Śambūka Vadha (Padma Purāṇa)

This episode comes from the Padma Purāṇa. During Rāma’s rule at Ayodhyā, a young brāhmaṇa boy died before his time. The Purāṇa tells that the cause was the tapas of a śūdra named Śambūka. Rāma went to him in the Pushpaka vimāna and cut off his head. The devas rained flowers and the boy came back to life. Rāma was then sent on to the āśrama of Agastya Maharshi.

The father’s grief

This was the time of Rāma Candra’s rule at Ayodhyā, the age of Rāma-rājya, when dharma filled the kingdom. Yet something that should not happen in such a reign happened. A young brāhmaṇa boy died before his time.

His father was struck with grief. He came to Rāma’s court and laid his son’s body before the king. He cried out that this death against the order of nature came from adharma being done in the kingdom. In Rāma-rājya, he said, a child’s early death could only mean that someone in the kingdom was breaking the order of dharma. The king was responsible for stopping exactly such wrong.

Śambūka is found

The cause was found. A śūdra named Śambūka had taken up severe tapas (austerity). In the Tretā yuga, the order of the world gave tapas as a dharmic duty to the brāhmaṇa and kshatriya varṇas. For a śūdra to do the same tapas was a break in the order of varṇāśrama. The Purāṇa says its effects spread through the kingdom and disturbed dharma, with results as heavy as a child’s early death.

Rāma flies in the Pushpaka

Rāma went up into the air in the Pushpaka vimāna (flying vehicle), the one that had been taken from Laṅkā, to look for the tapasvin (one doing tapas). He found Śambūka doing his hard tapas in a forest.

Rāma did not wait. As the king who must keep dharma in his realm, he drew his sword and at once cut off Śambūka’s head.

The devas approve

As soon as Śambūka’s head fell, the devas in the sky showed their approval. They sent down a pushpa-varsha, a rain of divine flowers, for Rāma’s swift act in keeping the order of dharma.

The brāhmaṇa’s son lives again

At the same moment, the brāhmaṇa’s son, who had been lying dead, came back to life. He woke to life and awareness as if rising from sleep. When the cause ended, its result ended with it. The father, full of thanks, took his living son home.

Rāma goes to Agastya

After this, Rāma was directed to go to the āśrama of the great Agastya Maharshi. Agastya received Rāma with great honour. He told Rāma the story of Śveta Rāja, the king who never gave annadāna (the gift of food). Agastya also gave Rāma the divine ornament that had come to him through Śveta’s liberation.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 35