Bisa-Stainya Upākhyāna

During a terrible famine, seven great ṛshis wander the earth with Arundhatī, a maidservant and her husband. They are Kaśyapa, Atri, Vasishṭha, Bharadvāja, Gautama, Viśvāmitra and Jamadagni. Arundhatī is a pativratā (a devoted wife). The maidservant is Gaṇḍā, and her husband is Paśusakha, a śūdra. They refuse the rich gifts of King Vṛshādarbhi, because rājapratigraha (taking gifts from a king) is too dangerous for one who keeps tapas (austerity). They survive Kṛtyā, a rākshasī (a female being of dark power) whom the king sends against them. A stranger helps them. He is a plump ascetic with a dog. At last they receive lotus-stalks from a pond, but the stalks vanish, and they are tested a second time on lobha (greed). Then the ascetic shows himself to be Indra.

Yudhishṭhira’s question on dāna

Yudhishṭhira asked Bhīshma which is truly greater, the giver or the receiver of dāna (a gift). Bhīshma answered that a brāhmaṇa may receive from a worthy giver or an unworthy one. If the giver is of good conduct, the fault in receiving is small. If the giver has no good conduct, the receiver sinks with him. To show this, Bhīshma told an ancient itihāsa (history): the dialogue between King Vṛshādarbhi and the seven ṛshis. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 93)

The famine and the wandering company

Kaśyapa, Atri, Vasishṭha, Bharadvāja, Gautama, Viśvāmitra and Jamadagni went over the whole earth. With them went the sādhvī (virtuous woman) Arundhatī, her attendant Gaṇḍā, and Gaṇḍā’s śūdra husband Paśusakha. They kept up tapas and samādhi (deep meditation). They sought the eternal worlds of Brahmā. A great anāvṛshṭi (drought) came. The whole world writhed in hunger, and life hung by a thread.

At that time a son of King Śaibya had been given by his father to the ṛtviks (priests) as dakshiṇā (a fee) at a yajña (fire ritual). He had died young. The ten wanderers were starving. They found the body, and in their need they began to cook it in a vessel. Hunger drove them to seek any means to keep alive in a world without food. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 93)

Vṛshādarbhi’s offer and the refusal

King Vṛshādarbhi of the Śibi country passed by. He saw them cooking the body in their need. He offered them great wealth instead. The gifts were these.

• A thousand she-mules, each with a bull.
• Fine milch-cows.
• Ten thousand cattle.
• Well-fed bull-calves of four years.
• Hundreds of one-hoofed cows.
• Villages, grain, barley and priceless gems.

He urged them not to set their minds on the unfit food before them.

The ṛshis answered that rājapratigraha is like liquor. It is poison to one who keeps tapas, and they would not be tempted, however great the gift. They said that even one day’s tapas is burned up, like a forest by fire, by a king’s gift. They refused everything and walked away by another path. The uncooked meat was left behind as they went to look for food elsewhere. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 93)

The golden fig fruits

Vṛshādarbhi sent his ministers into the forest with golden fruits hidden inside ordinary fig fruits. The ṛshis felt the odd weight of the fruits and refused them too. Atri in particular saw that the fruits were gold, and that taking them would bring only an evil result. This was not fit for one who wants good in this world and the next. The king’s servants saw that the ṛshis suspected a trick and told Vṛshādarbhi. He grew angry at their repeated refusals. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 93)

The making of Kṛtyā

Vṛshādarbhi went home in anger and took a hard vow. Through consecrated mantras offered into the sacrificial fire, he brought out of the flames a terrible being, a Kṛtyā. She was a being of sorcery who could strike fear into the worlds. Vṛshādarbhi named her Yātudhānī.

She stood before the king with joined palms, like a form of Kālarātri, and asked what she should do. Vṛshādarbhi told her: “Go. Learn the names of the seven ṛshis, of Arundhatī, of the maidservant and of her husband, one by one. When you know their names, kill them all. When they are destroyed, go where you wish, with nothing to stop you.”

The rākshasī took a form suited to the task, agreed, and went to the forest where the great munis wandered. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 93)

Śunaḥsakha, the plump ascetic

The ṛshis lived in the forest on roots and fruits. They met a parivrājaka (a wandering ascetic) of very strong build. His shoulders, arms, legs, face and belly were heavy, and his whole body was stout. A dog was with him. Arundhatī saw how well fed he was beside their own thin bodies. She said to the ṛshis: “You too should become like him, and not stay as you are.”

Each ṛshi in turn gave a reason, with a play on his own name, why they were thin and the ascetic was stout.

• Vasishṭha said that this stranger’s agnihotra (daily fire offering) was not kindled properly at morning and evening, as theirs was. That was why he was stout, with his dog.
• Atri said that hunger had not struck down the stranger’s vīrya (strength), as it had theirs, and that the stranger had not lost hard-won learning, as they had.
• Viśvāmitra said that the stranger’s śāstra-dharma had not withered through tiredness and hunger, as theirs had.
• Jamadagni said that the stranger had not stored a year’s food and firewood in his mind, as they had. So he stayed plump.
• Kaśyapa said that the stranger did not have four brothers begging “give, give”, as they had.
• Bharadvāja said that the stranger was only a brahmabandhu (a brāhmaṇa in name) with an unsettled mind. He carried no reproach from a wife’s dishonour, as they did.
• Gautama said that the stranger’s threefold-braided cord of dūrvā grass and his deerskin were not, like theirs, worn through by three years of use.

The stranger touched their hands in the usual greeting and joined them on their way. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 93)

The lotus pond and Kṛtyā’s contest of names

Now the company travelled together with one aim. They came to a beautiful lotus pond. Its water was clear, and thick trees stood around it. Its lotuses were the colour of the rising sun, and its petals shone like vaidūrya (cat’s-eye gem). It was full of waterfowl, fed by no river, and free of mud. The terrible Kṛtyā, Yātudhānī, whom Vṛshādarbhi had sent, guarded this pond.

The ṛshis saw her alone at the water’s edge and asked who she was and what she wanted. She said only that she guarded the pond and would tell nothing about herself. The ṛshis were starving. They asked to take bisa (lotus-stalks) from the pond. She agreed on one condition: each must say his own name before taking the stalks.

One by one each ṛshi gave a nirukta (a derivation of the meaning) of his own name, as they had done before. Each explanation was so deep and so hard to grasp that Kṛtyā could not understand or keep any of them. She sent each one to the pond unharmed.

• Atri explained his name as “arāt-trāyate”, the protector from pāpa (sin). He added that Atri is one who protects from that which devours, as death devours.
• Vasishṭha explained his name through vasu (one who dwells within) and vasishṭhatva (the highest dwelling).
• Kaśyapa explained his name through kaśya (the nourisher and sustainer of all bodies) and kāśya (one of lasting radiance).
• Bharadvāja explained his name through bharaṇa (supporting even the unworthy, the wayward and the disloyal).
• Gautama explained his name through dama (self-mastery) and samadarśana (equal vision).
• Viśvāmitra explained his name through his friendship with the Viśvedevas and with cattle or the senses (go).
• Jamadagni explained his name through birth in the fire of those who take oblations again and again.
• Arundhatī explained her name through her holding up of the mountains, the earth and the wealth of the devas, and her staying always behind her husband.
• Gaṇḍā explained her name through the high cheek-bone (gaṇḍa) of her face.
• Paśusakha explained his name through his gladdening of creatures (paśu) and his constant friendship for them.

Each time Kṛtyā said she could not hold the meaning in her mind, and she sent the speaker into the pond. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 93)

Śunaḥsakha’s name and Kṛtyā’s death

At last the plump ascetic spoke. His name was Śunaḥsakha. He gave his own derivation: “friend of the friends of dharma.” He said that śvā is dharma, that the munis are its friends, and that he is their friend. Kṛtyā was confused and asked him to say it again. Śunaḥsakha warned her that if she did not grasp it the second time, his tridaṇḍa (triple staff) would strike her down and turn her to ash at once.

She could not grasp it. Śunaḥsakha struck her on the head with his staff, which was like the brahma-daṇḍa. The mighty rākshasī fell to the ground and turned to ash. Having killed her, he fixed his tridaṇḍa in the ground and sat on fresh grass. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 93)

The vanished stalks and the oaths

The munis were now free. They gathered as many lotus-stalks and lotuses as they wished and came up from the pond with joy. They bound the stalks into bundles with great effort and laid them at the water’s edge. Then they performed tarpaṇa (the water offering). When they rose from the water and came back to the shore, the stalks were gone.

The brāhmaṇas suspected one another. They were starving and desperate, all of them. They proposed to swear samaya (oaths) to find out who had taken the stalks. Each in turn spoke a śāpa (a curse) on himself, naming grave wrongs that should fall on the thief. The wrongs they named included these.

• Striking a cow with the foot.
• Passing water facing the sun.
• Studying the Veda on forbidden days.
• Killing one who has come for shelter.
• Selling a daughter.
• Longing for a farmer’s wealth.
• False speech in all matters.
• Swallowing a deposit held in trust.
• Giving false witness.
• Eating unfit meat.
• Giving gifts to the unworthy.
• Sexual union by day.
• Cruelty to women, kin and cattle.
• Defeating a brāhmaṇa in argument.
• Relieving oneself in water.
• Killing a cow.
• Adultery outside the fertile time.
• Leaving one’s wife and living on her earnings.
• Breaking with one’s kin.
• Quarrelling with everyone.
• Feeding others only to demand a meal in return.
• Giving up Vedic study once begun.
• Breaking the three sacred fires.
• Selling soma.
• Marrying a śūdra woman in a village with one well.
• Giving a daughter to an unworthy adhvaryu (a priest of the Yajur Veda) or to an unfit priest.
• Other wrongs of the same kind.

(Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 93)

Indra is revealed

When the oaths were done, Śunaḥsakha said: “This oath that you have all sworn must indeed be borne by one born a brāhmaṇa, for it is I who took the bisa of all of you.” He showed the stalks and said: “Puṇyātmans (souls of merit)! Here are your hidden lotus-stalks. Take them back. I did this only to test you, the most fortunate of beings. I came only to protect you. That cruel and wicked Kṛtyā, born of Vṛshādarbhi’s fire, wished to destroy you. If I had not destroyed her, she would have tormented you all. Know me as Devendra, Indra. Because you are free of lobha, imperishable worlds of puṇya (merit) have become yours. Go quickly and reach those worlds.”

The great ṛshis were full of joy. They agreed and went with Indra, the lord of the three worlds, to svarga (heaven). They had been in the worst need, and every kind of enjoyment was offered to them. Yet they never gave way to greed. For this alone they reached svarga. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 93)

Bhīshma’s closing teaching

Bhīshma ends by teaching that a man must give up lobha in every condition of life. This is the paramadharma (the highest dharma). Dūrāśā (excessive desire) must be thrown far away. One who recites this account with devotion among ten listeners gains artha (wealth) without hardship. His pitṛs (ancestors) are satisfied, and ṛshis and devas rejoice. He gains yaśas (fame), dharma and artha even after death. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 93)

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 93