Episode 42
Dharma
or Karma? Argumentative Draupadi and Ethical Stoicism of Dharmaraja[i]
This
is one of the beautiful episodes of Maha Bharata discussing the subtle issues
of dharma and karma yoga. It discusses the importance of dharma based on Truth
vis-à-vis svadharma of Kshatriyas based on aggression. The story demonstrates
the tradition of public debate, democratic dissent and intellectual pluralism
of Indian society since immemorial.
The
story also discusses the issues relating to ‘karma yoga’, ‘karma samnyasa yoga’
and grihasta dharma. The purpose of these types of stories in Vana Parva is
intended to make the minds of Pandavas pure and attain perfection in the midst
of adversities.
The Story
Markandeya’s Advice
Markandeya
again smiled and told, ‘Hi, Yudhishtir! I am neither happy nor unhappy. On
seeing you I just recollected Lord Rama who was wandering in the forests like
you for the sake of dharma. Though a powerful person, he displayed
extraordinary equipoise and gave preference to dharma. Oh!
Yudhishtir, when adversities stare at us, we tend to deviate dharmic path. I
advise one thing to you – just because you are powerful, you should not tread
on unrighteous path (नेशे बलस्येति चरेदधर्मम्)[ii] You get back your wealth and kingdom after this
arduous vanavasa (dwelling in forests) and ajnatavasa (dwelling incognito)
periods by following dharma’. Then Markandeya left the place.
Bakadbala’s opinion on the power of the Brahmins
Dwaita
Vanam was the abode of sages and Rishis. There one could hear the eternal
chanting of Vedas and its reverberations. One day a great sage Bakadbala came
to see Dharmaraja and other Pandavas. He was advising Dharmaraja, ‘Hi
Yudhishtir! When Kshatriyas mingle with Brahmins, it will prove to be a deadly
alliance capable enough to destroy any power on earth. A king should have a
dharmic and delusion-free Brahmin (विनीत धर्मार्थमपेत
मोहं) [iii]
on his side to destroy his enemies. The very kingdom prostrates
before a Kshatriya who has on his side a Brahmin with Brahma Jnana. You
cultivate proximity with such person for your own prospects’. Dharmaraja nodded
his head with great veneration and thereafter wards the sage left the place.
Agony of Draupadi and her arguments
Pandavas
got accustomed to the life of forest dwelling. Internally the mental agony was
destroying the peace of mind. The great kingdom which was built with fret and
sweat was snatched away by the inferior cousins. Draupadi could not tolerate
the agony. One day she approached Dharmaraja when he was sitting with his
brothers. ‘Oh King! The Kauravas have humiliated us to the core and exiled us
to the forests. The glory that we enjoyed has faded into history and we are
made to wear torn cloths and eat the roots and fruits’.
‘All
your brothers are warriors par excellence, but they are destined to waste their
vitalities in the woods. They are waiting for your orders to see the end of our
enemies. But you keep silent, you don’t have an iota of anger and still
forgiving the enemies. I was born in the family of Drupada, became
daughter-in-law of the great Pandu Maharaj, brought up as sister of powerful
Drishtadyumna, and now a vira patni (lady with valiant husbands). I am in these
forests. Still you are forgiving enemies’.
न निर्मन्युः क्षत्रियोsस्ति लोके निर्वचनं स्मृतम्- [iv]-
In this world there is no Kshatriya who is anger-free.
The person who subdues enemies is Kshatriya. But you are the only Kshatriya who
has become an exception. Oh king! If you do not show
valor, people shall rate you an inferior person. I shall tell you a
story of Prahlada and his grand son Bali’.
Prahlada – Bali saṃvādaṃ
Once
upon a time the illustrious grand son of Prahlada, king Bali approached his grandfather
and asked which among the two is helpful to humanity– aggressive valor (parākrama) or absolute forgiving (kṣamā).
‘Oh my dear grand-son, listen. If a person exhibits too much
patience and ever forgiving, even his servants insult him. Enemies do not care
him. The servants make use of his chair, bed, ornaments and other items. Neighbors
try to covet his wife and his wife also behaves licentiously. It is akin to sin
of omission. Then a man of aggressive valor exhibits anger and
many times isolates his own friends. Good people hate him. A person of anger is
hated at and loses his wealth and friends desert him’.
Prahlada
continued, ‘Hi, Bali! So, one should not absolutely abandon anger as well as
forgiveness. The art of ruling the kingdom is to use both. You should have patience and forgiveness and yet the anger
and punishing behind the façade of forgiveness. I shall tell you when
you should not lose patience. A person who did well
earlier should be forgiven for his current mistake (Vana Parva 28.26). If a
person does mistake out of ignorance should be forgiven. But you should not forgive
a person who does mistake intentionally and later tries to disown it.
Drupadi
continued, ‘Hi! Maharaj, Kauravas have tried to kill us many times and they
deserve to be punished immediately. I feel this is the time we should defeat
them and win over our kingdom’.
Yudhishitira
did not like the ideas and reasoning of Draupadi. ‘Hi, Draupadi! How can I be
angry with Kauravas? Anger is the root cause for the downfall of a man. A man
of anger does not hesitate to kill his own teacher or does not hesitate to
insult the elders.
तस्माद्बलवता चैव दुर्बलेन च नित्यदा |
क्षन्तव्यम् पुरुषेणाहु: आपत्स्यपि विजानता || [v] – a wise man whether
weak or strong has to exhibit patience even in difficulties.
The
man who controls the anger that is sprouted from the mind is defined as
‘tejasvi’ by the intelligent people. Only fools equate
anger with virtue but never by the wise. The man of anger believes in
blood for blood; and hence will not allow peace to get established in the
world.
क्षमा धर्मः क्षमा यज्ञः क्षमा वेदा: क्षमा श्रुतम् |
It
means- Patience is dharma; patience is yagna; patience
is Veda; patience is śāstraṃ
and the one who knows this can forgive anything and anybody.
Draupadi’s counter argument and reply by Yudhishtir
Draupadi
was quite agitative. ‘Oh king! A big salutation to you and your dharma. In this world no one gains wealth by dharma, patience or by
soft nature[vii]. For the sake of dharma, you are prepared to forgo
all of us. You have been performing all dharmic activities even in these
forests. But what use? People tell - if we protect dharma, it will protect us (धर्मो
रक्षति रक्षितः - dharmo rakṣati
rakṣitaḥ). But, look at the Kauravas. They
are rolling in luxury despite being unrighteous. We are adhering to dharma and
are rolling in penury and suffering. The
fate is ordained to be cruel for us and benevolent for Kauravas. The god is to
be blamed’. At this stage she started weeping.
The other name of Dharmaraja is Yudhishtira which means one who
remains steadfast in battlefield. Dharmaraja was steadfast even in
the battle of ‘war of words and ideas’ He started telling, ‘My dear Draupadi!
You have spoken intelligently but listen to me. I have been doing grihasta
dharma (actions related and intended to household person) as that is required
to be done by a grihasta. I am not bothered by the fruits of action.
धर्म वाणिज्य को हीनः जघन्यो धर्म वादिनाम् [viii]
– If anyone does dharmic acts anticipating the results
out of those acts, he is doing business with dharma.
Blaming
the god just because results are not in our favor amounts foolishness. The
results that we get out of good deeds are the divine secret and people blame
god by seeing the immediate results. Let your doubts vanish into thin air. You
believe me and listen to me’.
Draupadi’s counter arguments – Encouragement for aggression
Draupadi
listened to the arguments of Yudhishtir and then started telling. ‘Maharaj! I
am not denigrating dharma; or karmas (activities) ordained by dharma. But I can
tell you that one should indulge in karma to enhance and protect one’s own
wealth. A person who relies on the belief that what is ordained by god is sure
to become a fool. A man is praised when he is owning the karma (activity). One
should not purely rely on god and one should do one’s own efforts to attain the
heights of glory.
Draupadi
continued, ‘Maharaj, please listen to the niti which I had heard long back from
a sage sitting in the lap of my father. A man of action should use his wit,
wisdom and strength and depending on the circumstances use aggression to gain
his wealth. One should always pray for a trouble to
befall on the enemy; and when the enemy is weak one should strike him’.
Arguments of Bhimasena
Bhima
was patiently listening to the arguments. He came forwarded and started blaming
Yudhishitar for all the maladies. ‘Why should we suffer for the sake of dharma forgetting
the fruits emanated out of kama and dharma? Our wealth has been snatched
stealthily by Kauravas. Let us do the karma ordained for Kshatriyas (swa-dharma)
and defeat the enemies by aggression; and there is no sin when we follow
svadharma. There is no use chanting the word ‘dharma’
and live a life of a eunuch.
Hi,
Yudhishtir, by force of circumstances you had agreed for thirteen years of
exile by which time we lose our energy and vitality and we will be approaching
nearer and nearer to death. You have been forgiving those who are cruel and
deceptive. You are talking as if you are not born in Kshatriya race and
chanting dharma like a Brahmin. Further we have completed thirteen months of
exile so far. परिमाणेन तान् पश्य तावतः परिवत्सरान्-
[ix]
a month represents a year (यो मासः स संवत्सरः -as
per Veda) and so thirteen months can be counted as thirteen years. So, you
decide and embark upon the course of aggression.
Yudhishtira’s steadfastness
The
arguments of Draupadi and Bhima hurt the tender mind of Dharmaraja. ‘Dear
brother, I don’t blame you for your reasoning. It is true that you are all
suffering because of me. But one thing you understand-
when the second game of dice was about to start, Duryodhana stipulated the
condition of vanavasa (exile to forests) and agnata vasa (exile incognito) and
I said yes. We lost the bet and thus we lost our wealth. Why did you not
prevent the game before I gave my consent to the conditions of the game? When we have taken a pledge and accepted vanavasa, it is
incumbent upon us to adhere to the words. We cannot deviate the path of
Truth for the sake of wealth. We need to wait for the good days to come just as
a farmer waits for the harvest after sowing the seeds. I firmly believe that I have more interest in eternal
dharma than in Moksha (Vana Parva 34.22).
Understanding the Episode
This
is exactly not a story, but it has lot of arguments and counter arguments on
the nature of karma yoga and it also discusses the importance of dharma based
on Truth vis-à-vis svadharma of Kshatriyas based on aggression.
There
is subtle difference between ‘swa-dharma’ and ‘eternal dharma’. Swa-dharma
connotes actions according to one’s own nature or according to one’s own
setting in the social hierarchy of varnasrama dharma. For example, a true
Brahmin’s swa-dharma is adhyayana (reading of vedas) and adhyāpana (teaching) among many other
things. A Kshatriya is supposed to protect the weak and punish the cruel
people. But the swa-dharma is tempered by eternal
dharma which stands for truth, honesty, trust worthiness, non-violence and the
like.
In
the story, both Bhima and Draupadi are seen advocating swa-dharma of Kshatriyas
and they have goaded Dharmaraja to take the path of aggression. For Dharmaraja,
the eternal dharma is more important than swa-dharma. He has taken a pledge in
the court of Duryodhana that he would go for thirteen years of exile upon
losing the game; and he does not want to transgress his own words and violate
the principles of ‘satyam vada and dharmam cara’.
One
more aspect of the story is that the entire arguments (saṃvādaṃ)
illustrates the tradition of public debate, democratic dissent and intellectual
pluralism of Indian society. The fact that Draupadi
effectively argues with Yudhishtir speaks volumes of the status women enjoyed
in those days. Women empowerment which is the buzz word
of today was being respected literally in ancient India as we see Draupadi
arguing with her husband and put forth her thoughts without any fear.
Another
important aspect was that Draupadi had learnt the theory of Karma Yoga and Raj
niti sitting in the lap of her father. It shows the liberal attitude of the
society of those days in imparting education to girls.
The argumentative nature of Indian mind has been further illustrated
by the arguments of Bhima invoking ‘sruthi’ literature. He
advocated aggression equating thirteen months of exile with thirteen years of
exile. The entire narrative of the episode was to establish the truth through
discourse. Ideas are sought to be fought with better
ideas. The battle lies not in confronting but in convincing and suggesting a
practicable alternative. The tradition of discourse of Maha Bharata has
been pervading over centuries on this land of Bharata.
What
is the importance of Markandeya’s visit to Pandavas? He advised Yudhishtir on
the path of dharma without bothering the fruits of actions. Dharmaraja adhered
to the principle throughout his life. In one of the places Dharmaraja was
telling that the results of dharmic deeds are divine secrets; and blaming gods
for individual agonies is foolish. The idea is that one
should not use aggression just because one has might. Perhaps the entry of
Dharmaraja to heaven and the denial of entry to other Pandavas at the end of
Maha Bharata was due to the divine secrets with regard to dharma that were not
understood by other Pandavas.
The
story also discusses the issues relating to ‘karma yoga’, ‘karma samnyasa yoga’
and grihasta dharma. The purpose of these types of stories in Vana Parva is
intended to make the minds of Pandavas pure and attain perfection in the midst
of adversities.
- What
is the swa dharma prescribed for four varnas in Hindu philosophy of
thought?
- Which
is superior- swa-dharma or parama-dharma? Why?
- Amrtyasen,
the Noble Laurate contends that the tradition of argument is imbedded in
Indian society (see his book, Argumentative Indian). Discuss.
- When
Bakadbala extols the importance of a Brahmin minister, does he referring
to ‘Brahmin by birth’ or ‘Brahmin by virtue’ (guna)?
Footnotes
[i]
This story is taken from Vana Parva of Maha Bharata written by sage Ved Vyasa.
ya etadevaṃ
jānāti sa sarvaṃ kṣantumarhati
||- Vana Parva 29.36
[vii]
Vana Parva 30- 2,3
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