Mahabharata – 97

by 

Sankar Mukherjee

&

Dr. Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
                                            Aadivamsavatarana Parva

The crown prince among the ancient poets Kalidas composed a drama entitled Vikramorvasiyam meaning Urvashi won by prowess. It dwells on the Vedic love story of king Pururava & the celestial nymph Urvashi. The plot of the drama harks back to Samvada Sukta of the Rig veda. And yes the Mahabharata alludes to the same story as a part of ancient history.And it has also left stamp on Kalidas.The love story of Pururava & Urvashi is of singular significance in the history of man because it was this love that ocassioned the birth of six sons in Aayu,Dhiman,Amabasu,Dridhayu, Vanayu & Shatayu.

And Aayu gave birth to Nahusha,Briddhasharma,Raj,Gaya,& Anena in the womb of Swarvanavir. Nahusa was a very wise person.His prowess was great.He ruled his vast kingdom according to law.In course of time he became the Indra of heaven.Here it should be noted that Indra is not a person destined  to rule the gods for all time to come.One is elected to be an Indra when one excels all the other gods in virtue.In other words the office of Indra does not belong to any royal family of the divinity & ofcourse every one could be an Indra provided he cultivates virtue upon earth.This could charge the listeners of the Mahabharata with fresh hopes,just as the mafias of today could hope to become a law maker in the so called democracy.Here on earth the excellence of character does not come.When Nahusa became the ruler of the heaven or Indra, he used to protect every one’s property.He protected the fathers & gods, sages & gandharvas as well as rakshsas.This is an important data. The conflict between the gods & rakshsas are well known. But Indra did not see to that rakshsas were eliminated. And needless to say Indra ruled a pluralistic society.In the world of the mortals Nahusa in the capacity of Indra saw to that all the four castes the brahamanas, the ksatryas, the vaisyas & sudras flourished in peace.Indra saw to that the sages could pursue the path of penance. And of course Nahusa/Indra shared one sixth of the fruition of asceticism of the sages as tax. This is a very significant point. If any government today protects the pious & the good men, the government & the bureaucracy are sure to share one sixth of the benefits that this pious reap. Attention! The IAS officers of our country. 

Nahusha had six fair speaking sons. They were ------ Yati.Yayati,Samyati,Aayati,Ayati & Dhruba.