With elections round the corner, abuse
peppers the hyperbole and rhetoric employed by candidates to boost their image.
They are calling each other frauds, imposters and murderers. Some have cast
aspersions on their opponents' virility, some others have flaunted their own.
Interestingly, several examples of
employing abuse as a battle axe can be found in the epics. In the Mahabharata,
the Sisupala-Krishna encounter is a case in point. Yudhisthira was conducting
the Rajasuya Yagna - a sacrifice meant for the gods at the end of which a king
is anointed emperor - and he offers arghya (water from the ritual or fruit and
sweets from the sacrifice) to the assembled kings. Yudhisthira asked Bhisma to
point out the foremost among the kings gathered at his court so that he could
offer him the first arghya. Bhisma pointed to Krishna. At this, the king of
Chedi, Sisupala, let loose a barrage of insults. He called Krishna a wretch
born in the race of the Vrishnis and Yudhisthira a mean fool who had abandoned
the path of dharma. Bhisma he called arrogant and ignorant and an old and
infamous wretch living in the third state (celibacy).
Sisupala had never forgiven Krishna for
eloping with Rukmini, whom he had sought to marry, and for killing Kansa,
Krishna's own uncle, and Putana, a rakshasi - he felt both had been wronged -
and his friend Jarasandha. His hatred found release in the vitriolic attack
which also caused his end. Sisupala, who had been born with three eyes and four
hands and had brayed like an ass when he came into the world, was fated to be
killed by Krishna. His parents had wanted to abandon him but were held back by
a heavenly voice that assured them that the deformities would disappear once
the baby was placed in the lap of the right person but that the same person
would cause Sisupala's death. That is what happened when Krishna picked up
Sisupala. At Sisupala's mother's insistence Krishna had agreed to forgive her
son one hundred insults before he took his life. Sisupala tipped the scale and
lost his life.
Pentheus, king of Thebes, faced a similar
fate for his abuse of Dionysus. Pentheus found the Dionysian cult strange and
horrifying and called Dionysus an "eastern stranger", refusing to
accept him as a god. When Dionysus visited his kingdom, Pentheus insulted and
imprisoned him. But Dionysus broke free and led Pentheus to a horrific death at
the hands of his mother.
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| An ungainly sight: Duryodhana slips and falls |
Harsh words are used in most epics as
triggers and turning points. Duryodhana's desire for revenge was apparently
hardened when he saw Draupadi mocking his gauche inspection of the Pandava's
palace at Indraprastha. He mistook a crystal surface for a lake and then a lake
for a crystal surface, tripping and falling as he made his way around the
palace. Draupadi laughed out loud and, according to one version, called him
"blind as a blind man's son". Overly sensitive, Duryodhana bore her a
lifelong grudge, as did Karna against Arjuna and Bhima for calling him a
low-caste interloper.
In the Iliad, an insult, at least a
perceived one, was also the reason for Helen's abduction. Eris, the goddess of
strife, was piqued at not being invited to the wedding of a mortal, King
Peleus, and a sea-nymph, Thetis. She sent a golden apple for the nuptial feast
inscribed with the words: "For the fairest". Athene, Hera and
Aphrodite laid claim to the apple. Zeus appointed Paris as judge. Each goddess
promised Paris special favours in return for the prize: Hera said she would
give him royal power, Athene wisdom and victory in war, and Aphrodite said she
would get him the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris chose Aphrodite and
earned the enmity of Hera and Athene for life. The battle of Troy followed soon
thereafter.
Epic literature is full of insulting words
and acrimonious exchanges, some fatal and some amusing. Our modern-day
politicians could use them to find new swear words and, perhaps, to learn when
to stop.
(This article appeared in the Business Standard (March 8, 2014) under the headline Abuse of Power)
