While he was in Gokul, as a mischievous kid, Krishna was often accused of stealing butter. As he grew into a young man, people accused him of stealing the hearts of young girls. He was now an adult and the prince of Dwarika. But accusations of stealing never left Krishna. And now, he was faced with the accusation of stealing an expensive Gem. What is this new story?
There was this great devotee of Sun God, namely Satrajita. The Sun God was so pleased with him that he gifted him a marvelous Gem called Syamantaka. This gem was so special that whoever wore this Syamantaka shined like the Sun. The Gem also had many other miraculous powers. Satrajita installed the Gem in his altar with great respect that it deserved.
Krishna came to know about this Gem and he casually suggested to Satrajita that he should gift such a rare Gem to aging King Ugrasena. But Satrajita refused. Krishna did not insist on that and he probably even forgot about it.
One day, Prasena – the brother of Satrajita wore the Syamantaka in his necklace and proudly went on a hunting expedition. But he never returned from the forest even after days passed. Satrajita accused Krishna of killing his brother for the sake of the Gem. Krishna was innocent, but there was every reason to suspect him. Krishna had to prove his innocence.
Krishna went to the forest where Prasena was missing. After lot of search, Krishna found Prasena’s chariot abandoned in a very bad condition. There were blood marks indicating that some wild beast had attacked Prasena and taken him as its prey. After some examination, Krishna found the carcass of a lion in the vicinity. So, Krishna guessed that Prasena must have been killed by that lion. But who killed the lion and where was the Gem?
Blood trails finally led Krishna to a cave. Krishna entered that cave and found a small baby playing with the Syamantaka Gem. Actually, the cave belonged to the King of Bears namely Jambavanta. It was he who probably killed the lion and took the Gem. Krishna had to return with the Gem to come clean of the accusation that was levelled against him.
But the Bear King Jambavanta would not let Krishna to take the Gem so easily. He attacked Krishna and a fierce battle ensued between the Bear and Krishna. Krishna finally over powered Jambavanta.
Now a little background…
Jambavanta was no ordinary bear. He was actually the same bear King who had served Rama in the previous era. I am referring to the story of Ramayana – another great Indian epic.
Very briefly, Rama - the prince of Ayodhya had to leave the Kingdom and move to the forest along with his wife Sita and brother Laxmana. While they were in the forest the demon King Ravana kidnapped Rama’s wife Sita. Ravana kept her hostage in Lanka – his island Kingdom far to the south of India.
Rama and Laxmana had no idea about where Sita was, till a bird Jatayu told them that it had seen Ravana carrying Sita to Lanka on his airplane Pushpaka Vimana. Yes, you heard it right. According to Ramayana, aircrafts did exist at the time of Ramayana, albeit built by superhumans or aliens. And Ravana had one such air craft.
Finally, Rama went to Lanka and freed his wife Sita after killing Ravana. It was the same Jambavanta, along with his Vanara friends, who had helped Rama in achieving that. It is believed that the same Rama who was an incarnation of God, had appeared once again in human form as Krishna. Jambavanta was still alive when Rama took birth once again as Krishna.
Jambavanta was a very wise bear. It did not take much time for him to realize that Krishna was none other than Rama in his new Avtar. So, Jambavanta apologized to the lord and fell at his feet. He handed over the Syamantaka Gem to Krishna. Jambavanta did not stop there. Jambavanta had a foster daughter by name Jambavati. He offered Krishna the hand of Jambavati along with the Gem.
Krishna returned to Dwarika along with his new bride Jambavati and the Gem Syamantaka. Krishna handed over the Gem to Satrajita and was absolved of the accusation of stealing it. Satrajita was very much ashamed of whatever he had done. He apologized to Krishna and asked him to keep the Gem. But Krishna refused to accept the Gem.
Satrajita finally offered the hand of his daughter Satyabhama to Krishna. Krishna accepted this proposal and had one more wife along with Rukmini and Jambavati ;-)
Though polygamy is illegal in India today, and looked down as unethical, ancient Indian religious laws did not forbid such a practice. A person could have more than one wife all at the same time. More so if he was a King. Kings married not just for the sake of companionship, but also as part of their political strategy. It was common for two Kings to enter into a matrimonial alliance by offering one’s daughter to another even if he was already married. This they did to foster better ties between them.
Often a defeated King would offer the hand of his daughter to the victorious one to sort out the animosity. There were other occasions on which a person is compelled to marry even when he was already married. If a suitable girl falls in love with an equally suitable man, then it was considered to be dishonoring the girl if he refuses to marry her. He was bound to marry her even if he was already married. There were umpteen number of cases in ancient India when such polygamy was common place and never frowned upon.
Probably the only exception to this was Rama, the hero of Ramayana, who was always loyal to his only wife Sita and swore never to marry anyone else. Even when Sita got separated from him, Rama remained single till his final departure from the world. Some even speculate that Krishna married so many women, just to keep his promises in his previous incarnation as Rama during which he could not do it.
But things have changed these days. Even though polygamy may still be practiced stealthily in India, it is considered to be illegal and punishable under law. More than anything else, it is considered unethical. I am just giving this peep back into history since Krishna having so many wives may amaze some people. That was the normal, acceptable practice in those days.
Let us continue our story in the next episode.
I am glad that the horrendous practise of polygamy where women were considered as objects/possessions is not practised any more.
ReplyDeleteIt is people like you who have the courage to call a spade a spade that made India to evolve into a better society (at least theoretically) by not hanging on to old practices in the name of religion. It is the silent majority which is often equally responsible to such practices, as the perpetrators.
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