Adi Parva: Sections 9-12 (of the Pauloma Parva)
The Story
Ruru retires into a wood and bewails in melodramatic fashion the death of his beloved Pramadvara. He indulges in a piteous appeal to have his beloved restored to life. A messenger from heaven arrives and tells Ruru that 'The words thou utterest, O Ruru, in thy affliction are certainly ineffectual.' It transpires that it is not Ruru's wish for Pramadvara's resurrection that is pitiful, but just his method of acquiring said resurrection--apparently he needs to give up part of his own life. Or, as the translator puts it 'a moiety' of his life. Ruru gratefully agrees to the tip-off and Pramadvara is restored to life.
Ruru then engages in a course of vengeance on the snake world, which seems vindictive in the extreme, given that Pramadvara is NOT ACTUALLY DEAD. Sure enough, an 'old serpent of the Dundubha species' calls Ruru on this: 'I have done thee no harm, O Brahmana! Then wherefore wilt thou slay me in anger?' Ruru explains about his vow of vengeance, and the snake explains that Dundubha snakes are not harmful to men, and so should be left alone. Ruru agrees and the snake confesses that he actually used to be a Rishi called Sahasrapat.
Sahasrapat then recounts how he was turned into a snake--he played a practical joke on a friend who was performing a fire-sacrifice, scaring him with a fake snake. Despite his appeal to his friend that 'I did this by way of a joke, to excite thy laughter', he is turned into a snake, but told that one day he will meet Rishi Ruru who will restore him to human form. Sure enough, this has come to pass! (Lo, the circular narratives continue!)
The moral of the story is then imparted to Ruru: 'verily the highest virtue of man is sparing the life of others. Therefore a Brahmana should never take the life of any creature'.
Finally, Sahasrapat promises to tell Ruru the story of the destruction of the snakes at Janamejaya and their deliverance by Astika (no doubt our next parva!) and then promptly and teasingly vanishes.
The Characters
(Rishi) Ruru--snake-smiter and lover of Pramadvara
(ex-Rishi) Sahasrapat--appears in the form of a Dundubha snake and is restored to human life by Ruru.
Best bits
- The repetition of the word 'moiety' four times in two short paragraphs.
- The evocative description of Ruru's vindictiveness: 'whenever he saw a serpent he became filled with great wrath and always killed it with a weapon'
- The poetic but non-specific description of Dundubhas 'subject like other serpents to the same calamities but not sharing their good fortune, in woe the same but in joy different' (what is their joy? one wonders)
- Ruru working himself into a state of exhaustion searching for the vanished Sahasrapat--'having failed to find him in all the woods, fell down on the ground, fatigued'. He passes out then revives himself and trots off home to discover that his dad can (conveniently!) tell him the story anyway.
Speculation
So are Dundubhas always humans in snake form?
Why did Sahasrapat vanish? I'm intrigued...
Mental state
Zen-like. Om!
ETA: supacat reflects on the Pauloma Parva as a whole in the comments below.
Ruru retires into a wood and bewails in melodramatic fashion the death of his beloved Pramadvara. He indulges in a piteous appeal to have his beloved restored to life. A messenger from heaven arrives and tells Ruru that 'The words thou utterest, O Ruru, in thy affliction are certainly ineffectual.' It transpires that it is not Ruru's wish for Pramadvara's resurrection that is pitiful, but just his method of acquiring said resurrection--apparently he needs to give up part of his own life. Or, as the translator puts it 'a moiety' of his life. Ruru gratefully agrees to the tip-off and Pramadvara is restored to life.
Ruru then engages in a course of vengeance on the snake world, which seems vindictive in the extreme, given that Pramadvara is NOT ACTUALLY DEAD. Sure enough, an 'old serpent of the Dundubha species' calls Ruru on this: 'I have done thee no harm, O Brahmana! Then wherefore wilt thou slay me in anger?' Ruru explains about his vow of vengeance, and the snake explains that Dundubha snakes are not harmful to men, and so should be left alone. Ruru agrees and the snake confesses that he actually used to be a Rishi called Sahasrapat.
Sahasrapat then recounts how he was turned into a snake--he played a practical joke on a friend who was performing a fire-sacrifice, scaring him with a fake snake. Despite his appeal to his friend that 'I did this by way of a joke, to excite thy laughter', he is turned into a snake, but told that one day he will meet Rishi Ruru who will restore him to human form. Sure enough, this has come to pass! (Lo, the circular narratives continue!)
The moral of the story is then imparted to Ruru: 'verily the highest virtue of man is sparing the life of others. Therefore a Brahmana should never take the life of any creature'.
Finally, Sahasrapat promises to tell Ruru the story of the destruction of the snakes at Janamejaya and their deliverance by Astika (no doubt our next parva!) and then promptly and teasingly vanishes.
The Characters
(Rishi) Ruru--snake-smiter and lover of Pramadvara
(ex-Rishi) Sahasrapat--appears in the form of a Dundubha snake and is restored to human life by Ruru.
Best bits
- The repetition of the word 'moiety' four times in two short paragraphs.
- The evocative description of Ruru's vindictiveness: 'whenever he saw a serpent he became filled with great wrath and always killed it with a weapon'
- The poetic but non-specific description of Dundubhas 'subject like other serpents to the same calamities but not sharing their good fortune, in woe the same but in joy different' (what is their joy? one wonders)
- Ruru working himself into a state of exhaustion searching for the vanished Sahasrapat--'having failed to find him in all the woods, fell down on the ground, fatigued'. He passes out then revives himself and trots off home to discover that his dad can (conveniently!) tell him the story anyway.
Speculation
So are Dundubhas always humans in snake form?
Why did Sahasrapat vanish? I'm intrigued...
Mental state
Zen-like. Om!
ETA: supacat reflects on the Pauloma Parva as a whole in the comments below.