The Story of Somaka in the Mahabharata

The Story of Somaka in the Mahabharata and its Metamorphosis in the Skanda Mahapurana [mahabharate somakakhyanam tasya skandamahapurane svarupaparivartanam ca] / By Sri V.M. Bedekar; Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona / 17-26

[ mahabharatiya somakakhyanasya skandamahapurane dharmasakhacaritasya catra tulanatmakam vivecana maitihasikadrstya prastuyate | Sen somako nrpatih svapurohita- dharmasakharaca hanumatkunde snatva dharmasakhasya ca prathamah putrah sucandro dvara sammatya sviyaputram jantum naramedhayajne bali datva putryestiyajnanusthanadvara, satam putranalabhetam | yajne na mrtah pratodhika stisthati | dvavapi nrpati ekaputratvena bhrsam duhkhitau srastam, satam patnibhyo sataputranam krte cintitau yajnamatanutam, saphalau cabhavatam | mahabharate pradhanayajnikapurohitah prerakatvena mahatim naraki yatanamanvabhavat, somako'pi tadavalokya pidito jata ityapi samketito vartate | evam srilekhakamahasayo'tra svatippani sahitamakhyanadvayam yathavat prastuya, kathanakayoh vikasakramam prasamgapari- sthitivarganadivislesana purahsaram samyak pariksitavan | ubhayoh varnanasamyavaisamya- pradarsanapurvakam sayuktikam sapramagamaikatmyamupasthapayati, saptadasasamanavakyanyudahrtya sabdagatam vaicarikam ca samanjasyam pramanayati | parasparam dvayoscaritayoh purvaparapari- ksanena mahabharatiyakhyanasya adharabhutamaulikata, purvavartita, manaviyamahattva- prakhyapakata ca nirdharita'sti | tasya pauranikam samskaranam tu tatparavati tadanuvada- matra kalantare paristhityanukulam yatharuci samsodhitarupamiti pratiyate | tirthamahatmya- varnanenapi puraniyakathayah paravartitvam sidhyati | matsyavayupuranayorapi samksipta paricayatmaka samketo mahabharatiyaya eva kathayah, tasya eva nirdesah "sri ravindranatha taigora mahodayairapi krta iti nibandhakrdabhimatam matam | ] There occurs in the Mahabharata 1 (Mbh. 3.127-128) a story of king Somaka who had only one son and who wanted to have a hundred sons. On the advice of his priest, he offered in & sacrifice his only son-in order to get a hundred sons. In the Skanda Mahapurana ( Sh. 3.1.15) there is a story of king Dharmasakha who had only one son and who wanted to get a 1. Mahabharata, critical edition published by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute Poona. 2. Skanda mahapurana, Sri Venkateshvara Press Edition, Bombay (1909). 3

18 puranam - PURANA [Vol. X., No. 1 hundred sons. On the advice of his priests he took bath in a sacred pool called Hanumat-Kunda and performed a sacrifice on its banks in order to secure a hundred sons. A comparative study of the two stories, which is presented below, will help, it is hoped, to bring out the similarities and differences in the story and their significance. In order to facilitate the study of the similarities and differences, the story is divided into, and presented in, the following three parts: I. The occasion for the narration of the story. II. The tribulations of the royal parents having only one III. The rite which enabled the king to get a hundred sons. At the end of every part, there follows a note (within rectangular brackets) summing up the striking similarities and differences. I. The Occasion for the narration of the story. Mbh 3.125.23; 3.127.1 brad of The sage Lomasa described to Yudhisthira the importance of a holy place on the Yamuna where king Somaka lived and performed sacrifice. Yudhisthira asked the sage about the details of Somaka's achievements. In reply, Lomasa narrated the story of Somaka. Sk. 3.1.15.1-9 Suta, while describing to the sages the importance of a sacred pool named Hanumat-kunda, referred to a story of king Dharmasakha who, as a result of his ablutions in the sacred pool, had got a hundred sons. Requested by the sages for more details about the life of Dharmasakha, Suta narrated the story. [Note 1: The occasion for and the purpose of the narration of the stories appear to be similar in both the works, viz. high-lighting the imortance of two holy places (tirthas) associated with the lives of two kings of antiquity-king Somaka in the Mbh. and king Dharmasakha in the Sk.] II. The tribulation of the royal parents having only one son Mbh. 3.127, 2-21; 3.128.1

Jan., 19681 THE STORY OF SOMAKA 19 (Lomasa narrated the story :) "There was a king named Somaka. He had a hundred wives. But for a long time he had no son from any of them. At long last, in his old age, he got one son named Jantu. All the hundred mothers surrounded Jantu and attended upon him, denying themselves all other pleasures. Once an ant bit Jantu on the hip and the child screamed with pain. All the mothers surrounded him and yelled and shricked with agony. A terrible noise filled the air. The king, who was sitting with his council of ministers and priests, heard the shricks of agony from the inner apartments. He sent an attendant to inquire what all that was about. On knowing the true state of things, he went to his son and consoled him. He, again, sat with bis council of ministers and priests and said to them: 'Oh! It is a torment to have only one son. It is better to have no son than to have only one son. I carefully collected and married a hundred wives, with the desire of getting sons. But they have no child. With great difficulty, somehow, this one son Janty from one among all the hundred. My youth is past. This one son has been the breath of mine and of my wives. Is there any rite small, big or difficult, by which I can have a hundred sons.' The sacrificial priest replied that there existed a rite which would get him a hundred sons: 'I shall tell you about it, if you are ready and able to carry it out', he added. Somaka replied: "Let the rite be good or evil. Take it as already done!" 0:00 Sk. 3.1.15.10-43 (Suta narrated the story to the sages). "There lived a King named Dharma-Sakha who had a hundred wives. He had, however, no son. He had, however, no son. For getting a a son, he performed sacrifices, gave away gifts of gold equal to a man's weight, distributed food unsparingly and recited mantras or spells which claimed to confer progeny. At long last, in his old age, he begot a son named Sucandra from his seniormost queen. All the other mothers together brought the child up, without malice or jealousy. Once when the son slept in his cradle a scorpion bit him on his leg. Suffering from the stinging pain, the child

20 puranam - PURANA [Vol. X., No. 1 wept bitterly. The mothers surrounded him and screamed with The King who was pain. A tumultuous noise filled the air. sitting with his council of ministers and priests heard the shricks of distress. He sent an attendant to inquire about the cause. Knowing from the attendant that the son was stung by a scorpion, the king along with men who knew spells against scorpion-bite went to the inner apartment and got the son treated with medicines. When the son felt better, the King filled with anxiety again went back to the council chamber and conferred with his ministers and priests. He said to them. To have only one son is a torture It is better to have no son than having one son. I married a hundred wives. My youth is now past. This one son has been the breath of mine and of my wives. Ther Therefore, If there be any such rite, tell me how I can get many sons. small or big or difficult, I assure you, I shall carry it out. Whatever you may ask me to do in order to get a hundred sons" take it as already done. I swear by it". [Note 2: It will be seen that the development of the story up to this point is essentially identical in the Mbh. and the Sk. There are only a few, slight and nominal differences: In the Mbh., the King and his son are named Somaka and Jantu respectively; in the Sk. they are named Dharmasakha and Sucandra respectively. In the Mbh. it is the ant that bites the child on the hip; in the Sk., it is the scorpion that bites the... child on the leg. With regard to this difference, it may be remarked that the Mbh. version of the bite contributes to greater literary and aesthetic effect than that in the Sk. The ant-bite rather than the scorpion-bite is more appropriate and conducive to the heightening of sentimentality that is intended by the story to be built around the only child. Leaving aside these differences, the development of the story is essentially identical. There are found in seventeen places close similarities in idea, word and phrase. They are listed below: of hamil trwl h Mbh. 3.127 dido os and a Sk. 3.1.15 kadacittasya vrddhasya yatamanasya bhupateh | kadacittasya vrddhasya yatamanasya yatnatah | 4ab 18cd art gaitueel all no mic

Jan., 1968] THE STORY OF SOMAKA 21 parivarya jantum sahitah sa sabdastumulo'bhavat || parivaryatmajam viprah sadhvanihsamkulo'bhavat || sarslogan tamartanada sahasa susrava sa mahipatih | 7cd 8ab 24ab srartavani sa susrava raja dharmasakhastada | 24cd sramatyaparisanmadhye upavistah sahatvijaih || upavistah sabhamadhye sahamatya purohitah || 8cd tvaramanah sa cotthaya somakah saha mantribhih | pravisyantahpuram putramasvasayadaridamah 1110 niskamyantahpurannrpah | 25ab tvaramanah samutthaya samatyah sapurohitah | pravisyantahpuram sarddha mantrikai visaharibhih 1131 niskamyantah puradraja 133c rtvijaih sahito rajansahamatya upavisat || rtvikpurohitamatyaistam sabham samupavisat || 11bcd dhiga stvihaikaputratvamaputratvam varam bhavet | nityaturatvad bhutanam soka evaikaputrata 1112 idam bharyasatam | putrarthina maya vodham || 13 ic vayasca samatitam me sabharyasya dvijottama | asam praranah samayatta mama catrai kaputrake || 15 mahata laghuna vapi karmana duskarena va || 16 cd. krtameva hi tadviddhi bhagavanprabravitu me || 18 cd. asti vai tadrsam karma yena putrasatam bhavet | 17 ab. 34ab duhkhayaikaputratvam bhavati brahmanottamah | 35cd ekaputratvato nrnam vara caiva hyaputrata | nityam vyapayayuktatvadvarameva putrata || 36 graham bharyasatam vipra udavodham vicitya tu || 36cd vayasca samatikrantam sapatnikasya me dvijah || prana mama ca bharyanamasminputra vyavasthitah || mahata laghuna vapi karmana duskarena va | krtameva hi tadvitta sape'ham sukrtairmama || 37 41 ab. 42 cd. asti cedadrsam karma yena putrasatam bhavet | O 43 ab. The abovementioned similarities in idea, word and phrase between the Mbh. and Skc. are too many to be accidental. They can be explained only as being the result of influence of one version on another-in my view which I shall adumbrate in the concluding part of this article, of the influence of the Mbh. version on the Skt.] JaIII. The rite which enabled the king to get a hundred sons. Mbh. 3. 127.19-21; 3. 128.1-17. *(Lomasa continued the story of Somaka) Seeing that Somaka was ready to priest advised him to perform a sacrifice. aptam act upon his advice, the He said: In a sacrifice

22 puranam - PURANA [Vol. X., No. 1 in which I shall act as the priest, you should offer your son Jantu into the sacrificial fire. When his mothers will inhale the smoke and fumes of his fat burning in the sacrificial fire, they will bear sons for you. Jantu will be again reborn from his mother and will bear a golden mark on the upper part of his left side.' Hearing what he was required to do, Somaka said that he would carry out what the priest had told him. "The priest officiated as the sacrificial priest at the sacrifice in which Somaka was to offer his son Jantu as an oblation into the fire. The mothers, moved with pity, screamed with grief, pulling back Jantu by the right hand, while the priest pulled him forth by the left hand. At last the priest dragged away the son from the mothers, killed him according to the scriptural injunctions and made an offering of his fat into the fire. While the fat was burning in the fire, the mothers inhaled its smoke and fumes and fell down overpowered with grief on the ground. All the queens conceived and bore a hundred sons in ten months. Jantu was again reborn from his former mother, the eldest among them all, bearing a golden mark on the upper part of his left side. After wards, in course of time, the priest and the preceptor of Somaka died and went to the other world. After some time, king Somaka also departed from this world and went to the next world. There he saw his priest in hell suffering terrible tortures and asked him why he was made to undergo the torments of hell. The priest replied. "I made you perform that sacrifice. This is the fruit of that deed." Hearing these words of his preceptor, the king said to Dharmaraja, the god who dispensed rewards and punishments of the deeds: 'I shall enter this place. Set free my priest. This revered man is being tortured in hell on my account.' Dharmaraja replied: 'No one suffers or enjoys the fruits of another's deeds.' These are the (different) fruits of your deeds, O most generous king.' The king answered: "I do not desire the blessed worlds without my learned preceptor. Our deeds are identical. So let the fruits of our good or bad deeds be identical.' Dharmaraja allowed him to stay with his priest in hell, until afterwards

Jan., 1968] THE STORY OF SOMAKA 23 he with their good deeds attained along with him to happier worlds." Sk. 3.1.15. 44-70. (Suta continued the story) "Thus asked by the king, the chief priest with other priests told him about the rite or course of action which would confer on him a hundred sons. They said: 'There is a very sacred mountain called the Gandha madana which stands as a bridge across the southern sea. There is on that mountain a sacred pool called the Hanumat-kunda. You should take bath in that pool and perform a Putryesti ('a sacrifice to get sons') on its banks.' The king accordingly went to the Gandhamadana and had ablutions every day in the Hanumat-kunda for one month. Then at the advent of the spring-month Caitra, he performed the Putryesti under the guidance of his priests. At the conclusion of the sacrifice the priest gave the remnants of the sacrificial offerings to the queens who ate them. The king returned to his capital. At the end of the 10th month, the hundred queens gave birth to hundred sons. There were in all one hundred and one sons, with the previous son Sucandra who was the eldest of them. After the sons had attained manhood, the king divided his kingdom among them and went to the Hanumatkunda to practice penance on its banks. After a long time he departed this world peacefully." 431 [Note 3-It will be seen that the story in the Mbh. at this point takes altogether a different turn in the Sk. and has undergone considerable metamorphosis. In the Mbh. the rite prescribed by the priest for getting more sons is the rite of human sacrifice at which the young prince is immolated as an offering. In the Sk, a sacrifice is no doubt, prescribed by the priests for getting a hundred sons, but it is a sacrifice which involves no slaughter of livings. The human sacrifice, according to the Mbh. story, entailed a grievous sin which the priest, as the main initiator, had to expiate by suffering the tortures of hell, after his death. The king, in the Mbh. story, is considered a mere instrument wherewith the priest got the sacrifice performed and is not therefore held a direct participant in the sin. In the Sk. the sacrifice, prescribed by the

24 puranam - PURANA [Vol. X., No. 1 priests, being throughout a meritorious act does not involve any question of sin and therefore does not lead to any aftermath or punishment in hell as in the Mbh. The human sacrifice in the Mbh. has, by itself, got poterey of conferring a hundred sons on the performer of the sacrifice; in the Sk, on the other hand, it is the contiguity of the Hanumat-kunda with its sacred waters which confers on the sacrifice the poterey of bestowing a hundred sons on the performer of the sacrifice. In the Mbh., the first son 40 Helias mi having been sacrificed, the king has in the end total of one hundred sons; in the Sk., cn the other hand, the king, along with the first son, has in the end a total of one hundred and one sons.] REFERENCES TO THE STORY OF SOMAKA IN OTHER PURANAS HOTOWA 1607 The story of Somaka and his son Jantu is referred to though very briefly, in the Matsya (M) and Vayu (V) Puranas. The M gives the past genealogy of King Somaka as follows: DivodasaMitrayu-Maitreya-Caidyavara-Sudasa-Soma ka. After giving the genealogy, the M further says: "Somaka had a son named Jantu; after Jantu was killed, there were born a hundred sons of Somaka. The V gives a shorter genealogy: Cyavana-Sudasa-Somaka. The V. further says: Somaka had a son called Jantu; after Jantu was killed, there were born a hundred sons of Somaka"s o Though the M and V do not give in detail the rite by which Jantu was killed and Somaka was enabled to get hundred sons, even the laconic references to Jantu in these works appear to suggest that the redactors of these portions of the M and V may have before them the story and its version appearing in the Mbh. From these references one may be led to infer that the Moh. version of the story of Somaka is older than the one appearing in Sk, -13 Man 1. The editions used are those of the Gurumat dala Series published by Nandlal Mor. 2. M. 5 13-15 13. somakasya suto janturhate tasmin satam babhau | Bonic arre 113. fa putranamajamidhasya somakasya mahatmanah || mahatmanah || M. 50.16 4. V. 99. 208 5. somakasya suto janturhate tasmin satam vibho | putranamajamidhasya somakatve mahatmanah || V. 99. 209-210

Jan., 1968] THE STORY OF SOMAKA 25 Besides these references in M and V, there are also other considerations which can lead to the conclusion that the story and its version in the Mbh. are older than those in the Sk. considerations are set forth under General Remarks below. General Remarks These The two stories in the Mbh. and Sk. respectively appear to have one common motif, viz. that a king having only one son, wants to have and at last succeeds in having, a hundred sons. Still, of the two stories and their versions, the story and its version in the Mbh. seems to be the older one. The custom of offering human sacrifice as part of fecundity or fertility rite dates back to very early times in human history. The Mbh. story and its version, which have preserved this very old magico-religious rite, must, therefore, be older than those in the Sk. The story and its version in the Sk. belong to a later period when the idea of human sacrifice was felt to be revolting and repellant to human conscience. The story was retold in the Sk. the human sacrifice having been substituted by a sacrifice performed with non-living oblations. The idea of glorifying the sanctity of the holy places appears to be common to both the stories in the Mbh. and the Sk. The Mbh. story glorifies the holy place on the bank of the Yamuna; the Sk. story glorifies the Hanumat-kunda. But even here a remarkable difference is discernible in the view points of the two stories. In the Mbh. story, it is the life of Somaka with its achievements which has added to the holiness of the place on the bank of the Yamuna. In the Sk. story, on the other hand, it is the sanctity of the Hanumat kunda with its sacred waters which has conferred efficacy on the king's sacrifice and has thus, contributed to the fructification of his desires. Thus while in the Mbh. human life and its achievements are considered supreme, contributing as they do, to the holiness of a sacred place, in the Sk. on the other hand, it is the holy places which are considered supreme, their sacredness making human achievement possible and fruitful. It appears that even on this score, the Mbh. story belongs to an early period when it was considered that human 4

26 puranam - PURANA [Vol. X., No. 1 achievement lent sacredness to a sacred place, while the Sk. story belongs to a later period when the sacredness of sacred places was glorified at the expense of human achievement, it being superstitiously considered that it is the sanctity of a sacred place which bestows efficacy on human achievement. It will be seen that the Mbh. story of Somaka has undergone a profound metamorphosis in the Sk. adapted and suited to the ideas and tastes of the time and clime of the redactor or redactors who gave shape to the story as preserved in the Sk. Such adaptation of striking old stories to the spirit of contemporary times is not unusual in literature. In our own times, this story of Somaka in the Mbh. has itself been retold in a dramatic form by Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore was a great humanist and his was 'the Religion of man.' Readers of his dramatic poem Naraka-vasa" in which he has retold and readapted the original Mbh. story will, doubtless, testify to the rich vibrant humanistic feelings and sentiments which the story breathes forth under the magic touch of his genius. 1. See 'Sancayita (Vishvabharati) (an anthology in Bengali of Tagore's poems) pp. 386-395.