Sex, Marriage and Family in World Religions (56 page)

face!” she replied shyly and softly to Brahma¯, “I have seen.” And then the bride and groom circumambulated the fire three times, after which they threw into it the parched grain together with the oblation.

Then the bridesmaid Ma¯linı¯ seized Hara’s feet and asked for a nuptial gift, to which he replied, “I shall give you what you desire. Release me!” So Ma¯linı¯

said to Sán˙kara, “Give to my friend the good fortune in love that runs in your family, Sán˙kara, and then I will let you go!” To this Maha¯deva answered, “Release me, Ma¯linı¯! And listen while I tell you about my fabled way with women.

Madhusa¯dana, who wears a yellow garment and carries a conch, derives his luck in love from me; it comes from my family.” When he said this, Ma¯linı¯, garlanded by the good conduct of her own family, let go of the bull-bannered god.

When Ma¯linı¯ was clasping Hara’ s lustrous feet, Brahma¯ had been watching Ka¯la¯’s face, which shone brighter than the moon. As he looked at her, he began to shake until he spilled his semen. In consternation, he rendered it powerless in the earth, whereupon Hara spoke out, “O Brahma¯ you are not to kill brahmins! There are great sages in your semen, Grandfather, the blessed Va¯lakhilyas!” After the great lord said this, 88,000 ascetics, known as the Va¯lakhilyas, were born from Brahma¯’s seed.

At the close of the wedding ceremony, Hara himself entered into the festiv-ities. All night he made love with U

¯ ma¯, and he arose again at dawn. Sámbhu

was happy after he married the daughter of the mountain, and so were the gods, the Bhu¯tas [spirits] and his
gan
.
as
. After being honored by the mountain king, he returned at once to Mt. Mandara. Bowing to the gods, who were led by Brahma¯, Hari and Indra, and worshiping each according to his rank, the god of eight forms took his leave and, along with his Bhu¯tas, settled down to live on Mt. Mandara.

[Síva Pura¯na, The Betrothal and Wedding of Síva and Pa¯rva¯ti, in
Classical Hindu
Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Pura¯nas,
ed. and trans. Cornelia Dimmit and J. A. B. van Buitenen (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1978), pp. 164–171]

THE KARMA OF MARRIAGE: THE KING’S WIFE,

THE BRAHMIN’S WIFE, AND THE OGRE

This ancient story is about the tangled lives of a king, a Brahmin, their wives, and an ogre; and three locales: palace, wilderness, and underworld. The king, Uttama, desperately loved his wife, who was indescribably beautiful, but she did not return his affection. In a moment of anger he banished her to the wilderness. Later, a Brahmin came to the king with the news that his own wife, who was ugly, has been kidnapped. Without her he could not perform sacrifices and was therefore useless. He begged the king to find her. The king then went into the wilderness and sought the help of another Brahmin, an ascetic living in the midst of the forest. The sage explained King Uttama that the Brahmin’s 262

p a u l b . c o u r t r i g h t

wife had been taken by an ogre and sent him to rescue her. Furthermore, he told the king that his wife has been taken to the underworld, ruled over by a serpent king. The serpent king desired her, but his daughter protected her, an act of defiance that led the king to curse his daughter to be mute. The king returned the Brahmin’s wife to him. He summoned the ogre to rescue his wife from the serpent king’s home. His wife was returned, along with the serpent-king’s daughter. The Brahmin performed a sacrifice to remove the curse on her. As the sage in the forest explained to the king, the cause of his wife’s lack of affection was a crossing of the stars at the time of the wedding. Finally, the king and his wife were restored to mutual affection, leading him to rule justly.

Sprinkled throughout the story are teachings about the
dharma
of marriage, the importance of loyalty, and the benefits of learning from one’s mistakes. From the
Markandeya Pura¯nna
Ch. 66.3–37, 43–69; 67.1–39; 68.1–29; 69.1–41 (ca.

300 ce).

Document 4–6

t h e k a r m a o f m a r r i a g e : t h e k i n g ’ s w i f e , t h e b r a h m i n ’ s w i f e , a n d t h e o g r e King Uttanapada had a son named Uttama
(“
Supreme
”),
the child of his queen Suruci, famous, powerful, and courageous. He was the very soul of
dharma,
noble, a king wealthy in aggressiveness, surpassing all creatures, like the sun in his valour. He was the same to an enemy and to a friend, to an opponent and

to his own son, since he knew
dharma;
to an evil man he was like Yama, king of the dead, but to a good man he was like Soma. And, knowing
dharma,
that son of Uttanapada married a woman named Bahula, of the race of Babhru, just as the supreme Indra married Saci. His heart was always excessively affectionate toward her, just as the moon’s heart always takes its place in the constellation Rohini. His mind did not become attached to any other object; the heart of that king depended upon her even in his dreams. Simply from looking at her lovely body his eyes made his body hot; and when he touched her body, he melted into her.

But the voice of the king, even though it was so loving, disturbed her hearing; and she regarded even his great respect for her as a humiliation. She disdained the garland that he gave her, and all the beautiful jewels. She would get up as if half-drunk when he was drinking the finest liquor; and when the king was eating and would hold her hand just for a moment, she would eat only a very little food and show that she was not very happy. Thus, though he was so loving toward her, she was not very loving toward him; but this simply made the excessive passion of the king grow even greater.

Then, one day, when the king was engaged in drinking, and all the other kings were looking on, and they were surrounded by courtesans and were being serenaded by sweet sounds, he very respectfully placed in the queen’s hand a
Hinduism
263

drinking goblet full of wine. But she did not wish to take that goblet, and she turned away, before the eyes of all the kings. That made the king furious; he summoned a door-keeper, hissing like a snake—for she whom he loved had repelled her unloved husband—and he said, “Door-keeper, take this hard-hearted woman to a deserted forest and leave her there right away; do not hesitate about this command of mine.” Then the door-keeper, regarding the king’s command as something about which there must be no hesitation, put the beautiful queen in a carriage and abandoned her in a forest. And when the king had had her abandoned in the forest in this way, and she didn’t see him, she considered that he had done her a great favour. But the king, the son of Uttanapada, was tormented by his passion for her; his heart and soul ached, and he found no other wife. He remembered her, with her lovely body, day and night, ceaselessly. He carried on governing his kingdom, protecting his subjects with
dharma,
caring for his subjects as if he were a father and they were the sons sprung from his loins.

Then a certain Brahmin came there and with an aching heart said to the king, “Great king, I am very unhappy; listen while I tell you about it, for the cure for the sufferings of men comes from nowhere but the king. While I was asleep, during the night, someone stole my wife, without even breaking open the door of the house. You must bring her back.” The king said, “Don’t you know who stole her or where she was brought to? Who am I to fight with?

Where am I to bring her back from?” The Brahmin said, “While I was sleeping in my house, with the door shut just as tight as could be, someone stole my wife—I’ve already told you that. You are our guardian, your majesty, whom we hire by giving you a sixth of our wealth. And therefore men sleep at night without worrying about your
dharma
.”

The king said, “I’ve never seen your wife. What sort of looks does she have, what sort of body? How old is she, and how patient? Tell me, what sort of character does your Brahmin lady have?” The Brahmin said, “She has piercing eyes and is very tall; she has short arms, and a bony face. Her belly hangs down, and she has flat buttocks and small breasts. She is very ugly, your majesty; I am not blaming her, that’s just the way she is. Her speech is coarse, too, your majesty, and her nature is not at all gentle. That is how I would describe my wife; she is hideous to look at. And she has ever so slightly passed her prime.

That is what my wife looks like; I am telling you the truth.”

The king said, “You’ve had enough of her, Brahmin; I will give you another wife. A pretty wife will bring you happiness; that sort is a source of misery. Lack of beauty may sometimes be a cause of a very good character; but a woman who lacks both beauty and character should be abandoned. Yours was carried off by someone else.” The Brahmin said, “It is written in scripture, your majesty: ‘Protect your wife.’ When the wife is protected, the offspring are protected. For one’s self is born in one’s offspring; and when the offspring are protected, the self is protected. So she must be protected, your majesty. If she is not protected,

p a u l b . c o u r t r i g h t

the various classes will become commingled, and that will cause one’s previous ancestors to fall from heaven, your majesty. Every day that I live without a wife, I lose
dharma,
because I have ceased to perform the obligatory rituals, and that, too, will cause me to fall. My future line of descendants is in her, your majesty; she is the one who will give you the sixth part (of our income); she is the cause of
dharma.
That is why I have described to you the wife that was stolen from me, my lord; bring her back, since you are the supreme authority for protection.”

When the king heard this speech, he thought about it. Then he mounted his chariot, that was equipped with all the things that one might want. He wandered this way and that way over the earth in that chariot until he saw in a great forest a superb hermitage for ascetics; he dismounted and entered in, and there he saw a sage seated on a silk cushion, blazing with glory, as it were.

When the sage saw that the king had arrived, he stood up hastily and welcomed him respectfully; then he said to his pupil, “Bring the water to greet the guest.”

But the pupil said to him, quietly, “Why should he be given the water of greeting, great sage? Think about it and command me, and I will do what you command.” Then the Brahmin realised what had happened to the king, and he honoured him merely by giving him conversation and a place to sit. The sage said, “For what reason have you come here, and what do you wish to do?

I know that you are King Uttama, the son of Uttanapada.”

The king said, “Great sage, someone—I don’t know who—stole a Brahmin’s wife right out of the house, and I have come here in search of her. I have come to your house and bow before you; and I hope that out of your pity for me you will tell me what I ask of you.” “Ask me, your majesty,” said the sage, “and do not worry about what can be asked. If it is something that I can tell you, I will tell you truly.” The king said, “When you first saw me arrive at your house, great sage, you were about to give me the water with which a guest is welcomed; why, then, was it withheld?” The sage said, “The minute I saw you, in my haste I gave a command to this pupil, but then he admonished me. By my grace, he knows what is to come in this universe, just as I know what has happened and is happening everywhere. When he said, ‘Consider, and then command,’ then I knew. That is why I did not give you the water for a guest. In truth, your majesty, you deserve the water, since you, Uttama, are born in the family of the self-created Manu; nevertheless, we think that you are not fit to receive the water.”

The king said, “What did I do, Brahmin, knowingly or unknowingly, so that I do not deserve the water from you, though I have arrived from a great distance?” The sage said, “What, have you forgotten that you abandoned your wife in the forest? Your majesty, you abandoned your entire
dharma
along with her.

A man whose ritual life has been ruined becomes untouchable for a fortnight; so you whose obligatory rituals have been ruined (are untouchable) for a year.

Just as an affectionate wife must put up with a husband even if he lacks good
Hinduism
265

character, so too, even if a wife has a bad character, she must be supported.

The wife of that Brahmin, the one who was stolen, was unpleasant; but, nevertheless, because he wished for
dharma,
he has outshone you. You set other people straight when they deviate from their
dharma,
great king; but who else is there who will set you straight when you deviate from your own
dharma?
”

The king was truly embarrassed when that wise man talked to him like that.

“Yes,” he said. And then he asked the sage about the Brahmin’s wife who had been stolen: “Sir, who stole the Brahmin’s wife, and where did he take her?

You know the past and the future in this universe, without any error.” The sage said, “An ogre named Balaka, the son of Adri, took her. You will see her today in the Utpalavataka forest, your majesty. Go and reunite the Brahmin with his wife right away. Don’t let him become a breeding ground for sin day after day, like you.”

The king bowed before the great sage and mounted his chariot and went to the Utpalavataka wood that he had mentioned. And there the king saw the Brahmin’s wife, who looked just as her husband had described her. She was eating bilva fruits. He asked her, “Good woman, how did you come to this forest? Tell me plainly: are you the wife of Susharman Vaishali?” The Brahmin lady said, “I am the daughter of Atiratra, a Brahmin who lives in the forest, and I am the wife of Vaishali, whose name you just uttered. I was stolen by a bad ogre named Balaka; while I slept inside my house, I was separated from my brothers and my mother. Someone should burn to ashes that ogre who separated me in this way from my mother and brothers, and from others; I am living here in great misery. He brought me into this very deep forest, but then he abandoned me; I don’t know why it is that he enjoyed me neither carnally nor carnivorously, neither for the pleasures of the flesh nor for the pleasure of flesh.”