Arvāvasu

Arvāvasu, simply known as Arvavasu, Sanskrit: अर्वावसु, Telugu: అర్వావసువు, Hindi: अर्वावसु.

Arvāvasu was one of the two sons of the ṛshi Raibhya. The other was Parāvasu. In the Mahābhārata’s Vana Parva (Chapters 135–138), the Yavakrīta account tells how Parāvasu killed their father by mistake in the dark forest. Parāvasu then falsely blamed Arvāvasu, and Arvāvasu was driven out of the yajña (fire ritual) in disgrace. He did not take revenge. He did tapas (austerity) for Indra. When Indra offered him a vara (a boon), he asked for the dead to be brought back to life, not for himself. His request was granted.

The two brothers and their father

Arvāvasu and his brother Parāvasu were sons of Raibhya, a great ṛshi who lived next to the āśrama of Bharadvāja, the father of Yavakrīta. Both brothers had gone to help at a great yajña held far from their home forest.

Parāvasu was returning home through the forest at night. He saw a moving shape in the dark and killed it, thinking it was a wild animal. It was Raibhya, their father, who was walking in the forest in a deer-skin. So Parāvasu killed his own father by mistake. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 137)

The false charge

Parāvasu did not admit what he had done. He went to the assembled yajña and told those there that Arvāvasu had done the pāpa (sin) of killing their father. Arvāvasu was wholly innocent. He was driven out of the yajña in public disgrace, as one who had killed his father.

Arvāvasu’s tapas and the vara

Arvāvasu did not argue against the false charge, and he did not seek revenge. He went to the forest and did hard tapas aimed at Indra. Indra appeared and offered him a vara.

Arvāvasu did not ask to be cleared of the charge. He asked that those who had died be brought back: his father Raibhya, and also Yavakrīta and Bharadvāja, who had died as a result of the earlier chain of events. His request was granted. All three came back to life. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 138)

The truth of Parāvasu’s guilt was then made known, and Arvāvasu was honoured. Parāvasu had covered a mistake with a deliberate lie. Arvāvasu had borne unjust disgrace calmly, and then used his reward without thought of himself.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 135–138 (the Yavakrīta account; the killing in Chapter 137, the vara in Chapter 138)