Nakulākhyāna
At the end of Yudhishṭhira’s Aśvamedha, a mongoose with a golden back and golden sides spoke in a human voice. To the amazement of the brāhmaṇas present, it said that this great royal yajña did not equal, in puṇya (merit), the small saktu-dāna (gift of parched barley flour) of a poor brāhmaṇa named Saktuprastha, who lived by gleaning grain. Chapter 92 later tells who the mongoose really was and why it was cursed. It was Krodha, Dharma in his wrathful form, cursed by the pitṛs after he tested Jamadagni’s patience. He was freed only when he found the chance to reproach Dharma at the yajña of a truly dharmic king.
With this account the Aśvamedhika Parva comes to its close.
The mongoose’s challenge
Yudhishṭhira’s Aśvamedha was ending. Kinsmen, guests, the poor, and the blind had all been satisfied. Praise of the great dāna (gift) was being proclaimed in every direction, and flowers were falling on Yudhishṭhira’s head. Then a mongoose with black eyes and sides as golden as gold came out of a burrow. With a sound like a thunderbolt that startled the beasts and birds nearby, it spoke in a human voice: “This yajña of yours, O kings, does not equal the dāna-guṇa (the worth of giving) of Saktuprastha, who lives by uñchavṛtti (gleaning grain) at Kurukshetra.” (Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 90)
The astonished brāhmaṇas pressed the mongoose to explain. Where had it come from? By what power did it speak? On what ground did it dare to speak ill of a yajña performed with full keeping of the śāstra, in which every party had been satisfied: brāhmaṇas, kshatriyas, pitṛs, women, śūdras, kinsmen, and devas? The mongoose laughed. It said it spoke without pride and without falsehood. It then told in full the account of Saktuprastha’s saktu-dāna, which is told on its own page. (Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 90)
Why the mongoose was half golden
The mongoose explained that it had itself seen the household of that gleaning brāhmaṇa go up to svarga (heaven) in their own bodies after their saktu-dāna. Half of its own body had turned to gold on the spot. This came from the touch of the water used in that offering, from the fragrance of the flowers that fell in praise of it, and from the power of that brāhmaṇa’s tapas. Having heard of Yudhishṭhira’s famous Aśvamedha, it had come with eager hope that the rest of its body might turn to gold here too, but it had not. This, it said, was why it had laughed and declared that this great yajña did not equal Saktuprastha’s small gift of parched grain. Having said this before all the gathered brāhmaṇas, the mongoose vanished, and the brāhmaṇas went home. (Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 90)
Janamejaya’s question
Janamejaya heard this account from Vaiśampāyana and asked directly: who was this golden-headed, human-speaking mongoose? Vaiśampāyana had not been asked this before and had not told it of his own accord. He now told the full origin. (Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 92)
The origin: Jamadagni’s homa-dhenu and the curse of Krodha
Once the ṛshi Jamadagni was performing a śrāddha. His homa-dhenu (the milch cow kept for the fire rite) came to him of her own accord. He milked her and put the milk in a new, clean, strong vessel. At that moment Dharma, in the form of Krodha (anger itself), entered the vessel to test what the ṛshi would do if provoked, and made the milk disappear completely.
Jamadagni saw this and showed no anger at all. He did not even raise his voice. Krodha then took the form of a brāhmaṇa and appeared before him, now calm himself, and confessed: “O best of the Bhṛgus, I am defeated by you. The world says that the Bhṛgus are fierce in anger. You have fully disproved it. I am overcome today by your greatness, O sādhu. I stand in fear of your tapas. Be kind to me.”
Jamadagni told him plainly that he felt no anger toward him and that he had done him no wrong. He told him to find out the pitṛs for whose sake the milk had been set apart, and to go and make amends to them. Krodha, seized with dread, vanished at once.
The pitṛs, because of this wrong against the offering set apart for them, cursed Krodha with a śāpa (a curse) to take the form of a mongoose (nakula). The curse would end only when Krodha found the chance to reproach Dharma himself before the yajña of a truly dharmic king. (Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 92)
Freed at Yudhishṭhira’s yajña
Krodha hated his own form. He wandered about the sacrificial grounds and the holy forests, running from place to place. At last, in his mongoose body, he came to the sacrificial ground of Yudhishṭhira, the most dharmic of kings. There he told of Saktuprastha’s saktu-dāna and declared it greater than Yudhishṭhira’s own great Aśvamedha. By this reproach against Dharma, spoken at the sacrifice of the most dharmic of kings, Krodha was freed from the pitṛs’ curse. The mongoose then vanished in the sight of all who were gathered. (Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 92)
The closing of the Aśvamedhika Parva
Vaiśampāyana ends this account by telling Janamejaya not to be astonished at what happened at this yajña. It was through tapas alone that thousands of ṛshis of old reached svarga. Non-harm to all beings, contentment, honesty, tapas, self-restraint, and great dāna are all counted as equal.
With this teaching, Chapter 92 brings the whole Aśvamedhika Parva to its end.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 90: the mongoose’s challenge and why it was half golden
- Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 92: Janamejaya’s question, Jamadagni and Krodha, the curse and its ending, and the close of the parva