Devlok With Devdutt Pattanaik

by Devdutt Pattanaik

  What is the difference between ‘daan’ and ‘dakshina’?

  Daan is to give something without expecting anything in return. This brings positive karma, and is holy work (punya kaam). Dakshina is fees, in return for knowledge or some valuable thing. So Vishwamitra wants to assert that he’s not receiving charity—and that he’s releasing Harishchandra from his sin for which he is giving him a fee.

  Harishchandra does not have anything left to give as dakshina. Vishwamitra says it is Harishchandra’s problem, not his. ‘Where do I get it from?’ wonders Harishchandra. Vishwamitra asks him, ‘What is of most value to you?’ He says, ‘My body.’ So Vishwamitra says, ‘Sell your body then.’ And Harishchandra does. He does not get much money for it, so he sells his wife, then his son too, and gives all the money to Vishwamitra.

  Some stories say that Vishwamitra claims this is still not the complete amount and that he’d have to give him everything he earns as well. But he can’t earn because he is a slave now.

  There was a concept of slavery in Puranic times?

  In the Harishchandra story, there’s a clear mention of a market where people are being traded. Otherwise, you don’t find too many references to human trade elsewhere in the Puranas. Greek mythology has a story of Hercules; Roman mythology has stories of gladiators which are all about buying and selling slaves. In India, slave trade surely existed but was not as widespread perhaps, and doesn’t appear as clearly as it does in the Harishchandra story.

  So he is bought by a Chandaal, and a Brahmin buys his wife and son. They are thus separated. The story is significant because it describes the caste system as well, the hierarchy at play. A Brahmin is superior, a Chandaal is an outcaste, who lives outside the town, deals with dead bodies; he’s the outsider. So, someone who was once a king becomes slave to a Chandaal and has to live outside the village. There is an element of tragedy here. Harishchandra works as a dom with him; dom refers to the person who cremates dead bodies and manages the crematorium.

  So was Harishchandra in Benaras at this time?

  The ghat at Benaras called Harishchandra ghat is associated with this story. The doms who work in the cremation ground there claim that they had bought Harishchandra once upon a time. It’s a point of prestige for them that King Harishchandra was their slave. In many places, doms were considered rich because they kept the gold that was left behind by Brahmins on the dead bodies.

  Although Harishchandra has no social status, he is not treated badly; he’s only asked to do his work. His wife, on the other hand, is treated badly, although she resides with an upper caste, a Brahmin. She who was used to the life of a queen now has to cook and clean and do strenuous household work. It is a reflection of how one’s lot can change with time. But she handles it with great dignity. Both she and Harishchandra don’t complain about the hard times that have befallen them. This is the important thing about Harishchandra. He accepts his karma, his fate, with dignity. We feel bad about their misfortune just as we feel good about a rags-to-riches story.

  Then the situation worsens towards the end. To test him further, Vishwamitra sends a poisonous snake to bite his son, Rohit, who dies in the garden. His mother, the queen Taramati (Chandravati in some stories), brings the dead child to the crematorium. She and Harishchandra recognize each other, but don’t acknowledge it because now they’re no longer related; they belong to someone as slaves. He agrees to cremate the body and asks for his fees. She says she does not have anything. He insists because that’s the rule, that’s what his master demands; she can beg and plead all she wants but he needs the fees. So she gives the clothes off her body. The scene is that a one-time queen is taking off her clothes to pay her husband, a one-time king, for their son’s cremation. At that time, the gods come down to earth, thoroughly impressed. Harishchandra does not even stop his wife from taking off her clothes, the ultimate humiliation. It’s the acme of integrity, the highest level of commitment. At this point Vishwamitra arrives and tells them it was a test, to see when he and his wife would break, but they never did. ‘You are worthy of becoming Indra, the greatest king; you are welcome into Indra’s assembly.’ Harishchandra was such a great king. He kept his word even at the cost of his dignity.

  Another story goes that King Harishchandra’s life has been saved by the god Varuna, in return for which Harishchandra agrees to sacrifice his son. When Varuna comes to claim the life, Queen Taramati is upset and tells the king that he did not consult her before making the promise, so he should now sacrifice them both. An adviser tells the king to adopt a child and offer that child as sacrifice instead of his own son. A farmer named Ajigarta comes forward and offers his second son, Sunashep, for sacrifice. He says that his wife is very fond of their youngest, and the eldest helps him in the farm. He asks for 100 cows as payment. The king agrees. However, on the day of sacrifice, nobody agrees to do the job of killing the child. Even the executioner says it will amount to paap, or sin, for the child is innocent. Finally, the farmer himself agrees to kill his son, in exchange for 100 more cows. The king is disgusted with the farmer. ‘Aren’t you ashamed?’ he asks. The farmer says, ‘No, because now he’s your son.’

  In this story, Harishchandra seems manipulative, making technical adjustments to save his son’s life. It’s a tragic story when a father agrees to sell his son, then to kill him for material benefit. The story is also about a king’s unscrupulous ways to save his own son while sacrificing someone else’s. It is far more realistic; this is not an idealistic Harishchandra. Maybe that’s why this story is not so famous.

  This story tells of how, in times of trouble, we are ready to promise anything. Here, Harishchandra promises to sacrifice his son in exchange for recovery from terrible health. In the other story too, he agrees to give everything to save himself from Vishwamitra’s wrath. In good times, you wonder if you can meet that promise. In the earlier story, he does give away everything. In the second one, he tries to find a way around it. Here, a father agrees to kill his son; while in the earlier story, a father sells his son to slavery. In hard times, in poverty, any man may treat his son as commodity, even Harishchandra. And greed can make you do anything; the farmer rationalizes to himself that his son is no longer his own. It is not important whether the story is true or not. Reflecting on these stories gives one an insight into human behaviour.

  What was Harishchandra’s connection with Rama?

  Harishchandra is Rama’s ancestor. Both were honest, good kings of the Surya Vansh who always kept their word and had integrity. They never complain when misfortune comes their way; they accept it with dignity and fortitude. In the Gita, it’s described as Sthith Pragya, a person who is stable in both positive and negative situations.

  Both Harishchandra and Ramchandra have ‘chandra’ in their names. But they were both Suryavanshis. How did ‘chandra’ become attached to their names?

  One can only speculate about this from some stories; there are no definite answers. In one such story, while Rama is a good king, he nevertheless wrongs Sita by sending her away for no fault of hers. Due to this, the sun enters an eclipse, and so Rama was called Ramchandra. Perhaps the same can apply to Harishchandra as he too sold his wife.

  Another story is that, as a child, Rama was very fond of the moon and wanted to possess it. He was shown a reflection in water, and he thought the moon had arrived in his house. He loved the moon so much, hence his name. It might have been the same with Harishchandra!

  27

  Aarti and Toran

  In our country, why do people decorate their doors so much?

  A door is significant because it separates the outer world from the home. Is a door the outside of the inside or the inside of the outside? There is more control inside the house. A door marks the entry into personal space. This is where the shubh (holy) and ashubh (unholy) meet; the negative energy outside should not get in and the positive energy inside should not escape. All these are associated with a door.

  What’s the significance of a toran o
n the door?

  The word toran is ancient and it means gateway. In olden times, every village had a stone toran or gateway, and wooden ones before that. The Sanchi stupa has two vertical and three horizontal bamboo-like structures. Earlier, they used to make doorways with timber. In Vedic times, cowherds would sit on the horizontal bars to supervise (keep count of) the cows that went into the fields to graze, and returned in the evening (godhuli). That’s where the idea of toran started. Soon they started making it using stone.

  Around Vijaynagara and at Kakatiya in Andhra Pradesh there are very intricate, ancient stone torans. Even now temples make elaborate torans, and they’re beautifully designed. The doors of people’s houses used to be small and yet had beautiful carved wooden frames. Above these would be flowers, leaves, grains as shubh chinha, signs of auspiciousness. The doors were decorated particularly during important events like harvest.

  So the decorated door is called toran, not just the garland that’s hung on top?

  Yes. In architecture, the intricately carved top of the doorway is toran. But these days, the flowers or other decoration we use is called toran.

  What kind of flowers and leaves are used in the toran?

  During festivals, flowers and leaves are used. Usually it is mango leaves, and these days the leaves of the ashoka tree are used too. Ashoka means a-shoka, remover of unhappiness. Mango leaves suggest the beginning of summer, which is quite a bad time, except for mangoes, which represent sweetness. We want to bring sweetness into the house. The flowers are usually marigold. These are special because each leaf has a seed, so even if you were to plant a single leaf, it’d grow into a plant. So it represents fertility. Green and yellow or orange indicate shubh things and our desire for them to come into our house; you see these colours in our flag too.

  In farming communities, they would also tie grain stalks to the toran. This was mainly during Diwali to indicate that it is the harvest season, and that the crop has been good and Lakshmi has entered the house. In dry areas like Rajasthan and Gujarat, where there weren’t too many flowers and leaves, women would make beautiful designs with different materials like beads. These symbolized leaves, flowers, grains, peacock feathers—all symbols of prosperity, happiness. In fact, if a door didn’t have toran, people knew that something bad had happened in the house. When there was a death in the house, toran was not put up for thirteen days, until the death rituals were over.

  People also use lemon and chilli sometimes. What’s the significance?

  This is especially popular in Mumbai. Lemon is sour and chilli is fiery. This is for Alakshmi, the sister of Lakshmi. Alakshmi is negative and ashubh, while her sister is positive and shubh. So the belief is to keep Alakshmi happy but outside the house. Her offering—that is, lemon and chilli—is kept at the door itself so that she doesn’t enter, while Lakshmi’s offering is kept inside.

  What’s the significance of rangoli?

  In ancient Tamil literature, the home was considered a temple, and the pujari (priest) of the house is the woman of the house. Just as she did her own shringara (make-up), she also decorated the house; and just as we bathe, the house too would be ‘bathed’. The floor was sprinkled with water to prevent dust rising, smeared with cow dung because it’s antiseptic, and then rangoli or kolam was drawn, using rice powder. It would serve as food for ants, and the diagram was considered shubh and was a yantra (an instrument representing divine energy or power). Good diagrams would be radially symmetrical, again for positive energy to enter the house. It’s like a magnet that attracts positive energy; Lakshmi would see it and enter the house. The level of complexity of the rangoli represented how much attention the woman of the house had given to it; it showed how particular she was about the house. An elaborate rangoli meant the woman was well and happy, and the house prosperous. If she was in a bad mood, she’d have made something simple; if angry, she wouldn’t have bothered making it at all. It was also a sort of indication for wandering bhikshuks (mendicants) whether to approach a house or not.

  North India has more coloured rangolis, while the south has only white ones, drawn with dry rice powder or wet rice dough. It’s highly skilled work.

  You talked about the importance of doors. In Puranic stories, are dwarpals also mentioned?

  Jaya and Vijaya are famous dwarpals (gatekeepers) of Vaikuntha. In the Tirupati Temple, there are big idols of Jaya and Vijaya looking exactly like Vishnu, but with teeth. Dwarpals are supposed to be frightening. Just as if you go to meet a king, or, in today’s times, an important personality, they will have a security guard or secretary whom you have to cajole and convince. If they’re in a bad mood they won’t let you in.

  In Shakta temples, the dwarpals are langur devata and Bhairava devata. Bhairava devata looks like a child, but has a human head in his hand, and is frightening. It is as though to dissuade people from entering, or to come only with respect. In Shiva temples, there’s Nandi and sometimes one of his followers, Bhringi, as well. Bhringi’s body has no flesh—it is made up of bones—so he has three legs to balance himself. At Ujjain, Mahakaleshwara has a mahavan (great forest). At the entrance are two goddesses, Mahalaya and Mahamaya, as guards.

  In temples, dwarpals are also offered food (bhog), aarti is done for them. They are valued because they guard the door. When forts were built, there would also be a gatehouse, where the gatekeeper would stay, as his was an important position.

  Earlier, an image of Hanuman was kept at doorways, but nowadays, the image of Ganesha is kept. There is a famous story where Parvati asks Ganesha to guard her door while she bathes. When Shiva arrives, Ganesha does not let him enter and, enraged, Shiva cuts off his head, and so on. Later, he was made the god of the doorway. So Ganesha is both Vighna-karta and Vighna-harta—the creator and the remover of obstacles.

  In south India, particularly in villages, they also hang a pumpkin at the door. What’s the significance?

  In many places, they also add eyes, moustache and a tongue. These are also seen in temples. It’s called Kirti Mukh, the face of glory. It was believed that kings hung the heads of their enemies on their doors, after winning a war, as if to say, ‘Do not enter, this is my kingdom.’ Slowly, as people must’ve found it distasteful, they started putting up pumpkins, basically to keep the negative energies out.

  A (stone) head can often be seen on temple doors. With his large eyes he is looking at the devotees to suggest that even though they may be praying, he can see inside them and know if any deceit prevails. He can’t speak because he does not have a lower jaw, but he sticks his tongue out, has large pointy teeth and mocks you. This is also suggested through the pumpkins at the door—they are making fun of the negative energies that are trying to come inside. It’s basically an image of a guard or gatekeeper.

  There’s a custom of doing aarti when we are going somewhere or if visitors are at the door. Why is that?

  We believe a lot in shuddhi (purity) and ashuddhi (pollution). When you are coming in from outside, you are bringing ashuddhi or negative energy. Even now we leave our footwear at the door and wash our hands, feet and mouth. Basically, you purify yourself (do shuddhikaran) before entering. Outside temples as well, there is a water tap for devotees to wash their feet. Aarti is one ritual of purification. Fire is supposed to destroy negative energies and only let positive energies remain. When you are leaving the house too, aarti is done to send positive energy with you. So a merchant may be going to the bazaar to trade; soldiers may be going to a battle or to hunt. They need positive divine energy with them for support and they shouldn’t bring back negative energies of death and destruction (or ghosts or wandering souls) into the house.

  There is a story about Bhanumati, Duryodhana’s wife, who tries to stop him, and Karna, from going to battle with the Pandavas at Kurukshetra. But Duryodhana and Karna convince her that that’s the only way they can assert their superiority and gain their rights. So she does a puja and does their aarti and wishes them success in the battlefield. What else can a wi
fe do? She is unable to stop them, so she gives them positive energy and her good wishes through the aarti ritual.

  In temples too there is an aarti done for the gods. Is this the same thing?

  Not really, although some believe that they are removing the evil eye for the god as devotees are visiting him every day, that by doing the aarti, they will replenish god’s energy, which the devotees take away from him. In many temples, particularly Vaishnava ones, there’s also a custom of not showing the god’s image much. A system of jhanki is followed in north India where the door opens only for a short while for the devotees to take darshan.

  When a bride enters her new home, there’s a ritual of her knocking over a kalash (pot) of rice at the door with her foot. What does this signify?

  The bride is considered the Lakshmi of the house. The wish is that a Lakshmi brings wealth and prosperity into the house. This is represented with the ritual when she overturns the rice jar inside the house; she brings wealth and prosperity with her. The idea is to let good fortune come inside with the daughter-in-law.