Dharaṇī Gītā
The Dharaṇī Gītā is the Earth’s own song. In it Bhūmīdevī, the Earth (also called Dharaṇī or Pṛthivī), speaks to King Janaka about kings who think the earth is theirs. It comes at the very end of the Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa’s Chaturdhāṃśa, the fourth part, after twenty-four chapters on the lines of kings. The ṛshi Asita (Dīpāyana) passed it on to Janaka, and Parāśara Maharshi tells it to Maitreya.
Why the Earth sings
Parāśara Maharshi has finished the whole vaṃśānucarita, the account of the royal lines. He has told of the Solar line, the Lunar line and the kings of the future in the Kali Yuga. Then he gives the Dharaṇī Gītā, which Asita (Dīpāyana) recited to Dharmadhvaja Janaka.
The reason is plain. All these mighty kings, named one after another over twenty-four chapters, have come and gone, and more will come and go. Looking at this long line of kings, Parāśara gives the Earth’s own view.
The Vishṇu Purāṇa says that Pṛthivī, the Earth, watched king after king claim her as his own. Each one fought for her. Each one was sure that his line would last. She found this both absurd and sad, and she spoke her mind in this gītā.
What the Earth says
On the delusion of conquest
How strange is the moha (delusion) of these kings who think themselves wise! They are as thin as foam, passing to their very core, and yet they put full trust in me. First they try to win over themselves (their passions), then their ministers, then their servants, then their citizens, then their enemies. They get lost in this stage-by-stage conquest and think, “We shall conquer the earth up to the edge of the sea.” But death stands close by, and they do not see it.
On the worth of ruling
Say they win this whole world, which the ocean circles. What of it? Set beside ātma-jaya (conquest of the self), what is the conquest of the earth worth? The fruit of conquering the self is mukti (liberation). The kings who conquered me in the past went away and left me behind. Their fathers did not take me with them when they went. Yet these foolish kings chase me as if I were theirs for ever.
On the cause of quarrels
For my sake fathers and sons fight, and brothers fight brothers. Among deluded kings there is a strong rāga (attachment): “This earth is mine, mine, mine, and it will stay with my family for ever.” This is what brings the great wars of the world. Every king who came to hold me died and was born again elsewhere. In him the same foolish thought (kubuddhi) rises again. His mamakāra, the sense of “mine”, returns even in a new birth.
On what happens after death
When the messenger of death sends word, “Give up this earth and come,” these kings send messages to their enemies through go-betweens. This amuses me deeply. And yet I also feel pity for these foolish ones.
On the seasons as witness
When I see the kings working with all their strength on their campaigns of digvijaya (conquest of the world), I am like the autumn forest. Its flowers open wide, as if laughing, at the sight of their effort. The kings themselves do not notice what is around them.
The closing verse
Parāśara Maharshi ends with these words:
“Maitreya, these are the ślokas of the Dharaṇī Gītā. Whoever hears them — as the sun melts snow — their mamakāra will dissolve completely.”
The picture is exact. The “mine” that clings to wealth, land, family line and body is the heap that ahaṃkāra (the sense of “I”) piles up, and it ties people to the world. As snow melts in the sun, it melts before the heat of this understanding.
What the Gītā answers
The Dharaṇī Gītā answers what all the royal lists mean. The Vishṇu Purāṇa does not tell of the kings to praise their glory. It tells of them to show that nothing lasts. The Earth herself is the best witness. Kings such as Māndhātā, Sagara, Kārtavīrya, Rāvaṇa, Rāma, Yayāti, Bharata, Duryodhana and Yudhishṭhira each held her, and all of them are now only stories. She laughs at the next king who will make the same claim.
The Gītā also shows how “mine” and sorrow are joined. The loss of a kingdom is not what brings pain. The pain comes from the belief that the kingdom was ever truly “mine”. The Earth’s laughter is kind, not cruel. She understands the delusion from inside, because kings have claimed her more than anything else.
Sources
- Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Chaturdhāṃśa, Chapter 24