Somaka

Somaka was a king who had a hundred wives but only one son, the boy Jantu. He wanted more sons to keep his line safe. His purohita (family priest) performed a ritual in which Jantu was offered into the fire. A hundred sons were then born to his hundred wives, each with the mark of Jantu. The purohita suffered in the next world for this act. When Somaka died and came to the realm of Yama, he found his purohita in torment. He chose to share the punishment and not go to svarga (heaven) alone.

The yajña for more sons

Somaka ruled his kingdom with dharma, but he carried a private grief. He had a hundred wives, yet only one son, Jantu, had been born to him. One son, he felt, was not enough to keep the royal line safe through the changes of time. Somaka asked his purohita for advice. The purohita told him of a powerful ritual. If Jantu were offered into the fire, the essence and fortune of that one son would be spread over a hundred new lives. Each of Somaka’s hundred wives would have one son, and each son would carry the birth-mark of Jantu. The Vana Parva (Chapter 127) gives this.

After great pain, Somaka agreed. Jantu was offered into the fire. The ritual had its effect. The hundred wives of Somaka breathed in the sweet smoke of the offering, and all of them became pregnant. In time they gave birth to a hundred sons. Each son had the mark of Jantu on his body.

In the realm of Yama

Somaka died and came to the realm of Yama, which is naraka. There he found his purohita suffering. The man who had performed the ritual for Somaka was enduring the punishment of fire in the next world.

Somaka was offered his own way to svarga. He refused. He said that he would not go to svarga while the man who had served him stayed in torment. The purohita had taken this karma (the result of action) wholly upon himself, at Somaka’s request and for Somaka’s gain. Somaka chose to share the punishment with his purohita. The Vana Parva (Chapter 128) gives this.

The teaching

Lomaśa tells this act to Yudhishṭhira as a teaching on dharma. It speaks of the bond between a king and those who serve him: the one who commands an act and gains from it shares in its results.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 127–128