Mahabharata – 61
by
Sankar Mukherjee
&
Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
                                            AdiParva
           ONE SHOULD BEGET CHILDREN
While Janamejaya & his little wife were enjoying their youth gamboling in the woods & dales, Jaratkaru the sage was stunned to see a band of very small human figures clutching to a fiber of a very small plant. Jaratkaru could see its roots. It appeared that the plant had quite a
few roots earlier. But they were already mouse eaten. There was only one root left. It was also being eaten by a mouse. The small human figures that were dangling from the fiber of the plant had their heads downward. It was a very piteous sight. The mouse was eating the last root left of the plant. And  once the last one is eaten up the plant would fall. At once those small human figures would also fall down.Their head should break. So  Jaratkaru took pity on them & asked as to who they were & why they were in such a posture. Jaratkaru told them that he was ready to invest all the wealth of his penance for their wellbeing provided he knew what was ailing them.

The small human figures thanked Jaratkaru for his offer. But even if Jaratkaru had
drained away all his spiritual wealth to rescue them from despondency
& the immediate doom, It would be of no avail.

They told sage Jaratkaru without knowing him that they had a descendant  Jaratkaru by name. He was a great sage, well versed in the Vedas & the Vedanta & all other scriptures .He had attained untold wealth derived from penance. But he did not get married .He did not beget a child. The small humans introduced themselves as belonging to the gypsy or yayavara  clan. In course of time the members of the yayavara clan were decimated on the earth. The only person surviving in the clan was Jaratkaru. And since Jaratkaru would not marry, the destiny of his ancestors who were dangling from the fiber of the plant was foredoomed to hell. Their heads were already down towards earth. When the last root was eaten up by the mouse they would straight fall  into hell through the holes into the earth that Jaratkaru would find.

The mouse was feasting on the roots of the plant in the very hole of the earth which was the gateway of the hell. Jaratkaru was amazed to see his ancestors in this miserable plight.

In the heroic poetry the heroes like Aeneas in Virgil have met their forefathers. Here is the hero who has not wielded the sword or conquered the enemies of the world without.He is not strong in his limbs. He could thereby be called an anti hero. He is also a great conqurer.The like of him is never found in prose or rhyme. He has conquered his senses & his mind.He has driven his sex energy towards his head. He met his forefathers & learnt that the conquest of the mind & spirit is not enough.
His ancestors dangling from the tree told Jaratkaru in cognito  that Jarakaru despite all his penance was also doomed to going down to hell despite  his lot of penance. The ancestors told him that they had also achieved great trophies in the tourneys offered to them by their penance but those laurels could be of no avail.

The  legitimation is that one must live two hundred percent, hundred percent physically & hundred percent spiritually. Thanks to the philosopher Malthus & the charms of capitalism, the world today has an increasing population of Jaratkarus sans  the spiritual prowess of Jaratkaru.
This episode is significant on another count. In the world today there is a large gypsy population or the Romas. They do not have any citizenship of any state. They have lost their home in timeless past.But at heart they believe that they are Indians & Hindus. When our mother India achieved freedom in 1947 they asked for citizenship of India. But our the then prime minister Pandit Nehru, a  Pandit, no doubt, did not grant the citizenship they longed for. One wonders whether this Jaratkaru was their ancestors? Because Jaratkaru lived like the gypsy. He had no home. He wondered throughout the day. Where ever night befall he would take shelter. He would not participate in any means of livelihoods. He lived on air. What Congress did not do
must be done by some political party that loves India ,Indians & Hindu religion.

The ancestors of Jaratkaru ironically enough could not recognize him as their descendant. Because he was looking old & emaciated. This was so because Jaratkaru the great sage did not take any food for the nutrition of his body. Now that Jaratkaru learned the truth about life & now that Jaratkaru had a first hand experience of the predicament of his forefathers he was full of repentance in deference to his forefathers. He disclosed his identity before his forefathers. He told them that he would marry. But he would marry the woman who had the name of Jaratkaru.The woman should be given as alms to him. Besides he would not take  responsibilities to maintain her.
The ancestors blessed him with all their heart. Jaratkaru departed from the place. The readers are in great suspense. Will Jaratkaru find his mate as per the conditions set forth by him?.
The present episode underlines the importance of ancestor worship. In fact the practice of ancestor worship has welded many a people into a robust nation such as the nation of Vietnam.
By the by the Mahabharata revels in repetition. Earlier also the same
episode was told but the symbolism inherent in the episode was not mentioned in the earlier episode. It is here in the episode  retold that this symbolism has been decoded.This is very significant. This speaks of the relevance of repetition in the present epic.

In this context it should be remember that the episode of Jaratkaru follows the episode of Janamejaya enjoying their honeymoon.There by the episode exhorts that the amorous play between man & woman is good & Janamejaya should beget a child.