9.4
The queen was furious, accusing Shiv of usurping power by proxy by imposing the new system of governance instead of letting her rule as a regent of the minor king. She was also aggrieved over exodus of her people to the new city of Kashi. She charged Shiv with subverting the loyalty of the people and exhorting them to desert Vairat. The constant flight of the people compelled her to consider shifting to some other place. Even her lackeys and handmaids pestered her to move out.
She decided to move away from Shiv’s vicinity, to farther south, across the river Ganga. Shiv took keen interest to ensure that a comfortable and strong fort could be built for the royal family at the place of their choice. He secretly arranged foolproof security of the boy king and the mother queen.
One day, the queen, along with her son – the boy king, called on Shiv, to thank him for his contribution in erecting the new fort. She praised Shiv profusely and offered to feed him, with her own hands, the sweets she claimed to have been prepared by her. At the very first bite, Shiv realised that the sweets were spiked with some strong poison. He shut his mouth and prevented the morsel from getting down his throat.
The queen sensed that Shiv had known her ruse, though Shiv tried to smile ruefully to her. She made her escape post-haste, and Shiv rushed towards the bank of the Ganga. Shiv sat there in deep meditation, fighting against the deadly fallout of the poison. Meanwhile, citizens of Kashi came to know of the matter and thronged to be beside Shiv at the riverfront.
For three days the whole Kashi was at the Ganga ghat, chanting Har Har Mahadev. At last, Shiv opened his eyes amidst rumbustious slogans. The people were delighted to see Shiv back to life, but they were surprised to notice that his mauve throat had turned blue under impact of the poison. Shiv looked quiet and composed and his blue throat shone against his white body like a piece of an azure sky peeping out of thick white clouds. The crowd shouted with joy: Jai Ho Neelkanth, hail to the blue-necked one.
Rage surged among the people when the sequence of events led to the conclusion that the queen was responsible for the deadly attack on Shiv. They held meetings and discussions, condemning the heinous act of the queen. In one such meeting they grew so aggressive that they decided to teach her a lesson.
When Shiv came to know about the people’s reaction, and their intention to harm the queen, he hastened to dissuade them. The agitated people assembled around Shiv, pressing him to let them avenge the queen’s attempt on Shiv’s life. Shiv told them a story, making it up while trying to divert their attention:
“Listen, gentlemen! Once upon a time, the gods from the sky and the demons from the nether land, who were arch rivals and had fought many battles between them, agreed to embark upon a joint venture of churning the ocean in hope of finding solution to death. After ten months of hard slog a stream of poison gushed out. Ignorant that death is as integral to life as poison is to nectar, they came under attack of an effluent poison. Having heard their plaintive cries, a fisherman from the earth rushed to help them harness poison as nectar.
So, gentlemen, to find nectar from the ocean of life, one has to swallow poison but not to let it go down to heart. You can’t eliminate bad things, but can prevent them from reaching the core of your existence.
My friends, the moral is: prevent the bad, promote the good. “
This allegorical story was so much liked by the people that they later told it umpteen times, with various variants, often replacing the fisherman of the story with Shiv who drank poison to honour the queen. The story was eventually immortalised as the churning of ocean by Devas and Danavas to produce fourteen treasures including poison. Shiv was immortalised by glorifying him as a god who put himself to risks to save people from disastrous situations.
As strictly forbidden by Shiv not to publicise the queen’s misdeed with a view to protect the dignity of a lady, the people preferred to delete the queen’s episode from their memory, and instead propagate the story as told by Shiv.
9.5
Shiv’s grief over separation from his dear Kailash had not lessened. He would often visit Ganga to seek solace, as it was only she who had still got direct and incessant connection with his dear country – the country of snow. Shiv would spend long hours along the river – bathing, strolling, mediating, and talking about his grief of separation. He would talk to the river as if he was talking to a living being. There were eyewitnesses who informed Parvati about how Shiv would converse with the river, insinuating that craziness was taking over him.
Parvati was wary of the reports on Shiv’s infatuation with Ganga. On Parvati’s insistence to see herself Ganga’s charm, Shiv had to take her one day to the river for an excursion. First, they reached the riverbank which was just in front of their home. Shiv informed her that that bank was called Dashashwamedh Ghat as the late king Divodas had once performed a ten-horse sacrifice there. Shiv and Parvati talked for long about the late king, about his tragic end, and about his hectoring demeanour. Shiv rued that ten heads of valuable horses were perished in a banal ritual.
In a pensive mood, Shiv, along with Pavati, moved down the river but soon stopped at a Ghat which was called Tirth due to shallowness of the river there enabling people to cross it easily from that place. They stayed there for some time, watching merchants with horse-loads of merchandise crossing the river.
Further downstream, it was a vast desolate expanse along the river. Tired Parvati desired to rest for a while as atmosphere there was buoyed with scenic beauty. In a romantic mood, Shiv and Parvati started kissing, caressing and hugging each other.
Suddenly, Parvati was alarmed to find that the earring of her right ear was lost somewhere in the heat of passion. She was upset over the loss as the pair of the earrings was gifted by her mother. With tears in eyes, she urged Shiv to search for the earring.
Shiv immediately set on the search – first looking around cursorily on the ground and then removing the sand, initially with his bare hand and then with his trishul. In desperation, he removed huge amount of soil, which formed a little mound beside a big pit dug by him, but the earring could not be found. Parvati was distraught despite Shiv’s assurance to get another piece of earring made even better. She persisted that that earring carried the blessings of her mother and no other earring could replace that. Shiv was sweating a lot due to distress, defeat and hard labour. Suddenly, while wiping out the slush of sweat from his forehead his hand struck with some tiny thing entangled in his long hair at the shoulder. Lo! It was nothing but the lost earring!
The couple, relieved over the regain of the earring, laughed, danced and made love passionately.
To commemorate the incident, Shiv named the place Manikarnika Ghat, the riverbank of the earring. The pit dug by him became a pond when filled with water, and bore many lotus plants with beautiful blue flowers, earning the name of Pushkarini, the pond of lotus flowers.
9.6
One day, Narad happened to visit Shiv, and was very happy to see his Dham and Kashi city. He teased Parvati whether she was happy to deprive Shiv of Kailash. Parvati retorted, wisecracking, “He who has no home or family of his own cannot appreciate the significance of a life snuggled in the comforts of a home.” Both – Parvati and Narad – laughed boisterously, attracting attention of Shiv, who was arranging fodder for Nandi in a nearby manger. Shiv also burst into laughter when he learnt about the jeers Parvati and Narad cracked against each other. Nandi, who was glued to the fodder, stopped for a moment in an attempt to understand why they all were laughing so loud and when he could not make out anything resumed chewing the cud indulgently.
Shiv and Narad would remain engrossed in incessant chit-chat. Their talks would relate to many topics, but remained focussed mostly around their school days and friends. Suddenly, Narad asked, “Shiv, do you remember Pulak?”
Shiv: “Pulak? Who Pulak?”
Narad: “Pulak of our Vishwayatan days, who was expelled for having an affair with Acharya Sheelbhadra’s daughter Dhi. Can’t you recollect them.”
Shiv: “Yes, yes, I recollect now. But, had they not disappeared into obscurity?”
Narad: “Yes, they had, but I’ve found them.”
Shiv: “Good, tell me, how? Where’re they?”
Narad: “They live at a small village in the far western kingdom of Prabhas Kshetra, along the seacoast.”
Shiv: “How’re they there? What do they do?”
Narad: “Dhi is a devoted wife sharing miseries of Pulak, but Pulak has grown into a great scholar.”
Shiv: “Great scholar? But I didn’t hear about him. Why is it so?”
Narad: “Because he prefers to live a pauper’s proud life, deriving benefits of obscurity.”
Shiv: “Pauper’s proud life? How is it possible?”
Narad: “He collects leftover grains from fields after farmers finish harvesting. The rest of the year he remains devoted to his studies.”
Shiv: “He lives a hard life. Cannot we make some arrangements for him?”
Narad: “No, he is too proud to accept anybody’s assistance. Even the king of Prabhas Kshetra could not make him concede to his proposals.”
Shiv: “Wow! It’s great of him to remain so austere.”
Narad: “Ya, he has even dropped his old name of Pulak and is now known as Kanbhaksh, the eater of particles, because of his wont for collecting grain-droppings from the fields. Some call him Kanad, shortening his name for convenience.”
Shiv: “Strange ways he has developed, that simple Pulak! And, what is that he studies? As I remember, he was pursuing studies for Vidya Varidhi, the doctoral dissertation, on realisation of Self at Vishwayatan. Has he done something great in that field?”
Narad: “No, he has rather done something contrary. He has propounded Parmanuvad, the atomic theory, named Vaisheshik, and authored a great treatise on that titled Vaisheshika Sutra.”
Shiv: “But, what is this Parmanuvad, which you call atomic theory or Vaisheshik?”
Narad: “That I don’t know much. But I’ve heard him postulating that all objects in the physical universe are reducible to a finite number of atoms, which he calls Parmanu.”
Shiv: “Interesting! Very interesting!! A new vision, a new interpretation of the world phenomenon!!! I must see him. Can you bring him to Kashi? He needs an ambience conducive to further persuasion of his theory.”
Narad: “I can’t promise, but can try.”
9.7
Kanad’s devotion to knowledge stoked a desire in Shiv to work in the field of knowledge and education. Panini’s endeavours at Vishwayatan had always inspired him to strive for advancement of knowledge. He started toying with the idea of opening a similar university at Kashi, where different, and even contradictory, streams of studies could be pursued.
Shiv was deeply dismayed that some Brahmans, the ritualists, who were supposed to spread education among people through their gurukuls, were interested in imparting knowledge to pupils from the elite only. Huge populace of commoners was denied education. Shiv thought of making Kashi a site of his experiments in education. He wished that Kashi be a great centre of learning and knowledge. With this ambition in mind, he convened a conference of the elite and educated people of the city, besides the Brahmans who ran the schools. Voicing his concern on the prevailing condition of education, Shiv spelled out his concept, and advocated that education should reach out to commoners.
The assembly appreciated Shiv’s views on education, but criticised his advocacy for opening the gates of knowledge to all and sundry, insinuating that the common people were not capable enough to be considered for the formal education. They, however, acquiesced that such people could learn, from their own elders, skills of mundane works like weaving, carpentry, cattle tending, chariot manufacturing, and other skills required to serve the aristocrats better. They raised objection to Shiv’s plan of opening an educational institute, claiming that it was their hereditary occupation and sole prerogative. Shiv admitted that the primary education would continue to remain as usual with them and only higher studies would be pursued at the proposed institute. However, attempts by Shiv to bring them around failed as they continued to dig their heels. The conference ended on discordant note.
Shiv was peeved over his plan being shattered due to rigidity of the elite. Having pondered over the issue for a couple of days, he decided to approach the people individually and convince them about his plan. Accordingly, he visited some of the influential among the elites and Brahmans, making a humble presentation of his plan. In the first round, he succeeded in convincing about one-third of them. In another few rounds he clinched almost all of them, though some still remained rigid, reluctant to cede to their fiefdom.
At a meeting of a select group of people, it was decided that the new institute, by the name of Kashi Vidyapeeth, be raised on the northern bank of the Asi river, near Kashi. A swathe was cut along the river by labourers under supervision of Bhero. Gannu was assigned the task of approaching Brihaspati Dev at Devkul in Prabhasharanya, with request to spare Vishwakarma, the architect, to make plans for construction of Kashi Vidyapeeth. Brihaspati was also delivered the message from Shiv requesting him to attend the inauguration of the Vidyapeeth and also to depute a learned faculty to teach Charvak Vidya at the institute. Similar message was delivered to Shaunak rishi at neighbouring Rishikul in Naimisharanya.
Narad, who was assigned with the task of bringing Kanad, was requested to approach Guru Panini at Rishikesh with invitation to grace the occasion of the inauguration. A Brahman who had developed a lot of liking and devotion to Shiv was despatched to Prayag to invite Maharshi Bhardwaj.
Vishwakarma designed the layout of the institute in an oval shape. A huge ornate gate named Gopuram was raised for entrance at the north periphery. Beside Gopuram, on the right flank, an edifice was erected to house the office of the Anushasan Samiti, and on the left was the building of Suraksha Samiti. The Anushasan Samiti, which was later headed by Gannu, looked after general governance, establishment and accounts matters including collection of donations and disbursement of salaries. The Suraksha Samiti, which was headed by Bhero, was supposed to take care of security of the people and infrastructure, besides regulating entry to the institute and admission to various courses and maintenance of discipline among disciples.
Along the right half of the orbit from Gopuram ran the Acharya Veethi, the street along which quarters of resident teachers were located. Another street named Vidya Veethi, parallel to Acharya Veethi, ran along the inner half orbit, where buildings housing various departments were arrayed. In the similar fashion, on the left flank, two streets were designed. The Antevasi Veethi, along the outer orbit, was the street of the hostels for the students, and classrooms were located along the inner half periphery, named the Shiksha Veethi.
A broad road, named Mukhya Marg, was laid from Gopuram to the centre of the institute, where a huge straw-thatched hall, named Anusheelan Kendra, was erected. This Kendra was to be used to offer collective prayers, to hold general assembly, and to convene lectures and seminars of the visiting Acharyas. Except the hall of Anusheelan Kendra, all the buildings were made of baked bricks with mud roofs.
The houses of the teachers along the Acharya Veethi were each enjoined by a front straw-thatched veranda, while the classrooms along the Shiksha Veethi were each juxtaposed with a mud-roofed veranda. Trees and plants were grown along the main road and streets to give the ambience an idyllic and sylvan look.
The Vidyapeeth was inaugurated with much fanfare. The main function was held at the Anusheelan Kendra. The invitees and delegates from across the country participated in the ceremony. On the request of Shiv, Panini presided over the function. Highly lauding Shiv’s efforts, Panini highlighted the significance of education in the evolution of mankind, and stressed the need for equal opportunity of education to all. His progressive views were hailed by many scholars, including Brihaspati Dev and Shaunak Rishi alike. However, there were murmurs of criticism from certain quarters of the audience, particularly the local
Brahmans who were aggrieved over perceived dent in their fiefdom of education.
The voice of opposition grew shriller and nastier during the programme of dance and music performed on the occasion by the troupes from different regions. Some opponents indulged in making lewd remarks and even shouting open abuses. Silence on the part of the organisers emboldened the protesters who tried to storm the function, but swift action by Bhero and his men made them run out.
The next couple of days witnessed the fervour of great intellectual activities on the campus. To utilise the gathering of so many great intellectuals for interface and exchange of ideas, Shiv convened a seminar. Panini, the versatile genius on linguistics; grammar and mathematics, presided over various sessions of the seminar. He initiated the discussion by presenting his paper on the evolution of linguistics and significance of structured string of words in communicating ideas.
The next to present his doctrine was Kanad, the physicist, who propounded his theory of anu, the atom, which he claimed to be an indestructible particle of matter. He recounted an interesting episode from his life to elaborate how this theory occurred to him, while he was once walking with food in his hand. As he nibbled at the food, throwing away the small particles, it occurred to him that he could not divide the food particle into further parts and thus the idea of a matter which could not be divided further struck his mind. This led him to realise that all living beings are composed of five elements, namely, water, fire, earth, air, and ether. Kanad further postulated that gurutva, gravity, was responsible for falling of objects on the Earth.
Kanad’s theory and story attracted derision and ridicule from many in the audience, who scoffed at such a blatantly materialistic explanation. However, this theory was listened by Panini and Brihaspati Dev with rapt attention, who expressed their approval of the theory but with a pinch of scepticism, desiring that the theory needed to be further explored and experimented.
Becoming God Page 15
