Śibi, son of Uśīnara

Śibi Auśīnara was the son of Uśīnara. He is one of the most honoured kings in the Purāṇic tradition. He is loved above all for his great compassion. The best known account tells how he gave his own flesh to a hawk to protect a dove that had come to him for refuge. It shows that a king’s promise of protection, his abhaya, holds even at the cost of his own body.

He is also one of the Ṣoḍaśa Mahārāja Kathā, the sixteen great kings, because he conquered the whole earth, performed many aśvamedha yajñas and gave unmatched dāna (gifts). Even Śibi, who held the whole earth under his rule and gave ten thousand crore gold coins in one yajña, reached the end of his mortal life at his appointed time.

Identity and lineage

Śibi was the son of Uśīnara, which is why he is called Auśīnara. He was one of the cakravartins, the rulers of the whole earth, of ancient Bhārata. His kingdom lay in the northwest of Āryāvarta. He is counted among the foremost kings of all time for his strength in battle and for his unmatched compassion and generosity.

Conquest of the earth and his yajñas

Śibi conquered the whole earth. The text says he wrapped it, as if in a single cloth, under his rule. He defeated all enemy kings from the north to the southern coasts and from the east to the west. When he held rule over all the kings of the earth, he performed many aśvamedha yajñas. In just one of these yajñas he gave ten thousand crore gold coins straight to brāhmaṇas, and also gave farmland without limit. His giving was complete, and his life of yajña lasted through a long and rich reign. This is told in the Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapter 58.

The dove and the hawk

The best known account of Śibi’s life is his protection of a dove. A dove, chased by a hawk, took refuge in his lap. Śibi gave the dove his abhaya, his promise of protection. The hawk claimed the dove as its rightful food. When Śibi refused, the hawk said that it too would starve without food. It proposed that Śibi give flesh from his own body equal in weight to the dove, and then it would be satisfied.

Śibi agreed at once. He began to cut flesh from his own body and put it on the scale against the dove. As he cut more and more, the scale did not tip, because the dove’s weight seemed never to run out. At last Śibi stepped onto the scale himself and offered his whole body. Then the hawk and the dove were shown to be Indra and Agni in disguise, testing the king’s vow. They found that his promise of protection could not be broken even at the cost of his life. They blessed him and gave his body back to him. His glory filled all three worlds. This account is one of the best known examples of rājadharma (the duty of a king) and perfect compassion in the Mahābhārata tradition.

Among the sixteen great kings

Śibi is named as the fourth of the sixteen great kings whom Nārada described to Sṛñjaya. Nārada used the same words of comfort for him as for all the others. Even Śibi, the greatest giver, the conqueror of the whole earth, the man whose compassion the devas themselves tested and found complete, did not escape death. If even he died, then the death of a son who performed no yajña and gave no great dāna is no cause for special grief.

Vyāsa Mahāmuni used the same account to comfort Yudhiṣṭhira after the death of Abhimanyu. This is told in the Droṇa Parva, Chapters 55 and 58.

Meat and the gift of his son

The Anuśāsana Parva, Chapters 115 and 137, records Śibi’s giving up of meat. It also records his gift of his own son, and of his own life, for the good of a brāhmaṇa.

The oath at Prabhāsa

A Śibi was among the great gathering of ṛṣis and rājarṣis at Prabhāsa when the lotus that Agastya had planted with ceremony was found to be stolen. To prove his innocence, Śibi swore an oath and put a śāpa (curse) on himself. He said that whoever had taken the lotus should die without honouring the sacred fires, should block a yajña, and should make enemies of the foremost ascetics. Later Indra confessed that he had taken the lotus, to test the dharma of those gathered. This is told in the Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 94.

In the account of Nakula and the mongoose

Śibi is also named in the Aśvamedhika Parva, in the account of the gleaner-brāhmaṇa Saktuprastha, in the passage called the Nakulākhyāna. There Dharma names him together with Rantideva and Nṛga as one who gave his own flesh as dāna and so reached the highest puṇyaloka (world of the righteous). This is told in the Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 90.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapters 55 and 58
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapters 94, 115 and 137
• Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 90