The sea and the hero

 

Duryodhana, Kaurava king and arch rival of his cousins, the Pandavas, was said to have been well versed in the scriptures. Although he is the cause for the war that annihilated an entire race, Duryodhana comes across as an unfortunate character who felt he had been wronged by circumstance and his cousins. Although later renditions of the epic have made him out to be an evil and villainous warrior, Duryodhana did have several heroic qualities. He lost out on account of his vanity and uncontrollable temper. His character is brilliantly portrayed in a play called Dutavakyam by Bhasa, a Sanskrit playwright who lived sometime between 2BCE and 2CE.

Interestingly in the Mahabharata, it is Duryodhana who defines a hero's character. He speaks at length about what constitutes a hero and among the many points he makes is that a hero's might does not depend upon his lineage. Thus it did not matter that Karna was recognised as a Suta and not a Kshatriya. To him Karna was a brave hero because of his ability to challenge one as mighty as Arjuna. Caste did not cloud his judgement. Explaining his stance ( Mahabharata, Vol 1, Translated by KM Ganguli, p290) Duryodhana says:"The lineage of heroes like the sources of a lordly river are ever unknown."

He takes the water analogy further and says: "The fire that covers the world rises from the waters." Duryodhana was referring to the quality that allows a seemingly placid ocean to pull nations under. And perhaps what he was trying to say is that just as it would be foolish to judge the sea by its appearance, it would be wrong to identify a hero by his caste or by what he looks like. In other words, let actions speak for the man not his looks.

His words carry another truth which holds great significance for us today: the omnipotence of nature. The sea contains the fire that engulfs the world, he said. As the Tsunami wrecks Japan these words reflect an aspect of the ocean we have lost sight of.

Photograph by Rajrishi Singhal