Varun's Take

Varun N. Achar said...

Dear Prof. Sastry-gaaru,

In the course of my (ongoing) reading of Vyaasa's wonderful Bhaarata, I am now come to the part where a sage named Brhadasva narrates to the Paandavas in exile (minus Arjuna, who is busy sporting with his father in Amaraavati!) the pathetic tale of Nala and Damayanti.

Two sections in this narration were eerily reminiscent of Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". Although the stories are quite different, there is one short episode in Damayanti's (mis)adventure strikingly similar to the mariner's. You know how the crew hails the mariner's deed in a time of good fortune but curses the same when plunged into misfortune?

Similarly, Damayanti runs into a caravan of merchants, whose first words to her are: "O blessed one, who art thou, and whose? What seekest thou in woods? Seeing thee here we have been terrified. Art thou human? Tell us truly, O blessed one if thou art the goddess of this wood or of this mountain or of the points of the heaven. We seek thy protection. Art thou a female Yaksha, or a female Rakshasa, or a celestial damsel? O thou of faultless features, do thou bless us wholly and protect us. And, O blessed one, do thou so act that this caravan may soon go hence in prosperity and that the welfare of all of us may be secured."

By and by, the caravan, now housing Damayanti as a refugee, suffer a stroke of ill luck in the form of an elephant stampede. At this, some of the traders begin to resent Damayanti, saying: "That maniac-like woman who came amongst this mighty caravan in guise that was strange and scarcely human, alas, it is by her that this dreadful illusion had been pre-arranged. Of a certainty, she is a terrible Rakshasa or a Yaksha or a Pisacha woman. All this evil is her work, what need of doubts? If we again see that wicked destroyer of merchants, that giver of innumerable woes, we shall certainly slay that injurer of ours, with stones, and dust, and grass, and wood, and cuffs."

Just found this mildly fascinating, and wanted to share it with you and your readers.

Best regards,

Varun