Sāmba the Bahvṛca Brāhmaṇa

Sāmba is a learned bahvṛca brāhmaṇa of Kurujāṅgala. A bahvṛca is a scholar of the many ṛks (verses) of the Ṛgveda. In the Āśramavāsika Parva of the Mahābhārata, the citizens gathered before Dhṛtarāshṭra leaves for the forest. They were brāhmaṇas, kshatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras. They chose Sāmba to answer for all of them. He was devoted to his own dharma, a fine speaker (pragalbha), learned (vipra) and quick-witted (medhāvī). He told the grieving king that the ruin of the Kurukshetra war was daiva (fate) and not the doing of Dhṛtarāshṭra, Duryodhana, Karṇa or Śakuni. He gave Dhṛtarāshṭra and Gāndhārī the citizens’ blessing to leave.

This Sāmba is a different person from Sāmba, the son of Śrī Kṛshṇa and Jāmbavatī. That Sāmba is the Sūrya devotee praised in the Bhavishya Mahā Purāṇa for founding the Sūrya kshetra (sacred place) at Candrabhāgā. The two share only a name. The bahvṛca brāhmaṇa of the Āśramavāsika Parva has no link to the Yādava prince.

Answering for the citizens

Dhṛtarāshṭra was blind, old and thin from fasting. He stood before the citizens of Kurujāṅgala. He asked their forgiveness for any wrong that he or Duryodhana had done them, and he asked leave to go to the forest with Gāndhārī. The assembly was too overcome by grief to speak. So the people chose one speaker for their joint reply. This was Sāmba, a bahvṛca brāhmaṇa skilled in the many hymns of his Vedic branch. All respected him. He was skilled in argument (arthaviśārada) and trusted to speak truthfully for the whole gathering. This is told in the Prakṛti-Sāntvana Parva section, Chapter 10.

The reply

Sāmba first honoured the assembly (sadas) and the king, and then spoke at length. He told Dhṛtarāshṭra that all the king had said was true and had no falsehood in it. The Kuru kings, generation after generation, had ruled the people as a father rules his children. He named Śāntanu, Citrāṅgada, Vicitravīrya under Bhīshma’s care, Pāṇḍu, and Dhṛtarāshṭra himself under Yudhishṭhira’s care. Duryodhana too, he said, had never done the citizens the smallest wrong.

He then turned to the great question that Dhṛtarāshṭra himself had raised, the destruction of the Kuru army.

We know this: it was daiva. No one could have turned it aside by any other means. Daiva cannot be reversed by human effort (purusha-prayatna). Eighteen akshauhiṇīs came together, and in eighteen days the great warriors of the Kuru line died with them. Bhīshma, Droṇa, Kṛpa and the others, the great Karṇa, the hero Sātyaki, Dhṛshṭadyumna, Bhīma, Arjuna, and Nakula and Sahadeva together destroyed that great army. Such vast destruction does not happen except by the power of daiva. Neither your son, nor you, nor your servants, nor Karṇa, nor Śakuni is at fault for the death of thousands of kings. This is daiva alone.

Sāmba accepted the king’s wish to leave and said, “We honour Duryodhana as dharmātmā (one of righteous soul) and grant you our leave.” He asked for svarga (heaven) for both Dhṛtarāshṭra and the fallen Duryodhana.

He then praised Yudhishṭhira at length. He said that Yudhishṭhira rules like Kubera, sees far ahead (dīrghadarśī) and is gentle (mṛdu). He keeps his counsellors free of low thinking (nīca-buddhi). He is kind to his friends, pure and without guile. Dhṛtarāshṭra had raised him as his own son. Sāmba said that Bhīma, Arjuna and the others, who follow Yudhishṭhira, would never act against the welfare of the citizens. He said the same of Kuntī, Draupadī, Ulūpī and Subhadrā.

The whole assembly welcomed Sāmba’s speech with cheers. Dhṛtarāshṭra was deeply moved. He said farewell to the citizens and went back to his house with Gāndhārī for the night. This is told in Chapter 10.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 10 (Prakṛti-Sāntvana Parva)