Episode
59
Divine Right Theory of the King –
Atri and Prithu Maharaj.
The episode consists two small
stories. While one story is significant from the perspective of political thought,
the second one is significant from the perspective of cosmology. In this
episode, we discuss the political thought revolving around the Divine Right
Theory of the kings and its application in Bharath vis-à-vis in other countries
of the west. The episode also discusses certain questions viz, - Can a Grihasta
take up vanaprastha without adequately protecting the children? And what is maturity of intellect displayed by
women in ancient India?
The episode also discusses the first
incarnation of Lord Vishnu, Matsya avatāra (incarnation
of Vishnu as a Fish) associated with Vaivaswatha manvantara. The historical and
cosmological evolution of the universe as envisaged by the rishis of ancient
India, the famous Flood legend and its impact on other civilizations are also
the highlight of this episode.
The Story
In the Vana Parva of Maha Bharata we
come across two sages who talked so much with Yudhishtira. One is Lomasa who guided
the tīrtha yātras of Pandavas
and the other is sage Markandeya. In the last episode we saw Markandeya
discussing the karma theory and giving tips for mṛtyuñjayatvaṃ (conquering disease and death). The
inquisitive Yudhishtira was always interested in knowing new things and he asked
Markandeya to narrate the story of Prithu Maharaj and the sage started narrating
the story.
Atri Maharshi (one of the seven
famous rishis among the seven Maharshis popularly known as Saptarshis)[ii] was very
poor and was not possessing any wealth. He wanted to leave the village for
forests for enjoying the vānaprastha (for
details see the heading- understanding the story). He asked his wife and children
to get prepared for the journey towards the forest.
Atri’s wife was interested in the
Yagna and Yaga rituals. She told, ‘Hey, Rishi! It is
dharma to distribute wealth to the dependent children before going to forests
(एष वै परमो धर्मो धर्मविद्भिरुदाहृतः ॥ [iii]). The king
of our country, Prithu is performing aswamedha yaga and donating very liberally
to the learned brahmins. You may please go and get wealth. You can freely go to the forests after distributing the
wealth to our children’.
Atri liked the sober words of his
wife though he was not personally interested in meeting the king for wealth.
Further he was apprehensive about the brahmins in the court of the king who were
in deep hatred with Atri. Still dharma ordained that he
should go and earn wealth.
He went to the court of the king
and told, ‘Oh king! You are the noblest king of the world and you are the most
righteous person. You are the very Vidhāta (Brahmā) upon the earth’. Gautama who
was sitting in the king’s court retorted angrily, ‘Oh, Atri! Don’t equate a
king with Vidhāta. How can you compare a mortal human with an immortal Vidhāta’? There were
heated arguments with Atri comparing king with Indra, Vidhāta etc and Gautama calling him foolish and immature.
The courtiers were confused and
sought the intervention of Sanatkumāra. Sanatkumāra was the very son of Lord Brahmā and he was known for his wisdom and
intellectual acumen. He heard the arguments and proclaimed:
ब्रह्म क्षत्रेण सहितं
क्षत्रं च ब्रह्मणा सह।
(When the dharma of a
brahmin and the dharma of kshatriya synchronise, it is like synchronization of
wind and fire. Just as the fire accompanied by wind scorches the forests into
ashes, the brahmin-kshatriya power destroys the enemies).
Oh, courtiers! The king is the
embodiment of dharma. Hence, he is Indra, Prajāpati, Sukra, Vidhāta and all
in one. The king is known as virāṭ, sāmrāṭ, bhūpati, nṛpa and
what not. For the fear of impending adharma the
Maharshis have laid their tejas (splendour) in the kshatriyas (अधर्मादृषयो
भीता बलं क्षत्रे समादधन्।- adharmādṛṣayo
bhītā balaṃ kṣatre samādadhan।
- Vana Parva 185.29). Hence, I pronounce my judgement
as follows:
ततो राज्ञः प्रधानत्वं
शास्त्रप्रामाण्यदर्शनात्।
(Since the
king adheres the śāstra
pramāṇās (vedas as supreme documents),
the king is supreme, and he is akin to Vidhāta (Brahmā) upon the earth).
King Prithu who was watching the
arguments got delighted. He reached out to Atri for he had boldly proclaimed
the supremacy of the king. He gifted huge wealth to Atri. Atri distributed the wealth
gained by dharmic path (righteously) to his children and happily left for forests.
The children of Atri were also happy.
Story of Vaivaswatha
Manu and the Great Flood
Yudhishtira was inquisitive to
hear the story of Vaivaswatha Manu and Markandeya was keen to narrate the
story.
Towards the end Cākṣuṣa manvantara, a great
dharmic person, Vaivaswatha stood on single foot in Badarikāśrama and by raising both
hands up did tapas for ten thousand years without any food or water.
When the tapas was so steadfast, a
tiny fish approached him. ‘Hi, Swamy! I am afraid of bigger fish in this
stream. Kindly save my life’. Vaivaswatha felt pity at the tiny tot and put it
in his kamandal (pot). By the end of the day the fish became so bulky that the
pot could not hold it. It asked for slightly bigger place and Vaivaswatha left
the fish in a deep well. Again, by the end of the day the fish grew bigger and
the deep well could not accommodate it. Vaivaswatha took it out and placed in
the river Ganges. Even in the Ganges it could not manoeuvre its body. Again, it
prayed to place it in an ocean and Vaivaswatha obliged the request. Though the
fish was huge, surprisingly Vaivaswatha did not feel the burden of its weight.
When the fish was placed in the
ocean, the fish smiled at Vaivaswatha and told him, ‘Oh, sage! A great flood is
about to engulf the entire universe in another seven days; and all living and
non-living beings submerge into the eternal vacuum and none can escape the fury
of waters in the pralaya (the final delusion). I will send a boat tied to a big
rope and you alight the boat with seeds for germinating ‘new age living beings’.
I shall navigate the boat to a safer destination’.
Vaivaswatha collected the
best of all seeds and waited in the ocean for the boat and alighted as soon as
it arrived his place. Immediately he saw a huge fish with a fang
approaching the boat. Vaivaswatha tied the rope to its fang and immediately,
the fish started swimming across the fury waters that engulfed the earth and
the sky. Vaivaswatha could not distinguish day and
night; east and west, north and south; earth and sky and his ears were pierced
with the roaring waters everywhere around. All the beings and non-beings
submerged, and the only survivors were Saptarshis (seven sages), the fish and
Vaivaswatha.
The fish swam for a number of
years and took the boat near to the peak of the Himalaya mountain. It asked
Vaivaswatha and the saptarshis to tie the boat to the peak and they did. From
that day, the Himalayan peak came to be known as ‘naukā baṃdhana’.
The fish told, ‘oh, noble people,
I am the creator of this entire universe. I am the progenitor of living and
non-living beings. Out of grace upon you I rescued you from the delusion. This
Vaivaswatha, with my grace, shall create the new universe with the seeds that he
has brought from the past manvanthara’. Saying thus, the fish disappeared. Vaivaswatha
performed great tapas and started the new creation consisting of gods, demons,
human beings and all animals and plants.
Markandeya concluded the story. ‘Oh,
Yudhishtir, I have narrated the Matsya avatāra (incarnation
of Vishnu as a fish) associated with Vaivaswatha manvantara. Those who narrate
and who listen this story shall have their all wishes fulfilled and attain
higher worlds’. All Pandavas felt happy.
Understanding the first Story
The episode consists of two
stories and while the first story is highly significant from political
perspective, the second one is significant from historical and cosmological
perspective.
On a casual reading of the first
story, one may skip the significance of Atri praising the king as Vidhāta (creator Brahmā). There is a possibility to interpret his
action as just a eulogy to get some charity from the king. Students of
Political Science in their Masters’ Degree (MA), read a famous theory – The Divine
Right Theory. In the evolution of political thought
over centuries, the assertion of king over others was felt necessary to
establish order in the society. The theory emphasized that the State was
created by god and governed by his deputy who was the king. This trend was
pronounced not only in India but all over the world. The Stuarts in England
found refuge in the doctrine of Divine Right and James I was its leading
exponent. In fact, James I wrote, ‘Kings are breathing
images of god upon earth’. In France, Louis XIV of France (1643–1715)
strongly promoted the theory to assert his powers over the people.
a.
Monarchy is hereditary
b.
Monarchy is divinely ordained, and king draws his
authority from god.
c.
The king is answerable to god
d.
Resistance to the law of the king is a sin.
While this was the picture, Indian seers were never willing to pass on absolute authority
to the kings. No doubt, Atri praised the king as Vidhāta and eulogised him as Indra (the king of
gods). But a careful reading of the story reveals that the king was given
absolute authority tempered by the śāstra pramāṇās and dharma
was sacrosanct. Even our śāstra pramāṇās go to the extent of
beating a king to death if he abdicates his responsibility of protecting the
people.
अहं वै रक्षितेत्युक्ता
यो न रक्षति भूमिपः I
(The king
who comes to power by pledging that he would protect people, and thereafter
fails to protect them, should be beaten up like wild dog and people should kill
him).
The Indian political thought
always advocated the principles of democracy and believed in the dictum:
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute
power corrupts absolutely” – Acton.
The second important
aspect of the first story is about vanaprastha. It is the third stage of
human life, the first two being brahmacharya and grihasta. Hindu philosophy never forced people to abdicate household
life (grihasta). One should abdicate grihasta and go for vanaprastha
with or without wife after clearing all one’s responsibilities. When Atri
suggested for going to forests, his wife was wise enough to advise him that he
should ensure the well being of children before taking the decision. Women in Maha Bharata were not just an adjunct to husbands’
activities but vibrant participants in intellectual discussions. Moreover, the
husbands were humble enough to respect their thoughts if they are in tune with
dharma.
Understanding the second
story
This story is significant from
historical and cosmological perspective. According to Hindu philosophy as
perceived by our rishis, the origin of this world is unknown The cosmos passes
through cycles within cycles for all eternity. The basic cycle is kalpa which
is a day for Brahmā.
Let us understand it in an easy
way. According to our scriptures, the calculations go like this:
Satya
yuga (Krita yuga) – 17,28,000 human years
Treta
yuga - 12,96.000 human years
Dvāpara yuga -
8,64,000 human years
Kali
yuga -
4,32,000 human years
One Mahā
yuga is the total of all the above four yugas. Such thousand Mahā yugas constitute a
kalpa which is a day for Brahmā. So also,
the night for Brahmā. In one
day of Brahmā, fourteen Manus create and
rule the world. Thus, one Manvantaram constitute 33, 71, 42, 658 human years.
So
far, six Manus have created and ruled the world afresh and they are Svāyaṃbhuvu, Svārociṣa, Uttama,
Tāmasa, Raivata, and Cākṣuṣa. At present we are in Vaivaswatha manvantaram.
Our daily rituals in traditional houses start with sankalpa - śubhe, śobhane muhūrte ādya brahmaṇaḥ dvitīya prahārte sveta
varāha kalpe vaivasvara manvaṃtare etc and thus invoke the name of Vaivasvatha
every day.
In Vaivasvatha Manvantara, we are in Kaliyaga of 28th Mahā yuga and this Kali
yuga, according to tradition, started in 3102 B.C on which date Maha Bharata
war had started (A.L.Basham, 1967)[viii].
In
the current story, we have read the dissolution at the end of Cākṣuṣa Manvantara and creation new Manvantara by
Vaivasvata which was accompanied by a Great Flood. In Bible also we see the
analogy of the great flood in Genesis 6:9–9:17. It says:
Noah
was a righteous man and walked with God. Seeing that the earth was corrupt and
filled with violence, God instructed Noah to build an ark in which he, his
sons, and their wives, together with male and female of all living creatures,
would be saved from the waters. Noah entered the ark in his six hundredth year,
and on the 17th day of the second month of that year "the fountains of the
Great Deep burst apart and the floodgates of heaven broke open" and rain
fell for forty days and forty nights until the highest mountains were covered
15 cubits, and all earth-based life perished except Noah and those with him in
the ark [ix].
But unlike Hindu cosmology, the Bible believed that the world was created
by the God in 4004 B.C. He created the world for six days and took rest on
the seventh day. A few Christian scholars from Christian community did not
agree since the age of earth and other planets was more than thousands of years
but they were persecuted initially. Perhaps the Cosmology developed by our
rishis alone is close to the modern-day physics and astronomy.
The
second important aspect of the story is about the first incarnation of Sri
Vishnu in the form of a Fish. He retrieved Vedas from
the waters when they were stolen by a demon, Hayagrīva and kept in waters. Among the
ten incarnations of Vishnu, the incarnation as Fish is the first.
The
third aspect about the story is its impact on other
civilizations and cultures. The flood legend is there in Mesopotamia,
Greek and a few other south east Asian nations. As mentioned earlier, the flood
legend is found in the Bible as well.
Points to Ponder
1. Discuss
the four stages (āśramās) of human life.
2. What is
the status enjoyed by women in ancient India?
3. What is
Divine Right theory? Draw the distinction of its practice in India vis-à-vis the
countries of the west.
4. How do you
justify that the cosmology developed in India was far ahead of the cosmology of
other nations?
5. Discuss
the aspects of Manvantara.
Footnotes
[i] This
story is taken from the Vana Parva of Maha Bharata written by Ved Vyasa.
[ii]
Saptarshis – popularly known as seven Maha Rishis are Kasyapa, Atri, Bhardwaja,
Viswamitra, Gautama, Jamadagi and Vasishta
saṃyuktau dahataḥ śatrūnvanānīvāgnimārutau ॥
–
Vana Parva 185.25
uttaraḥ siddhyate pakṣo yena rājeti bhāṣitam ॥ - Vana
Parva 185.31
[vi] Kapoor, A.C,
1975, ‘Principles of Political Science’, Edition 1975, page 82
sa saṃhatyā
nihantavya: śvena
sonmāda āturaḥ ॥ - anuśāsanika parva 61.33
[viii] Basham,
A.L, 1967, ‘The wonder that was India’, Rupa Publications, page 323.
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