Śambūka

Śambūka was a śūdra who performed intense tapas (austerity) in the forest in the Tretāyuga, the second of the four yugas (ages). In that age, tapas of this kind was the dharma of the brāhmaṇa and kṣatriya varṇas. His tapas was followed by the untimely death of a young brāhmaṇa boy in the kingdom of Rāma. Rāma found Śambūka and struck off his head with his sword. The boy came back to life, and the devas showered flowers from the sky.

Who he was

The Padma Mahā Purāṇa says that Śambūka was a śūdra who took up tapas in the forests of Rāma’s kingdom. The Purāṇa understands this as a break in varṇāśrama-dharma (the order of the varṇas and the stages of life). It was not a fault of Śambūka as a person. It was an act that spread disorder through the whole kingdom.

The Uttara Kāṇḍa of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa also names him a śūdra doing extreme tapas. His way of doing it was unusual. He hung upside down from a tree branch, with his face downward, near a forest lake in a Śaiva forest in the southern part of Rāma’s kingdom. He was sincere in his practice. When Rāma asked his name, his varṇa and his purpose, he answered plainly. He was Śambūka, a śūdra, and he wished to reach svarga (heaven) in his own body. This is the highest fruit one can seek through tapas.

The death of the brāhmaṇa boy

The Padma Mahā Purāṇa says that Rāma’s kingdom was the ideal Rāma-rājya, where the order of dharma was kept perfectly. There, the break caused by Śambūka’s tapas showed itself as the death of a young brāhmaṇa boy. The grieving father came to Rāma’s court with the dead child. He said that such an unnatural death could only happen in a kingdom where someone was breaking dharma, and that the king was responsible for preventing it.

In the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Nārada explained to Rāma that untimely death in a well-governed kingdom is a sign that the dharma of the yuga is being broken somewhere. In the Tretāyuga, tapas was prescribed only for brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas. The death of the brāhmaṇa’s young son was traced to the forbidden tapas of a śūdra.

Rāma slays Śambūka

In the Padma Mahā Purāṇa, an inquiry showed that Śambūka was the cause of the disorder. Rāma rose into the air in the Puṣpaka vimāna (flying chariot) and found Śambūka in the forest, doing tapas. Without delay he drew his sword and struck off his head. The Purāṇa calls this Rāma’s fulfilment of rāja-dharma, the king’s duty to keep the order of his realm. The moment Śambūka died, the brāhmaṇa’s son came back to life. The devas showered puṣpa-varṣa (a rain of flowers) from the sky to show their approval.

In the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Rāma killed Śambūka with his sword at once, after the short exchange of questions. The brāhmaṇa’s son revived at that moment, and the devas showered flowers from the sky. Agastya appeared and praised Rāma. The Uttara Kāṇḍa records the episode as a teaching on yuga-dharma: each age has its own order of spiritual practice, and a righteous king must deal with any departure from it.

The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa account

The Lava Kuśa Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa gives its own account of the episode. Here it begins with a direct divine direction to Rāma, an āśarīravāṇī (a voice from the sky) or divine sign, telling him to deal with a source of disorder. A brāhmaṇa brought his dead son to Rāma’s court as proof of this disorder in Rāma-rājya. Rāma saw what kind of disturbance it was. He set out in his flying vehicle, the Puṣpaka vimāna, and found Śambūka doing tapas. After a short exchange he killed him with his sword. The brāhmaṇa’s son came back to life at once.

The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa places this episode among the first events of the Lava Kuśa Kāṇḍa. It joins it to Rāma’s decision to perform the Aśvamedha yajña (horse sacrifice): Rāma turns to that question after dealing with this matter. Nārada’s long teaching on yuga-dharma and Agastya Maharṣi’s praise, both found in the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, do not appear in the Tulasī account.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛṣṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 35
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 91–95 (the account of Śambūka’s practice in Chapter 94, Nārada’s explanation in Chapter 92, the death and its results in Chapters 94–95)
• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Lava Kuśa Kāṇḍa, Chapter 2