Friday, 9 August 2019


Episode 27

The Might of Bhima and the death of Bakasura[i]

This is a simple story of the death of Bakasura (a demon) in the hands of Bhima. The story is interwoven by many discussions as to who should sacrifice life for the sake of demon before Bhima was sent by Kunti to kill him. Can guest be sacrificed for the sake of protecting the self? Is the purpose of marriage for dharma and not for carnal pleasures? Is listening Vedas by shudras a taboo? What is the definition of shudra and what controversies? Let us read and analyze the story.

The Story

In the last episode we saw the duel between Bhima and Hidimbasara. After the death of Hidimbasura, Pandavas moved to Ekachakrapura (currently it is a small village in Birbhum district of West Bengal). They stayed in a house of a Brahmin as guests. They were still in exile disguising themselves as Brahmins and thriving on alms bestowed by the villagers. All the brothers used to go out to beg food and half of it was consumed by Bhima and the rest by all other brothers including Kunti.

Ekachakrapura was in the grip of a deadly demon by name Bakasura. The dastardly demon used to delight in devouring human flesh. To save the prowl of the carnivorous beast, the villagers entered into a gentle-man agreement with Bakasura. Each day one household had to send a cartful of food, two buffalos and a human being as part of his menu and the demon agreed not to disturb the peace of villagers. Pandavas were not aware of this arrangement and no one had told them also.

One day Bhima and Kunti were sitting in the corridor of the Brahmin’s house discussing something and the remaining four Pandavas had left to fetch food. Pandavas were not aware that it was the turn of their host on that day. Suddenly they heard the people of the household weeping bitterly. Kunti rushed to the spot and found all people gloomy and despondent. 

The Brahmana was crying, ‘Oh I was anticipating this day from the beginning and advising to leave this place. But you did not heed my advice. See, the imminent danger is knocking our door right now. You are a pious and a patient lady following my dharmic path. Like a mother you are nourishing and nurturing me. The very gods have sent you as my friend, philosopher and guide. How can I now desert you and go there?’[ii], the Brahmin was talking to his wife.

He continued, ‘See our cute small son. He has not yet grown and still a child. How can I leave him? This is our beloved daughter. The gods have given her to perform ‘Kanyādāna’[iii] and I and my forefathers attain divine abodes by virtue of children born to her. A few may say that the father loves son and a few others say that he loves daughter. But I love both of them equally[iv]. Now what can I do? I can’t leave them, and death for all of us is the only alternative’, the Brahmin lamented.

‘Oh, Swamy! Don’t lament over this issue. Today I will go and sacrifice my life. A wife is supposed to protect her husband and that is dharma. You married for progeny and I got relieved from the debt by giving children to you. The purpose of my life is fulfilled. If you die and I outlive your death, I can’t rear up these two children. I can’t even protect this girl from the evil eyes of envious men. Further a lady without husband would be akin to the fallen flesh ready to be picked up by all men around. I can’t protect myself and tread on the dharmic path and I will be despised and demeaned’, the Brahmin’s wife argued.

She continued, ‘If you die and I live, I will become helpless and our daughter shall be coveted by ignominious people just as shudras covet to listen the resonance of vedas[v].

“Further a woman is not to be killed as per dharma and the demon may leave me because I am a woman[vi]. A man is certain to be killed and woman has the chances of being relieved. Hence, I only will go and do my duty as a wife. You may think that you cannot perform rituals without me. I can tell you that you can always marry one more lady and it is as per dharma. If a woman transgresses her husband, it is unrighteousness, but it is righteous for a man to take the hand of second lady as his wife’.

Kunti was carefully listening to the conversation. By that time the Bramhin’s daughter came forward and offered to sacrifice her life. ‘Listen to me. I am your daughter and one day you must leave me. Son helps in relieving the forefathers from the pangs of Punnama Naraka[vii]. My sons (dauhitras) also help but I will save my parents now itself by sacrificing my life. 

People say:
आत्मा पुत्रः सखा भार्या क्रुच्चं तु दुहिता किल (ātmā putra sakhā bhāryā krucca tu duhitā kila)- Adi Parva 158- 11 (Son is the very image of father and wife a friend and daughter an impediment). I am of no use to the family unless I help the family at this critical stage. Oh father, for the sake of dharma, for the sake of all of us and for the sake of progeny you need to live on this planet. Let me die for a noble cause’.

Then the small boy came up with a hay stick and told childishly that he would kill the demon with a hay stick and that he would go to the demon on that day. Everyone hugged him for his innocence. It looked as though a gloomy garb has girdled the very atmosphere and wrapped their tears in its chest lest a flow of tears should engulf the entire village.

Bhima and Kunti were unaware the demon that was destroying the peace of the village. Kunti came forward and asked the reason for their grief. The Brahmin narrated the understanding of the villagers with Bakasura and that their king left them to their fate. Now it was his turn to send anyone in the family for the feast of the demon.

‘What happened to your king?’, Kunti enquired. Brahmin told, ‘he has left all of us to our fate. We have none to protect from the clutches of Bakasura’.
The Brahmin continued, ‘An intelligent person should strive for a good king first and later aspire for wife and wealth before thinking of the up-lift of relations[viii]. I achieved all these except the king, and I am to be blamed for my misfortune now’. ‘We are suffering by our association with a weak king’, he added.

Kunti had pity towards the family. The Brahmin family had provided shelter to them, and she felt that she should do some service to the Brahmin’s family. ‘Oh, great Brahmin! There is no need to grieve now. You have one son, but I have five sons. One of my sons shall go to the beast’
The Brahmin was aghast. He was not willing to send his guest for protecting his own life. He was not aware that he was talking to Kunti and that her son was none other than great Bhima. He was under the impression that his guests were Brahmins only. He told, ‘Oh lady! If your son is killed by the demon, I attain the sin of Brahma hatya[ix] , If I go and allow myself to be killed by the demon, it may be atma hatya[x]. I cannot extricate myself from the sin of Brahma hatya. Since the atma hatya is not intentional I may not attain sin at all. I prefer atma hatya to brahma hatya’.

‘It is heinous crime to kill the guest. Even the apad dharma does not envisage the killing of guest to save one’s own life’. Kunti understood the sensitivities of the Brahmin host. She assured, ‘Oh great Brahmin, please allow me to send my son. He is a mighty warrior and he had killed many demons earlier. He can save you and the village from the barbarian demon’. Reluctantly, the Brahmin agreed.

Kunti went inside to reach his son.  Bhima was not the person to fear any person in fighting. He accepted it a challenge. By that time all other Pandavas arrived and surprised by the decision of Kunti. ‘Oh, mother! You have decided to send Bhima for a duel with an unknown demon. For protecting a Brahmin, you prefer to sacrifice your son! Is it in tune with the tenets of dharma?[xi] Dharmaraja lamented.

But Kunti knew the strength of her son and stood by her word. She told, ‘You all don’t know his strength. When he was a child, he had fallen to the ground from my lap and the stony rock had crushed into powder. In a fight, the lord Indra cannot match him’. Then Dharmaraja also consented.
The great duel was about to happen on the day and Bhima was exited. He took the cartful of food and set out to design his destiny. He ate all the food and challenged Bakasura. The ferocious demon fell upon Bhima with all his might. The duel was fearful. They fought with trees and rocks, and fists of fury. Each tried to crush the other to the dust but each rose up to fight to the finish. Slowly the power of the demon began to wane, and Bhima caught hold of him by neck and broke his spine to pieces. Bakasura fell dead on the same field where he had heaped hundreds of human skulls. All the followers of Baka ran helter skelter. Bhima called back all those and pacified them with pleasing words. He also threatened all of them not to kill humans from thereafter and all of them agreed.

Bhima returned back to his place without any pomp or pageantry. Pandavas did not want to reveal their identity to anybody. People flocked the place of Brahmin to know the warrior who killed Bakasura. No clue came forth from the Brahmin and all left the spot –each imagining in his own way.

Short Analysis of the story

This is very simple story for narrating to children but when the story is read with the discussions of the family members, we come across several insights in understanding the society of Maha Bharata days. Every member of the family comes forward to sacrifice his/ her life – each one invoking dharma (dharma of the head of the family, the dharma of wife, dharma of daughter, and the dharma of taking care of guest etc).

The society of the period was such that everyone in the society knew the nuances of ethical values that normally regulated the society. We observe that there were certainly no laws; and ethical values form the bedrock for each decision. Everyone tries to justify his/her decision on certain values. Father says that he cannot die leaving the members of the family to their fate. His wife says the futility of her existence since she has redeemed her duties as wife. Daughter says that she can do what the dauhitris (daughter’s sons) would do in future. Kunti feels apathy and try to redeem what they owe to the family members. The Brahmin invokes atithi dharma to take care of guests and again says that even apad-dharma does not allow the sacrifice of guest for preserving one’s own life.

The arguments of wife are worth reading. She says that she has given birth to children and her necessity is futile to the family. The dharma of Hindu way of life never gave prominence for sensual pleasures and the purpose of marriage is for progeny. 

Here I quote a passage of Pujyasri Chandrasekhara Saraswathi of Kanchi Pitham as follows:

“Marrige or vivāha is known as sahadharmacāriī  saprayoga. It means (roughly) union with a wife together with whom a man practices dharma. The clear implication is that carnal pleasure is not its chief purpose, but the pursuit of dharma. The sastras do not ask a man to pursue dharma all by himself but require him to take a helpmate for it. The wife is called dharma-patni, sahadharmacāriī, thus underlining her connection with dharma, and not with kāma or sensual pleasure. Here is proof of the high esteem in which the sastras hold women” –
-Voice of the Pujyasri Chandrasekhara Saraswathi, the Hindu Dharma, page 560 published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

Manu Smruthi says like this:

प्रजनार्थं स्त्रियः सृष्टाः सन्तानार्थं मानवः
तस्मात् साधारणो धर्मः श्रुतौ पत्न्या सहोदितः मनुस्मृतिः 9-96-

prajanārtha striya sṛṣṭā santānārtha ca mānava
tasmāt sādhārao dharma śrutau patnyā sahodita
(Women are created for the purpose of childbearing, and men for the purpose of procreation. Hence the Religious Rites have been ordained both for the man and his wife). While commenting on this Medhatithi writes that since religious rites cannot be done by man alone, he cannot abandon his wife even if she is hostile. Thus, divorce was never envisaged in ancient Hindu society.

In this story, the arguments of the wife of the Brahmin resonates with the reasoning embedded in sastras.
The story highlights the vulnerability of woman in general in the absence of protective mechanism which we witness even today, may not in the same degree. The woman without husband has been compared to flesh fallen to the ground ready to be picked up by so many men. The status of woman cannot be judged by this single passage that they lacked security. There is argument in this same story that woman is one who should not be killed, and even demons may not resort to killing women. We come across lot of discussion in Ramayana before Tataka was put to death by the arrows of Lord Rama (The story of Tataka will be discussed when Ramayana stories are taken up for discussion). Similarly, wife is looked upon as mother (नित्यं मातृ समां मम - nitya māt samāṃ mama) bestowing prestige to a devoted wife.

The story highlights the pre-eminence enjoyed by men in the matters of marriage over women. While a man can marry many, the wife’s choosing a man other than husband was frowned at and not permitted.
The other important aspect of the story is the general tendency of the society to give less importance to girl child. The daughter in the family says- ‘son is the very image of father and wife a friend and daughter an impediment’ to anyone. This general tendency is again not uniform and common since dharmic people with equanimous character do not distinguish a girl from that of a boy. In this same story we come across the Brahmin’s emphatic words that both the son and daughter were equal to him.
Can the guest be sacrificed for the sake of preserving one’s own life? The answer is an emphatic no. If the guest happened to be Brahmin and if he is sacrificed, it is akin to sin associated with Brahma hatya. The Brahmin invokes dharma and says that suicide (ātma hatya) is better than brahma hatya (killing a Brahmin). In Maha Bharatat times varna system was in vogue and the definition of Brahmin is the one who possesses intellect of vedas and who was of satva character. Killing of such a person is Brahma hatya.

One important factor from the sociological perspective can be gleaned by a reference that shudras listening to vedas is a taboo. To understand this passage in the right perspective one should read the famous sloka of Gita which says:

चातुर्वर्ण्यं मया सृष्टं गुणकर्मविभागश: (chātur-varya mayā siha gua-karma-vibhāgaśha) - Gita 4.13

It means that God created the four varnas based on the person’s qualities (satva, rajas, and tamas) and nature of duties (reading of vedas, protecting people, business and servant work) respectively. Thus, a sudra was one who by quality is tamas and by nature of work is menial. Here the caste shudra is not referred. By this definition, a servant of tamas nature was not required to learn vedas.  

But these type of statements in our smritis are subjected to lot of criticism by western scholars and a few Indian scholars interpreting shudras as ‘caste sudras’ as we define in the current century. Prohibiting the hearing of vedas to Varna sudras may not be wrong; but prohibiting learning of vedas to caste sudras cannot be justified.  Many traditional scholars interpret the sudra from the perspective of varna since Gita from which this definition is derived is part of Maha Bharata only.
Role of citizens in choosing the king is also highlighted in the story. People should not cling to weak and useless king. A strong king is to be preferred always.

The story, thus, highlights many critical aspects of dharma and is useful to understand the grand narrative of Hindu society.

Points to ponder

1.    Is marriage just for procreation of children? Can this moral be sacrosanct for the current society? Can dharma undergo change?
2.   Each decision in ancient society was tested on the fulcrum of dharma and everyone tried to justify his/ her viewpoint based on certain dharma. Have we imbibed the tradition now?
3.   How should we treat a guest? Can we sacrifice the cause of the guest for protecting our own cause?
4.   What precautions the citizens should take in selecting a king?

Footnotes


[i] This story is taken from Adi Parva of Maha Bharata written by sage Vyasa.

[ii] सहधर्मचरीं दान्तां नित्यं मातृ समां मम |

सखायं विहितां देवै: नित्यं परमिकां गतिम्  - Adi Parva 156-31
sahadharmacarī
dāntā nitya māt samā mama |

sakhāya vihitā devai: nitya paramikā gatim – Adi Parva 156.31

[iii] Kanyādāna – The gift of daughter to the bride-groom by the bride’s father in her marriage. In Hindu tradition, this ritual is performed with great sanctity amidst the chanting of vedic verses.

[iv] मन्यन्ते केचिदधिकं  स्नेहं पुत्रे पितुर्नराः |
कन्यायां केचिदपरे  मम तुल्या उभौ स्मृतौ || Adi Parva 156.37
manyante  kecidadhika  sneha putre piturnarā |
kanyāyā kecidapare  mama tulyā ubhau smtau ||

[v] इमामपि चते बालां अनाथां  परिभूय माम् |
अनर्हा: प्रार्थयिष्यन्ति शूद्रा वेद श्रुतिं यथा || Adi Parva-157.16
imāmapi cate bālā anāthā  paribhūya mām |
anarhā: prārthayiyanti śūdrā veda śruti yathā ||

[vi] आवध्यां स्त्रियमित्याहु: धर्मज्ञा धर्म निश्चये |
धर्मज्ञान् राक्षसानाहु: हन्यात्  मानुषि || Adi Parva-157.31
āvadhyā striyamityāhu: dharmajñā dharma niścaye |
dharmajñān rākasānāhu: na hanyāt  sa ca mānui ||
[vii] punnāma naraka  – a hell postulated in Hindu thought. This hell can be crossed by each person, if he has a son.

[viii] Adi Parva 159.12
[ix] Brahma hatya – killing of a Brahmin
[x] ātma hatya – killing of own self or suicide.
[xi] Adi Parva 161.6

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