Ājagara Parva

The Ājagara Parva is the part of the Mahābhārata’s Vana Parva that tells how the Pāṇḍavas came down from Gandhamādana and how Arjuna met his brothers again. They then moved to a new place of forest exile. The main episode is Bhīma’s meeting with a huge python in a cave near the Sarasvatī. The python is the former king Nahusha, who had been turned into a serpent by a śāpa (a curse) from Agastya.

Nahusha is freed when Yudhishṭhira answers his deep questions with patience. The dialogue is one of the great teachings on dharma, on who is a brāhmaṇa, and on Brahman in the whole Mahābhārata. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 176–181)

The Pāṇḍavas’ journey south (Chapter 176)

The Pāṇḍavas had stayed at Gandhamādana after Arjuna came back from the worlds of the devas with his divine weapons. They now began the long journey back toward the plains. They went south through Kailāsa, came down to the āśrama (hermitage) of Vṛshaparvan, visited Badarikāśrama, and at last reached the realm of King Subāhu. He was a devoted king and received them with great honour. All through the journey Ghaṭotkaca, the son of Bhīma, went with them. He served them well by carrying them through the hard mountain country.

In Subāhu’s kingdom Ghaṭotkaca took leave of his father and the Pāṇḍavas and went back to his own realm. The parting of Bhīma and Ghaṭotkaca, and of the Pāṇḍavas and the many ṛshis who had come with them through the mountains, is told with great tenderness. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 176)

Arrival at Dvaitavana (Chapter 177)

The Pāṇḍavas and Draupadī came to Dvaitavana, a great forest on the banks of the river Sarasvatī. There they made their camp for the last part of their twelve-year forest exile. The wood was holy and well watered. It would be their home as the exile came near its end. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 177)

Bhīma is seized by the python (Chapter 178)

One day Bhīma went alone into the deeper parts of the forest, looking for food. He entered a cave on the bank of the Sarasvatī. There he met a gigantic python, an ajagara, of frightening size. Without warning, the python coiled around Bhīma and held him fast. Bhīma’s strength was greater than any other mortal’s, yet he could not break free. He used all his power, but the python’s hold was complete.

This was no ordinary creature. It spoke with a human voice and had understanding beyond any animal’s. It put deep questions to Bhīma even as it held him. Bhīma could not resist, and he could only talk with it from inside its grip. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 178)

The python reveals itself as Nahusha (Chapter 179)

Bhīma’s brothers saw that he was missing and grew worried. Yudhishṭhira went out alone to look for him. He found Bhīma in the coils of the huge python, unable to move. Yudhishṭhira did not try to fight the creature. He saw that it was no common being, and he spoke to it with calm interest.

The python then told who it was. It was Nahusha, the great king who once held the seat of Indra while Indra was away, and who later fell through pride. Nahusha had demanded that the Saptarshis carry his palanquin. In his arrogance he struck the ṛshi Agastya with his foot. Agastya was deeply insulted and put a śāpa on Nahusha. He was to become a python and stay in that form until a wise person answered his questions well. Nahusha had borne this for ages beyond count, waiting for this very meeting. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 179)

The dialogue: who is a brāhmaṇa (Chapter 180)

Nahusha put his questions to Yudhishṭhira. What followed is one of the great exchanges of thought in the Mahābhārata.

Who is a brāhmaṇa. Nahusha asked Yudhishṭhira to say who truly deserves the name of brāhmaṇa. Yudhishṭhira answered that a brāhmaṇa is not known by birth alone but by qualities. These are satya (truth), dāna (giving), kshamā (forgiveness), śīla (good conduct), ānṛśaṃsya (kindness), tapas (austerity) and dama (self-control). He added that even a śūdra who has these qualities is a brāhmaṇa in the true sense, while a brāhmaṇa by birth who lacks them has lost that standing.

Brahman. Nahusha then asked Yudhishṭhira to describe Brahman. Yudhishṭhira answered that Brahman is beyond all words and descriptions, and yet is the ground of all that exists. It is the ātman in all beings, the witness that itself cannot be witnessed, the pure awareness that lies under both the manifest and the unmanifest.

Manas and buddhi. Nahusha also asked how manas (mind) differs from buddhi (intellect), and asked about karma and its fruits. Yudhishṭhira answered each in turn, as one trained in the teaching on dharma and in deep Vedic knowledge. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 180)

Nahusha is freed and goes to svarga (Chapter 181)

Nahusha was fully satisfied by Yudhishṭhira’s answers. With each answer the serpent’s hold on Bhīma grew looser, and Bhīma began to get his strength back. At the end of the dialogue, Nahusha agreed that Yudhishṭhira had answered all his questions rightly, and the śāpa was broken. The python form fell away. Nahusha stood before them in his own divine form, bright, ancient and majestic. He blessed Yudhishṭhira and Bhīma, and then rose to svarga loka (the world of heaven). His long tapas was complete. Bhīma, set free, embraced his elder brother, full of wonder at what had happened. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 181)

What the episode teaches

Yudhishṭhira places character above birth as the mark of a true brāhmaṇa.

The account of Nahusha also shows the danger of pride, even for the most powerful. A king great enough to take Indra’s place for a time fell to the level of a serpent through one act of arrogance against a brāhmaṇa ṛshi. His long tapas and his freeing through Yudhishṭhira’s wisdom complete an arc that spans several parvas of the epic.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 176–181