Vows, promises and resolutions In Indian mythology

A resolution was for keeps: breaking it was akin to dishonour, a sin, an irrefutable measure of self-failure, writes author Kavita Kane in She the People TV. Read on: 

What would Ramayan be without the vow given to Kaikeyi by King Dashrath? Or would the course of events and the internecine bloodshed have been averted had Bhishma not taken his monstrous oath of lifelong celibacy and relinquishing his rights?

The premise of both the epics, interestingly, hinges on promises, resolutions and oaths. While Bhishma’s is a self-imposed vow, the one by King Dashrath becomes an enforced plea, an anguished order, and eventually a burden to be borne by his own death and the travails of his son Ram, who is exiled for fourteen years. But in both cases, the resolutions are the trigger points; they change the narrative quickly and drastically.

That brings us to the importance and impact of such heavy, humongous resolutions in the epics. Why are resolutions taken? However varied may be the answers, they were definitely not meant to be broken.

A resolution was for keeps: breaking it was akin to dishonour, a sin, an irrefutable measure of self-failure.

The vow starts as an act of gratitude by King Dashrath who gives his young wife two boons when she saves his life in the battlefield. She dismisses it but the king promises to grant them whenever she wants. She takes it at the opportune time of Ram’s coronation: she wants the throne for her son, Bharat and Ram to go in exile for 14 years.

A son does not go against his father’s orders, especially when he had given his word to his wife.
Although the vow in the form of two boons, is given by his father to his stepmother, it is Ram who has to bear the brunt of it – as intended by Kaikeyi. Breaking it is inconceivable. The resolution hardens thereby into a command, which Ram, unhesitatingly obeys, considering it his filial duty. A son does not go against his father’s orders, especially when he had given his word to his wife. Carrying out the resolution is a moral obligation, not just appeasement of it.

On this single pledge, the entire Ramayan is weaved and woven with its threads of politics and promises, devotion and disappointments, acceptance and rejection. It is this vow which makes Ram for what he is, taking with him in the tide, the fate and future of his wife Sita and his brother Lakshman. It is Dashrath’s grateful vow to his wife that takes a turn for the worst to usher in the drama and disillusionment in the royal family.

However dramatic or tragic the events unfold, it does not undermine the importance or the sanctity of that resolution.

Price Devavrat, the heir apparent to the throne of Hastinapur takes up a self-imposed oath and becomes Bhishma, the man with the terrible oath. This pledge of his paves way events to come, on which he has no control. His resolution unleashes a series of occurrences and circumstances, he himself becomes helpless victim to them. But he never ever thinks of reverting his resolution, even when it culminates in the violent suicide of Amba and the future of the Hastinapur throne, when both his brothers die an untimely death. The oath eventually becomes a curse for him and his family, yet breaking it would have been a violation of duty.

The weight of such resolutions crush the people carrying it yet lifting them to nobler heights. From Devavrat, an ordinary prince becomes Bhishma to dominate the Mahabharata for his righteousness, however misplaced. Ram takes on his father’s promise as an act of duty and a personal challenge to brave into the forest and rid it of the evil rakshasas.  A vow triggers a mission in both cases. A vow entails enormous personal sacrifice, taking on hues of nobleness and virtue.

Urmila promises her departing husband, Lakshman that she will never shed a tear in his fourteen-year absence. So, does his mother Sumitra. Both choose their own private expatriation, and a worse form of exiles for themselves.

There are instances of vows being broken:
King Dushyant breaks his promise to the young, impressionable Shakuntala and never returns to make her his queen. Krishna breaks his pledge of raising weapons during the Kurukshetra war when, in amount of frustration, he decides to kill the invanquishable Bhishma on Arjun’s reluctance to take arms against his gurus and relatives. But he stops himself on time and instead gives birth to the Bhagwat Gita.

There are resolutions and there are bloodier resolutions:
If Bhisma’s oath is self-destructive, his biggest victim Amba, before jumping into a pyre, takes on a more terrible vow of vengeance – that she will be responsible for his death even if it means taking on another birth. Draupadi’s self-imposed, self-declared oath is the bloodiest of them all. Suffering her humiliation in rage and revenge, she declares her resolution in open court – that she will tie her hair only when Dushasan and Duryodhan are killed in war. Her pledge takes a gorier turn when Bhim echoes her sentiments of vengeance by promising her that he will braid her hair with the blood of the Dushasan whom he will tear apart with his bare hands on the battlefield. And he keeps his resolution as does Draupadi, her loose mane a constant taunt to her five husbands to seek revenge for her humiliation.

The narrative of both the epics are interspersed with a variety of small and big resolutions, each have its scale of importance and impact: but they all serve a purpose and moves the plot forward.

Arjun takes a vow that he will kill Jayadrath, who murdered his son Abhimanyu through subterfuge, before the sun sets the next day. Ashwattham gives a vow to a dying Duryodhan that he will annihilate the Pandav clan, and in the deathly stillness of the night, kills the two brothers of Draupadi – Shikhandi and Dhrishtadyumn – the killers of his father Dronacharya by stamping them and her five sons (Upapandavas) to death, assuming them to be the sleeping Pandavas. Karna promises Kunti that he would not kill the Pandavas – except Arjun – and that she will remain a mother of five sons. And it is he who dies in the battlefield, keeping his promise till his last breath.

On Ram’s exile to the forest, Bharat takes his own resolution – that he will not rule his brother’s kingdom but will guard it, placing Ram’s slippers on the throne. Likewise, Lakshman and the brothers follow a pledge of celibacy during those fourteen years in support of Ram’s exile.

And while numerous stories unfold for such promises to keep, without these resolutions the epics would not be what they are.

Do men enjoy sex more, or women? The Mahabharata answers

Excerpts from Anushasana Parva, translated by Arshia Sattar from the book, 'Parrots of Desire: 3,000 Years of Indian Erotica', edited by Amrita Narayanan. Read on: 

Yudhishthira said, “When men and women have sexual intercourse, which one of them experiences greater pleasure? It would be appropriate for you to clear my doubts about this, sire.”

Bhishma said:

An example from long ago, the enmity between Bhangashvana and Indra, will suffice to explain the matter. In the old days, there was a royal sage named Bhangashvana who was exceedingly righteous. He had no sons and so, tiger among men, he decided to perform a sacrifice for the birth of a son. The sacrifice he performed is called the Agnishtuma and men do it either as repentance for some misdeed in the past, or to obtain sons. But this ritual displeases Indra.

When Indra, the king of the gods, heard about the sacrifice, he tried his best but he could find no weakness in that great king. After some time, the king went on a hunt. Indra took this as an opportunity and stupefied the king. Thus confused, along with his horse, the king wandered around, directionless and soon, he was oppressed by hunger, thirst and fatigue.

Then, the king saw a pleasant lake, filled with clear water. He got off his horse and brought him to the shore. When the animal had finished drinking, the king tied him to a tree and entered the waters of the lake to bathe. To his great consternation, he found that the waters had turned him into a woman. When he saw himself transformed, he was deeply embarrassed and that most excellent king grew extremely agitated in his mind and heart.

“How will I mount my horse, how will I go to my city? The Agnisthum ritual gave me one hundred sons, born from my loins. They are strong – what will I say to them? And to my wives, my retainers, my people from the towns and the countryside? Great sages who are learned in matters of duty and religion say that softness, gentleness and a tendency towards confusion are the qualities of women whereas physical energy, hardness and virility are the qualities of men. My manliness has been destroyed and this femaleness has come over me. How will I mount my horse again?”

Deeply depressed, the king returned to his city in the form of a woman. His sons and wives and relatives and his people from the towns and the countryside were amazed at what had happened and said, “What is this!”

That royal sage, who now had the form of a woman, said to all of them, “I was on a hunt and surrounded by my army. As fate would have it, I got lost an entered a huge forest that was thick and dense. In that dense forest, I was overcome by hunger and thirst and almost fainted. Then, I saw a beautiful lake that was visited by birds of all kinds. As I bathed in it, the fates transformed me into a woman.”

Calling his sons and wives and relations together, each by name, that best of kings who had been transformed into a woman, said to them, "My dear sons, enjoy this kingdom happily. I am going to the forest."

The king bade his one hundred sons farewell and went into the forest. There, she came upon an ascetic’s hermitage and with him she had one hundred sons in the hermitage. She took her hundred sons and went to her previous sons and said to them, “You sons were born when I was a man. These one hundred sons were born to me when I am a woman. Have fraternal feelings for each other; enjoy the kingdom together, like brothers, dear sons!”

And the brothers did so immediately.

When Indra, the king of gods, saw the sons sharing the kingdom happily, he fell into deep thought. “I seem to have done that royal sage a favour instead of harming him.”

Then, Indra, he of one hundred sacrifices, took on the form of a brahmin and went to the king’s city where he managed to sow dissension amongst the princes.

“Even brothers who are sons of the same father do not live happily together. Look at the gods and the demons, both sons of Kashyapa. They got into a dispute about kingship. You are the sons of Bhangashvana and these are the sons of some ascetic. The gods and demons were both sons of Kashyapa. These fellows, the ascetic’s sons, are enjoying your father’s kingdom!”

Thus, separated by Indra, they began to battle each other.

When the ascetic woman heard about this, she burned with grief and began to wail. Indra came to her disguised as a brahmin and asked, “Lovely-faced lady, what is the sorrow that burns you up? Why are you crying?”

The woman saw the brahmin and said pathetically, “I had two hundred sons, brahmin, but they were taken away by Death. I was a king, once, and I had a hundred sons. They were brave and strong and looked like me, best among the twice-born. Once, I went hunting and I got lost in the dense forest. I was transformed into a woman after I bathed in a lake and so, I established my sons in my kingdom and came back to the forest. As a woman, I had another hundred sons with a great-souled ascetic. They were born in the hermitage and so I took them to the city. Time created disunity among them, brahmin, and that is why I am crying, afflicted by fate."

Indra looked at that grieving woman and spoke harshly to her. “Long ago, my dear woman, your actions caused me great pain. You performed a sacrifice that is despised by Indra and, you creature of perverted wisdom, you did not include me in the honours. I am Indra! And you have wilfully sought hostilities with me.”

The royal sage saw Indra and touched his feet with his head. "Show me your grace, lord of the thirty three gods! That sacrifice was performed for the sake of obtaining sons. Tiger among the gods, you should forgive me!"

Indra was pleased with the prostrate monarch and wanted to give him a boon. “Which of your sons should I revive, king – the ones born when you were a woman or those born when you were a man?”

The ascetic woman joined her palms and bowed her head and said to Indra, “Let the ones that were born when I was a woman live, Indra!”

Indra was surprised and pleased and he questioned the woman ascetic again. “Why are you not fond of the sons that were born to you when you were a man? Why are you more fond of those born to you when you were a woman? I am eager to hear the reason for this, you should tell me.”

The woman said, "A woman is capable of more affection than a man. That is why I asked for the sons born to me when I was a woman to be brought back to life, Indra!"

Bhishma said:

When she said that, Indra was pleased and said to her, “You speak the truth, dear lady! All your sons shall be restored to life! Choose another boon, best of kings, man of good vows. Ask for anything you wish! What do you want from me – to be a man or to be a woman?”

“So be it,” he said and went back to heaven.

And so it is, great king, that women experience more pleasure.

(Source: DailyO)

Makar Sankranti, the harvest festival

This is Sid's third Makar Sankranti. This is the festival which marks the shift of the sun into ever-lengthening days. Every year it falls on January 14, and very rarely on January 15.

We Hindus dedicate this to the Sun God and it also marks the six months of auspicious period known as Uttaarayana. Yes, it's the same period for which Bhishma in Mahabharata waited to die, as there is a belief that the gates of the heaven open during Uttarayana.

Makara Sankranti is believed to be a time for peace and prosperity. The day is regarded as important for spiritual practices and accordingly people take a holy dip in rivers, especially Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery. The bathing in holy rivers is believed to wash away sins.

This is the Suggi or harvest festival for our farmers in Karnataka. On this auspicious day, girls wear new clothes to visit near and dear ones with a Sankranti offering in a plate and exchange the same with other families. This ritual is called "Ellu Birodhu".

The plate normally contains "Ellu" (white sesame seeds) mixed with fried groundnuts, neatly cut dry coconut and fine cut bella (jaggery). The mixture is called "Ellu-Bella". The plate also contains sugar candy moulds (Sakkare Acchu) with a piece of sugarcane.

We eat sesame and jaggery during this festival because the festival marks the arrival of sunny days. Our bodies require moisture and sesame seeds and peanuts which are rich in oil content act as moisturizers.

There is a saying in Kannada "ellu bella thindu olle maathadi" that translates to 'eat the mixture of sesame seeds and jaggery and speak only good.'

This festival signifies the harvest of the season, since sugarcane is predominant in these parts. Ellu Bella, Ellu Unde, bananas, sugarcane, red berries, haldi and kumkum and small gift items useful in everyday lives are often exchanged among women in Karnataka.

In some parts of Karnataka, a newly married woman is required to give away bananas for five years to married women (muthaidhe/sumangali) from the first year of her marriage and increase the number of bananas in multiples of five.

There is also a tradition among some households giving away red berries "Yalchi Kai" with the above.

We prepare Sihi (sweet) and Khara (spicy) Pongal as a naivedyam, besides vada and akki (rice) payasa. It was indeed fun to watch little Sid enjoying Khara Pongal for the first time, though he has tasted sweet pongal several times earlier.  

In north Karnataka, kite flying with community members is a tradition.

Drawing rangoli in groups is another popular event among women during Sankranti.

An important ritual is display of cows and bulls in colourful costumes in an open field. Cows are decorated for the occasion and taken on a procession. They are also made to cross a fire. This ritual is common in rural Karnataka and is called "Kichchu Haayisuvudu."

Happy Makar Sankranti to all!