Dundubha
Dundubha is the name of Sahasrapāt, a brāhmaṇa ṛshi who lived as a snake for a time. His friend Khagama cursed him with a śāpa (a curse) to become a snake, a dundubha, a ground-snake without venom. He had frightened Khagama with a grass snake as a joke. He stayed in that form until Ruru came, which the śāpa itself named as the moment of freedom. When Ruru, who was killing snakes, met him, Dundubha taught him that ahiṃsā (not harming) is the highest dharma for brāhmaṇas.
The brāhmaṇa Sahasrapāt
Before he became a snake, Sahasrapāt was a brāhmaṇa ṛshi of good standing. He was a close friend of another brāhmaṇa, Khagama, and the two were often together. (Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Pauloma Upākhyāna)
The joke and the śāpa
One day Sahasrapāt, in play, made a snake out of blades of dry grass. It looked like a real snake. He held it up suddenly before Khagama. Khagama was terrified. The shock was so great that he fell to the ground in fear. When he came to himself, his fear turned to anger.
Khagama gave Sahasrapāt a śāpa: “You who frightened me with a false snake shall yourself become a real snake.” It took effect the moment it was spoken.
Sahasrapāt fell to the ground at once, stricken. He begged his friend for mercy. Khagama saw that his anger had been too great. He could not take the śāpa back, but he limited it. He said: “You will be freed from your serpent-body when the ṛshi Ruru comes to you.” This gave Sahasrapāt hope, though it did not tell him how long he must wait. (Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Pauloma Upākhyāna)
Life as a dundubha
Sahasrapāt became a dundubha, a ground-snake. It has no venom and does no harm. Venomous snakes can strike and kill, but the dundubha cannot. Sahasrapāt had used a false snake to cause fear. Now he became the most harmless of real snakes, without the power he once held as a brāhmaṇa. (Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Pauloma Upākhyāna)
The meeting with Ruru
Ruru was grieving for Pramadvarā, who had died. His grief turned to rage against all snakes, and he went through the forest killing every snake he found. He came upon Dundubha and raised his staff to kill him as he had killed the others. (Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Pauloma Upākhyāna)
Dundubha spoke. He said calmly:
O brāhmaṇa, this snake before you is called a dundubha. It harms no one. It has no venom. Why do you strike it?
Ruru was still in the rage of his grief. He answered that he had vowed to kill every snake, because a snake had killed Pramadvarā.
Then Dundubha gave his teaching:
O brahmin-born one, a brāhmaṇa’s weapon is his tapas and his speech, not his staff. Brāhmaṇas protect all beings; they do not destroy them. The supreme dharma, paramo dharmaḥ, is ahiṃsā. Consider: did this harmless creature before you harm your Pramadvarā? Strike without care and you go against your own nature. Your grandfather Cyavana and the great Bhārgava ṛshis before him kept ahiṃsā. Return to your true dharma.
Freedom from the śāpa
Ruru’s coming had been named in Khagama’s limit on the śāpa as the time of freedom. When Ruru came and the meeting ended, Sahasrapāt was freed from the snake form. He rose again as the brāhmaṇa Sahasrapāt, in his own body and with his former standing. (Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Pauloma Upākhyāna)
The teaching
The Dundubha episode holds the central teaching of the Pauloma Upākhyāna in the Ādi Parva:
ahiṃsā paramo dharmaḥ
It means: not harming is the highest dharma, above all others for a brāhmaṇa. The teaching comes through a scene. A man mad with grief stands with his staff raised. A harmless creature, who is a brāhmaṇa, speaks wisdom to him. Ruru gives up his vow to kill snakes after this meeting and returns to his own nature.
The commentary of Nīlakaṇṭha adds that not all snakes are alike. The venomous snake that killed Pramadvarā has no kinship with the harmless dundubha, just as acts that look alike do not all carry the same weight in dharma.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Pauloma Upākhyāna, chapters 10–12
- Commentary of Nīlakaṇṭha on the Mahābhārata