Mahabharata Vol. 1 (Penguin Translated Texts) (25 page)

‘Soon, her eyes turned as red as copper in anger. Her lips began to quiver. Through the sides of her eyes, she cast glances at the king that seemed to burn him. Though driven by wrath, she calmed her demeanour and the energy accumulated through her austerities. In grief and anger, she stood for a moment, collecting her thoughts. Then she looked straight at her husband and said, “O great king! Knowing everything very well, how can you unconcernedly say that
you know nothing, lying like a common person? Your heart knows the truth or falsity of my words. You yourself are the witness. Do what is good and do not degrade yourself. He who knows one thing in his mind, but represents it in another way, is a thief and robs his own self. What sin is he not capable of committing? You think that you are alone with your own self. But don’t you know the ancient and omniscient one who dwells in your heart? He knows all your acts and all your evil deeds. It is in his presence that you lie. When sinning, a man thinks that no one sees him. But he is seen by the gods and by the being who dwells in every heart. The sun, moon, wind, fire, sky, earth, water, his heart, Yama, day, night, the two twilights and Dharma know man’s every act. If the god in the heart, who is a witness to all acts, is pleased, Vaivasvata Yama ignores the evil a man has done. But when the great being is not pleased, Yama punishes the sinner for his evil deeds. He who degrades his own self and represents falsely cannot find refuge with the gods. He is not blessed by his own soul. I am a faithful wife to my husband. Do not disrespect me because I have come on my own. I am your wife and deserve to be treated with honour. In this assembly, why do you treat me as if I am a commoner? I am certainly not crying in the wilderness. Why do you not hear me? O Duhshanta! If you do not do what I am asking you to do, your head will today be splintered into a hundred pieces. The wise ones of ancient times knew that the husband himself entered the womb of his wife and emerged as a son. That is the reason a wife is known as
jaya
.
¹¹⁸
A son born to a learned man saves with his lineage the deceased ancestors. Since the son saves his ancestors from the hell known as
put
, the self-created one
¹¹⁹
has said that a son is known as
putra
. She is a true wife who looks after the house. She is a true wife who bears children. She is a true wife whose life is devoted to her husband. She is a true wife who is faithful to her husband. A wife is half the man. A wife is the best of friends. A wife is the source of the three objectives.
¹²⁰
A wife is a friend at the very end. Those who have wives can perform rites.
Those who have wives can be householders. Those who have wives are happy. Those who have wives have good fortune. Sweet-spoken wives are friends in solitude, fathers in religious acts and mothers in suffering. Even in the wilderness, a wife refreshes the wandering husband. A man who has a wife is trusted. Therefore, a wife is the best means of salvation. When a husband goes to the land of the dead and is transiting, it is the faithful wife alone who accompanies him there, for he is always her husband, in all adversities. If the wife goes before, she stays and waits for the spirit of her husband. If the husband dies before, the devoted wife soon follows. O king! It is for these reasons that man seeks marriage. The husband obtains a wife, in this life and the next. The wise have said that a man is himself born as his son. Therefore, a man should regard the mother of his son as his own mother. Looking at the face of a son born from a wife, a man sees his own face, as in a mirror, and is as delighted as a virtuous man on attaining heaven. Burnt through mental grief or afflicted with disease, men rejoice in their wives, like perspiring ones do in water. Even in anger, a man should not utter unpleasant words to his beloved wife, because love, joy, virtue and everything are in her. The wife is the sacred ground in which the husband is born again. Even sages are unable to have offspring without wives. A son embraces his father, his limbs covered with dirt. Is there greater happiness to a father than that? Why do you frown and reject your son, who has come to you on his own and is glancing fondly at you? Even ants carry their eggs and do not break them. You are learned in the ways of dharma. Will you not support your own son? The touch of fragrances, women and water is not as pleasing as the embrace of one’s own infant son. The Brahmana is the best among bipeds. The cow is the best among quadrupeds. The preceptor is the best among all superiors. The son is the best among all objects one touches. Let this handsome son touch you in embrace. There is no feeling more pleasant in the worlds than the touch of a son. O chastiser of enemies! O lord of kings! I bore this son, the dispeller of your grief, for three years. O descendant of the Puru lineage! When I was giving birth, a voice was heard from the sky, ‘He will perform one hundred horse sacrifices.’ Men who have gone to another village lovingly take up
the sons of other men on their laps and feel great happiness on smelling their heads. At the time of the birth ceremony of a son, you know that Brahmanas utter the following mantra from the Vedas: ‘You are born from my limbs. You are born from my heart. You are me in the form of a son. May you live for a hundred autumns. My life depends on you and my eternal lineage. Therefore, my son, live in happiness for a hundred autumns.’ He has been born from your limbs, one man from another. Look on your son as your second self, like a reflection in a clear pond. Like the
ahavaniya
fire is kindled from the
garhapatya
fire,
¹²¹
this one has been born from you. Though you are one, you have been divided into two. O king! In earlier times, you were on a hunting expedition and had been led away by a deer. I was a virgin in my father’s hermitage and was approached by you. The six supreme apsaras are Urvashi, Purvachitti, Sahajanya, Menaka, Vishvachi and Ghritachi. Among them again, Menaka, the apsara born from Brahma, is the foremost. Descending from heaven to earth, she gave birth to me through her union with Vishvamitra. The apsara Menaka gave birth to me in a plain in the Himalayas. Without any feelings, she abandoned me there, as if I was someone else’s child. Earlier, what sins did I commit in another life that I was abandoned by my relatives in my childhood and by you now? Forsaken by you, I am ready to go back to my hermitage. But do not forsake this child who is your own son.”

‘Duhshanta said, “O Shakuntala! I do not know that this son born from you is mine. Women are liars. Who will believe your words? Your mother Menaka was a courtesan. She was merciless and abandoned you on the plains of the Himalayas, like a faded garland. Your father Vishvamitra was also merciless and was born in the Kshatriya lineage. But driven by desire, and lustful, he became a Brahmana. If Menaka is the best of the apsaras and your father is the best of the maharshis, how can you speak like a harlot and be
their daughter? Are you not ashamed to utter these disrespectful words, especially in my presence? O wicked ascetic! Go away. Where is that best of maharshis? Where is Menaka, the best of apsaras? And where are you, who are wretched, clad in an ascetic’s garb? Your son is gigantic. And he is strong, even though a child. How has he, in such a short span, grown up like the trunk of a
shala
tree? You were born in a lowly lineage and you speak like a harlot. It seems that Menaka gave birth to you from lust alone. O ascetic! Everything that you say is unknown to me. I do not know you. Go away, as you please.”’

‘Shakuntala said, “O king! You see the faults of others, even though they are as small as a mustard seed. But you do not see your own, even though they can be seen as large as a bilva fruit. Menaka is one of the thirty gods.
¹²²
She is foremost among the thirty. O Duhshanta! My birth is nobler than your own. O lord of kings! You are established on earth. But I roam the sky. Know that the difference between you and me is that between a mustard seed and Mount Meru. O king! Behold and understand my powers. I can go to the abodes of the great Indra, Kubera, Yama and Varuna. O unblemished one! Not out of hatred towards you, but as an illustration, I am going to tell you a popular saying. Therefore, pardon me and listen. Until he sees his face in a mirror, the ugly man thinks himself to be more handsome than others. But when he sees his malformed face in a mirror, it is then that he realizes the difference between him and others. He who is extremely handsome never demeans others. He who slanders others a lot is only considered to be evil-mouthed.
Like a pig searches out filth, the fool seeks out evil words when he hears good and evil in men’s speech. But the swan always searches out milk from the water. Like that, the wise one seeks out words of quality when he hears good and evil in men’s speech. Honest ones are always pained to speak ill of others. But wicked ones are satisfied at this. Good ones always find pleasure in paying respect to the aged.
¹²³
However, fools always derive pleasure from berating good men. Those who seek no evil live happily. But fools are happy when they find evil. Even when they are injured by the words of evil ones, the good never do them injury. In this world, there is nothing more ridiculous than the evil representing the good as evil. Even those who do not believe in god fear those who have been dislodged from truth, like snakes with virulent poison, not to speak of those who believe in god. A man who has begotten a son like himself, but does not accept him, doesn’t attain the superior worlds. The gods destroy his prosperity. The ancestors have said that the son establishes the family and the lineage and, thus, giving birth to a son is the best of all dharmas. Therefore, a son should never be abandoned. Manu has said there are sons begotten on one’s wife and five others—obtained, bought, reared, adopted and those begotten on other women. Sons support the dharma and fame of men and bring happiness to their hearts. Sons are like the boats of dharma in transporting the ancestors from hell. O tiger among kings! Therefore, it is not proper for you to forsake your son. O lord of the earth! Protect him like you protect yourself, truth and dharma. O lion among kings! It is not proper for you to be deceitful on this. A pond
¹²⁴
is better than that of a hundred wells. A sacrifice is better than a hundred ponds. But a son is better than a hundred sacrifices. Truth is better than a hundred sons. If 1000 horse sacrifices and truth are weighed on a pair of scales, truth will weigh more than 1000 horse sacrifices. O king! I tell you that truth is equal to studying all the Vedas and bathing in all the tirthas. There is no dharma higher than the truth and nothing is superior to truth. And no evil is known to be fiercer
than a lie. O king! Truth is the supreme brahman. Truth is the great vow. O king! Therefore, do not violate your oath. Let truth and yourself be united. However, if you are united with falsehood and if you yourself have no belief in my words, I shall go away from here on my own. A relationship with one like you should not be sought after. O Duhshanta! But when you are dead, my son will rule over the entire earth, crowned by the king of the mountains and surrounded by oceans in four directions.”’

Vaishampayana said, ‘Having uttered these words to the king, Shakuntala prepared to leave. Thereupon, a disembodied voice spoke to Duhshanta from the sky, as he sat surrounded by his officiating priests, his priest, his preceptors and his ministers. “O Duhshanta! The mother is only a vessel for holding water. Born from the father, the son is the father himself. O Duhshanta! Support your son and do not reject Shakuntala. O god among men! A son who has semen is the saver from Yama’s abode. You are the creator of this embryo. Shakuntala has spoken the truth. The wife gives birth to a son by dividing her body into two. O king! O Duhshanta! Therefore, protect this son of yours, born from Shakuntala. To abandon one’s own son and continue to live is a great misfortune. O descendant of the Puru lineage! Therefore, cherish this great-souled son of Shakuntala and Duhshanta. Since you will maintain this son because of these words, this son will be known as Bharata.”
¹²⁵
Having heard these words of those who dwell in the sky, the king of the Puru lineage was delighted. He addressed his priests and advisers, “All of you have heard what the messenger of the gods has to say. I myself know very well that this is my son. But if I had accepted him today as my son on her words alone, there would have been suspicion among all the people and he would never have been considered to be pure.” O descendant of the Bharata lineage! The king was then cleared of all suspicion because of the words of the messenger of the gods. He was extremely pleased and accepted his son.

‘He smelt his son’s head and embraced him with affection. The Brahmanas pronounced their blessings on him and he was praised
by the bards. The king then enjoyed the great happiness one feels at the touch of one’s own son. Duhshanta also paid homage and accepted his wife according to the rites of dharma. The king pacified her and told her, “O lady! My union with you was not known to the people. That is the reason I argued with you. It was natural for people to think that the union I had with you was because you were a woman and had my son been instated by me in the kingdom, he would have been considered to be impure. Therefore, I thought about how best to clear you. O beloved one! O large-eyed one! I have forgiven you all the harsh words you spoke in anger. I love you.” O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Having thus spoken to his beloved queen, rajarshi Duhshanta honoured her with garments, food and drink. Thereupon, King Duhshanta instated Shakuntala’s son as the heir apparent and the name of Bharata was conferred on him.

‘From that day, the glorious wheel of the great-souled Bharata traversed the worlds with a great thunder, radiant, divine and invincible. He conquered all the kings of the earth and brought them under his sway. He always trod the path of dharma and attained supreme fame. That powerful king was known as Chakravarti
¹²⁶
and Sarvabhouma. Like Indra, lord of the maruts, he performed many sacrifices. Like Daksha, he made Kanva the officiating priest at a sacrifice and offered a lot of alms. The fortunate one performed a horse sacrifice that was named after the large number of cows offered. At this, Bharata gave Kanva one thousand
padma
s
¹²⁷
as the sacrificial fee. From Bharata springs the fame of the Bharata lineage and others of the Bharata lineage. All other kings who followed him were known as those of the Bharata lineage. In this Bharata lineage were born many greatly energetic and divine kings. They were supreme kings, like Brahma himself, and their many names are beyond recounting.
O descendant of the Bharata lineage! I shall only mention the names of the chief ones, those who were immensely fortunate and devoted to truth and honesty. They were like the gods themselves.’