Hindu Itihāsa Series: A lesson in power and perseverance

Prologue

Once the greatest war this world has ever seen ended, there wasn’t much one could see on the battlefield. This war that lasted a humongous 18 days and had millions of warriors participating in an effort to find glory and a hope for a better tomorrow in the lands of Bharata. It was here that Yudhisthira gets overcome by guilt from the destruction caused. However, it was his dharma to rule the kingdom now that he along with his four brothers had vanquished adharma fighting tooth and nail.
He approaches Bhisma, the legendary fighter who lay on a bed of arrows still, waiting to pass on the knowledge he acquired over decades to the new king. It is here that our tale is told. Amongst the many, questions and answers that were exchanged, there was one which we shall talk about now. The new king Yudhisthira asks Bhisma,

Pitāmā, what is the origin of the word Rājā ?

The story begins…

In the early days of Satyuga, no kingdoms existed. People were still conscious of their Dharma and lived an honest life. Over time however, their consciousness got muddled. The knowledge of the vedas started to vanish and the Mãtsya nyāya (big fish eats small fish) became the norm. Disturbed by this, the Devatās approached Brahma for a solution. It is here that Brahma wrote a treatise encompassing the three purushārthas: Dharma, Artha, Kāma. This treatise however was too long and too complicated for humans.

Enter, Shivā who further shortened the treatise from 1 lakh chapters to around 10 thousand. Indra, the king of the Devatãs learnt it and further shortened it to 5 thousand chapters which was further acted upon by the guru of the Devatās, Brihaspati and then Shukrāchārya who finally gave a 1000-chapter treatise.

Having finalized the treatise, they needed someone who could rule the Earth using this, be a just king who would further Dharma again. The Devatās approached Vishnu for this. Vishnu, having given it deep thought created his mānasputra, Virāja. But, there was now a problem, given his origin, Virāja was enlightened already and thus he chose renunciation of power and the royal privilege.

Virāja however, left behind his son Keertimãna to take over the reigns but alas, he too chose the path of nirvāna before leaving his son Kardama to take over. Kardama participated in intense tapasyã to overcome all his senses and it was his son, Ananga who finally accepted rulership. Ananga having been trained well, served as a good king. But as is the nature of power, it pushes you to do more. Ananga’s son, Atibala expanded the boundaries of the kingdom to vast measures. It was now that power started to corrupt Atibala. Enslaved by his sensual indulgences, he was destroyed soon after.
Atibala had a son named Vena in whom the seed that had corrupted Atibala, grew into a tree of Adharma. Vena was cruel, egoistic and did not pay heed to anyone else but himself. His oppresion grew to such extents that his subjects loathed him. He had to be killed by the rishis to stop the further spreading of adharma.

The kingdom now needed a ruler without whom it would fall to anarcy and utter chaos. It was here that the rishis created a man from the remains of Vena. His first words were, “Please tell me, how do I serve you?”

This man would later go on to be called Prithu, after whom the earth is named “Prithvi”. Prithu would go on to establish a state of Dharma across the globe. He looked after the people, cared for their prosperity, punished the miscreants and governed society as was envisioned by Brahmã.

Epilogue

Bhismā explained to Yudhisthira now that since Prithu brought happiness and delight (ranjati) to his people, he was called a Rājā.

Because he saved the rishis, upheld justice and saved the vedic traditions from extiction (kshatrānāt), he was called a Kshatriya.

And because he made the earth suitable for civilization, the earth is called Prithvi.

What can we learn?

Achieving success is rarely a one shot thing. You will most probably never achieve success in the first attempt but given enough dedication, hard work, introspection and improvisation, success is inevitable.
Success comes to those who persevere for it and are patient for it.

On the contrary, power if not kept in check will always corrupt you. Do what you must to keep yourself humble before it’s too late and external factors are needed to put a stop on your journey on the path of adharma.

I hope this piece gives you some insight about the nature of power, perseverance and patience. It’s an effort to preserve teachings from our scriptures and I will be writing about more tales from our itihãsa and dharmashãstras in the future.

— — Deepak Choudhary
Ashvina Shukla Chaturthi, Vikram Samvat 2081