Bhaṅgāsvana

Bhaṅgāsvana was a very dharmic rājarshi (royal ṛshi), a king with the life of a ṛshi. For many years he had no sons. He performed the Agnishṭoma yajña (fire ritual), also called Agnishṭut, to gain sons. In this yajña Indra receives no share, because the offering goes wholly to Agni. Indra held this against him for a long time.

Years later, while Bhaṅgāsvana was hunting, Indra clouded his mind. The king bathed in a lake and came out as a woman. She did not fight this change. She gave the kingdom to her hundred sons, went to an āśrama, took a tapasvin (ascetic) as her husband, and bore a hundred more sons. Indra then caused a war that killed all two hundred sons. Later Indra offered her a vara (a boon), and she made her choices. Bhīshma tells this itihāsa (history) in the Mahābhārata.

The sonless rājarshi and the Agnishṭoma

Bhaṅgāsvana had no sons. So he decided to perform the Agnishṭoma, a rite laid down for men who want putra-prāpti (the gaining of sons). The mantra of this yajña says that Agni is praised above all and that Agni gives sons to the yajamāna (the person who offers the yajña). So Indra gets no share of its offering. Because the rite left him out by its very nature, Indra felt a quiet enmity (vaira) toward Bhaṅgāsvana. He watched for any fault in the king’s conduct that he could use against him.

Bhaṅgāsvana performed the Agnishṭoma with full control of his mind (manojaya). By its power he gained a hundred mighty sons. Indra watched him closely for a long time but could find no fault in the great king.

The change into a woman

After a long time, Bhaṅgāsvana went out hunting. Indra saw his chance and cast moha (delusion) over the king’s mind. Bhaṅgāsvana rode about on his horse, lost and unable to tell the directions, weak from hunger and thirst. He came to a beautiful lake with clear water, where birds gathered. He gave his horse water and tied it to a tree. Then he went into the lake to bathe. The moment he came out of the water, he had become a woman.

The king was filled with shame and worry. How could she mount the horse now? How could she go back to the city? How could she face the hundred sons born of her own Agnishṭoma tapas (austerity), her wives and her people? Those who know the true nature of dharma say that softness (mṛdutva), slenderness (kṛśatva) and restlessness (vyākulatva) are the marks of a woman’s nature (strī-svabhāva). Bhaṅgāsvana felt these qualities rising in herself, in place of the hardness, strength and courage that mark a man’s nature (purusha-svabhāva).

With great effort, she mounted the horse and rode back to the city. Her sons, wives, ministers and people were all amazed. Bhaṅgāsvana, now a woman, told them everything. She had gone hunting with the whole army, driven by daiva-preraṇa (the push of fate). She had entered a terrible forest and lost her way in thirst. She had seen the lake and bathed. By the will of daiva (fate) she had become a woman.

The two sets of sons

Bhaṅgāsvana stated her change openly, giving her name and her gotra (family line) before her sons and household. She told her hundred sons that she would go to the forest. She asked them to rule the kingdom with joy and love. She then went to an āśrama. There she accepted a tapasvin as her husband and bore a hundred more sons.

She brought this second hundred to the place where the first hundred ruled. She told them plainly: “You are the sons born when I was a man. These are the sons born to me after I became a woman. Treat one another with the love of brothers, and enjoy the kingdom together in one place.” The two sets of brothers joined together and ruled the fine kingdom in perfect harmony (Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 12).

Indra stirs up war

Indra saw that his revenge had done no real harm. Turning the king into a woman had doubled her family, and she now watched over two sets of sons who lived in harmony. Indra was troubled that his planned punishment had turned into a kind of favour. He wanted to cause real hurt. He took the form of a brāhmaṇa and went to the city to sow discord (bhedabhāva) between the two groups of brothers.

He told them that even sons of one father seldom share deep brotherly love. He gave as an example the devas and the asuras (Dānavas). Both are sons of Kaśyapa Prajāpati, yet they fight constantly over rule. He said to the two groups: “You are Bhaṅgāsvana’s sons. They are the tapasvin’s sons. Yet this is your father’s kingdom (pitṛ-rājya), and it is the tapasvin’s sons who enjoy it.” With these words of division, Indra pushed the two hundreds into war. They killed one another, and all two hundred sons died.

The mother’s grief and the choice

The tapasvin heard the news and wept in deep sorrow. Indra, still dressed as a brāhmaṇa, came to the grieving mother and asked why she was crying. She told him that her two hundred sons had died when their time came (kāla-vaśa). One hundred were born while she was a king. One hundred were born after her change, in her own form. Then Indra spoke harshly and showed who he was. He said: “Blessed one, you once gave me unbearable grief. You performed the Agnishṭoma, which slights Indra, without inviting me. I am that Indra, and now I have taken my revenge.”

Bhaṅgāsvana fell at Indra’s feet, bowed her head and begged forgiveness. She explained that she had performed the yajña only from the wish for sons, and never meant to insult him. Indra was pleased by her humility and offered her a vara. He asked: “Should the sons born to you as a man live again, or the sons born to you as a woman?” She answered without delay: “O Indra, let the sons born to me while I was a woman live.”

Indra was astonished and asked why she preferred the sons of her womanhood to those of her manhood. She said: “A woman’s love (prīti) for her sons is always greater than a man’s. A man does not have this depth of love for his children. Therefore, O Indra, let the sons born to me as a woman live.” Indra was pleased with this truthful answer and let all two hundred sons live again (Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 12).

The choice of womanhood

Indra then asked whether she now wished to become a man again or to stay a woman. He offered either as a vara. Bhaṅgāsvana said she wished to be a woman, not a man. Indra pressed her for the reason. She said: “O Indra, in the union of woman and man, the woman feels the greater pleasure (prīti). O best of devas, I have known far greater rati-sukha (joy of union) as a woman. This is the truth. For this reason I remain content in my nature as a woman. You may go now.” Indra granted that she would remain as she wished, and he went back to svarga (heaven).

Bhīshma told this itihāsa to teach one central point. In the union of man and woman, the woman feels the greater rati-sukha (Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 12).

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 12