King Janamejaya Performs Snake Sacrifice: Episode 1 (Feb 17, 2013)

Scene 1

Brahma appears before Vyasa who is performing the morning ablutions across a river bank.

Vyasa

: My prostrations to you, revered one. You have accepted my invitation and have appeared before me. Your kindness is unrivaled. Swami, I was merely a student of the Vedas, and you ordered me to compile and classify them. And I completed the task. You were happy with me and called me Vyasa. The whole world calls me Vyasa. God, kindly solve my problem.

Brahma

: Tell me what your problem is.

Vyasa

: My mind has become mired in the puddle of blood. Four generations have passed after the Kurukshetra war between the Pandavas and Kauravas. Yet the human blood spilled in the war hasn't yet become frozen in my mind and it remains fresh. The gory sight of lakhs of bodies bathing in the blood torment me. The mutilated horses and elephants torture me in my sleep. What should I do do to get over this? How do I make my mind a blank slate? You should bless me.

Brahma

: Vyasa!, You are a great sage. You are equal to Vasishtha. At the same time, you are a great poet too! You have composed several amazing poems in the past. Why don't you write hymns that describe the incidents connected with the war, the history of the people and their reasons for the war, and the consequences, all for the welfare of the world? When the lake becomes fulleth, it has to overflow. A poet has to expel the words that arise spontaneously in his mind. Who else is better suited for writing about Pandavas and Kauravas than you?

Vyasa

: True, my Lord. I know Bhishma, acharya Drona, Karna, Duryodhana, Arjuana and Lord Krishna quite intimately. Yet…

Brahma

: Why are you still hesitating?

Vyasa

: All rules of Dharma were flouted in this war. Even gods faulted in this war. People who swore by truth told lies in this war. Big people made big mistakes in this war. These are the points that trouble me. Won't I have to write about these issues too?

Brahma

: Yes, you have to write about them as well! When you are writing about Dharma, you have to write about Adharma too. You have to tell the world how the adharma-filled Kali Yuga began. Pandavas and Kauravas are your progenies. Is it not befitting that a great grand father writes about them?

Vyasa

: It is mired in slime and mud.

Brahma

: But that is where Bhagavata Gita originated!

Vyasa

: It made even Dharmaputra tell lies!

Brahma

: Did Karna not fight to keep up the promise to his mother even at the cost of his own life in this war? Did he not stop from aiming the deadly Astra the second time and spared Arjuna's life, losing his own life instead in this Kurukshetra war?

Vyasa

: Mahatma Bhishma was killed by Pandavas by keeping a woman in front in this war.

Brahma

: And this Mahatma did nothing to stop the shame of Draupadi being disrobed in public.

Vyasa

: Circumstances make valiant become cowardly; they make the pious commit sins.

Brahma

: And I am asking you to describe those circumstances. Write about the diseases, about their causes and also about the steps to prevent them.

Vyasa

: I understand, my Lord, I understand. I will say what is Dharma and what is non-dharma by describing and narrating the incidents in the lives of gods and men.

But how do I write about Mahabharata: with whose help?

Brahma

: With the help of Vignewara, He who removes all obstacles. Meditate on Him. A great Epic is about to be born by this effort. Everything will end well. Your efforts will bear fruition. My blessings to you.

Scene 2

Ganesha writes the Mahabharata tale as narrated and dictated by Vyasa, using the broken tip of one of His tusks.

Hasti was the king who founded the city that came to be called Hastinapura. The city had several strong forts and was the capital city of the rulers of Kuru dynasty.

Market place. A purohita (priest) is seen talking to a man selling his wares…

Purohita

: Give me a silk garment quickly. The king is going to conduct a Yagna (fire sacrifice)

Seller

: Yagna? Just last year he conducted one! Already he is said to have conducted more than a hundred Yagnas already. Does the king have no other job?

Purohita

: Yagna is conducted for the welfare of the world. That's what brings rain and prosperity to the land!

Seller

: But there is no shortage for these! Rain is abundant already and the earth yields six crops. There is absolutely no poverty. There is no rivalry amongst people. Children do not fight even playfully. Tigers and deers drink from the same pond. Why do you want a Yagna after all this?

Purohit

: It is the Sarpa Satra Yagna. A Yagna to kill all serpents.

Seller

: Why kill serpents? Let them also live along!

Purohit

: King Janamejaya's father, the great king Pareekshit, was killed by a snake.

Seller

: Why kill all snakes to take revenge against one serpent? Is that fair?

Scene 3

The scene of Yagna. King Janamejaya arrives and is welcomed. The chief priest asks the king to preside over the Yagna as usual.

King

: I prostrate before all who have assembled here. I welcome all. The Sarpa Satra Yagna is coming to a close today. I had been dreaming of this sacrifice for a long time. This has been my most cherished dream. And my cherished goal. When I had been receiving my education from Sage Uttanga, I asked him one question. Why was this Kurukshetra war fought? Why is human history replete with blood shed? Why does humanity delight in murder and carnage? My Guru explained to me, "Kurukshetra is not a physical entity or a barren land. It represents your mind. On that land there is a constant fight between goodness and evil, a war between dharma and non-dharma. Your good actions represent Pandavas and your evil thoughts and deeds are the Kauravas. The fight between them will exist always." I asked him about the ways to end this eternal rife. He said the serpents representing the evil should get destroyed. The snakes hiding venom under their fangs should cease to live. The way to achieve is the Sarpa Satra Yagna. Let this Yagna begin now.

The priests chant and offer oblations to the Fire.

The king continues, "Let us incinerate all the dark thoughts in the human mind in this sacrificial fire. May all our evil thoughts – lust, anger and greed – turn into snakes and burn in the embers. When the last of the snakes get scorched, there will be no dark areas in the human mind, only pure light. Today the Yagna gets completed. My people become free after this. Carry on! Carry on! Let us burn all the dark thoughts."

The king goads the priests to continue non-stop. Many serpents are seen crawling and falling into the fire. The king orders the sacrifice to continue without a break so that the new dawn wakes into a world where there is no strife.

Sage Astika who is in deep meditation in a forest is aroused by the chants. He shakes himself out and is seen walking away.

The king is jubilant and declares that the sacrifice has been a success. But the chief priest reports that Takshaka and his son were yet to make their appearance. The king is shocked.

King

: But I am performing this sacrifice mainly to exterminate them! Without eliminating them, the sacrifice does not reach completion. What happened to Takshaka? Why has he not appeared yet?

Priest

: That's what I don't understand too!

Scene 4

Sage Vyasa is seen seated in meditation. Two serpents, Takshaka and his son, appear before Vyasa. Vyasa opens his eyes and blesses them.

Vyasa

: Today Janamejaya's Yagna is coming to a close. Today is also the first day a Kuru heir will complete a Yagna without achieving its objective. I knew it is going to end this way. In God's creation, no life is created as superfluous or without a purpose. Everybody has a right to live, from the earthworm to the human. The air, the food, and the water have been given by God for all.

Takshaka

: By your grace alone we have been saved. I killed Pareekshit because I was ordered so by a slighted sage.

Vyasa

: I know that. I saw your curse swirling like a chakra over Pareekshit's head from the sixteenth day of his birth. I also saw your face in that chakra. Your vow is over. Become more peaceful now. Give up your anger. Anger is destructive.

Vyasa blesses them and sends them away.

Scene 5

King Janamejaya paces up and down. The sacrifice should not end in defeat, he tells his chief priest.

Purohit/priest

: Takshaka has sought refuge in Indra, so we must intensify our efforts.

Janamejaya

: Yes. Sages who know the mantras that compel Indra into submission are already on the way.

A sage enters. He introduces himself as Astika and says he is well versed in Vedas and is coming from the land of gods. The king expresses his happiness and hopes his presence would help bring the Yagna to a conclusion.

Astika

: I am coming from Vaikunta. I saw Narayana languishing in poverty. Garuda told me about his penurious circumstances with tears in his eyes.

King

: Is that so? That's surprising when Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, resides with him!

Astika

: Like the cow that goes in search of its calf, hasn't the goddess Lakshmi not residing with you now?

King

: Well said. All the wealth, like the sankha nidhi, paduma nidhi is here. Kubera is my door keeper, you know?

Astika

: I went to Indra Loka. Indra is now living in fear. His throne is as shaky as himself. He doesn't relish Amrita and he takes no delight in Rambha and Urvashi, the dancers in his palace.

King

: Ha ha ha! Did you hear that, revered Guru! But why is Indra afraid of me?

Astika

: You have performed a hundred Yagnas. Somebody has told him your aim is to usurp his place in heaven.

King

: Oh! That's great! My reputation has shaken even the god of gods, Indra. Your words are like nectar and have pleased my heart. Ask me what you want, and I shall give it to you.

Vaishampayana

: Please do not promise anything in haste.

King

: (to Vaishampayana)I come from the lineage of Karna. Don't forget that. (To Astika): Ask me what you want. My mind is in a happy state now.

Astika

: Would you give anything I ask?

King

: You doubt my words? You are living in the lap of Kamadhenu and under the shade of wish-fulfilling Kalpaga Tree.

Astika

: Can I trust your words? I want Takshaka's life.

King

: I can give you unlimited wealth, my entire kingdom, my accumulated merits (punya)…anything but that.

Astika

: Who is speaking now? Karna's descendant? Pandava's lineage has only one word, isn't it? Or you have thousand tongues like the Serpent Adisesha?

King

: This snake sacrifice is the dream I have nourished throughout my life.

Astika

: Is killing a snake is your life's dream, oh the scepter of Kshatryas?

King

: Tell me the truth. Who are you?

Astika

: I am the son of Jaratkaru. Manasa, the serpent goddess is my mother. I am the son of the sister of the great serpent king Vasuki.

King

: Is coming from the family of serpents the reason for your unshakable wish to save Takshaka?

Astika

: I have come as per the command of my mother. Isn't it a dharma to obey a mother's order?

King

: You have cheated me.

Astika

: Vedas say you can do anything to save somebody's life.

King

: The purpose of the Yagna was to take revenge against my great father Pareekshit's killer. Is it dharma to stop that? Isn't that non-dharma?

Astika

: Janamejaya, don't heap garlands of praises on Pareekshit's shoulders, just because he is your father. Pareekshit was a sinner. An adharmi. He sinned.

King

: My father, a sinner? I cannot accept that! If I accept that, all that I believed till now will become a nought.

Astika

: Ask Krishna Dvaipayana, the great Sage Vyasa, into this court. Let him decide whether what I am asking is in conflict with dharma.

King

: Please send word to Dvaipayana to come here.

Scene 6

Sage Vyasa is discoursing before a group of ascetics.

Vyasa

: People keep taking birth and keep dying in this world. While dying they impose their merits and demerits ('pava-punyam') on the coming generation. We must examine our lives critically and record it in writing…

Vaishampayana and another messenger by the name of Balabhadra arrive.

Vyasa

: Long lives to you both. Welcome. Is Janamejaya weighed down by the grief of not completing the Yagna?

Balabhadra

: Yes, Swami.

Vyasa

: Does he want to misuse the rituals meant to fight against an enemy to exterminate an entire race? Are Mantras your servants?

Balabhadra

: A great debate is going on between Janamejaya and Astika. Astika want your intervention.

Vyasa

: So, Astika asked me to come? I will come for the sake of that learned Gyani.

Scene 7

Vyas arrives, followed by Vaishampayana and Balabhadra. They are received by the king.

Vyasa

: How are you Astika? And your parents Jaratkaru and Manasa? I saw Manasa when she was six months old.

Astika

: My mother has now grown old and sports grey hair now.

The king offers Vyasa a seat.

Vyasa

: Janamejaya, why this urgent meeting?

King

: A great debate is raging here. This Astika with whom you chatted some time back is actually challenging our entire clan!

Astika to Vyasa

: Don't you know I am a simple man!

King

: Astika says the war between Pandavas and kauravas was one for power. I have been thinking all along that it was a war between dharma and non-dharma. Did my ancestors fight for selfish motives?

Vyasa

: They fought for dharma mixed with selfishness. That is what is called swa-dharma.

King

: What are you saying?

Astika

: Truth is always bitter.

King to Vyasa

: What is the truth, oh my Guru?

Astika

: Whoever fought in the Kurukshetra war had their own motives and reasons. To each, their own justification. And they fought for what they perceived as their justice.

King

: When Duryodhana drove Pandavas into forest …. was that also justified?

Astika

: Yes, he would have also had his own justification for that!

King

: If everybody fought only for justice, why was that war necessary?

Astika

: Don't you know that as a king? What appears as justice to one appears as injustice to another. What one believes the other refuses to believe. You are looking at only your justification. All I am saying is that even Kauravas are as righteous as the Pandavas.

Vyasa

: You said it right, Astika.

King

: Oh revered Guru, what is right? Are Yudhishtra and Duryodhana equal in terms of justice? Is Yudhishtra's righteousness the same as Duryodhana's dharma?

Vyasa

: That's what the God thinks too. When Yudhishtra went to the heaven, it was Duryodhana who welcomed home with "welcome, my elder brother"! Yudhihtra was shocked and said "You too in heaven"? Yudhishtra considered himself as dharmatama. That is why he carried the animosity to the heaven too. But Duryodhana never considered himself as dharmatmatma or adharmi. Wherever fate poked its way, he followed it as a thread follows the needle. That was his swa-dharma.

King

: Then why did Duryodhana lose in the war?

Astika

: Don't you know what happened in the Kurukshetra war? Let me remind you the facts, if you have forgotten them. In the mace fight, it is a cardinal rule that you should not hit the opponent below the navel. But Bhima hit Durydhana in the thigh. Thus he committed a grave mistake and failed in upholding dharma. Dharma gave Duryodhana a place in the heaven, but gave rise to confusion in Yudhishtra's mind.

King

: You are confusing by meandering into the blind alleys of dharma and trying to free Takshaka – is that Dharma?

Astika

: Your ancestor Arjuna burned Khandava forest and killed Takshaka's wife Takshaki. That enmity lasted for four generations. That is why Takshaka killed your father. Every action will always give rise to an opposite reaction.

King

: They should have taken their retribution then and there.

Astika

: To protect your ancestors, Krishna was there, and would He ever allow that? He stood like an armor for Arjuna. When sins were at their crest, Pareekshit invited the wrath of the sage and brought about his own downfall. The mind is a cave in which demons and ghosts live. What to do? This earth is made of sattva guna, tamo guna and rajo guna.

Vyasa

: Astika, you gave a wonderful explanation.

Astika

: The three gunas have to remain in balance. If one of these perishes, the other two cannot survive. You wanted to preserve the world. But if you had your way, you would have destroyed the world!

King

: You sowed the seeds of evil for the coming days.

Astika

: Yes, but a little evil should be left behind to survive. To speak in your language, a few serpents should be allowed to stay. Only then will good forces fight against the evil. Only then, action will take place in the world. That is why I saved Takshaka.

King to Vyasa

: My Kula Guru, you clarify. Is whatever Astika says, correct?

Vyasa

: Absolutely right. Before coming here, I met Takshaka. He escaped this Yagnasala and came to see me. And I blessed him.

King

: You blessed him! What are you talking about?

Vyasa

: I am talking about Dharma. I blessed him that he has a right to his life. Let me put an end to this debate. I do not find any flaw in Astika's arguments. Whatever he said is right. So, you offer Takshaka's life just as you promised.

King

: There is no counter argument to your command. I will do as directed.

Janamejaya offers Takshaka's life in a ritualistically symbolic way and Astika accepts it. The king turns to Vyasa.

King

: My Guru, do you say Pandavas are adharmis and Kauravas are the righteous?

Vyasa

: Definitely not. Yudhishtra was an incarnation of the god of dharma. He was the head of Dharma Yuga. But if fate could make even Dharmaputra to tell lies, then this new Yuga has been built on the edifice of untruth. But all this is only Maya, or illusion, Janamejaya. The void of Truth can be filled only by a kshtriya. That is, it can be filled only by Dharmaputra. Dharma will stand on the side of Truth. Why so much of confusion? On which side will God be: on the side of Dharma or on the side of adharma?

King

: On the side of Dharma.

Vyasa

: On whose side was Paramatma Krishna ?

King

: The whole world knows it. On the side of the Pandavas.

Vyasa

: Doesn't that show Pandavas were the righteous? All over the country, there is a lot of confusion regarding Kurukshetra. Like you, many are confounded by what is dharma, and what is adharma. I wrote the epic Mahabharata to clarify these issues for the common man to read and understand.

Scene 8

In the country of Bharat, Hastinapur was a big city. Four generations back, it was ruled by Shantanu belonging to the Chandra/Lunar dynasty. In his previous birth, Shantanu was Mahabhishak, the son of Ikshvaku. While attending a meeting organized by Brahma, Mahabhishak kept staring lustily at Ganga, because of which Brahma has cursed him to be born on earth (as Shantanu) and marry Ganga.

Shantanu's wife, the queen, has just given birth to a baby boy. The maids rush to Shantanu to convey the news, who rewards them generously and scrambles eagerly to the queen's apartments. He is dismayed at not finding the queen and the baby on the bed. As he looks out, he finds the queen walking towards the river with the baby in her arms. She bends down and puts the baby on the surface of the river water.

Shantanu is shocked.