Kiṃdama

Kiṃdama

Kiṃdama was a ṛshi. He and his wife took the form of deer, so that they could be together in the forest with a privacy only animals can have in the wild. King Pāṇḍu saw two deer moving together and shot them, not knowing who they were. As Kiṃdama died, he took back his human form and pronounced a śāpa (curse) on Pāṇḍu. The śāpa turned the whole course of Pāṇḍu’s life. It led to his retirement to the forest, his inability to father children, and the birth of the Pāṇḍavas by divine invocation.

The curse

Kiṃdama and his wife were together in the form of deer in the depths of the forest when Pāṇḍu shot them with his arrows. As he died, Kiṃdama returned to human form. He named himself and his wife. He denounced Pāṇḍu’s act. To kill animals while they mate is a violation of the most basic law of life. To kill a pair in the act of union is doubly cruel, he said, especially when a king does it, who should know better.

Then he pronounced the śāpa. At the moment Pāṇḍu approached a woman with desire, in that very instant he would die. The desire itself, and no outside act, would bring the death.

Kiṃdama also spoke about vidhi (fate) and prajñā (wisdom). He said that a person’s karma (action and its result) cannot be escaped, but how one responds to circumstances is a matter of choice. Pāṇḍu heard this speech, even in his grief and guilt.

Why the curse matters

Kiṃdama’s śāpa is one of the great turning points of the Mahābhārata. It changed an able and active king into a forest ascetic. It made the usual way of having children impossible for him. It led to the divine invocation by which the five Pāṇḍavas were born. They were the sons of Dharma, Vāyu, Indra and the Aśvins.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Chapters 118–119