Marutta Carita
King Marutta was the son of King Avīkshita and the greatest performer of yajñas (fire rituals) of his age. When his father Avīkshita, now on Indra’s side, ordered him to give up his yajña and the ṛshi Saṃvarta, Marutta had to choose between his father’s command and his duty to protect one who has taken refuge. The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa tells how he chose.
Marutta’s greatness
Marutta was born to King Avīkshita. He ruled for 70,015 years, a reign of great length, justice and wealth. He loved to perform mahā-yajñas (great yajñas). The devas themselves came to his yajñas and took the soma and the offerings.
The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapter 125, tells this.
Bṛhaspati’s refusal and the choice of Saṃvarta
Marutta looked for a purohita (priest) for his greatest yajña. First he went to Bṛhaspati, the teacher of the devas. Bṛhaspati refused. He explained that Indra was jealous of the glory of Marutta’s yajña and would be displeased. Marutta was set on going ahead all the same.
He then went to find the ṛshi Saṃvarta, the brother of Bṛhaspati, who was a wandering ascetic. Saṃvarta agreed to be the purohita of Marutta’s yajña. Indra’s displeasure did not stop him.
The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapter 125, tells this.
Indra’s jealousy
Indra saw that the puṇya (merit) of Marutta’s yajña would grow greater than his own hundred-yajña feat, which gave him the name Śatakratu. He sent messengers and threats to Marutta. He also went to Marutta’s father Avīkshita, who had by now come under the sway of Indra, and pressed him to make Marutta stop.
The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapters 126–127, tells this.
The conflict of dharma
Avīkshita was bound by his promise to Indra. He ordered Marutta to give up his yajña and the ṛshi Saṃvarta.
Marutta was now in a deep conflict of dharma. His father, who was his guru and his ruler, commanded one thing. His sworn duty to protect those who had taken refuge with him demanded another. This was the duty owed to Saṃvarta, who had come as his purohita and accepted shelter under him.
In this case Marutta chose śaraṇāgata-dharma, the duty to protect one who has sought refuge, over obedience to his father. He said: “A king who gives up one who has sought his shelter commits adharma worse than all other offences. I cannot give up Saṃvarta.” The yajña went ahead.
The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapter 128, tells this.
The buried treasure and the Pāṇḍava Aśvamedha
The great wealth that Marutta gathered, and left buried in the earth at the end of his yajña, became the treasure of a later age. Generations afterwards, Yudhishṭhira and his brothers went to the Himālaya to bring it back for their own Aśvamedha, after the war at Kurukshetra. The Aśvamedhika Parva of the Mahābhārata tells this.
The Skanda Mahā Purāṇa also remembers Marutta as the great performer of yajñas, whose priest fled his constant calls.
The Mahābhārata telling
The Aśvamedhika Parva of the Mahābhārata (Chapters 3–10) tells the same main events as an itihāsa. Vyāsa tells it to Yudhishṭhira, to support and fund Yudhishṭhira’s own Aśvamedha with the gold left over from Marutta’s rite.
In this telling:
- Bṛhaspati refuses, because he does not want to cross Indra.
- Saṃvarta accepts the role of yājaka (the priest of the yajña) at great personal risk.
- Avīkshita is already dead and takes no part in the conflict.
- The struggle is carried directly between Indra and Marutta. It goes through Agni, through a gandharva named Dhṛtarāshṭra, and finally through Indra’s own vajra, which the tapo-bala (power of austerity) of Saṃvarta makes powerless.
- Indra comes to terms of his own will and attends the yajña.
- Marutta’s yajña succeeds in great splendour, in spite of the hostility of Indra.
Sources
- Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapters 125–128
- Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 3–10, and the account of the recovery of Marutta’s treasure
- Skanda Mahā Purāṇa