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Posted
on 14-Jul-03 06:11 PM
With republican vs. monarch debate going on in full swing and some of our leaders proving Kissinger right when he said that 'Power is aphrodisiac,' let me recall an old story from our epic.
Aayu Dronasute, Sriyam Dasharathe Satruksyam Raghave
Aishwaryam Nahuse, Gatischa Pawane Manancha Duryodhane
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Who is this Nahush that our elders bless us to be like in every Dashain?
Because of too much power and luxury endowed to him as the god-king, Indra had gone haughty and arrogant. After feeling neglected, his revered teacher Brihaspati deserted Swarga and Indra appointed Viswarup, son from a sage father and mother from Asur clan, as his guru. Viswarup too got fed up with arbitrary nature of Indra, and Indra killed him charging him of passing information to the demons because of his maternal relation to the Asur clan. Raged by killing of Viswarup, his father arranged an Yagya to have another son capable of killing Indra. Vritrasur was born as boon of the Yagya. Indra killed Vritrasur (deceitfully, first by making him friend and then attacking all of a sudden) from a weapon made from bones of sage Dadhichi killing two birds with one stone, for Indra had row also with Dadhichi and has cut his head that later was fixed by divine doctors and disciples of Dadhichi, AswiniKumar.
Indra could not bear the sin of killing sage sons (Bramha-Hatya), and had to descend the throne. He took refuge in the stem of Lotus in Mansarovar. The throne then was offered to Nahush, a saint king. By his religious activities and altruistic nature, he had raised himself from a king in the earth to the King of the heaven. After assuming the position as the god-King, his mind got perverted and he started exploiting his power arbitrarily. He even asked the sages to carry his Charriot on their shoulders, and one day in the chariot his leg touched one sage. The sage immediately cursed him to be serpent legless creature and suffer in the earth. (Nahush was later rescued by Yudhisthir.)
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| Boke |
Posted
on 15-Jul-03 08:08 AM
Would Indra have felt much guilt if he had killed a Sudra's son?
Which leads to the question, is heaven also rife with discrimination? Can't a Sunuwar ko chori sit with Acharya ko chora in Indra's court?
And finally, are Brahmins more powerful than the god-king himself, as shown in the allegory of Nahush?
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Posted
on 15-Jul-03 04:02 PM
Boke,
Very insightful observation there !
Not sure of the level and extent of the caste discrimination in swarga, but there is another story in which a Shudra king, TRISHANKU, was not allowed to enter swarga. (Although I do not remember exactly, but I think he turned to be shudra because of his fiendish behavior, not because of his birth to a certain caste.) When Viswamitra conducted a YAGYA on the request of the king to elevate him to Swarga with his physical body, Indra did not give permission. Sucha a powerful sage Viswamitra was, he elevated the king to swarga with his body. Indra threw the king from Swarga, and furious Viswamitra created another 'new' heaven hanging between the earth and the 'old' heaven for TRISHANKU. (This may be the reason we still call a hanging parliament, TRISHANKU SANSAD).
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