Mahabharata – 161
by
Sankar Mukherjee
and Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
Aadivamsavatarana Parva
Bhisma reached Kasi
Bhisma the son of Ganga was a great warrior who learned the art of war from Parashuram.He was fierce in his vows. Hence he was called Bhisma. He considered that his step brother Vichitrivirya should get married. With the consent of his step mother Satyavati he rushed to Varanasi.
There at Varanasi a swaymvara was to be held by the king of Varanasi or Kasi. Bhisma would go there as the deputy of his younger step brother.There he should be chosen on behalf of his brother as the bride groom by the three princesses of the king of Varanasi.
There at the court of Varanasi, Bhisma, the son of Santanu, saw that the kings from all the countries far & wide had assembled from all directions. And there he also saw those three maidens that would select their husbands from the assembly of the kings. And when the assembled kings were each being introduced by name, the maidens seeing Bhisma old & alone moved away from him.The assembled kings laughed at Bhisma. Because Bhisma was already very old. His hair were grey. His skin was wrinkled. He had earlier taken the vow of celibacy. Now that he had come for the hands of the daughters of the king of Kasi,he proved himself a liar. On hearing these Bhisma was greatly annoyed.
He smiled on the other side of the face.
He was then aburning with his prowess. In a deep voice that likened the roar of the thundering clouds, he addressed the assembly of the
kings & said -- Oh kings!
1)Many people invite an accomplished bride groom & give away their daughter to him properly decked as per their capacity. They also give dowry to the bride groom. This kind of marriage might see eye to eye with what Dushmanta calls Brahma marriage.
2)Other people bestow two cows along with their daughter on the bride groom, who is commonly a sage. This is Arsha marriage.
3)Some others give away their daughters in exchange of certain amount of wealth.This is asura marriage.
4)Some wed with the consent of the maidens.This is gandharva marriage. It takes place in camera without the consent of the parents
or of the society. Dushmanta opines that this kind of marriage is ideal for the kshatriyas.But Bhisma is of a different opinion.
5) Some others again carry off the maidens by force.
This could be of two types with us. Firstly while exerting force the maiden would not mind even if her lover had killed all her kins. This is rakshasa marriage. Dushmanta approves of this marriage as fit for kshatriyas. The kind of marriage is still found among the Uzbeks & Kazakhs according to Wikipedia. But when the bride is looted by the bride groom she might not condescend to what the bride groom does.
This is paishacha marriage. It seems that Bhisma at Kasi staged a kind of paishacha marriage.
6)Some others again unite with maidens when the latter are not on their guard.This seems to be a kind of paishacha marriage.
7)Other people engaged in fire sacrifice receive maidens as their wives.This seems to be arsha marriage.
8)And some go to the maiden’s parents and obtain their sanction & get married. In that case it is decreed that they should lead a conjugal life according to dharma. This is Prajapatya marriage.
But according to Bhisma the kshatriyas praise the swaymvara. Because the maiden who is possessed after over powering the rivals in war is the ideal bride for the kshatriyas.
Oh kings! I am prepared for a battle with you.
Saying thus he lifted the three maidens by force & seated them on his chariot.
Earlier we heard Dushmanta dwelling on the different types of marriage. Marriage is a social institution where two or more men & women join in sexual relation with the approval of the society & the relation should be lasting. There the rights & duties of both man &
woman are acknowledged.
Of these, the learned always recommend the eighth form of marriage.
Kings, however, speak highly of the Swyamvara and themselves wed
according to it.Swyamvara is a custom of ancient India where the princess would garland the bride groom of her choice among a number of suitors.But Bhisma says that the maidens could be looted by force when a Swyamvara is taking place even against the will of the bride or brides. Is it not marriage paisachika style.
But Bhisma continued in his speech that the righteous say that, the wife taken away by force, after defeating the opponents, in the presence of princes and kings invited to a self-choice ceremony for women or Swayamvara is the best type of marriage for kshatriyas.
Therefore, you kings, I take away these maidens by force. Fight to the best of your might, to defeat me. You kings, I stand here resolved to fight!
This episode decked with Bhisma’s discourse on marriage reminds one of Dushmanta’s exhortations on marriage & gives us a vivid picture as to the status of a women in the world of the Mahabharata. In Swyamvara the bride might select her husband from an assembly of the suitors. It speaks of the liberty of a woman to choose her husband. But Swyamvara was not universally practiced. It was a custom only with the royal families. Besides Swyamvaras might be over ruled by the prowess of the heroes like Bhisma.Bhisma by force captured the three women Amba,Ambalika & Ambika. Whether they would agree to marry Vichitrivirya was out of question. So it seems that there was little freedom for women in case of marriage.True that love marriage such as gandhrava marriage was practiced.But in most cases women were purchased or bride grooms were purchased. No wonder that even after thousands of years since the days of the Mahabharata the dowry system lingers in India hanging heavy on the shoulders of the parents of a girl child. This is not all. Those who could not get their daughters married to a suitable bride groom might give away their daughters to their brahmin priest. True that polygamy was not universal in India during the nineteenth century. But the practice of giving away the daughter to the priests might have given legitimacy to the notorious
kulina marriage, if any, of the nineteenth century Bengal.
More to it. We do not know what to say when sages co-habited with the celestial women such as apsaras or beautiful women when the latter came on their way.
by
Sankar Mukherjee
and Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
Aadivamsavatarana Parva
Bhisma reached Kasi
Bhisma the son of Ganga was a great warrior who learned the art of war from Parashuram.He was fierce in his vows. Hence he was called Bhisma. He considered that his step brother Vichitrivirya should get married. With the consent of his step mother Satyavati he rushed to Varanasi.
There at Varanasi a swaymvara was to be held by the king of Varanasi or Kasi. Bhisma would go there as the deputy of his younger step brother.There he should be chosen on behalf of his brother as the bride groom by the three princesses of the king of Varanasi.
There at the court of Varanasi, Bhisma, the son of Santanu, saw that the kings from all the countries far & wide had assembled from all directions. And there he also saw those three maidens that would select their husbands from the assembly of the kings. And when the assembled kings were each being introduced by name, the maidens seeing Bhisma old & alone moved away from him.The assembled kings laughed at Bhisma. Because Bhisma was already very old. His hair were grey. His skin was wrinkled. He had earlier taken the vow of celibacy. Now that he had come for the hands of the daughters of the king of Kasi,he proved himself a liar. On hearing these Bhisma was greatly annoyed.
He smiled on the other side of the face.
He was then aburning with his prowess. In a deep voice that likened the roar of the thundering clouds, he addressed the assembly of the
kings & said -- Oh kings!
1)Many people invite an accomplished bride groom & give away their daughter to him properly decked as per their capacity. They also give dowry to the bride groom. This kind of marriage might see eye to eye with what Dushmanta calls Brahma marriage.
2)Other people bestow two cows along with their daughter on the bride groom, who is commonly a sage. This is Arsha marriage.
3)Some others give away their daughters in exchange of certain amount of wealth.This is asura marriage.
4)Some wed with the consent of the maidens.This is gandharva marriage. It takes place in camera without the consent of the parents
or of the society. Dushmanta opines that this kind of marriage is ideal for the kshatriyas.But Bhisma is of a different opinion.
5) Some others again carry off the maidens by force.
This could be of two types with us. Firstly while exerting force the maiden would not mind even if her lover had killed all her kins. This is rakshasa marriage. Dushmanta approves of this marriage as fit for kshatriyas. The kind of marriage is still found among the Uzbeks & Kazakhs according to Wikipedia. But when the bride is looted by the bride groom she might not condescend to what the bride groom does.
This is paishacha marriage. It seems that Bhisma at Kasi staged a kind of paishacha marriage.
6)Some others again unite with maidens when the latter are not on their guard.This seems to be a kind of paishacha marriage.
7)Other people engaged in fire sacrifice receive maidens as their wives.This seems to be arsha marriage.
8)And some go to the maiden’s parents and obtain their sanction & get married. In that case it is decreed that they should lead a conjugal life according to dharma. This is Prajapatya marriage.
But according to Bhisma the kshatriyas praise the swaymvara. Because the maiden who is possessed after over powering the rivals in war is the ideal bride for the kshatriyas.
Oh kings! I am prepared for a battle with you.
Saying thus he lifted the three maidens by force & seated them on his chariot.
Earlier we heard Dushmanta dwelling on the different types of marriage. Marriage is a social institution where two or more men & women join in sexual relation with the approval of the society & the relation should be lasting. There the rights & duties of both man &
woman are acknowledged.
Of these, the learned always recommend the eighth form of marriage.
Kings, however, speak highly of the Swyamvara and themselves wed
according to it.Swyamvara is a custom of ancient India where the princess would garland the bride groom of her choice among a number of suitors.But Bhisma says that the maidens could be looted by force when a Swyamvara is taking place even against the will of the bride or brides. Is it not marriage paisachika style.
But Bhisma continued in his speech that the righteous say that, the wife taken away by force, after defeating the opponents, in the presence of princes and kings invited to a self-choice ceremony for women or Swayamvara is the best type of marriage for kshatriyas.
Therefore, you kings, I take away these maidens by force. Fight to the best of your might, to defeat me. You kings, I stand here resolved to fight!
This episode decked with Bhisma’s discourse on marriage reminds one of Dushmanta’s exhortations on marriage & gives us a vivid picture as to the status of a women in the world of the Mahabharata. In Swyamvara the bride might select her husband from an assembly of the suitors. It speaks of the liberty of a woman to choose her husband. But Swyamvara was not universally practiced. It was a custom only with the royal families. Besides Swyamvaras might be over ruled by the prowess of the heroes like Bhisma.Bhisma by force captured the three women Amba,Ambalika & Ambika. Whether they would agree to marry Vichitrivirya was out of question. So it seems that there was little freedom for women in case of marriage.True that love marriage such as gandhrava marriage was practiced.But in most cases women were purchased or bride grooms were purchased. No wonder that even after thousands of years since the days of the Mahabharata the dowry system lingers in India hanging heavy on the shoulders of the parents of a girl child. This is not all. Those who could not get their daughters married to a suitable bride groom might give away their daughters to their brahmin priest. True that polygamy was not universal in India during the nineteenth century. But the practice of giving away the daughter to the priests might have given legitimacy to the notorious
kulina marriage, if any, of the nineteenth century Bengal.
More to it. We do not know what to say when sages co-habited with the celestial women such as apsaras or beautiful women when the latter came on their way.
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