Visions and Revisions in Sanskrit Narrative
Dear all
Many might not have known these from final part of Manhabhartha
found only in a few editions. I chancely read as a research paper of an
AUSTRALIUAN university students, which surprised me. How nicely they learn
and present; the whole treatise of the students is not given here. the
ASTIKA RISHI who stops the snake sacrifice of Janamejaya by diplomatically
induced words, as if the climax of a film, perplexed me. Now for you to
read. K Rajaram IRS 20824 21924
Astīka* and Kāśyapa *
Śaunaka begins the next *parvan *(*Mbh*, 1.13) asking about
Janamejaya’s sacrifice and Āstīka’s role in it. The tale of Āstīka is then
told twice in his eponymous *parvan*—first, in relatively brief form in
1.13, and then in much more detail together with substantial backstories
involving the sisters Kadrū and Vinatā and their children (respectively,
the snakes and the two birds Garuḍa and Aruṇa), the churning of the ocean
of milk to produce the *amṛta *and its theft and return. The beginning
points of the second narration of the story of Āstīka and his co-named
parents is to some degree arbitrary, since the backstories explain why the
snakes were to be sacrificed and why Āstīka was to be born to halt their
sacrifice. A reasonable starting point is 1.33, when Vāsuki anxiously
confers with his fellow snakes to explore ways to avert the curse seemingly
steering them to their demise, which leads to the story of Āstīka and his
parents in 1.34. This account is interleaved with the first telling of
Parikṣit’s assassination starting at 1.36.7, and then resumes from 1.41 to
1.44. Once again, while the purpose of this chapter is not a higher
critical analysis, the seams of composition are somewhat evident.
The short version of the story in 1.13 begins with Āstīka’s father,
Jaratkāru, a great celibate ascetic. While wandering, the ascetic
encounters his ancestors (who do not recognise him) hanging upside-down in
a cave. When asked why, they explain that the last of their descendants is
an ascetic, who therefore does not fulfil the necessary rituals and
obligations that sustain them in Heaven. Jaratkāru confesses his identity
and they beg him to marry and have a son. Jaratkāru agrees to do so, if his
wife bears the same name as him and is offered to him as alms. After he
struggles to find a wife, eventually, the snake (*nāga*) Vāsuki offers his
sister, Jaratkāru. The offering is explained as a means to appease the
curse of the mother of snakes (Kadrū) that all snakes shall be burnt in the
fire of Janamejaya’s sacrifice (*Mbh*, 1.13.35). The two Jaratkārus have a
son, Āstīka, (Jaratkaru wife and Jaratkaru husband) who then frees the
snakes from their curse at Janamejaya’s sacrifice (1.13.40). The close of
the chapter explains the theology that in this case forms the basis of a
critique of celibate asceticism, since Jaratkāru ends up going to Heaven
having fulfilled the ‘three debts’ of an orthodox ritualist (1.13.41–42)—to
the gods through sacrifices, to the seers (*ṛṣi*s) through Vedic study (
*brahmacarya*) and to his ancestors through ensuring the perpetuation of
the family (*saṃtati*). In the last case, this ensures the continued
performance of the ancestral rites (*pitṛmedha*s) that sustain ancestors in
the heavens, the absence of which led to Jaratkāru’s ancestors’ initial
plight. Jaratkāru’s son, Āstīka, in becoming a good Brahmanical
ritualist (trained,
it should be noted, by a Bhārgava, the son of Cyavana, who is presumably
Pramati: *Mbh*, 1.44.18; Brodbeck 2009: 234), saves both his paternal and
his maternal lines. We recognise again the beguiling motif of the co-named
protagonists, as well as the theme of apocalyptic violence—in this case,
the key frame story of the sacrifice of snakes, which makes Āstīka an
exemplar of our peacemaking brahmin archetype.
THE VASUKI DISCUSSION NARRATED IN MHB GIVING THE SISTER
The expanded version explains how the *nāga *Vāsuki came to give his
sister Jaratkāru to the brahmin Jaratkāru (*Mbh*, 1.33–35). Vāsuki takes
counsel with his brothers to figure out a way to avert their mother’s
curse, but does not like their propositions, some of which involve killing
some of or all the participants in the sacrifice—a reminder of the
potential virulence of snakes. Their arguing reveals a division between
those snakes who abide by the law and those who do not (1.33.19). Then
Elāpatra speaks up, recalling overhearing Brahmā say there are too many
snakes (see also 1.18.9–10). Nevertheless, only the virulent snakes set on
evil (*pāpacāra*) will die; the pious ones (*dharmacārin*) will not
(1.34.9–10). A brahmin named Āstīka, begotten by Jaratkāru with a namesake
virgin, will halt the sacrifice and save them. Vāsuki is encouraged by
Elāpatra to offer his sister, who is such a one, as alms when Jaratkāru
comes begging; Vāsuki agrees (1.35). *The snakes have found their saviour;
and, unlike Kāśyapa, he cannot be bought.* (kASHYAPA BOUGHT BY pARIKSHIT
ANOTHER STORY)
When Vāsuki offers his sister, the *nāginī *Jaratkāru, the once
celibate ascetic Jaratkāru further insists that he will not support her and
will leave her if she displeases him (1.42–43). The first condition Vāsuki
readily agrees to; he is concerned only with the rescue of the snakes. The
second condition threatens briefly to derail Vāsuki’s plan. One day,
Jaratkāru the brahmin falls asleep. His dutiful wife wakes him, in fear
that he will neglect his religious duty (*dharmalopa*) by failing to
perform his *agnihotra *at dusk (1.43.16–20). Jaratkāru the brahmin is
insulted and leaves never to return (1.43.39). Vāsuki panics, but his
sister reassures him that before departing, her husband had confirmed she
was pregnant (1.44.10) and so Āstīka was born and raised in Vāsuki’s court
and taught the Vedas by Cyavana’s Bhārgava son—presumably, Pramati (1.44).
After the second narration of Parikṣit’s assassination (*Mbh*,
1.45–46), in 1.47, Janamejaya asks his *ṛtvij *priests whether they know of
a rite to lead Takṣaka and his kin into the fire. They do, and preparations
for the rite begin. The *sūtradhāra*, the architect measuring out the
sacrificial enclosure, foretells that a brahmin will stop the sacrifice
from being concluded. Janamejaya orders that no-one be allowed to enter
whom he does not know. The *ṛtvij *priests conducting the sacrifice don
black attire (1.47.18) and offer the snakes into the fire, killing
millions. Takṣaka takes refuge with Indra and Vāsuki begins to despair
(1.48). Jaratkāru summons her son and explains to him the purpose for which
he was born. As expected, he was stopped from entering the sacrifice by
gatekeepers; but Āstīka, the son of a reluctant sacrificer, sings the
praises of Janamejaya’s sacrifice and of Janamejaya, and they let him in
(1.49). Janamejaya is impressed and wants to give him a boon; his priests
tell him to wait until Takṣaka arrives. Learning that Takṣaka is taking
refuge with Indra, Janamejaya makes some offerings in the fire until Indra
appears with Takṣaka in the hem of his robe. Janamejaya orders that his
priests hurl Takṣaka into the fire. But as the snake writhes helplessly
towards the fire, the *ṛtvij *priests suggest that Janamejaya now offer the
boon to Āstīka (1.51.12–14), which he does. Āstīka chooses that the
sacrificial session be stopped— a request Janamejaya is reluctant to
concede, offering riches instead (1.51.19). But Āstīka, unlike Kāśyapa,
cannot be bought and he insists on stopping the rite to save his mother’s
line (*mātṛkula*; 1.51.20). The *sadasya *priests, seated and observing the
rite, declare the boon must be honoured (1.51.23). Janamejaya wonders why
Takṣaka remains suspended above the fire, as does Śaunaka, who is hearing
this from Ugraśravas the bard. The last explains (1.53.5) it was due to
Āstīka yelling three times, ‘Stop! Stop!’ (*tiṣṭha tiṣḥta*). The effects of
the boon are seemingly in force, subverting the mantras of the *ṛtvij *priests;
boons—important devices in epic narratives—are typically binding
utterances. Janamejaya concedes and calls off the sacrifice. Āstīka,
half-brahmin and half-snake, has brought the annihilation of snakes to an
end. And, perhaps, enhanced the reputation of brahmins as peacemakers in
the process.
The thread of peacemaker brahmins culminates in Āstīka’s
intervention in Janamejaya’s *sarpasatra*.
Ugraśravas explains Āstīka’s name with a *nirukta*—an ‘etymological’ pun:
*astīty uktvā gato yasmāt pitā garbhastham eva tam *|
*vanaṃ tasmād idaṃ tasya nāmāstīketi viśrutam *||
[Since his father had said as he departed for the forest, ‘There is (*asti*)’,
even while he was in the womb, his name was renowned as Āstīka.] (*Mbh*,
1.44.20)
In its narrative context, this evokes Āstīka’s father’s uttering of
the verb *asti *(‘there is’) to confirm to his wife the existence of the
foetus in her womb when he abandoned her in a fit of pique. This reflects
how Jaratkāru the snake woman reports this news to Vāsuki:
*pṛṣṭo mayāpatyahetoḥ sa mahātmā mahātapāḥ *|
*astīty udaram uddiśya mamedaṃ gatavāṃś ca saḥ *||
[I questioned that great man of great austerity about the child. He said to
me, pointing to my womb, ‘There is’, and then departed.] (*Mbh*, 144.10)
The brahmin Jaratkāru was somewhat more expansive:
*asty eṣa garbhaḥ subhage tava vaiśvānaropamaḥ *|
*ṛṣiḥ paramadharmātmā vedavedāṅgapāragaḥ *||
[There is a child in you, fortunate lady, who will be a seer equal to Agni,
the essence of the highest law, a paragon of the Veda and its supplements.]
(*Mbh*, 1.43.38)
Jaratkāru predicts Āstīka’s dharmic piety and *vaidika *excellence. Yet,
his response to Jaratkāru the snake woman’s question is reduced in
subsequent tellings to merely the copula functioning as an existential
verb. While the context is to some degree rather ordinary, the emphasis
placed on the expression invites strong readings.
*The power of words *
If Āstīka embodies existence as such, the epic’s poets marshalled a
provocative ritual assembly for him to exercise this embodiment. Vedic
antecedents to the epic *sarpasatra *have been noted in the *Pañcaviṃśa
Brāhmana *(25.15) and various *śrautasūtra*s. These exemplars provide the
‘prototype’ of Janamejaya’s *sarpasatra *in the *Mahābhārata*, but the
ways in which it has been reworked. While Janamejaya is the royal
patron *yajamāna
*of the epic’s *sarpasatra*, a *satra *typically only involves brahmins,
who are at once and equally the ritual’s *yajamāna*s and officiants.
Further, and crucially, the Vedic antecedents describe a ritual performed
by and for serpents, who therefore receive its benefits. The *Mahābhārata
sarpasatra *is, rather, a sacrifice *of *snakes, undertaken as an exercise
in vengeance against a virulent enemy; all its officiants, participants and
beneficiaries are human.
The *Mahābhārata *is fond of reworking Vedic ritual ideas and motifs.
It is aware of the uniqueness of its *sarpasatra*. Janamejaya’s priests
tell him that it was fashioned for him by the gods (*devanirmita*) and is
described in a purāṇa (*Mbh*, 1.47.6). [which is rooted in rites and
mantras of the Atharvaveda, the compositionally early but canonically
late *saṃhitā
*of the Veda]. The word *abhicāra *is not found in this passage;
nevertheless, aspects of the rite are suggestive, eliciting a foreboding
mood, not least that its purpose is a massacre. The presiding *hotṛ *priest
is called Caṇḍabhārgava, the ‘cruel Bhārgava’, evoking the violent
tendencies of other Bhārgavas already encountered. He seems particularly
invested in Takṣaka’s death, since on the advice of the *sadasya*s he stops
Janamejaya offering Āstīka the boon that will ultimately enable him to halt
the rite until Takṣaka has arrived (*Mbh*, 1.51.2–4; Hiltebeitel 2002:
115); Even so, not all *abhicāra *rites are so macabre. The sixfold tantric
typology of *abhicāra *described includes a category of *śānti
*(‘pacification’)
rites for removing diseases, for pacifying curses and for warding off
malevolent beings, of which snakes are one The Atharvaveda (AV) and its
ritual manuals contain numerous mantras and rites for warding off snakes or
for neutralising snake venom (AV, 3.26, 3.27, 5.13, 6.56, 7.56, 7.88, 10.4,
12.1.46), as do other Vedic texts; Apotropaic ritual devices have already
been alluded to in the narrations of Parikṣit’s assassination. Kāśyapa was
granted the *sarpavidyā *(‘snake lore’) by Brahmā and planned to use it to
save Parikṣit in return for payment, only for Takṣaka to buy him off before
he could get there. Parikṣit himself, forewarned by Śamīka of Takṣaka’s
plans, deploys apotropaic devices in an unsuccessful effort to ward off the
snake. In the case of Āstīka, he returns to his mother (Jaratkāru) and
uncle (Vāsuki) once the *sarpasatra *has been stopped and tells them what
happened; the snakes offer him a boon, with which he chooses to turn his
‘tale of *dharma*’ (*dharmākhyānam*), the story of the stopping of the
*sarpasatra*, into an apotropaism: those who recite it will have no danger (
*bhaya*) from snakes (*Mbh*, 1.53.20). The effect of this promise is
subsequently reproduced in two stanzas that are to function like apotropaic
mantras (1.53.22–23):
*jaratkāror jaratkārvāṃ samutpanno mahāyaśāḥ *|
*āstīkaḥ satyasaṃdho māṃ pannagebhyo ’bhirakṣatu *||
*asitaṃ cārtimantaṃ ca sunīthaṃ cāpi yaḥ smaret *|
*divā vā yadi vā rātrau nāsya sarpabhayaṃ bhavet *||
[Born of Jaratkāru to Jaratkāru, his renown immense and his promises true,
may Āstīka protect me from snakes. Whoever recalls Asita, Ārtimat, and
Sunītha, whether in the day or night, shall have no fear of serpents.]
*Āstīka: Peacemaker, wordsmith *
If Āstīka is the embodiment and agent of existence and the culminating
exemplar of the peacemaking brahmin in the preamble to Vaiśaṃpāyana’s
telling of the *Mahābhārata *to Janamejaya, it is interesting to recognise
the devices he uses to draw the violence to a close and the legacy he
leaves to, so to speak, maintain the peace. In both cases, Āstīka shows
himself to be an expert in the uses of language and the power of words. It
is perhaps telling in this regard that on two occasions (1.141.1 and
1.53.26) he is referred to as a *kavi *(‘sage’, ‘poet’)—a title used for a
select few in the *Mahābhārata*, including, for example, Vyāsa, Vidura,
Agni and Śukra (Kāvya) Uśanas.
The motivation for stopping the *sarpasatra *comes from those most
severely affected by it, the *nāga*s. Āstīka is a product of an alliance
underpinned by mutual interest, the desire of the brahmin Jaratkāru’s
ancestors to be sustained in the heavens by a descendent who can perform
the rituals (see *Mbh*, 1.53.24) and the desire by Vāsuki and his kin to
save the *nāga*s from annihilation. The mutual interest produces a brahmin
archetype invested in the survival of snakes. Āstīka, his father tells us
(1.43.38), will be a paragon of the Veda, and so it comes to pass with his
training under a Bhārgava—in this case, an agent in the stalling of a
violent cycle. Having already promised his maternal uncle Vāsuki that he
will lift the curse on the snakes by pleasing Janamejaya with ‘words filled
with benedictions’ (*vāgbhir maṅgalayuktābhiḥ*; 1.49.20), Āstīka gains
entry to the sacrificial arena by singing the praises of Janamejaya’s
sacrifice (1.50.1–10) and Janamejaya himself (1.50.11–16). The
formulaic *stotra
*has the desired effect and Janamejaya offers him the boon (*vara*), with
which Āstīka requests the rite be stopped. Despite the efforts of the
presiding *ṛtvij *priests to accelerate the close of the sacrifice and
entice Takṣaka to the fire (using mantras), and despite Janamejaya’s
efforts to offer alternative boons, primarily in the form of riches, Āstīka
sticks to his choice. Janamejaya concedes to Āstīka’s request only after
Takṣaka is suspended in the air, but the boon has already been offered,
accepted and actualised: Takṣaka is suspended due to Āstīka’s thrice
pronounced ‘Stop! Stop!’ The boon Āstīka extracts from Janamejaya due to
his praise works like an apotropaic mantra protecting snakes from humans.
Āstīka, seemingly realising the binding effect of boons in a way that
Janamejaya does not, again demonstrates his capacity for using powerful
words to powerful effect.
In the aftermath of the stopping of the rite, there is joy and
excitement, and Janamejaya is generous to a fault. But there is no
expression of forgiveness, no commitment to a resolution of an underlying
enmity and danger. Rather, the latent potential for further violence is
tacitly recognised; Āstīka chooses as his boon from his own snake kin that
when ‘brahmins and other men’ recite his *dharmākhyānam *(his ‘story of
what’s right’), they will have no danger (*bhaya*) from snakes—an
apotropaism subsequently reproduced in simpler form by Ugraśravas with the
mantras of *Mbh *1.53.22–23, the first of which refers directly to Āstīka,
as do those in the expanded version that appears in the *ṚvKh *and *Garuḍa
Upaniṣad*. Apotropaic mantras, while often expressions of violence (as, for
example, in the Ādiparvan’s expanded collection) sublimate violent deeds
with verbal deeds. Āstīka, an embodiment of ‘existence’, supplants the
remedy for virulent snakes of slaughtering them en masse with apotropaic
stories and mantras that preserve the lives of humans and snakes alike,
while recalling the capacity of each for violence.
The ending of cycles of revenge reflecting reciprocal forms of justice
is engendered—not through a final and ultimate victory—but through a
stalemate brought about by Āstīka’s utterances, which effect a suspension
of conflict. Āstīka, agent of existence and agent of peace, demonstrates
the primacy of language in arresting violence. His flattering praise of
Janamejaya and his sacrifice extract from the king the boon, the binding
quality of which Āstīka recognises (as do the *sadasya*s; *Mbh*, 1.51.23).
In calling out ‘Stop! Stop!’ and thereby halting Takṣaka’s decent into the
flames, Āstīka actualises the boon before Janamejaya gives his largely
redundant verbal consent. Āstīka’s subsequent determination that his
*dharmākhyānam
*be an apotropaism against the virulence of snakes, and the still further
production of apotropaic mantras evoking Āstīka’s special relationship with
snakes to protect humans from them, are a recognition that peace is a
‘warding off’ of violence. Snakes—whether real or metaphoric—are endemic
after all.
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