MAHABHARATA SERIES BOOK#2: The Seeds of War (Mba)

by Ashok K. Banker

  Devayani had sent Kacha into a remote region of the forest to fetch a particular variety of flower she wished to possess. The danavas were waiting and waylaid him, killing him instantly. This time, instead of chopping his body to pieces, they burnt it first. Once it was charred and reduced to ashes, the pounded every last fragment of bone into fine powdery dust. This residue they mixed with soma which their preceptor was partial to on occasion. Kavya Ushanas drank the soma given by the danavas, unaware that he was consuming the remains of his shishya. Elated at their success and certain that their enemy could not be resurrected this time, the danavas went away to celebrate by indulging in some wine-drinking of their own.

  A little later that same evening, Devayani again grew convinced that some mishap had befallen Kacha again. She went to her father who was resting langurously after consuming the soma. ‘Father, Kacha left this morning to collect flowers but has still not returned. Again the agnihotra fire is not lit and the cows remain unpenned. Surely something has happened to him again. Please use your Sanjivani knowledge to locate and restore him.’

  Shukra meditated briefly and immediately understood the extraordinary fate that had befallen Kacha. He opened his eyes and sorrowfully explained to his daughter, ‘My girl, Kacha has been killed again but this time I cannot revive him. We must let him proceed to the land of the dead. After all, he is mortal and all mortals must die someday. Today was his day to die. Accept it and let him go.’

  But Devayani would not be appeased. She cried and grieved and wailed her anguish, straining her father’s heart. ‘What wrong has Kacha done that he should die so young? He was your most attentive and obedient pupil. He always served you immaculately. He performed every chore allotted to him and fulfilled his dharma. Even when I desired more than mere friendship, yet he stuck to his brahmacharya vows and remained austere and celibate. He is a great man, son of a great rishi and grandson of a great rishi as well. I could not ask for a finer life-companion. I love him too dearly to accept his loss and continue living. If you cannot revive him, then accept the knowledge that I too intend to kill myself. I shall go with him to the land of the dead and live there with him in the hereafter.’

  By this time, his daughter’s anguish and the realization of what had befallen Kacha had removed all trace of intoxication from Shukracharya’s senses. He was upset by the foul murder of his pupil. The danavas had had no right to slay a pupil under his own guidance. ‘This is murder of a brahmin, a terrible unforgiveable sin under any circumstances. What Devayani says is not wrong. Kacha was innocent and pure. He did nothing to warrant such a heinous end. This is pure evil. How dare the danavas slaughter my own pupil? I shall not let this stand.’

  Spurred by his daughter’s tears and angered by what his followers had done without consulting him, Maharishi Ushanas once again used the Sanjivani to summon Kacha.

  By the power of the arcane art of resurrection, Kacha’s consciousness returned to life. His body began to form and reassemble itself. But almost immediately, he became aware of his surroundings and understood where he was. Willing his own being to stop the process of reconstruction, he spoke to his guru from within his mind. ‘Gurudev, if you bring me back fully to life as I was before, it will cost you your own life! I am within your own belly.’

  Even Maharishi Ushanas was taken aback at this revelation. ‘How did this come to pass, Kacha?’

  This time, through the teachings of his guru, Kacha had been able to retain the memory of what transpired even after he was killed. He recounted everything that had been done to him. When Kavya Ushanas came to know that his own followers had not just committed the crime of brahmin-hatya, but had also descrated their own guru’s body by tricking him into consuming another living being, he was deeply upset.

  Devayani knew nothing of the conversation that had transpired between the disembodied Kacha and her father. She asked him tearfully why Kacha had still not returned. ‘Have you deployed the Sanjivani yet, father?’ she asked.

  ‘This time, even my secret knowledge will not avail us, daughter,’ he said sadly. ‘For even though I dearly wish to restore your beloved Kacha to you, I cannot do so without ending my own life.’

  Devayani could not follow her father’s meaning. So he explained further, touching his belly. ‘He is in my stomach. Only by tearing me apart can he live again. If you still wish me to do so, I shall deploy the Sanjivani, but you will regain your beloved only to lose your father. Is that what you wish?’

  Devayani’s heart was rent with pain yet again. ‘Of course not, father! How can I want you to die? That is too great a price to pay for Kacha’s death.’ But having said this, she could not discern what to do next. Losing Kacha was the end of her life, while the price of losing her father was too great to pay.

  Kavya Ushanas saw her pain and confusion and came to a decision. Without troubling Devayani further, he sent her away with the assurance that all would soon be well. Trust her father implicitly, she left him alone.

  Shukracharya addressed Kacha directly through the power of his mind. ‘Heed my words well, shishya. Today is the day that you graduate from my gurukul. For I am about to do that which I have not done for any student before you in countless years. I am about to grant you knowledge of the secret and potent Sanjivani. Through the use of this arcane craft you will possess the power to bring the dead back to life.’

  The unformed Kacha was overjoyed when he heard this for it meant that his mission was about to be successful. ‘But why do you do me this great honour, master?’

  ‘My daughter loves you as dearly as she loves me. That is clear. Otherwise she would not be confused and would only grieve for you. But even though she knows now that restoring you to life would end my own life, she is unable to tell me plainly to let you remain dead. This proves to me that her love is genuine and enduring. I cannot see her pine her youth and life away, therefore I have decided to restore you to life.’

  ‘But it will kill you, gurudev!’ cried Kacha in alarm. For though he desired the success of his mission he respected his guru and did not wish to bring him harm.

  ‘That is why I am teaching you the secret of Sanjivani. I shall use it first to restore you fully to life. This will result your bursting out of my belly and cause my own death. Thereafter, you shall use the knowledge to restore me to life again! I have considered all possibilities and this is the only way for us both to live and for Devayani to have both a husband and a father.’

  Kacha was humbled by his guru’s great wisdom and trust. ‘You are great beyond description, gurudev,’ he said.

  Ushanas nodded in response and said silently: ‘Act in accordance with dharma.’

  Then the preceptor of the asuras administered the Sanjivani in full, and Kacha was instantly restored to his full bodied form. He emerged from the guru’s right side, as radiant with life as the full moon in shuklapaksha, and stood before his master’s mangled corpse. He looked down at those torn organs and gore and mused at the supreme trust his guru had placed in him by sacrificing his own life to save his future son in law. Not for an instant did the thought of treachery ever cross Kacha’s mind. Acting with speed and exactly as he had been instructed, the son of Brihaspati used the same knowledge that had just saved his own life to resurrect his guru. Before his marvelling eyes, the body of Ushanas reformed itself, leaving not a trace of blood or a single bit of flesh. A moment later, Maharishi Kavya Ushanas stood before his pupil. Pleased at his work, the guru blessed his student even as Kacha prostrated himself on the ground and paid homage to the great one.

  Kacha said, ‘Not for nothing is the guru-shishya parampara the cornerstone of our civilization. Not for nothing is the guru regarded a god in human form and equally deserving of worship and devotion as the thirty three devas. For the guru is the giver of knowledge and the guardian of the fount of wisdom. Without the guru, future generations would become directionless and lose their way in the world. Of all precious objects in the world, nothing is more precious than knowledge, an
d the guru, as caretaker of knowledge, is the most precious of all things on earth. You may search the four cardinal directions without finding anyone or anything of greater value than a good guru. To fail to acknowledge the guru’s greatness is to inevitably descend into the hellish realms.’

  Moved powerfully by Kacha’s words and devotion, Shukracharya was keenly aware that this was the son of his greatest enemy. Yet, how honourably and diligently he had upheld dharma, fulfilled his guru’s given task, and upheld the sacred tie of guru and shishya. Once given knowledge of the Sanjivani method and restored to life, Kacha could easily have left this place, taking Devayani with him if he pleased, and returned to his father and allies, the devas, his mission successfully completed. For by dint of his having ingested and digested Kacha, Shukra now knew everything about the young man. There were quite literally no secrets left between them. And he was profoundly moved by what he had learned. Not only had Kacha done exactly as instructed, he had then professed his love and devotion to his guru in such a passionate eloquent outpouring that Ushanas was moved to the core. In contrast, consider the heinous nature of his own followers. Look at what the danavas had done! They had committed sacrilege, desecrating their own guru’s body by feeding a dead corpse to him! Outrageous and unacceptable behaviour such as this could not go unpunished. Moreover, they had duped him by plying him with soma, knowing he had a fondness for the honey wine. And as for the supreme sin of killing a brahmin – that too an innocent who had committed no harm or transgression against anyone – his brain seethed with anger.

  But first he must address his own weakness. The failing that had enabled the wily danavas to succeed in this ploy must be eliminated. Not only in himself, but in all brahmins henceforth. For as a preceptor to the race of asuras, he had a responsibility to lay down tenets of dharma that would benefit future generations to come as well.

  Kavya rose in anger, even Kacha and Devayani stepping back with wide eyes as they saw the resoluteness shining on that ancient face, made powerful and dazzling by the blue sheen of brahman that exuded from his being.

  ‘Hear me now,’ said Kavya Ushanas, ‘it was my own stupidity in drinking soma that brought about this pass. Had I not been self indulgent, the danavas could not have plied me with this polluted wine and made me too drunk to know what I was doing. Had I not drunk, Kacha would not have been subsumed into my body, nor would I have had to reveal to him the Sanjivani method to restore him to life. Therefore, I start by pronouncing an eternal ban on the consumption of wine by brahmins. Should any brahmin be stupid enough to drink wine, he will be deemed to have committed a crime no less than that of killing a fellow brahmin and shall be hated by everyone. For the consumption of wine is but another form of murder. I, Kavya Ushanas Shukra, lay down this dharma for brahmins in all the worlds, in all time.’

  Then did the preceptor of the asuras roar with power and use his brahmanic energies to summon the foolish ones who had attempted to dupe him. Ripped from reality wherever they were, in the midst of doing whatever they were doing, the danavas who had slain Kacha and fed him to their guru in the soma were dragged by unseen forces and hurled across the sky. Screaming and wailing in fear, they came flying through the air like rotted tree stumps flung helter skelter by a cyclone. They landed hard, their bones cracking loudly as they fell to the ground before Maharishi Ushanas. At the sight of their guru, his face masked with anger and shining with immense power, they trembled and cringed in fear. Prostrating themselves before him, they pleased for mercy and admitted their crimes unconditionally.

  ‘Danavas,’ said Kavya. ‘You thought you were shrewd and tactful. You thought that by murdering the ally of the devas you would kill a spasa and prevent our secret of resurrection from being stolen by the enemy. But in fact, by your own efforts and folly, you have ensured that Kacha now possess the very secret you sought to protect!’

  At this, the danavas moaned and cried out with self-recrimination and were miserable at the error of their ways. They pleaded with their guru to forgive them and to take back the knowledge he had given Kacha.

  But Ushanas was firm. ‘This knowledge was not stolen by Kacha nor was it obtained by him through any ruse or deceptive means. He was performing his duties as a shishya diligently and had served me immaculately for five hundred years. Your devious actions brought about this crisis. I wished to restore Kacha to life but could not do so without killing myself. Therefore I willingly and happily entrusted him with the Sanjivani and requested him to use the knowledge to restore me in turn once he was revived. He fulfilled his dharma and acted more honourably than you, my own followers! Let him now stand as an example of the greatness of a brahmin when he adheres to his given path without compromise. Due to his actions, words and unstinting adherence to dharma, I pronounce Kacha to be as powerful as Brahma himself!’

  At this the danavas were filled with a great fear for they had accomplished the exact opposite of what they had sought to accomplish. Instead of killing the spy and depriving the enemy of the secret knowledge, they had handed it over on a platter and in addition had rewarded the spy with the ultimate blessing any brahmin could attain. Humbled and ashamed, they crawled and carried one another away from the guru’s ashram before he turned his wrath upon them for their part in the mishap. Disgusted, his anger spent, Shukracharya let them leave unharmed, knowing that what they had already done was punishment enough.

  3

  The remainder of Kacha’s apprenticeship to Guru Shukracharya passed uneventfully. When the full thousand years had ended, Kacha asked his preceptor’s permission to departh and received it with warmth and blessings.

  While he was preparing to leave, Devayani heard the news and came rushing to his humble dwelling place. She was breathless, heaving with excitement, her face flushed and reddened. ‘My love, what is this I hear? Tell me it is not true? You cannot be leaving here without even saying goodbye to me?’

  Kacha continued putting things in order as he had been doing. He wished to leave everything exactly as it had been before he came, as surely another disciple would take his place in this humble spot. He spoke to Devayani as he worked. ‘I shall say goodbye now then, Devayani. I am leaving now. I shall not return. My apprenticeship is done and Mahaguru has given me his blessing to go home.’

  Devayani stared at him. ‘But what of our love? Our long wait for this very day? So many times we have talked of how you would complete your apprenticeship and receive my father’s blessings to go home. Then you would be free to become a grihasta and take a wife. And now that day has come at last! Surely we shall now do what we have planned for so long, Kacha, my love?’

  Kacha finished setting the little corner of the thatched hut in order and looked up at Devayani. ‘Beautiful Devayani, it is true we have spoken of this and many other things during the time I was here. But now I wish to return home to pursue my dharma. I came here with a goal in mind, to learn the Sanjivani secret. That goal has been accomplished. Now I must return home and pass on the secret to my father’s followers that they may use it profitably in the war against the asuras. That is my dharma and I cannot deviate from it.’

  So saying, Kacha turned his back on the guru’s daughter and exitted the hut. As he emerged into the sunshine of the bright cheerful morning, and began to walk through the ashram, filled with sweet air and the euphonious songs of birds, Devayani came rushing out behind him, her anga-vastra, hair and kohl in disarray from weeping and beating her chest. ‘Stop!’ she cried out, eyes flashing. ‘As your preceptor’s daughter, I command you! Halt!’

  Kacha indeed stopped but remained facing in the direction of departure, not even turning his head back to look at Devayani. For despite his intense resolve and self-discipline, the son of Angirasa’s heart was not made of stone. He felt the pain and anguish of being parted from Devayani no less than she did. It was breaking his heart to walk away thus from his great love, with whom he had spent a thousand years of his youth in anticipation of this very day when he would be considered r
eady to assume the mantle of a married man and householder. His soul wept to deny her – and to deny himself – that pleasure, instead to stick to the original plan for which he had been sent here, sacrificing his own desires and love so that he might fulfill his dharma. The other denizens of the ashram paused in their chores to observe this unfolding drama. All of them already knew what was unfolding and it was only her naïve innocence and unswaying love for Kacha that had blinded Devayani to this inevitable outcome. Their hearts also ached for the two young lovers and this tragic end to their love story.

  Approaching Kacha, Devayani raised a hand, pointed a finger at him, and shook it violently in his face. ‘You are my father’s pupil. You have exchanged words with me. I now demand that you act upon those words! Take me as your wife!’

  When Kacha did not respond at once, she softened, perhaps hearing the tone of her own voice. ‘Kacha, I love you! I know that you love me too. Why do you deny our love now? I am not asking that you take me away stealthily. I am cerrtain my father will give his blessings to our union. We can be married with all rites and ceremony.’

  Kacha looked at her sorrowfully, his wan face revealing the anguish he held contained within himself. ‘Devayani, you are greatly beloved to me and shall always be. But you are my guru’s daughter. I must honour you no less than I honour him. Therefore, according to dharma, I cannot accept you as my wife. This union is not possible. It is best if you forget me completely and continue with your own life.’

  He made a move forward but Devayani blocked him physically with her own body. ‘Kacha, Kacha, listen to me! There is no question of violating dharma! I am my father’s daughter. I would never do anything against dharma either! If you were my father’s son, that would be a different matter. But you are only the son of his preceptor. While I admit that does make you akin to his son in a sense, it is not a biological fact!’