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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00106 Oct 2005

 
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        (continued from Part 11 posted earlier)
------------------------------------------------------
Dear friends,

Like many other lovers of the epic Mahabharatha, I too
have sometimes silently wondered how the great
"itihAsA" might have panned out -- i.e. how Sage Vyasa
might have possibly re-written the script  -- if the
marriage of Satyavati to King SAntanu had never taken
place. It may seem like idle speculation but
nonetheless it is quite interesting trying to imagine
what might have happened if Bhishma had never
committed that grievous folly of bringing home a
"maattu-poNN" to keep his old but infatuated father
happy but lose, in the bargain, his own rightful claim
to a kingdom. 

In the same vein, I have also often wondered, "If only
Bhishma had discreetly conducted for Satyavati the
famous pre-wedding "soil-test" -- (readers will recall
it from Part-6 of this series posted earlier and which
in ancient times the Vedic "gruhya-sUtras" had clearly
prescribed for selecting a "maattu-pOnn") -- might not
the tale of the Mahabhratha been very different from
the saga of bloody fratricide it eventually became?"

                 **************   

"Once bitten, twice shy" is an old proverb of which,
obviously, the great BhIshmA of the Mahabharatha must
have been totally ignorant. Even after having made one
disastrous choice of a "maattu-peNN" in Satyavati, it
was really surprising the otherwise worldly-wise and
venerable "pitAmaha" did not learn sufficiently from
the experience. There was a tragic encore of the same
folly. 

The Mahabharatha tells us how Bhisma made yet another
noble but monumental blunder in securing a bride, a
new "maattu-poNN", this time for his half-brother, the
minor Crown-Prince VichitravIrya (the second offspring
of Satyavati and deceased King SAntanu). 

This time around too Bhishma, who was Regent for the
adolescent-prince, was guilty of the sin of going
about "vivAha-samskArA" in a very cavalier manner,
alien to "sAstra" and contrary to accepted customs of
those times (which again, readers should recall, the
Vedic "gruhya-sUtras" describe at length and a summary
of which was essayed in Post-3 through Post-10 of this
series). Bhishma paid a heavy and fatal price indeed
for this second misadventure.  

Let us briefly recount the story. 

                    ************

When his royal ward, VichitravIrya, came of age,
BhIshmA, the venerable guardian-angel of the throne of
Hastinapur, set about looking for suitable young
brides --- i.e. good "maattu-poNNs" -- for the Prince.


The King of Kasi, a neighbouring warlord, had three
beautiful and nubile daughters, Amba, Ambika and
Ambalika. As was royal custom in those days, their
father, the King of Kasi, announced publicly that his
daughters would choose their respective grooms from
amongst a brood of royal suitors emerging victorious
from a ceremonial trial of strength involving martial
arts. Many young and brave princes, eager to win 
brides, began to  assemble at Kasi at the appointed
hour for the ceremonial "svayamvara". There was pomp,
pagaentry and tense expectation all around.

BhishmA's un-expected arrival there caused 
consternation all around. Everyone wondered: What is
an avowed "brahmachAri" (celibate) doing at a
"svayamvara"? Is the veteran warrior bent upon
spoiling the prospects of princes far younger but more
eligible than him, but who were mere underlings by
comparison as far as martial skill was concerned?

Exactly as everyone feared, BhIshmA, entered the fray
and routed every other suitor who had the temerity to
take on the old warrior. With a dazzling display of
archery and other martial skills BhIshmA won the
competition comprehensively. 

Turning then to the King of Kasi, BhIshmA spoke,
"Sire, I've won this match, fair and square! Your
lovely daughters are therefore mine. But fear not that
these fair maidens are betrothed to an old man like
me. I have no interest in matrimony as I have sworn
myself to lifelong celibacy. Your young daughters have
been won by me on behalf of my young half-brother,
VichitravIrya of Hastinapur. Amba, Ambika and Ambalika
shall be the royal queens of the Crown-Prince. They
shall be fitting consorts for the heir to the
Hastinapur throne. I will conduct these fair daughters
of yours --- or should I say these fair
daughters-in-law of mine -- safely and with due
honours unto VichitravIrya".

The King of Kasi had no qualms about the arrangement
and consented joyously to Bhishma's proposal. And so
did the three brides -- the 3 "maattu-poNNs" -- Amba,
Ambika and Ambalika journey forth with the "pitAmahA"
to their new home at the palace of Hastinapur.

The "arrangement" was fine and agreeable indeed to all
parties concerned but, in truth, it was a rather odd
one. It seemed to pervert the customary forms of
marriage contained in the "sAstra". The Vedic "dharmA"
(viz. the "vivAha gruhya-sUtra-s": pls. refer Post-4
in this series) defined 8 different types of marriages
in society:

           "brAhmO-daivasthathaivAsah:
             prAjapatyastatha'svrah:
           gandharvO rAkshaschaiva
         paisachAstamah smrtAh "  (manu-smriti 3.21) 

None of the above 8 modes of marriage really seemed to
fit or comply with the peculiar kind of "arrangement"
under which BhIshmA secured the 3 "maattu-poNNs" for
the royal palace of Hastinapur. It was what one may,
in those ancient times, have called an "a-sAstra"
marriage -- a marriage that went againt the canons of
Vedic custom and faith.

BhIshmA paid a terrible, terrible price for the
lapse...  
                    
               **************

With the 3 lovely "mattu-poNNs" in tow, the great
BhishmA began the journey back to Hastinapur.
Everything that ought to have otherwise ended happily
ever after, quite suddenly took an ugly turn on the
way. And from there onward, matters rapidly began
spiralling away from one tragedy to another. 

BhIshmA's entourage was suddenly attacked along the
way by another warlord, the young Salwa, who was king
of a neighbouring country called Saubala. Although
surprised by the ambush, the doughty BhIshma easily
fought off the attack and brought the young warrior to
his knees, had him bound by chains and ordered to be
summarily executed on the spot. 

Just as the death-sentence was about to be carried
out, one of the brides, Amba, suddenly stepped forward
and fell at BhIshmA's feet, desperately and piteously
beseeching him to spare the offender's life. BhishmA
relented.... but not before he enquired and discovered
the real reason why Amba had intervened. It came to
light that Amba, the bride-to-be of Hastinapur, had
been secretly in love with Salwa...    

BhIshma was deeply shocked and saddened by the
revelation. For one, it became clear that Amba was a
girl of very fickle mind --- and a fickle-minded
"maattu-poNN", Bhishma knew, is an unmitigated curse
upon the home she enters. If Amba had been firm in her
love for Salwa, BhIshma wondered, why did she
participate at all in the "svayamvara" announced by
her father? 

Secondly, BhIshma was ill-at-ease being left with no
choice but to deliver into the hands of the young
VichitryavIrya, a somewhat tainted and unwilling bride
-- a "maattu-pOnn" who, from a moral standpoint, was
somehow less than virtuous. 

And lastly, speaking of morals or "dharma", BhIshma
knew very well in his heart of hearts that, in
fashioning a marriage of rather strange sorts -- a
wholly "asAstra-ic" arrangement that he had sought to
conclude in marriage -- he had committed a gross
breach of the Vedic code.

Thus began all of BhIshmA's woes and misery in
life....
      
                   ************
                  (to be CONCLUDED)
Regards,

dAsan,
Sudarshan





                
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