Śibi Carita

Śibi Cakravartin was the son of Uśīnara and the greatest king of his time. The Mahābhārata tells of him in the Vana Parva, in Chapters 194, 197 and 198. Mārkaṇḍeya Maharshi tells three episodes about him. In the first, Nārada decides that Śibi is the better of two kings. In the second, Agni and Indra test him as a pigeon and a hawk. In the third, Brahmā tests him, dressed as a brāhmaṇa who asks for the flesh of Śibi’s own son. Śibi passes all three, and his dāna (giving) and his abhaya-dāna (the gift of freedom from fear) are shown to go beyond all others.

Who Śibi was

Śibi, also called Auśīnara (son of Uśīnara), was a king of the Auśīnara line. His land was rich and full of dharma. He was known in all the worlds for his dāna. It reached not only to wealth but to life itself. His name was so great that Indra and the other devas took note of it and wished to test the limits of his virtue. He was the father of the Śibi people, one branch of the ancient Āryan peoples, and an ancestor of the line called Kāpotaromu.

Episode 1: The road dispute and Nārada’s verdict (Chapter 194)

Śibi was travelling in his royal chariot. On a narrow road he met the chariot of Suhotra, another righteous king, coming the other way. Both kings were men of great virtue. Both believed that, by custom in dharma, the road should be given to the greater of the two. But neither could say that the other was greater.

The two chariots stood face to face and neither moved. This might have gone on without end, when the devarshi Nārada appeared. He asked why the two kings were blocking each other’s way.

Both explained their reasoning. A greater person should be given the road, and each held back because he truly respected the other’s greatness and could not decide who should give way. Nārada listened and gave his verdict. Of the two, Śibi Cakravartin was the better king.

Suhotra accepted this gracefully. He walked round Śibi in respect, praised him warmly, and went on his way. Nārada then told those present that the mark of a truly great person is to give way even before being made to. He said that Śibi’s māhātmya (greatness) was so remarkable that even Nārada himself, the great devarshi, thought him worthy of the first place.

Episode 2: The pigeon, the hawk and the flesh of the thigh (Chapter 197)

The best-known episode of Śibi’s life is his meeting with a frightened pigeon and the hawk that was chasing it. In truth they were the devas Agni and Indra, the pigeon being Agni and the hawk Indra, who had come to test how far his virtue went.

The pigeon’s plea

A pigeon, worn out and terrified, flew into Śibi’s court and threw itself into his lap, shaking all over. In a small voice it said: “O king, I have come to you for śaraṇa (refuge). A hawk is chasing me. Only your protection can save my life.” Śibi put his hand over the pigeon and said that his protection was complete.

The hawk’s demand

A hawk came down at once and perched before the king. It argued strongly that the pigeon was its natural food, that it was hungry, and that the king was breaking dharma by keeping it from its food. This was no ordinary bird. It spoke in the language of the dharmaśāstra and pressed the king with hard questions about duties that pull against each other.

The conflict of dharmas

The king was caught in a hard choice. His duty to protect the śaraṇāgata (one who has come for refuge) clashed with his duty not to keep any being from its rightful food. He could not hand over the pigeon without breaking his word. He could not simply wave away the hawk’s hunger without breaking another kind of dharma.

Śibi offered a way out. He would give the hawk an equal weight of flesh from his own body in place of the pigeon. The hawk agreed, on condition that the flesh be weighed on a scale against the pigeon. A scale was brought, and Śibi cut flesh from his own thigh. The pigeon was heavier than the flesh. He cut more, and more again, from different parts of his body, and still the pigeon weighed more than the flesh on the scale.

At last Śibi stepped into the scale himself. His own body, however much he had already cut from it, together with his readiness to give his whole self to keep his pledge, made the scale balance. At that moment the hawk vanished. It had been Indra. The pigeon showed itself as Agni.

The revelation

Both devas appeared in their true forms and praised Śibi without holding back. Agni said that the wounds on Śibi’s body would heal at once and the flesh would grow again, marked with special signs: where the cuts had been, his skin would shine with a golden glow. Indra foretold that a son would be born from Śibi’s own body, from the thigh or jaṅghā (the lower leg), the part from which he had cut so much flesh. The son would be called Kapotaromu (pigeon-feathered) or Audbiḍu. He was meant to inherit the kingdom and be praised in all the worlds.

Episode 3: Brahmā’s test, a son given to a brāhmaṇa (Chapter 198)

The third episode is a test set not by Indra or Agni but by Brahmā himself, dressed as a brāhmaṇa.

Before the test: the journey to svarga

A group of great kings had finished great yajñas and were riding up in their chariots towards svarga. They were Ashṭaka (son of Viśvāmitra), Prātardana, Vasumanas, and Śibi. On the way they met the devarshi Nārada and asked him to join them. Nārada took his seat in the chariot. As they travelled, the kings asked him which of them would be the first to come back from svarga to earth. This means which of them would be the first to use up his puṇya (merit).

Nārada gave careful answers and pointed out a small fault in each king’s conduct. Ashṭaka had boasted about his dāna. Prātardana had given away horses but then found fault with the brāhmaṇas who received them. Vasumanas had promised his wonderful Pushparatha but had never given it. Each of these faults had lessened the puṇya each had gathered.

Nārada named the order in which they would return to earth. When asked directly, he said that between himself and Śibi, Nārada would come down first, because Śibi’s puṇya was so great that even the great devarshi looked smaller beside it.

Brahmā’s disguise

Later, when Śibi was back in his kingdom, a brāhmaṇa came and asked for hospitality. Śibi was known to give whatever was asked of him. The brāhmaṇa was Brahmā in disguise. He made a terrible request. He asked Śibi to kill his own dearest son, Bṛhaddarbha, cook him, and serve the flesh as the meal of hospitality.

Śibi was struck with grief, but he did not flinch. He had given his word of hospitality. He killed his son with a steady hand, cooked the food, put it in a vessel on his head, and went out to look for the brāhmaṇa. Meanwhile news came that the brāhmaṇa had gone into the palace and was causing havoc. He was burning the treasury, the stables and the antaḥpura (the women’s quarters).

The revelation

Śibi found the brāhmaṇa and offered the vessel with his head bowed in respect. The brāhmaṇa said: “O king, eat it yourself!” Śibi, without a moment of hesitation or disgust, got ready to do so. At that instant the brāhmaṇa caught his hand and stopped him.

Brahmā showed his true form. He praised Śibi as unequalled among mortals and said that the king’s son was alive. When Śibi looked up, his son stood before him, restored, dressed in celestial clothes and shining with divine light. All the damage the brāhmaṇa had done was also put right at once.

Śibi’s own words on his dāna

Śibi’s ministers asked him why he had done such a thing. Śibi said: “I do not give dāna for fame, or for wealth, or for my own bhoga (enjoyment). The path of the noble is to give without attachment to results, without keeping count, and without hesitation when the moment calls for it. The truly great path is not to ask whether a request is convenient, but simply to give.”

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 194 (the road dispute and Nārada’s verdict)
• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 197 (the pigeon, the hawk and the flesh of the thigh)
• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 198 (Brahmā’s test and Śibi’s own words)