novelraw Arc 5 - Tirth-Yatra Parva - Chapter 23 - Nahusha’s Curse
Arc 5 - Tirth-Yatra Parva - Chapter 23 - Nahusha’s Curse
At that very hour, Yudhiṣṭhira, far away in the hermitage, beheld dread omens that chilled his heart.
The horizons glowed red as if aflame. Jackals howled on the right of the āśrama, their cries harsh and inauspicious. Strange birds, monstrous to behold—with one wing, one leg, and one eye—vomited blood while flying against the sun. The winds blew hot and dry, whirling dust into the air. Beasts and birds cried ominously, while crows behind him cawed again and again: “Go! Go!” His right arm twitched, his chest throbbed, and his left eye quivered—a host of evil portents.
Perceiving great calamity, Yudhiṣṭhira turned to Draupadī and asked, “Where is Bhīma?”
Pañcālī answered that Vṛkodara had long gone into the forest. Alarmed, Yudhiṣṭhira commanded Arjuna, “Guard Draupadī well,” and bade Nakula and Sahadeva remain with the Brāhmaṇas. Then, taking Dhaumya with him, the king set forth to follow Bhīma’s trail.
They passed scenes of destruction—elephants lying slain, lions struck down, deer in heaps—clear marks of Bhīma’s hunt. Trees torn up by the roots marked his path, as though a tempest had passed. At last, pressing on through a dry and thorny wilderness, they came to a cavern in the mountain. There lay Bhīma, motionless, crushed in the coils of a vast serpent whose body shone like molten gold, his mighty brother subdued and powerless.
The king beheld his brother bound,
The serpent’s folds like mountains wound.
The mighty Bhīma, lion-strong,
Lay conquered, silent, strained, and long.
Yudhiṣṭhira, coming upon his brother coiled in the serpent’s folds, cried out in alarm, “O son of Kuntī, how hast thou fallen into this plight? Who is this mighty serpent that lies upon the mountain like a living hill?”
Bhīmasena, struggling but conscious, answered, “This being has seized me for food. He is the royal sage Nahusha, now living in the form of a serpent.”
Yudhiṣṭhira pleaded, “O long-lived one, release my brother of immeasurable prowess; we will bring you another meal that will appease your hunger.”
The serpent replied coldly, “To-day thou art come into my jaws of thyself. I have waited long for food; this son of a king has fallen to me in the sixth part of the day by destiny. I will not let him go. If thou remainest, thou too shalt be my fare tomorrow. I do not desire another food.”
Yudhiṣṭhira persisted: “O serpent — whether god, demon, or Uraga — answer truly. Wherefore hast thou taken Bhīma? By obtaining which thing, or knowing what, wilt thou find satisfaction? What must I give to secure his freedom?”
The serpent spoke, and his voice bore the weight of distant years: “I was thy ancestor, son of Ayu, fifth from the Moon—Nahusha, once king among men, celebrated for sacrifices, tapas, Vedic learning, and boundless prowess. By those merits I won dominion over the three worlds, and pride possessed me. Brahmanas bore my throne and I grew haughty; for that offense Agastya laid me low and reduced me to this form. Yet memory of my former birth remains. By Agastya’s compassion I was not utterly destroyed; instead I was cursed. I learned that the time would come when some one versed in the relation between the soul and the Supreme Being would answer my questions, and only then should I be freed. Till that hour, I must live as a serpent—and what I now declare is ordained: at the sixth division of the day I shall receive my meal. Today that meal is Bhīma; I shall not spare him unless thou canst answer my queries.”
Yudhiṣṭhira bowed to necessity and said, “Ask what thou wilt; if I can, I shall answer and satisfy thee. Thou knowest what a Brahmana should be; pose thy questions.”
The serpent spoke first: “Tell me, who is a Brahmana? And what is that which ought to be known?”
Yudhiṣṭhira answered without hesitation: “The wise say that a Brahmana is one in whom truth, charity, forgiveness, good conduct, benevolence, observance of the rites proper to his order, and mercy are manifest. That ought to be known: the supreme Brahman, that which is beyond happiness and misery, attainment of which frees beings from suffering.”
The serpent countered, skeptical: “Truth, charity, forgiveness, benevolence, kindness, and the Veda’s benefit—these qualities are sometimes seen even in a Śūdra. As to that object which thou sayest is untouched by happiness and misery, I perceive nothing that is entirely devoid of both.”
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Yudhiṣṭhira replied with calm clarity: “Qualities that exist in a Śūdra do not thereby make him a Brahmana, nor does birth alone make one a Brahmana. The wise declare that character defines the Brahmana; those who lack these virtues, though born among Brahmanas, are no Brahmanas in virtue. Regarding thy doubt that nothing is free from both happiness and misery: the world exhibits contrasts—heat and cold cannot co-exist in the same thing at the same time—so if something truly were the supreme Brahman, it must be beyond such pairs.”
The serpent observed, “If thou wouldst define a Brahmana by characteristics, then caste divisions lose their force unless conduct is what matters.”
Yudhiṣṭhira agreed: “In human society, caste is often hard to determine because of intermixture among orders. Speech, birth, intercourse, and death are common to all. The Rishis have themselves used expressions that treat ritual beginnings as beyond rigid birth divisions. Whosoever conforms to pure and virtuous conduct is, in truth, a Brahmana. I myself have called such a one a Brahmana before, and done so when conduct, not mere birth, defined the man.”
Hearing Yudhiṣṭhira’s answers, the serpent’s voice softened: “Thou art acquainted with what should be known. Having listened to thy words, how can I now eat up thy brother Vṛkodara?”
Vaisampayana continued:
Yudhishthira found his brother coiled in the serpent’s embrace and cried, “O son of Kunti, how came this mischance? Who is this serpent with a body like a mountain?”
Bhimasena, faint and bound, answered, “This mighty being has taken me for food. He is the royal sage Nahusha, dwelling now in the form of a serpent.”
Yudhishthira begged, “O great one, free my brother Bhima. We will give you other food to appease your hunger.”
The serpent replied, “I have already gained him. Fate has appointed me this meal. Leave now, or you too will be mine tomorrow. I was fated, after many lives, to obtain a king as food in the sixth part of the day. Still, if you will answer my questions truly, I shall deliver Vṛkodara.”
Yudhishthira said, “Ask what you will. I will answer as I can.”
The serpent spoke: “Tell me, who is a Brāhmaṇa? What is to be known?”
Yudhishthira answered clearly:
A Brāhmaṇa is one in whom dwell
truth, charity, forgiveness,
upright conduct, benevolence,
observance of order, and mercy.
That which should be known is Brahman,
the supreme, in whom suffering and joy find no hold.
The serpent objected, “Those qualities — truth, charity, mercy, the Veda that benefits the four orders — are found even in a Śūdra. And as for your Brahman beyond joy and sorrow, I see nothing wholly free of both.”
Yudhishthira replied, “Virtues seen in a Śūdra are not necessarily found in a Brāhmaṇa; and birth alone does not make a Brāhmaṇa. The wise declare: character, not birth, is the essence. A man who lives by those virtues I named is a Brāhmaṇa, whatever his lineage.”
Hearing this, the serpent rejoiced and said, “You know what is meet. How can I now eat your brother?”
Yudhishthira pressed on, “You are schooled in the Vedas — tell me plainly: what must be done to attain salvation?”
The serpent answered in aphorisms, each line a steady measure:
Bestow alms on fit objects;
speak kind words and hold fast to truth;
injure no living creature —
such a life leads to heaven.
Yudhishthira asked, “Which is higher: truth or charity? Which greater: gentle speech or non-injury?”
The serpent gave a practical reply:
Their worth is weighed by result.
Sometimes truth surpasses charity;
sometimes charity outstrips speech.
Non-injury may be greater than kind words,
or kind words greater than non-injury —
it depends upon their consequence.
Yudhishthira then inquired of subtle metaphysics: “How does the incorporeal soul, when joined to a body, perceive the world through the senses?”
The serpent taught:
By its acts a man attains
human life, heaven, or low rebirth.
The soul, yoked to body, uses sense and mind
(karanas) to perceive sound, form, flavor,
touch and smell in succession.
The mind is the seat of sensation
and cannot know two things at once;
the intellect directs, the mind experiences.
Pressing further, Yudhishthira asked the distinction of mind and intellect.
The serpent replied:
Illusion may make intellect rule the soul,
but intellect is itself moved by perception;
the mind is self-acting and feels pleasure and pain.
Thus the intellect judges, the mind feels.
Yudhishthira — moved by what he heard — said, “You are learned and wise. Yet how was illusion able to overthrow you? How did a being so girt with power fall?”
The serpent answered with shame and clarity:
Prosperity intoxicates even the wise.
Luxury dulls reason.
I, Nahusha, once lord of realms,
grew proud when sages bore my throne.
I insulted the Brāhmaṇas,
and Agastya cursed me to become a serpent.
Falling from heaven, I remembered my pride.
Agastya told me: when Yudhishthira’s virtue meets me,
the curse shall lift.
Now, in your presence, my sin is purged.
He continued in a final ethical summation:
Truth, charity, self-restraint, penance,
abstaining from harm, steadfast virtue —
these, not family or birth,
are the means to liberation.
With those words, Nahusha resumed his celestial shape and departed for heaven. Yudhishthira and Bhima returned to the hermitage with Dhaumya. When the story was told to the assembled Brāhmaṇas, Draupadī and the brothers were ashamed for Bhima’s rashness; the elders admonished him gently not to attempt such deeds again. The Pandavas, relieved and grateful, continued to live there in peace.