Aila and Kaśyapa Saṃvāda

The Aila and Kaśyapa dialogue (the Aila-Kaśyapa Saṃvāda) is an ancient itihāsa (a record of what happened) in the Śānti Parva of the Mahābhārata. In it Aila, who is Purūravas, the son of Ilā, asks the ṛshi Kaśyapa why brāhmaṇas and kshatriyas depend on each other. He then asks where Rudra comes from. Rudra here is the force of destruction that rises inside human beings through kāma (desire) and krodha (anger).

Bhīshma tells it to Yudhishṭhira to show why a king must have a qualified purohita (a priest who guides the king). (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva, Chapter 73)

Bhīshma’s teaching on the purohita

Bhīshma teaches Yudhishṭhira that a king must at once appoint a purohita who is deeply learned and has closely studied dharma and artha, which cannot be separated. A king whose purohita is dharmātmā (firm in dharma) and knows the mantras will find good fortune in every direction. When purohita and king are united in purpose, the prajā (the people) thrive. When they are enemies, the people are destroyed. All four varṇas rest on the alliance of brāhmaṇa and kshatriya.

To show this, Bhīshma brings in the Aila and Kaśyapa dialogue as an ancient itihāsa. (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 73)

The question of mutual dependence

Aila asks the first question. When the brāhmaṇa leaves the kshatriya, or the kshatriya leaves the brāhmaṇa, which of the two gains strength from the split? And where do the other varṇas stand?

Kaśyapa answers without doubt. If these two varṇas come into opposition, the kshatriya’s rāshṭra (realm) falls apart. Robbers plunder his strength. The ṛshis count him as fallen into a lowered varṇa, that of the mleccha. Wherever kshatriyas turn away brāhmaṇa purohitas, the brāhmaṇas of that land cannot prosper. Their sons do not thrive. Their cattle give no milk. They do not win in battle. Their line does not learn the Vedas. Wealth does not grow there, and the people neither study nor perform yajñas (fire rituals). When the two are apart, the whole order of four varṇas breaks, like a great ship broken in mid-ocean, and beings are left adrift in dissolution.

Kaśyapa says the brāhmaṇa varṇa is like a tree. When it is protected, it gives honey and gold, that is, ānanda (joy) and good fortune. When it is not protected, it rains only tears and pāpa (sin).

The two varṇas must hold each other up in every season. The kshatriya under the brāhmaṇa’s protection does tapas (austerity) for the world. The brāhmaṇa under the kshatriya’s protection moves toward victory. Their ancient union, once broken, leaves all in ruin. (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 73)

The Rudra within

The deeper part of the dialogue is about the nature of Rudra. Aila asks where Rudra is from and what his nature is. He says that living beings are killed by other living beings, and asks how this is to be understood.

Kaśyapa teaches that the ātmā (the self) that lives in the human heart is itself Rudra. It is Rudra in this sense. Through the force of kāma and krodha, which are desire and anger rising from ahaṃkāra (the sense of “I”), it becomes the hiṃsaka, the one who destroys. The wind stirs the clouds, and they bring lightning and rain. In the same way, the desires and angers that rise within the jīva (the living being) and set ahaṃkāra on fire turn the peaceful ātmā into what looks like a force of destruction.

Aila presses further. If the ātmā is without pāpa, and the body of a rājapurusha is only the place through which Rudra acts, why should anyone keep away from pāpa or seek puṇya (merit)?

Kaśyapa answers with the picture of fire and wet wood. When fire touches dry wood lying in a pile with wet wood, it burns the wet wood too. In the same way, ahaṃkāra, set burning by the winds of kāma and krodha, reaches the ātmā through contact, just as pāpa touches a person who keeps company with a pāpī (a doer of pāpa). The dry wood does not burn alone, and the wet wood does not burn alone. The danger is in the joining.

Kaśyapa speaks from the level of vyavahāra (ordinary life in the world). At the level of tattva (the real nature), he says, the ātmā is not touched by pāpa or puṇya. But in paraloka (the world after death) there is a real difference between the one who did puṇya and the one who did pāpa. The loka of the person of puṇya is full of honey, ghee lamps and gold, and is free of death and old age. The loka of the person of pāpa is a dark naraka (hell) full of endless grief. Only śāstra can make this difference known. It lies beyond pratyaksha (direct sight).

Kaśyapa’s conclusion is this. Because of the danger of this contact, and because the realm falls apart when brāhmaṇas and kshatriyas are at odds, the king must take on a learned purohita who is trained in many branches of knowledge, and he must be consecrated after choosing him. This links the teaching about the Rudra within to the question of governing with which the chapter began. (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 73)

Sources

Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva (Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva), Chapter 73