Brahmadatta-Pūjanī Saṃvāda
Pūjanī is a sparrow. She lives in the royal palace of Brahmadatta, king of Kāmpilya. She brings fruits that give the memory of past lives. A prince of the house kills her chick, and she blinds him. The talk between her and the king then turns on whether wrong cancels wrong, on the kinds of enmity, and on when giving back harm is right in āpaddharma (the dharma for times of crisis). The account is in the Āpaddharma Parva of the Śānti Parva of the Mahābhārata.
Pūjanī in Brahmadatta’s palace
Pūjanī had built her nest in the palace of Brahmadatta, king of Kāmpilya. She had lived there a long time, untroubled and well thought of. The palace was her home and the court was her world. She was no ordinary bird. She had great intelligence and could understand human speech and intent.
Her best-known gift was the fruit she brought. She could reach trees in the Himālaya whose fruit gave the memory of past lives to the one who ate it. She shared these fruits with the king. This gift became a treasured part of her bond with the royal house. The king’s family knew her as a blessed presence, almost one of the household. (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 139)
The prince’s act and Pūjanī’s answer
The young prince of the household was playing near Pūjanī’s nest. He crushed her chick to death. Pūjanī answered at once and with purpose. She flew at the prince and struck his eyes, and he was blinded. (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 139)
The exchange between Pūjanī and the king
Brahmadatta was deeply troubled. He did not punish Pūjanī at once, for he saw that she had some reason. But he argued with her about whether her act was right. Their talk touched on several matters.
Whether wrong cancels wrong. Pūjanī said that one who is harmed and does nothing invites more harm. Silence when injured is not virtue but cowardice. Her answer was matched to the first harm and went no further.
The five kinds of enmity. Pūjanī named the kinds of enemy, each needing a different answer.
- The open enemy who attacks directly.
- The hidden enemy who seems a friend but works against you.
- The enemy who caused harm without knowing.
- The enemy made by events, not by his character.
- The enemy who cannot be reconciled, from past births (pūrvajanma-vaira).
In her view the prince had passed from harm done without knowing to careless harm. This is less guilty than harm done with ill will, but it can still be punished.
The bond of a household. Brahmadatta said that Pūjanī had broken the sacred bond of shelter and hospitality, and that the one who protects you has a claim on your restraint. Pūjanī answered that even the bond of shelter does not ask a mother to accept the killing of her children in silence. (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 139)
Pūjanī leaves
Pūjanī had made her case, and it could not be fully reconciled with the king’s view. She said that the bond between them was now changed for good. Even if no more harm was meant, she could no longer live in a place where she had lost her child and had been made to strike back at the household. Its happiness was gone for her. She left the palace.
Bhīshma tells this account to show that in āpaddharma, including the crisis of losing one’s young to another’s violence, a matching answer is not adharma. Yet even a just answer, once made, may end a relationship for good. The sparrow’s leaving is the knowing that some breaks cannot be mended. (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 139)
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Āpaddharma Parva, Chapter 139