Monday, March 12, 2012

The Intro

The Mahabharata and the Ramayana have always fascinated me, especially the former.

The range of characters, the presence of literally every divine being in the Hindu pantheon, the Lord Himself, history involving every part of Bharatavarsha, every tricky moral situation imaginable, the lead up to the decline of Bharatavarsha, the advent of Kali Yuga, and everything else that form the Mahabharata are so staggering and insightful that one can hardly ignore the epic.

(image courtesy hindugodwallpaper.com)

In the Ramayana, there can be no protagonist but Rama. There do exist versions or commentaries that might present Ravana as the hero, of course. With the Mahabharata, there are many claimants to the mantle of hero - including Yudhishtra, Arjuna, Karna, Bhishma, and probably some others. Still, in my mind the hero of the Mahabharata is clearly Krishna. There can be none other, even if some of the other characters appear more glamorous. More on this later.


There's one episode (and character) in the Mahabharata that moved me a lot. This episode also happens to be chronologically the start of the Mahabharata. The story of Kuru king Shantanu marrying Ganga and begetting Devavrata (later Bhishma) is arguably where it all begins. The story of Shantanu's marriage to Ganga itself is another post, but Shantanu lovestruck by a fisherwoman leads up to Devavrata becoming Bhishma.

(image courtesy wikipedia)

Shantanu chances upon a fisherwoman Satyavati, is lovestruck, and goes to her parents to ask for her hand. The parents agree but upon condition that the son of Satyavati will become the king of Hastinapura, taking the Kuru lineage forward. Shantanu is shocked, is unable to do injustive to Devavrata his first-born, and returns in sorrow. Bhishma on seeing his father sad decides to investigate and finds out about his dilemma.

Several interesting questions arise. Was a Kuru king, one that had married Ganga previously, so out of control that he desired to marry someone again? Especially when his own son was of marriageable age? 

On the other hand, I appreciate him not forcing himself upon the fisherman's family. A king of his stature could have gotten away with abducting the girl and marrying her, or putting other pressure. He didn't do that, which is commendable. 

Lastly, why did the girl's parents want so much for giving away their daughter in marriage, that too to a king? Wouldn't any normal person be happy about marrying a king, especially one who is known to be a good king? Either they were not so keen on getting their daughter married to Shantanu (i.e., assumed Shantanu would laugh and go away), or they were really stupid, or they somehow knew that what they wanted would happen. A king during those times would not be able to bypass the first son to make someone else the crown price. Hence, if the fisherwoman's parents were aware of this, they might have expected that it would come down to Devavrata and were going in for a huge gamble. What if it never came down to Devavrata, and Shantanu forgot about their girl?

Devavrata goes to Satyavati's parents and asks for her hand for his father. The parents of course stick to their stand. Devavrata does not hesitate, but promises that Satyavati's son will be the future king. Even this does not convince the girl's parents who question whether his children will keep his word. At this point, Devavrata decides to do the unthinkable - he vows that he himself will never marry, so there will be only one thing to go by, his word. When Devavrata makes this promise, the Gods sprinkle him with flowers from the heavens, and proclaim him 'Bhishma'. On hearing this, Shantanu also grants Bhishma the boon that he would be able to decide the time of his death (this comes in handy when Bhishma prolongs his life on Arjuna's bed of arrows until the start of Uttarayana.)  

Several questions here. If Shantanu had powers to grant such boons, surely he was capable of bringing himself to forget the girl?


Bhishma's devotion to his father is exemplary. This is unparalleled, and Rama's story of taking Kaikeyi's word (on his father's wishes - going to the forest) is the only other such incident I am aware of.  


On the issue of trust, Satyavati's parents do not trust that Devavrata's children will honour his word, but trust him when he declares that he will never marry. I suppose that Devavrata's personality and conviction, his devotion to his father, and the Gods showering petals must have convinced them that his word was to be trusted.  

Just this one episode conveys so much about the institution of marriage, the consequences, greed, celibacy (never heard of any other kshatriya-sanyasi in our epics), devotion to parents, sacrifice, and keeping one's word.

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