Surabhi Upākhyāna

This is a parable that Maharshi Vyāsa told to King Dhṛtarāshṭra in the Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata (Chapter 9). An upākhyāna is a story told inside a larger account. The divine cow Surabhi weeps before Indra because her son, an ordinary farm ox, is being beaten. Indra answers with rain.

Surabhi weeps before Indra

Surabhi is the mother of all cattle, and she is one of the jewels that came from the churning of the cosmic ocean. She appeared before Indra, weeping. Tears flowed from her great eyes.

Indra was astonished. Surabhi is a divine being who can grant any vara (boon) to the three worlds. Yet something had brought her to tears.

Surabhi tells her grief

Indra asked her why she grieved. Surabhi told him that from her home in the celestial realms she had seen one of her sons, an ordinary farm ox in the world of humans, being beaten without mercy by a farmer as he ploughed the field. The ox was tired, hurt and suffering.

Surabhi is a divine mother who can give prosperity and blessings. Yet she could not reach down and stop her son’s pain at that moment. This helplessness was the cause of her grief. It was the pain of a mother who sees her child suffer and cannot act.

Indra sends rain

Indra was moved. He looked down and saw that it was as she said. At that moment he sent rain, heavy enough that the farmer had to stop ploughing and take shelter. This gave the ox relief. Surabhi’s son was freed from his pain by this timely help from Indra, the lord of rains.

Vyāsa’s purpose

Vyāsa told this story to Dhṛtarāshṭra for a clear purpose. It was not only about kindness to animals. Vyāsa drew the comparison himself. Surabhi wept in sorrow as she watched her son suffer from svarga, unable to act directly. In the same way, Dhṛtarāshṭra should think about what his son Duryodhana’s acts were causing.

The Pāṇḍavas, the righteous sons of Pāṇḍu and of the same Kuru line, were suffering in the forest because of Duryodhana’s adharma (unrighteous acts). Dhṛtarāshṭra had the power of a king and the right of a father. He could step in and restore dharma. If he chose not to, the results would follow as they must.

The story spoke to Dhṛtarāshṭra’s feelings as a father, and at the same time it questioned his judgement as a king. Through the Vana Parva, Vyāsa’s counsel aimed at waking whatever conscience Dhṛtarāshṭra still had.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 9