Episode 17 - Vikram and Bhetal

Principles of morality- 

A story from Vikram and Bhetal

Morality implies norms and values of the social process and morals try to evaluate a situation right or wrong according to the prevailing situations.

Morality is situation specific, time specific and place specific.  Application of reason to moral decisions is embedded in ethics. Can we criticize our ancient literature and the characters by applying the moral standards of the current century?

Any action can be judged as ‘right’, ‘fair’ or ‘proper’ basing on moral standards which differ from person to person, time to time and place to place- example, a frog caught by a snake, in which case you do not know whether saving the frog from the mouth of the snake is moral since you are interfering in the food chain process of the eco system. A lady riding a bike in Saudi Arabia is immoral and illegal but not in other countries. Eating beef may be immoral in some states of India and for some Hindu groups and may not be so for others. Slavery in USA just a few centuries back was not considered immoral in those days but it is frowned upon now.

In the scenario, can we call moral judgments are relative judgments?  

Read the story and reflect.

The Story

Bhetal was telling this story to King Vikramarka. There was a king by name Ugrasimha ruling Kanyakubja. He had a very trusted lieutenant by name Karpatika who was ever ready to sacrifice his life for the sake of the king.  

On one day there was a thunderous rain causing much dislocation of people at large. In the dead of the night, when there was a deafening silence, somewhere there was big weeping sound from an unknown destination. The king asked Karpanika to go about and enquire the cause of worry of the weeping person.

Karpanika set out and found out the earth goddess weeping aloud. On being asked she told that she was weeping because the king who was ruling the country in good stead was about to die in another three days. Was there any solution to save the life of the king? She told Karpanika that if a teenager is sacrificed at the altar of Kali’s temple, the king could be saved.

Karpanika, thought for a while, returned to his home, and asked his seventeen years old son whether he was ready to sacrifice his life for the sake of the king and eventually for the kingdom. He readily agreed. Karpanika’s wife was no way inferior in displaying her love for the country. She also agreed for the sacrifice of her son.

Karpanika took his son to Kali’s temple. “O Deity! Here I am sacrificing my son. Please save the king and the kingdom”. Then he pierced the head of his son. He could not then control his own emotions and he killed himself. On seeing the death of husband and the son, the grief-stricken lady also pierced her neck. 

The king was watching all these events. He was deeply moved by the sacrifices of his trusted people for his sake. “What is the use of living when my trusted people have sacrificed their lives for saving me”? He went inside to Kali temple and took out his sword to cut himself in to pieces.  Suddenly Kali appeared before the king. “O king why are you sacrificing your life? Upon you rest the lives of so many people of your kingdom. I can give you a boon of your choice”.

Then the king asked to save the lives of all the three persons and Kali blessed accordingly.

Question posed by Bhetal

Bhetal stopped the story asked the king, “O King Vikramarka! Now tell me whose sacrifice is great – the king, Karpanika, Karpanika’s son or Karpanika’s wife?” 

Readers, you can try to answer Bhetal’s question from the following perspectives.

a.   From the moral values of 21^st century

b.   From your own moral values

c.   From the general moral values of your surroundings.

(Once you exhaust your answers as per your reasoning try to read the actual story below and compare your reasoning is in tune with the answer given by the king)

The Actual Story continued

What did the king Vikramarka reply to Bhetal?

Vikramarka thought for a while answered thus, “O Bhetal! In this story, the sacrifice of all the three people, viz, Karpanika, Karpanika’s son or Karpanika’s wife is certainly praise-worthy. But their sacrifice is inferior to the sacrifice of the King. There is nothing great in Karpanika, Karpanika’s son or Karpanika’s wife sacrificing their lives. It is their duty to protect the king and the kingdom since they are its citizens. 

The king has certainly a large role to play and his life is more precious. His willingness to sacrifice his life is certainly greater than the sacrifices of his three subjects”. 

On hearing the answer, the Bhetal swung back to the tree.

What are the Learning Elements from the story?

In the society in which we live in this 21^st century, all are equal as far the freedom to life is concerned. The sacrifice of life of one person is not inferior to the sacrifice of other person. This is an age of democracy and liberalism.

The story that happened/ or must have happened belongs to some thousand years back where the sacrifice of the king was greater than the sacrifice of a servant.

We cannot compare the morals of one century with the morals of other centuries. We come across some people criticizing the morals of the past by viewing from the current day moral lenses. Should we do like that? Can we criticize our ancient literature and the characters by applying the moral standards of the current century?

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