Mahabharata – 110B

by 

Sankar Mukherjee

&

Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
                                   Aadivamsavatarana Parva

      Dialogue between Sukracharyana & Devyani

 Devyani told her father-- The cruel words uttered by Sharmista burns my heart.She was like  the  men who want to kindle fire. I do not think anything more miserable in the three worlds than the state of a poor man who askks for wealth from a rich person who hates the poor man. It has been indeed said by the wise men that for such a poor man even death would be better. When a wicked person uses scolding words, the good people always suffer from mental agony. Wicked persons always criticize others to create mental agony in them.It is better not to live with them. Burnt parts of the body or wounds due to the piercing weapons may be healed. But the wound made by the cruel words never get healed .

Devyani complained to Sukracharya her father, how Sarmishta humiliated Devyani by calling her the daughter of a beggar.Then Sukracharya, the foremost of Bhrigu's race, became angry with the demons.

The conversation between Sukracharya & Devyani is very educative. Devyani is a very touchy woman. She gets irritated with trifles. The clothes of the ladies might be wafted by the winds.Consequently one’s garments might mingle with another’s. No wonder that one woman’s clothes might be worn by another woman in a hurry by mistake. But Devyani  would not accept such events in good humour.She was in fact choleric  in temperament.Sukracharya exhorts her over & over again to have patience.But ironicalluy enough,however much briliant she was in wit & learning, she would not take his father’s words.That is how Devayani ruined her fortune in times to come.

But in a speech Devyani made two significant points. She observed that those who disturb their fellow men are ‘chandalas’. It is often complanied that the caste system that earmarked some people as out caste was sacrilegious.But Devyani observed that the wicked people were ostracised & were called chandalas.In fact in Jataka tales there is a tale entitled Khandahala Jataka.There the king was about to kill his son in the name of sacred sacrifice so that the king could enter into heaven.The people who came to witness the sacrificial rites & ceremony were shocked at this.They revolted.They drove away the king.The king was driven away from the society. He became chandala.  

Ironically enough the chandalas or the criminals were rehabilitated in Australia. And their children now are one of the finest nations of the world. A wicked person could be branded as a chandala.But his children should not be  deprived of their rights.The chandalas must be rehabilitated. According to Devyani, also the chandala is known by his action & not by birth . That is why she debunked those who criticize other people for being born in so called ill reputed family.But furthermore she pointed out that those people who are addicted to wealth, family reputation & learning without performing their worldly duties & duties to their fellow men are chandalas.Does it not neccessarily mean that we live in a chandala civilization where the greatest scientists are devoted to the manufacture of warheads & greatest scolars are yes men of the people who are in power.Devyani further adds that rich people always exploit others & hence they are also chandalas.Should we not therefore banish the people who exploit us in their own interest from this sphere of this civilization at once.

Devyani made another point.One must migrate from a country where sinners crowd. They are wont to criticize good men even though the latter have no fault.One wonders whether the great scientist J.B.S Haldane left the West to become a citizen of India because of this.And when he came to India & settled in India what did he find for himself? What India today is like?