Welcome to the Mahabharata Podcast The dialogue between Sage Vaisampayana and King Janamejaya had traversed... The dialogue between Sage Vaisampayana and King Janamejaya had traversed through the story behind the eventual extinction of the Kuru race with the passing of Vichitravirya and Bhishmas declining to occupy the throne. The closest possible option to retain some element that may remain in the sphere of the Kuru footprint, was deemed to be having the line of Vyasa and the princesses of Kasi occupy the throne, in Dhritrashtra and Pandu. The King then inquired further of the third son who was called Vidura, the wise, born to a maidservant of Princess Ambika and Vyasa: “What did the god of justice do for which he was cursed? And who was the Brahmana ascetic from whose curse the god had to be born in the Sudra caste?” And so the great narrator of the Mahabharata, Vaisampayana, began to explain… There was once a Brahmana known by the name of Mandavya. He was conversant with all duties and was devoted to religion, truth and asceticism. The great ascetic used to sit at the entrance of his hermitage at the foot of a tree, with his arms upraised in the observance of the vow of silence. And as he sat there for years together, one day there came into his asylum a number of robbers laden with spoil. And, O bull in Bharata's race, those robbers were then being pursued by a superior body as guardians of the peace. The thieves, on entering that asylum, hid their booty there, and in fear concealed themselves thereabout before the guards came. But scarcely had they thus concealed themselves when the constables in pursuit came to the spot. The latter, observing the Rishi sitting under the tree, questioned him, O king, saying: 'O best of Brahmanas, which way have the thieves taken? Point it out to us so that we may follow it without loss of time.' Thus questioned by the guardians of peace the ascetic, O king, said not a word, good or otherwise, in reply. The officers of the king, however, on searching that asylum soon discovered the thieves concealed thereabout together with the plunder. Upon this, their suspicion fell upon the Muni, and accordingly they seized him with the thieves and brought him before the king. The king sentenced him to be executed along with his supposed associates. And the officers, acting in ignorance, carried out the sentence by impaling the celebrated Rishi. And having impaled him, they went to the king with the booty they had recovered. But the virtuous Rishi, though impaled and kept without food, remained in that state for a long time without dying. And the Rishi by his ascetic power not only preserved his life but summoned other Rishi to the scene. And they came there in the night in the forms of birds, and beholding him engaged in ascetic meditation though fixed on that stake, became plunged into grief. And telling that best of Brahmanas who they were, they asked him saying: 'O Brahmana, we desire to know what hath been thy sin for which thou hast thus been made to suffer the tortures of impalement!'" Thus asked, the tiger among Munis then answered those Rishis of ascetic wealth: 'Whom shall I blame for this? In fact, none else (than my own self) hath offended against me!' After this, O monarch, the officers of justice, seeing him alive, informed the king of it. The latter hearing what they said, consulted with his advisers, and came to the place and began to pacify the Rishi. And the king said: 'O thou best of Rishis, I have offended against thee in ignorance. I beseech thee to pardon me for the same. It behoveth thee not to be angry with me.” Thus addressed by the king, the Muni was pacified. And beholding him free from wrath, the King took him up with the stake and endeavoured to extract it from his body. But not succeeding therein, he cut it off at the point just outside the body. The Muni, with a portion of the stake within his body, walked about, and in that state practised the austerest of penances and conquered numberless regions unattainable by others. And for the circumstances of a part of the stake being within his body, he came to be known in the three worlds by the name of Ani-Mandavya, meaning Mandavya with the stake stuck within. And one day that Brahamana acquainted with the highest truth of religion went unto the abode of the god of justice. And beholding the god there seated on his throne, the Rishi reproached him and said: 'What, pray, is that sinful act committed by me unconsciously, for which I am bearing this punishment? O, tell me soon, and behold the power of my asceticism.' The god of justice, thus questioned, replied, 'O thou of ascetic wealth, a little insect was once pierced by thee on a blade of grass. Thou bearest now the consequence of the act. O Rishi, as a gift, however small, multiplieth in respect of its religious merits, so a sinful act multiplieth in respect of the woe it bringeth in its train.' On hearing this, Ani-Mandavya asked: 'O tell me truly when this act was committed by me. Told in reply by the god of justice that he had committed it, when a child, the Rishi said: 'That shall not be a sin which may be done by a child up to the twelfth year of his age from birth. The scriptures themselves do not recognise it as sinful. The punishment thou hast inflicted on me for such a venial offence hath been disproportionate in severity. The killing of a Brahmana involves a sin that is heavier than the killing of any other living being due to their kind disposition towards all other life. The killing of a Brahman is close to what thou seemest to have sanctioned in my case. Thou shall therefore, O Lord of Justice, have to be born amongst men, even in the Sudra order; that class of men that servest all others. And from this day I establish this limit in respect of the consequence of acts, that an act shall be deemed as not be sinful when committed by one below the age of fourteen.' Being cursed for this fault by that illustrious Sage, the god of justice took his birth as Vidura in the Sudra order. And Vidura, in this way, was none other than Dharma-raj, or the King of Dharma; his mind, despite of a small miscalculation in the case of Ani-mandavya, being the most brilliant in matters concerned with the doctrines of morality, and also politics and worldly profit. Taking on his pure guise, this incarnation of Dharma would be entirely free from covetousness, and from wrath; possessed of unfathomable foresight being applied to current affairs, and an undisturbed tranquillity of mind; Vidura was ever devoted to the welfare of the royal line. And so the third son, VIdura, who was born of a Sudra woman, regarded to be a lowly caste, perhaps even in the most grave of circumstance, would not be allowed to occupy the throne of Hastinapura; it would perhaps never be contemplated. And yet, by qualification, Vidura was Dharma, the most qualified to rule even if his competing siblings were to be gods, let alone human. Perhaps such were the circumstances of the ever-degrading age of Dwapara, leading to Kali, where the most qualified personalities were not positioned, or reluctant to rule, and therefore rulership was left to those with their principal qualification being their greed to rule. LINK TO EPISODE: