Vāsudeva and Nārada Saṃvāda

This is an itihāsa (old account) inside the Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 81. In it Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, also called Vāsudeva, goes to the devaṛshi Nārada in distress. Two of his own kinsmen, Āhuka and Akrūra, are rivals. Each thinks Kṛshṇa favours the other. Bhīshma tells the dialogue to Yudhishṭhira, and Nārada’s answer is the base of the teaching on the six measures of rule (shāḍguṇya) and on unity in a gaṇa (a confederacy of clans).

The question

Yudhishṭhira asked Bhīshma what a king should do when his own jñātis (kinsmen and relatives) cannot be brought together. What attitude toward friends and enemies leads to success? Bhīshma answered with an account from earlier times, the talk between Vāsudeva and the devaṛshi Nārada. It shows how a gaṇa is ruled from within when its members are on opposite sides.

Kṛshṇa’s trouble

Kṛshṇa spoke to Nārada in pain. Āhuka and Akrūra were both his kinsmen, and they were locked in rivalry. Each believed that Kṛshṇa favoured the other, and each was angry at the slight he felt. Their hard words burned Kṛshṇa’s heart, like the sparks a person makes when he lights a fire from araṇīs (fire-sticks).

He could not take either side. If he favoured Akrūra, he would lose Āhuka. If he favoured Āhuka, he would anger Akrūra’s supporters, who are among the most powerful in the Yādava confederacy: Balarāma, Gada, Pradyumna and others.

Beyond these two men, the whole Yādava people, the Andhakas, the Vṛshṇis and others, are great, strong and full of passion. They stand with one side or the other, and no single person can hold all of them in his hand. Kṛshṇa said he was like the mother of two gamblers. She cannot wish either son to lose, yet one of them must. He asked Nārada, knowing all this, what he should do for the good of his kinsmen and himself.

Nārada’s answer

Nārada saw that the trouble had two parts. The conflict with Akrūra’s kin came from Kṛshṇa’s own earlier choices. In the case of Āhuka, power was already settled and could not be taken back because of the bond of kinship. The wealth Kṛshṇa had given up to Āhuka was now “rooted like a tree”, and it could not be won back.

Nārada told Kṛshṇa to follow what is dhanya (rewarding), kīrtikara (bringing fame) and āyushya (giving long life), and what always helps his own side, without causing the ruin of any of his kinsmen.

Nārada then spoke of the shāḍguṇya, the six measures of a ruler: sandhi (peace), vigraha (war), yāna (march), āsana (halt), dvaidha (a divided force) and āśraya (taking shelter). He said Kṛshṇa already knew these measures fully. The question was how to use them when the opponent is inside the confederacy and not outside it.

Nārada reminded him that the great Yādavas, the Kukuras, Bhojas, Andhakas and Vṛshṇis, are all devoted to Kṛshṇa. Even ṛshis do upāsanā (devoted service) for his good. The whole world looks to Kṛshṇa. His duty is to be the steady centre and not to lean to either side.

The teaching on gaṇa unity

A gaṇa gets its strength from the unity within it. When one group in the gaṇa begins to claim the leader’s special favour, the unity breaks. The leader of a gaṇa must therefore be even-handed, and he must not let the rivalry of two strong members become the main force in the gaṇa.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva, Chapter 81