Suvarṇashṭhīvin

Suvarṇashṭhīvin, “the one who spits gold”, was the son of King Sṛñjaya. He was born through the vara (boon) of the devarshi Nārada. From his birth, everything that came out of his body turned to pure gold. Thieves took him away and killed him, hoping to find gold inside him, and found nothing. Sṛñjaya grieved. Nārada comforted him with the account of the sixteen great kings (the Shoḍaśa Mahārāja Kathā) and then brought the boy back to life. Vyāsamahāmuni used this account to comfort Yudhishṭhira after the death of Abhimanyu.

Birth and the divine vara

Sṛñjaya had no children. Nārada offered to give him any son he wished for. Sṛñjaya asked for a son whose body would give pure gold in every form: his waste, his tears when he wept, his saliva and his sweat. Nārada said “Tathāstu!” (“So be it!”) and the vara was given.

From the day of his birth, the child was a living source of gold. Because of this he was called Suvarṇashṭhīvin, “one who spits gold”. As he grew, the gold flowed without end and filled his father’s treasury to overflowing. Sṛñjaya had all the buildings of his city rebuilt in solid gold: the palace, the outer walls, the forts and the homes of the brāhmaṇas. All the vessels and furnishings of the royal house were made again from the gold of his son’s body (Droṇa Parva, Chapter 55).

Kidnapping and death

News of the wonderful child spread beyond the palace. A band of thieves met in secret. They said, “This child is himself a mine of gold. If we seize him and keep him, we will have all the gold we could want.” They broke into the palace at night, took Suvarṇashṭhīvin and carried him into a forest.

In the forest, the thieves fell into confusion and greed. The foolish ones among them thought the gold was kept inside the child’s body as in a treasury. They killed him and cut open his body to look for it. But when Suvarṇashṭhīvin died, the power of the vara left him, and there was no gold in his body. The thieves found nothing. They turned on each other in rage and quarrelled, and killed one another. Their souls went down to the lowest naraka (hell) (Droṇa Parva, Chapter 55).

Nārada brings him back

Nārada had comforted Sṛñjaya with the stories of the sixteen great kings, and the king’s grief ended. Nārada then looked on him with compassion and said, “Your son was killed senselessly by fools. He was not killed on a battlefield, and not after a worthy life of yajña and tapas. He did not leave by a righteous path. But I can help. Ask for any vara.”

Sṛñjaya asked humbly for only one thing, the return of his son. Nārada spoke the words, and Suvarṇashṭhīvin appeared before them at once. He was fully alive and shone like the son of Kubera. Sṛñjaya embraced his son with joy and performed great yajñas (fire rituals) in thanks (Droṇa Parva, Chapter 71).

Suvarṇashṭhīvin and Abhimanyu

Vyāsamahāmuni told this account to Yudhishṭhira in his grief for Abhimanyu, and he drew a clear line between the two lives.

Suvarṇashṭhīvin was brought back because his life had been cut short wrongly. He had performed no yajña, gathered no tapas, given no great dāna (gift) and left no descendants. His death had no sense and his purpose was not fulfilled.

Abhimanyu was a different case. He lived as a mahāvīra (great warrior). In one day’s battle he killed thousands of the greatest warriors of his age. He fought without retreating and died on the battlefield, in the most auspicious way open to a kshatriya. His life was complete. He now lives in the highest worlds, shining like the moon in his eternal form. To call him back would lessen what he had gained (Droṇa Parva, Chapter 71).

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapters 55, 71