Indra Ambarīsha Saṃvāda
This is an itihāsa from the Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 98. King Ambarīsha has reached svarga (the world of the devas) by his righteous rule. There he sees his former commander Sudeva flying higher than he is. Ambarīsha asks Indra why a warrior who performed no great yajñas has risen above him. Indra answers that Sudeva performed a huge yuddha-yajña, a sacrifice made of battle, and that it was greater than Ambarīsha’s formal yajñas.
The frame
Yudhishṭhira asks Bhīshma what kind of loka (world) is reached by warriors who die on the battlefield without retreating. Bhīshma answers with an old itihāsa, the dialogue of Ambarīsha and Indra.
Ambarīsha in svarga
King Ambarīsha, son of Nābhāga, reached the rare svarga through his righteous rule. In the world of the devas he stood in a shining divine vimāna (flying car) in the presence of Indra and Bṛhaspati. Looking around, he saw his own former commander (senāpati), Sudeva, flying above him, in a more exalted place, in greater splendour, in a higher loka.
Ambarīsha spoke to Indra in surprise and listed his own qualifications:
- He had ruled the whole earth to the edge of the oceans according to the śāstra and dharma.
- He had set up the dharma of the four varṇas in his realm with devotion.
- He had studied the Vedas and the rājyaśāstras (teachings on government) under his guru’s discipline, in strict brahmacarya.
- He had honoured guests (atithi) with food and drink, the pitṛs with svadhā offerings, the ṛshis with study and dīkshā (initiation), and the devas with the finest yajñas.
- He had held firm in kshatriya-dharma, protected the śāstra and the rules, and won the earth in battle.
Why, he asked Indra, had Sudeva risen above him in svarga? Sudeva had not performed great yajñas and had not satisfied the brāhmaṇas in the proper way.
Indra’s answer: the yuddha-yajña
Indra told him the truth. Sudeva had performed a mighty yuddha-yajña, a yajña held on the battlefield, so large that it outweighed the formal ritual yajñas. Indra said that any warrior who performs such a battle can earn the same. The śāstra has decided that any fully armed sarvayodha (all-round warrior) who stands at the front of the battle, with armour on and weapons drawn, is a yajamāna (the one for whom the yajña is performed) of this yajña.
Indra then gave each part of the yuddha-yajña and what it stands for in the ritual.
| In battle | In the yajña |
|---|---|
| Elephants | Ṛtvijas (officiating priests) |
| Horses | Adhvaryus (priests who carry out the ritual) |
| The flesh of the enemy | Havis (the offering) |
| The blood of the enemy | Ghṛta (clarified butter) |
| Jackals, vultures and crows | Members of the sadas (the assembly), who eat what is left |
| Lances, swords and axes | Sruks and sruvās (ladles for pouring ghee) |
| Long sharp arrows | The sruvā (the main pouring ladle) |
| A sword with an elephant-hide sheath | The sphya (the ritual scraper) |
| Iron spears and battleaxes | Yajña dravyas (ritual tools) |
| The blood that flows on the battlefield | The pūrṇa, the offering that satisfies |
| The crash of weapons and the cries of the soldiers | The sāmans sung by the udgātā |
| The enemy’s front line | The havirdhāna (the shed where soma is pressed) |
| The front of the warrior’s own army | The havirdhāna, from the other side |
| The warrior’s dying upright stance | The yūpa (the sacrificial post) |
| The warrior’s own flowing blood | The vedi (the altar ground) |
| The meeting of weapons, horses and elephants | The śyenacita (the fire altar in the shape of an eagle) |
| The warrior who falls fighting | He takes the final avabhṛtha bath (the bath that ends the yajña) |
Indra ended by saying that the warrior who falls in the middle of battle, keeping his place, never running, deep in the enemy’s ranks and seeking only victory, reaches lokas equal to Indra’s own. Through the power of his great yuddha-yajña the commander Sudeva has risen above the fruits of the ritual yajñas. Those who mourn a warrior who dies in battle are wrong, for such a warrior wins great fame in svarga.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva, Chapter 98