3rd December every year is observed as International World Disability Day. Since 1992 it was been promoted by the United Nation. In India, both the Government as well as the Society at large has much to be empathetic as well as respectful of the people with disabilities. My thought process of bringing up Disability as a point of discussion because I want to site a perfect example of disability from Hindu mythology.
In this regard, I want to share a story from Mahabharata - which is one of the biggest epics in the world. Once upon a time, there lived a Sage/Rishi Uddalaka, who used to run an ashram. One of his brightest student in the ashram was, Kahola. He (Kahola) got married to his (Sage/Rishi Uddalaka) daughter Sujata and started staying in the ashram and taught as Sage/Rishi Uddalaka used to do.
When Sujata was pregnant, she would attend all the classes and lectures given by both Sage/Rishi Uddalaka and Sage/Rishi Kahola, so that her unborn child could get to hear the lesson from the scriptures even before he came into the world. Once when Sujata was attending a class by Sage/Rishi Kahola, the embryo heard the recitation and Apparently he was correcting his father’s mispronunciation when he was still in the womb of his mother. Sage/Rishi Kahola was angered at the impudence of an unborn child and cursed it with a deformity. This happened eight times and when the child was born, it had eight deformities, wherein the child was crooked in eight places and was thus named Ashtavakra, which means one who had eight bends in his body.
While the child was very young, Sujata came to know that the King Janak of Mithila -the famous philosopher-king, was going to perform a yagna and he inviting all the sages/rishis from far and wide places. She urged Sage/Rishi Kahola to go to the court of King Janak of Mithil with the hope of making some fortune, prosperity, and wealth. On reaching the court of King Janak of Mithila, Sage/Rishi Kahola was made aware of a condition and the circumstances, according to the guideline, the yagna could begin only after a sage/rishi would defeat Sage/Rishi Bandhi (a very well known and renowned sage/rishi of the times) in a debate. However, if any sage was defeated by Sage/Rishi Bandhi, then he would have to drown himself in the river. It was a sad situation, that Sage/Rishi Kahola lost the debate and had to drown himself in the river. The incident left a deep impact on Sujata and soon Ashtavakra was put under the tutelage of his grandfather, Sage/Rishi Uddalaka.
Young Ashtavakra completed his education at the very age of twelve and soon came to about the yagna and his father’s death. He decided to go to the court of King Janak of Mithila and challenge Sage/Rishi Bandhi, who was defamed for being made to drown many sage/rishi and had earned a reputation of invincibility. When young Ashtavakra reached the court of the King of Janak of Mithila, the gathering there was more than amused to see young Ahstavakra. They did not hide their amusement when they came to know that he intended to challenge none other than Sage/Rishi Bandhi. Young Ashtavakra was very angry at the misbehavior of the crowd and is supposed to have said that he was surprised to see an august and distinguished gathering of learned people, who were laughing at his deformity when they knew very well, that a river flows crookedly, but the water never does. One should not look at the external part of the body, however the knowledge within. This outburst shut up everybody there. King Janak of Mithila is supposed to have had a discourse with him and after being satisfied with his knowledge, invited Sage/Rishi Bandhi for public discourse with Ashtavakra.
When Sage/Rishi Bandhi repeated his condition, young Ashtavakra replied that he agreed to the condition of Sage/Rishi Bandhi, but the same condition would apply to him, if he losses the challenges. Sage/Rishi Bandhi replied “such a condition was never put forth to me, before” and all present at the court were shocked to hear that. Sage/Rishi Bandhi agreed and the debate started. This time the debates ended sooner than expected and sure enough, Sage/Rishi Bandhi was defeated! At this stage, young Ashtavakra disclosed his parentage and insisted that the Sage/Rishi be drowned to avenge the death of his father.
However, Sage/Rishi Bandhi revealed that he was actually the son of Lord Varuna, the lord of the seas and he was sent on earth by his father to send renowned sages/rishies from earth to enable his father to complete a twelve-year yagna. The good news was that the yagna was complete and if they went towards the river, they could find all the sages/rishies. They all moved to the river, all the drowned sages/rishies emerged out of the river including Sage/Rishi Kahola. After this Sage/Rishi Bandhi advised young Ashtavakra to take a dip into the river and no sooner had he done this, he was cured of his deformity and emerged looking young and handsome.
I won’t debate on the topic if the entire incident was a real one or a myth but I will focus on the great teaching within the incident. The real identity of a person is not his/her physical appearance but the inner values and knowledge. Young Ashtavakra’s exclamation at the court of King Janak of Mithila makes a very interesting observation about looking at the beauty and the essence which is skin deep and not on the skin or the physical structure. Knowledge is what gets one ahead in life and not necessarily just one’s look. We might be living in a changing world where the statement might not mean much, but way back then, knowledge and its effective usage was all that mattered to people. In Ashtavakra’s own words, just as the nature of a temple is not affected by its shape, so did the deformity or the shape of man’s body which did not affect his inner self or the soul.
The discourse between young Ashtavakra and King Janak of Mithila prior to the debate with Sage/Rishi Bandhi is a disquisition by itself which is better known as the “Ashtavakra Gita” it is alternately referred to as “Ashtavakra Samhita” and is well fed with profound knowledge and wisdom in the form of question and answers, King Janak of Mithila gets initiated into self-knowledge, wisdom, and realization.
In this regard, I want to share a story from Mahabharata - which is one of the biggest epics in the world. Once upon a time, there lived a Sage/Rishi Uddalaka, who used to run an ashram. One of his brightest student in the ashram was, Kahola. He (Kahola) got married to his (Sage/Rishi Uddalaka) daughter Sujata and started staying in the ashram and taught as Sage/Rishi Uddalaka used to do.
When Sujata was pregnant, she would attend all the classes and lectures given by both Sage/Rishi Uddalaka and Sage/Rishi Kahola, so that her unborn child could get to hear the lesson from the scriptures even before he came into the world. Once when Sujata was attending a class by Sage/Rishi Kahola, the embryo heard the recitation and Apparently he was correcting his father’s mispronunciation when he was still in the womb of his mother. Sage/Rishi Kahola was angered at the impudence of an unborn child and cursed it with a deformity. This happened eight times and when the child was born, it had eight deformities, wherein the child was crooked in eight places and was thus named Ashtavakra, which means one who had eight bends in his body.
While the child was very young, Sujata came to know that the King Janak of Mithila -the famous philosopher-king, was going to perform a yagna and he inviting all the sages/rishis from far and wide places. She urged Sage/Rishi Kahola to go to the court of King Janak of Mithil with the hope of making some fortune, prosperity, and wealth. On reaching the court of King Janak of Mithila, Sage/Rishi Kahola was made aware of a condition and the circumstances, according to the guideline, the yagna could begin only after a sage/rishi would defeat Sage/Rishi Bandhi (a very well known and renowned sage/rishi of the times) in a debate. However, if any sage was defeated by Sage/Rishi Bandhi, then he would have to drown himself in the river. It was a sad situation, that Sage/Rishi Kahola lost the debate and had to drown himself in the river. The incident left a deep impact on Sujata and soon Ashtavakra was put under the tutelage of his grandfather, Sage/Rishi Uddalaka.
Young Ashtavakra completed his education at the very age of twelve and soon came to about the yagna and his father’s death. He decided to go to the court of King Janak of Mithila and challenge Sage/Rishi Bandhi, who was defamed for being made to drown many sage/rishi and had earned a reputation of invincibility. When young Ashtavakra reached the court of the King of Janak of Mithila, the gathering there was more than amused to see young Ahstavakra. They did not hide their amusement when they came to know that he intended to challenge none other than Sage/Rishi Bandhi. Young Ashtavakra was very angry at the misbehavior of the crowd and is supposed to have said that he was surprised to see an august and distinguished gathering of learned people, who were laughing at his deformity when they knew very well, that a river flows crookedly, but the water never does. One should not look at the external part of the body, however the knowledge within. This outburst shut up everybody there. King Janak of Mithila is supposed to have had a discourse with him and after being satisfied with his knowledge, invited Sage/Rishi Bandhi for public discourse with Ashtavakra.
When Sage/Rishi Bandhi repeated his condition, young Ashtavakra replied that he agreed to the condition of Sage/Rishi Bandhi, but the same condition would apply to him, if he losses the challenges. Sage/Rishi Bandhi replied “such a condition was never put forth to me, before” and all present at the court were shocked to hear that. Sage/Rishi Bandhi agreed and the debate started. This time the debates ended sooner than expected and sure enough, Sage/Rishi Bandhi was defeated! At this stage, young Ashtavakra disclosed his parentage and insisted that the Sage/Rishi be drowned to avenge the death of his father.
However, Sage/Rishi Bandhi revealed that he was actually the son of Lord Varuna, the lord of the seas and he was sent on earth by his father to send renowned sages/rishies from earth to enable his father to complete a twelve-year yagna. The good news was that the yagna was complete and if they went towards the river, they could find all the sages/rishies. They all moved to the river, all the drowned sages/rishies emerged out of the river including Sage/Rishi Kahola. After this Sage/Rishi Bandhi advised young Ashtavakra to take a dip into the river and no sooner had he done this, he was cured of his deformity and emerged looking young and handsome.
I won’t debate on the topic if the entire incident was a real one or a myth but I will focus on the great teaching within the incident. The real identity of a person is not his/her physical appearance but the inner values and knowledge. Young Ashtavakra’s exclamation at the court of King Janak of Mithila makes a very interesting observation about looking at the beauty and the essence which is skin deep and not on the skin or the physical structure. Knowledge is what gets one ahead in life and not necessarily just one’s look. We might be living in a changing world where the statement might not mean much, but way back then, knowledge and its effective usage was all that mattered to people. In Ashtavakra’s own words, just as the nature of a temple is not affected by its shape, so did the deformity or the shape of man’s body which did not affect his inner self or the soul.
The discourse between young Ashtavakra and King Janak of Mithila prior to the debate with Sage/Rishi Bandhi is a disquisition by itself which is better known as the “Ashtavakra Gita” it is alternately referred to as “Ashtavakra Samhita” and is well fed with profound knowledge and wisdom in the form of question and answers, King Janak of Mithila gets initiated into self-knowledge, wisdom, and realization.
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