Intro
Ajagara means python. Ajagara is the story of Bhima and Yudhishthira’s fight with a giant python.
https://crackpot.substack.com/t/ajagara
As It Rhymes
1.
Vaishampayana narrates,
Yudhishthira saw his brother covered and smothered within the great snake’s coils.
‘Oh Bhima, what the heck!?’
2-3.
Bhima caught Yudhishthira up on the day’s events.
‘Right about where you stand was my last step if I had to guess.’
A golden garland from the Ashram still hung around Yudishthira’s neck.
4.
Bhima said,
‘This snake is a fallen rishi.
His name was Nahusha.
He will devour me soon.
Now I am its food.’
5.
Yudhishthira said,
‘Snake, We beg for mercy.
If you release him from your jaws.
With Bhima’s kills we will fill your maws.’
6-8.
Nahusha said,
‘No deal. Keep your plain beast.
A tasty prince is worth more than a king’s feast.
Stay or go from my kingdom as you please.
But if you stay by the next sun-down you too will be in me.
Having obtained a man to eat.
I am filled with glee.’
9-10.
Yudhishthira said,
‘Demigod or Demon - son of Diti - serpent.
If you are God then tell the truth.
How come Bhimasena was sent by you?
And what would you take instead for food?’
11-13.
Nahusha said,
‘O’ King. Your ancestors are celebrated.
Of five by Soma through Ayu I too.
Through study of Vedic literature.
Through self-control and meditation I was in heaven.
In all three worlds I established a persistence of existence.
In pride and arrogance, I insulted brahman.
14.
Intoxicated by thirst I spoke harsh words.
For my curse Agastya cast me out from the planets to take another birth.
So I cratered back to earth.
15.
All this time I’ve clung to my intelligent mind, Pandava.
A snake king crowned by the great souled Agastya.
16.
What I obtain on the sixth day is what I eat.
None do I release from speech because saliva is my grease.
17.
But - if you can answer questions without truth unbent.
I will liberate Vrikodara and relent.’
18-19.
Yudishthira said,
‘Serpent - ask me anything and I will explain.
What is to be known by brahman is known to me plain.’
20.
Nahusha said,
‘O’ King! Of course Brahman would know what is to be known by men.
By your words you have some education.’
21-22.
Yudhishthira said,
‘Good conduct is charity and forgiveness.
Virtue is truth above station.
The wicked eschew penance and sacrifice.
Indra of Snakes - Ask what is to be known of the cosmos.
Or of those that strive for distress or happiness by what choice do they hope to avoid grief?’
23-24.
Nahusha said,
‘What is a cosmic truth confined within society’s four gates?
Should Shudra have truth and rage with non-violence and hates?
King of men, what is to be known is unknown yet.
Those who misstep taking aim feel distress when they miss the target.’
25-29.
Yudhishthira said,
‘The Shudra who has qualities of non-violence and truth is not Shudra.
The Brahman who hates and desires violence is not Brahman.
Those with luck, beauty and health are endowed, serpent.
To us conduct and virtue are how one attains.
For those that strive re-birth marks a starting point.
By way of my senses I feel heat and cold.
Mind brings happiness and distress.
Beauty relies on the eyes that one beholds.
Of what is to be known, that is my best guess.’
30.
Nahusha said,
‘Life desires to exist.
The circumstances of birth are how they persist.’
31-32.
Yudhishthira said,
‘Great snake, man’s birth position is as transient as feeling and opinion.
Because of insatiable desire men and women mix across social position.
Determining varna by what a birth dealt is like peeling an onion.
Birth, death and bearing a cross are felt in every man’s incarnation.
33-37.
Conventional wisdom praises sacrifice.
Seers discern truth and nature from avarice.
During a natal ceremony mother and father play Goddess and Priest.
Sankara and Svayambhava Manu established the intellectuals’ position on duality to say the least.
What’s done is done I won’t rehash.
Humans mix and mash.
The one who gives and is considerate.
The one who speaks and is Sanskrit literate.
That one attains a superior state at any rate.’
38.
Nahusha said,
‘I follow your good word, Yudhishthira.
Now I wish to swallow my food, Vrikodara.’
Notes
[4] A rishi is a sage.
[10] Diti and Aditi are two of Daksha’s daughters. Diti gave birth to the demons. Aditi gave birth to the gods. The gods are also known as Adityas.
[11] So what was Nahusha’s insult to the brahman that got him cast out of heaven? According to Mr. Dutt’s translation Nahusha insulted twice born sages. A bit of context as to the insult to twice born sages. According to rebirth theology, our lives and births are our souls evolution. It takes many lives for our souls to develop by learning from our lives. A few special souls take fewer incarnations - like one - to be liberated from the cycle of birth and rebirth. The Buddha is considered one. Twice born sages in heaven are those souls who only took two human lives to achieve liberation - which is quite a feat but slightly less so than once born souls. Nahusha was apparently one of those rare once born souls. In his arrogance he turned his nose up at the slightly less impressive twice born souls. Then Agastya stepped in and Agastya lost his position in heaven and took another birth as a python on earth by Agastya’s curse.
[13] The three worlds are heaven, hell and earth.
[23] Society’s four divisions are Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra. These are also priest, warrior, merchant and labor. The snake seems to say that virtue is a luxury of the privilege - by pointing to the bottom of the social latter and asking what virtue option does a shudra have.
[34] Svayambhuva Manu is a lord of the age of man. Sankara is a Vedic philosopher.
[38] Vrikodara is Bhima.
Translation Collage
References
- Debroy, Bibek. The Mahabharata. Penguin Random House India, 2015.
- Dutt, M.N. The Mahabharata. Sanskrit Text with English Translation. Parimal Publications, 2022.