Sudeva

Sudeva was the senāpati (general) of the kshatriya king Ambarīsha. He appears in the Indra–Ambarīsha Saṃvāda (the talk between Indra and Ambarīsha) in the Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 98. After Sudeva died in battle, he reached a loka in svarga (heaven) that was higher and more glorious than the loka Ambarīsha reached himself.

In svarga

Ambarīsha came to svarga in his divine vimāna (flying chariot) and met Bṛhaspati and Indra. He looked around that realm and saw his former general Sudeva flying above him. Sudeva stood in a higher place and shone with greater splendour. Ambarīsha was astonished.

He told Indra what he himself had done:

  • He had governed the whole earth by the śāstra, and had set up the order of the four varṇas throughout it.
  • He had studied the Vedas and the rājyaśāstras (the texts on ruling) under strict brahmacarya.
  • He had honoured guests (atithis), the pitṛdevatās (the ancestors), the ṛshis and the devas with the proper rites.
  • He had held firmly to kshatriya-dharma, protected the śāstra, and conquered the earth in battle.

Ambarīsha asked Indra how Sudeva had gone beyond him. Sudeva had performed no great yajñas, he said, and had not pleased the brāhmaṇas in the way the śāstra lays down.

Indra’s answer

Indra answered that Sudeva had performed a magnificent yuddha-yajña (the sacrifice of battle), conducted on the battlefield. Its greatness was more than that of Ambarīsha’s yajñas of formal ritual. In the yuddha-yajña, every part of the Vedic yajña has its match in warfare:

  • The elephants are the ṛtvijes (the priests), and the horses are the adhvaryus (the priests who carry out the rite).
  • The enemy’s flesh is the havis (the offering), and the blood is the ghṛta (clarified butter).
  • The arrows are the sruvā (the ladle), and the swords are the sphik (the wooden blade used in the rite).

A warrior who stands at the front of the battle and does not retreat, who falls fighting and does not flee, reaches lokas equal to Indra’s own. Sudeva’s great battle was exactly this complete yajña. For this reason his loka is higher than the lokas Ambarīsha earned through formal ritual.

Sources

  • Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva, Chapter 98 (the Indra–Ambarīsha Saṃvāda)