This tale is not meant for rationalists. But for the rest of us it sheds interesting light on Balmiki’s Ramayan. One more thing. In story-telling of this sort, time goes circular rather than linear, which makes future seem as if it were the past – settled and sealed. We shall come to this in a while.
Now for the story. Raja Dashrath ruled a vast, flourishing and happy domain from Ayodhya. Yet, he was a worried man. Past his prime, he had no male heir. He did have a daughter though; Shanta, by Maharani Kaushalya. But he had given her in adoption to his friend, Rompad, the raja of Ang (Footnote, page 80, Shrimadvalmikiya Ramayan, Sanskrit-Hindi, Part I, Gita Press, Gorakhpur, Samvat 2080). What would happen to his kingdom when he was gone, Dashrath thought quite often. One day, it came to his mind to perform the Ashwamedha yagya for the purpose of begetting a son. He planned to make elaborate arrangements for this grand occasion. Then a big problem presented itself before him. Who would conduct the yagya? It was a very delicate business. A slightest error in the offerings made to gods; and annoyed, they would cause him irreparable damage as the yajaman. Dashrath summoned Sumantra, his all-in-one man, for consultation. And Sumantra began, in the best tradition of the ancient wisemen, to tell his king a story.
Shringi Rishi, an extraordinary hermit
“Once,” said Sumantra to Raja Dashrath, “not in a very remote past, the Sanatkumars spoke before a congregation of rishis and munis on the subject of Ashwamedha yagya. The Sanatkumars, as you know, are eternally pre-pubescent sons of Lord Brahma who roam about the world delivering discourses on matters of spiritual importance. Plural in their bodies, they walk and talk as one. The Sanatkumars said that Rishi Kashyap had a son by the name of Vibhandak, who was famous for his strict Brahiminical values. Muni Vibhandak would also have a son, Shringi Rishi, they went on. Shringi Rishi would be brought up in the forest and would never leave it of his own. He would observe both the types of brahmcharya: as a student, he would wield ‘dand’ – a staff – in his hand and wear ‘mekhala’ – girdle – round his loins; when married, he would have congress with his wife only during the periods she was fit for procreation. Shringi Rishi would spend all his growing years either in learning or in the service of his father. Living in the remote and inaccessible jungle, he would see no human beings other than his revered father.
‘Around that time,’ continued the Sanatkumars, ‘the mighty Raja Rompad would violate his dharma and thus bring fearful draught on his land. His subjects would be miserable. Tormented by guilt, Rompad would call pundits from all over his kingdom to suggest what he might do to relieve his people of their unwarranted misery. The learned Brahmins would advise the raja that in order to offer penance for his transgressions which had brought about the ghastly situation, he should marry off his (adopted) daughter Shanta to the Brahmin boy, Shringi Rishi.
‘Then a question would arise how would young Shringi Rishi be relocated from the thick of forest life to the resplendence of the royal palace. His father, Muni Vibhandak, would himself vehemently counter any such move. The assembled Brahmins who had so enthusiastically planted the idea in Rompad’s mind would be left to express their inability to perform the task. They would not only be daunted by the physical difficulties involved, but also the fear of what an enraged Vibhandak could do to them. Rompad, however, would have no dearth of wise men in his court, all well versed in the ways of the world. They would propose that a covey of the prettiest prostitutes of the land should be deputed to lure Shringi Rishi to the royal house.
‘The plan would be implemented speedily. Shringi Rishi would be awestruck by the sight of such beautiful women attired in their finest costumes and offering him choicest sweetmeats they carried with them to fulfil their mission. With much song, dance and frolic would the Brahmin boy bred and brought up in jungle be brought to the Ang capital ….'”
Sumantra seemed to be leaving the crucial part of the story for the very end.
“Then what would happen?” Raja Dashrath cued him to proceed further.
“Then, revered king, as the Sanatkumars said, Raja Rompad would marry Princess Shanta to Shringi Rishi ….”
“I see. The story has a curious ending. But how do you relate it to the issue we are sitting here have to resolve? Does it tell us where to find a priest competent enough to perform the Ashwamedha yagya for me?”
“Maharaj, this story ends with a much more important prophecy made by the Sanatkumars. They said that you, Raja Dashrath of the House of the Ikshvakus, would personally go to invite Shringi Rishi to perform your yagya!”
Balmiki Ramayan’s Canto 11 of Balkand beautifully describes how Raja Dashrath travelled with his ranis all the way to Ang Desh. There, Raja Rompad warmly greeted the royal guests. He also introduced his son-in-law, Shringi Rishi, to them. After staying with Rompad for over a week, Raja Dashrath sought his friend’s permission to take Shringi Rishi and Shanta to his capital as he had an important responsibility in his mind for his son-in-law to acquit. Rompad gladly acceded to Dashrath’s request. Before embarking on the return journey, Raja Dashrath had despatched messengers to Ayodhya for the capital to be decorated for extending a warm welcome to Shringi Rishi and his wife, Shanta.
Commencing the task for which he had been invited, Shringi Rishi told Raja Dashrath that he would be performing ‘Putryeshti’ yagya for him in accordance with the mantras of the Athrva-veda. Gods and divine beings of every kind gathered at the altar to receive their sacred shares. They then amassed before Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu to find a way out to eliminate the Rakshas Ravan who was terrorising the entire universe on the strength that he derived from a boon bestowed on him by Brahma himself. Lord Vishnu extended an assurance to them –
“Gods! May you prosper. Rid yourself of fear. For your welfare, I shall kill Ravan, along with his sons, grandsons, councillors, ministers and relatives. Annihilating that cruel and mighty rakshas, who puts fear in the minds of gods and sages, I shall dwell in the mortal world for eleven thousand years, nurturing Earth.”
Ibid, Canto 15(xxviii-xxix)
And in Ram, Lord Vishnu fulfilled His promise that He had made to the deities.
The tale of Shringi Rishi may not seem of much importance to the main story-line of the Ramayan. Tulsidas makes just a passing reference to ‘Shringi Rishi’ in a single line of a ‘chaupai’ –
Sringi rishihi Bashisht bolava/putrakaam subh jagya karava
Balmiki had Shringi Rishi invited and asked him to perform the auspicious son-begetting yagya
Ramcharitmanas, Balkand, 188(3)
Yet, in a very special way, the Shringi Rishi section forms a vital part of the epic, so much so that Rishi Balmiki has devoted seven cantos (Cantos 9-15, Balkand) to it. Mark first the sheer irony of the passage: Raja Dashrath gives away (discards?) daughter Shanta to his friendly king, Rompad. But he has to travel along with his queens from Ayodhya to Ang Desh to invite her husband to perform the son-begetting yagya for him. In this manner, the discarded daughter becomes, albeit indirectly, an instrument for his father to have sons.
At a subtler level, the Shringi Rishi passage of Balmiki Ramyan has philosophical underpinnings. That Raja Dashrath decided to perform Ashwamedha Yagya, and that it would be for Shringi Rishi to officiate as its chief priest was foretold by the Sanatkumars at least two generations earlier. Dashrath had no choice except to follow the divine dictate. That the eldest son of Dashrath would kill Ravan was also decided by the Deity even before the baby was conceived. And Ram had to kill Ravan because of a curse placed on him in one of his previous births. Isn’t this the way our ancient sages said that we mortals are nothing more than puppets in the hands of Destiny? That the ‘free will’ we feel to be exercising in our actions big and small is but a prompting of our destiny?
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