganga came and sat on his right lap. ‘Beautiful woman, you sit on my right lap. Had you sat on my left, it would mean you want to be my wife. That you sit on my right means you wish to be my daughter. What is it that you desire?’
‘I want to marry your son, Shantanu,’ said Ganga.
‘So it will be,’ said Pratipa.
A few days later when Shantanu came to pay his respects to his father on the river bank, Pratipa told him, ‘One day a beautiful woman called Ganga will approach you and wish to be your wife. Fulfil her desire. That is my wish.’
Shortly thereafter, Shantanu saw Ganga gliding on a dolphin. He fell in love with her instantly. ‘Be my wife,’ he said.
‘I will,’ said Ganga, ‘provided you promise never to question my actions.’ Driven both by lust and his promise to his father, Shantanu agreed and Ganga followed him home.
Soon, Ganga gave birth to Shantanu’s first son. But there was little to cheer for as soon as the child slipped out of her womb, Ganga took the newborn to the river and drowned him. Though horrified by her action, Shantanu said nothing. He did not want to lose his beautiful wife.
A year later, Ganga gave birth to Shantanu’s second son. She drowned him too. Even this time Shantanu did not voice his protest. In this way Ganga gave birth to, and drowned, seven children. Each time Shantanu said nothing.
But when Ganga was about to drown Shantanu’s eighth child, Shantanu cried, ‘Stop, you pitiless woman. Let him live.’
Ganga stopped and smiled. ‘Husband, you have broken your word,’ she said, ‘So it is time for me to leave you as Urvashi once left Pururava. The children who I killed were seven of the eight gods known as Vasus who were cursed to be reborn as mortals for the crime of stealing Vasishtha’s cow. On their request, I became their mother and tried to keep their stay on earth as brief as possible to spare them the misery of earthly existence. But alas, I could not save the last one. This eighth Vasu, who you have saved, Shantanu, will live. But a terrible life it shall be! Though man, he will neither marry nor inherit your throne. He will have no family, yet will be obliged to live as a householder. And finally, he will die a death of shame at the hands of a man who will actually be a woman.’
‘It will not be so, I will not let that happen,’ Shantanu argued passionately.
‘I shall take your son and raise him as a perfect warrior. He shall be trained by the martial sage, Parashurama. I shall send him to you when he is ready to marry and be king. Then we shall see.’ So saying Ganga disappeared with her son leaving Shantanu all alone.
The Mahabharata gives great importance to the law of karma. According to this law, nothing in this world is spontaneous. Everything is a reaction to the past. Shantanu falls in love with Ganga and has his heart broken because of events in his past life. Ganga kills her own children because of events in their past life. By interfering with the course of karma, as Shantanu does when he stops Ganga from killing his eighth son, one ends up causing more harm than good. The epic constantly reminds us that what is apparently a good deed need not really be a good deed, for every moment is governed by factors that are often beyond human comprehension.
The eight Vasus are ancient Vedic deities associated with the elements. For the paap of stealing Vasishtha’s cow, they had to be reborn as mortals. The leader of the eight, Prabhas, who stole it for his wife, suffers more than the other seven and lives a longer and more miserable life as Devavrata.
Vyasa draws attention to the dangers of lust and blind obedience to the father when Shantanu agrees to the conditions laid down by Ganga. At the root of all human tragedy is human folly.
Hastina-puri, or the city of elephants, is named after Hastin, a little-known ancestor of the Pandavas. Some say Hastin was another name for Puru. Scholars speculate that the city name suggests that in the era of the Mahabharata, herds of elephants roamed in and around what is now known as Punjab and Haryana.
In Jain chronicles, Hastina-puri was an ancient city, built by the gods themselves. Three of the twenty-four great Tirthankaras of Jainism—Shanti-nath, Kuntha-nath and Ara-nath—were born in this city.
9
Bhishma’s sacrifice
Devavrata grew up to be a handsome prince and a skilled warrior. When his mother sent him back to his father, the people of Hastina-puri loved him and looked forward to the day when he would be king. But this never happened.
Shantanu had fallen in love again. And the object of his desire was Satyavati, a fisherwoman, who ferried men across the Ganga. He longed to make her his wife. But, like Ganga, Satyavati had a condition before she accepted Shantanu’s offer of marriage: she wanted to be sure that only her children would be his heirs. Shantanu did not know how to satisfy this condition for Devavrata was already the crown prince of Hastina-puri.
When Devavrata learnt the cause of his father’s misery, he went to Satyavati and said, ‘So that my father can marry you, I renounce my claim to the throne.’
Though impressed by Devavrata’s decision, Satyavati’s father, chief of the fisherfolk, was not satisfied. He said, ‘But your children will surely fight with my daughter’s children over the throne. How will you ensure that this does not happen?’
Devavrata smiled and without remorse or regret took a decision that would change the course of his family history. ‘I shall never marry. I shall never be with a woman. I shall never father children.’
Devavrata’s vow stunned all the creatures of the cosmos. So impressed were the Devas that they descended from the skies and showered him with flowers. They gave him a new name, Bhishma, the one who took the most terrible of vows. For a terrible vow it was. Since Devavrata would father no children, there would be no one left on earth after his death to facilitate his rebirth. He would be doomed to live forever in the land of the dead across the river Vaitarni. The Devas in fact felt so sorry for Devavrata that they decreed Bhishma would have the power to choose the time of his own death.
With Devavrata taking the vow of celibacy, there was nothing to stop Shantanu from marrying Satyavati.
Bhishma’s vow is yet another example of the Yayati complex—glorification of the son who sacrifices his own happiness for the sake of his father.
In the Jain retelling of the Mahabharata, there is a suggestion that Devavrata castrated himself to reassure Satyavati that he would never father
a child.
Ideally, as per ashrama-dharma, that advises men to behave in keeping with their stage in life, Shantanu should have retired, like his father Pratipa before him, and allowed Devavrata to become a householder. The Mahabharata is essentially the tale of what follows Devavrata’s vow, what happens when the older generation sacrifices the happiness of the younger generation for its own pleasure.
10
Daughter of a fish
Satyavati was no ordinary fisherwoman. Her father was a king called Uparichara who during the course of a hunt had rested under a tree, thought of his wife and ejected a joyful spurt of semen. Not wanting to waste this semen, he wrapped it in a leaf and gave it to a parrot and requested it to carry it to his wife so that she could bear a child with it.
On its way, the parrot was attacked by a falcon and the packet containing the semen fell into a river where it was eaten by a fish. This fish was once an Apsara called Girika, cursed by Brahma to be a fish until she gave birth to human children.
A few days later, some fishermen caught this fish and found in its belly twin children: a boy and a girl. They presented the twins to Uparichara, who accepted the male child but let the female child be raised by the fisherfolk. The chief of the fisherfolk adopted the girl and raised her as his own daughter. She was called Satyavati but teased as Matsya-gandha for she smelt dreadfully of fish.
Matsya-gandha ferried people across the river Ganga. One day, she found herself ferrying a sage called Parasara. Midstream, near a river island, the sage expressed his desire to make love to Matsya-gandha and have a child by her. ‘No one will marry me if you do this,’ she said.
‘Don’t worry,’ said the sage, drawing a curtain of mist over the ferry, ‘With my magical powers I will ensure you will bear a child instantly and regain your virginity. And you will never ever smell of fish again. Your body will give out a fragrance that men will find irresistible.’
Before the ferry reached the other shore, Matsya-gandha had become a lover then a mother then a virgin and finally a fragrant woman. The child born of this union was raised by Parasara. He was named Krishna Dwaipayana, the dark child delivered on a river island. Eventually, he became known as Vyasa, he who compiled the sacred scriptures.
Matsya-gandha’s new fragrant body got her the attention of Shantanu and made her the queen of Hastina-puri.
The story of Uparichara’s ‘joyful spurt of semen’ in the forest and its consumption by a fish is perhaps an elaborate tale to cover a king’s indiscretion with a fisherwoman.
One wonders if Satyavati’s insistence that her children be kings stems from her resentment at being rejected by her royal father, Uparichara, who chose only her brother and let her be raised by fisherfolk. As the story continues, Vyasa draws attention to the desperate and sometimes brutal steps taken by Satyavati to change her destiny.
The tale of Parasara and Matsya-gandha can be seen as a tale of sexual exploitation of a young girl by a powerful elderly sage, or it can be seen as a tale of sex hospitality that was prevalent in the epic age when fathers and husbands offered their daughters and wives to guests, sages and kings. Or it can be seen as an attempt by Matsya-gandha to manipulate a sage by offering him sexual favours.
11
The three princesses
In due course, Satyavati gave Shantanu two sons: Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. Soon after, Shantanu died leaving his wife and her sons in the care of Bhishma.
Satyavati wanted her sons to grow up fast, marry and produce children for she was determined to be the mother of a great line of kings.
Unfortunately, Chitrangada died before marriage. An arrogant man, he was challenged to a duel by a Gandharva of the same name who killed him after a prolonged fight.
Vichitravirya was a weakling, unable to find a wife for himself. So it was left to Bhishma to find a wife for him.
The king of Kashi had organized a swayamvara where his three daughters—Amba, Ambika and Ambalika—could select a husband from among the guests. No invitation had been extended to Vichitravirya. Some said this was because it was known that Vichitravirya was an unfit groom for any woman. Others said this was to get back at Bhishma who, while taking the vow of celibacy, conveniently overlooked the consequences of his decision on the woman he was engaged to marry, the sister of the king of Kashi.
Bhishma took the absence of an invitation as an affront to the dignity of his household. He rode into Kashi and abducted the three princesses. The assembled guests tried but failed to stop him. Bhishma then gave the three princesses to his younger brother.
Amba, eldest daughter of the king of Kashi, was in love with Shalva and she had planned to select him as a groom from among those invited by her father to her swayamvara. ‘Let me go to the man I love,’ she begged, ‘You have two wives. Why do you need three?’ Feeling sorry for her, both Vichitravirya and Bhishma let her go to the man she loved.
But Shalva refused to take Amba back. ‘How can I take back as queen a woman abducted by another man and then returned as charity,’ he said.
A mortified Amba returned to Vichitravirya only to be told, rather imperiously, ‘What is once given away is never taken back.’
Amba then went to Bhishma and demanded that he take her as his wife. ‘You are the cause of all this. If you had not abducted me, I would not be in this situation. I am therefore your responsibility. Besides, by taking us on your chariot you, and not your half-brother, are our true husband.’
Bhishma would hear none of this. He dismissed her with a wave of his hand. ‘I have taken a vow that prevents me from being with any woman. Since neither Shalva nor Vichitravirya shall accept you, you are free to go wherever you wish.’
‘You have ruined my life,’ cried Amba. ‘If your vow prevented you from marrying, what right did you have to abduct me? Now I am nobody’s wife.’
Amba went around the world seeking a warrior who would avenge her humiliation. But all Kshatriyas feared Bhishma. So she took the help of Parashurama, who was Bhishma’s teacher.
Parashurama was a Brahman who feared no Kshatriya. In fact he hated them. Kshatriyas had killed his father and stolen his cows. To teach them a lesson, he had picked up an axe and massacred five great Kshatriya clans, filling five lakes with their blood. These five lakes were knownas Samanta Panchaka and were located at Kuru-kshetra. Every Kshatriya trembled on hearing Parashurama’s name. He had sworn to kill any Kshatriya who crossed his path.
Parashurama was so shocked to hear Amba’s story that he immediately challenged his student to a duel. A terrible fight ensued which lasted for several days. Finally, Parashurama gave up. ‘No one can defeat Bhishma. And no one can kill him unless he wants to die. If this fight continues, both of us will release weapons that will destroy the world. So it has to stop,’ he said.
In despair, Amba then took a vow. She would not eat or sleep until the Devas revealed to her the means of killing Bhishma.
She stood on one foot on top of a hill for days until Shiva, the destructive form of God, appeared before her. ‘You will be the cause of Bhishma’s death,’ said Shiva, ‘But only in your next life.’ Determined to hasten Bhishma’s death, Amba killed herself by leaping into a pit of fire. She would be reborn in the household of Drupada, king of Panchala, as Shikhandi, and fulfil her destiny as Bhishma’s nemesis.
In the 15th century, Kabi Sanjay wrote the Mahabharata in Bengali in which Chitrangada dies of tuberculosis and Vichitravirya is killed by Bhishma’s pet elephant when he, despite express instructions not to do so, enters Bhishma’s palace while Bhishma is away.
The name Vichitravirya is derived from ‘vichitra’ meaning odd and ‘virya’ meaning masculinity, suggesting that Vichitravirya was either a weakling or impotent or sterile, or perhaps asexual or homosexual, lacking manliness, unable or unwilling to get a bride for himself.
Amba’s tale draws attention to the gradual deterioration in the status of women in Vedic society. Unlike Urvashi, Ganga and Satyavati who could make demands of the men who s
ought to marry them, Amba and her sisters were chattels—to be claimed as trophies in tournaments. Iravati Karve’s collection of essays, Yuganta, elaborates on the changing times reflected in the epic.
12
Birth of Vichitravirya’s children
Vichitravirya died before he could father any children.
Satyavati’s dream of being the mother of kings was shattered.
Then she went to Bhishma and told him to make his widowed daughters-in-law pregnant. ‘By the law of niyoga, prescribed in the books of dharma, any child they bear belongs to their deceased husband. I request you to do what my sons could not do.’
‘That may be the law, mother,’ said Bhishma, ‘but I will not break my vow of celibacy, even for you, the one for whose pleasure this vow was taken.’
A desperate Satyavati then sent for her first son, Krishna Dwaipayana, who lived with his father Parasara. By then everyone referred to him as Vyasa, the compiler, because he had successfully organized the Veda into four books. ‘Make the two wives of my son pregnant,’ she said.
‘I will,’ said Vyasa, ‘if so is your wish. But give me a year to prepare myself. For fourteen years I have lived in the forest as an ascetic. My hair is matted and my skin coarse. My gaunt features will scare the two women.’
But Satyavati was impatient. ‘Go now, as you are. They will welcome you. And I cannot wait.’
Not wanting to disobey his mother, Vyasa went first to Ambika. She was so disgusted by his looks that she shut her eyes when he touched her. The child that Vyasa conceived in her womb was therefore born blind. He was named Dhritarashtra.
Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata Page 4