http//:daathvoyagejournal.com Editor: Saikat Banerjee Department of English Dr. K.N. Modi University, Newai, Rajasthan, India. : An International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in English ISSN 2455-7544 www.daathvoyagejournal.com Vol.2, No.1, March, 2017 Bestanding Kosher Pukka: Role of Filius Nullius in the Mahabharata Sunal Sharma Research Scholar University of Jammu Email ID: [email protected] Abstract: Ancient Indian society had a very hypocritical view regarding an illegitimate child. The various religious texts and myths are profused with a huge number of great people who were illegitimate children and had no paternal certainty. Being an encyclopaedia of Indian civilization, the Mahabharata has a profound influence on the Indian society. Despite all these knowledge and experiences, one can understand the trauma and humiliation that the illegitimate children had to face by giving a deep reading to the epic. In the Mahabharata, there are numerous examples of illegitimate children who were great people in the past and who were maltreated by the ancient Hindu society. The present paper is an attempt to show how the illegitimate children were treated as the objects to serve the ‘legitimate heir’ in the Mahabharata. Key Words: Illegitimate, Legitimate, Filius Nullius, Kosher Pukka. Legitimacy, according to western case law, is a social position given to a child, born to parents who are legally married to each other and to a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Contrarily, illegitimacy (or bastardity) is the status of a child born out of a wed-lock. Filius Nullius is a Latin word for ‘son of nobody’ (especially in law) and Kosher Pukka means ‘the legitimate heir’. The repercussions of illegitimacy have mainly related to a child’s right of inheritance to the putative father’s estate and the child’s right to bear the father’s surname or title. The children born out of wed-lock have been frown upon by the society and they enjoy no virtual status in the society. Unfair treatment and stigma towards the illegitimate child permeates all aspects of the society. However, this prejudiced conduct towards bastardy is not new. Ancient Indian society had a very hypocritical view regarding an illegitimate child. The various religious texts and myths are profused with a huge number of great people who Vol.2, No.1 March, 2017 Page 163 : An International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in English ISSN 2455-7544 www.daathvoyagejournal.com Vol.2, No.1, March, 2017 were illegitimate children and had no paternal certainty. Being an encyclopaedia of Indian civilization, the Mahabharata has a profound influence on the Indian society. The religious, social and cultural make up of the whole of the Indian subcontinent and much of the rest of Asia has been deeply influenced by this popular epic. The numerous myths and legends from the Mahabharata are considered as the treasures of information of ancient customs, traditions and ways of living for the country. VedVyasa declares: “Yannehastinakutracit” “Whatever is not found in this, You will not find anywhere.” (Ganguli, XVIII. 5.50) It is a Mahakavya and contains the core knowledge of the Vedas, the essence of the Sastras, of Vedangas, of Itihaasa, Purana, Dharamsastra and Upvedas. It throws light on astronomy, astrophysics, judicial systems; expounds the past, present and future, old age, death, fear, the reality or otherwise of objects, happiness and sorrows of life, duties and stages of life. It is, therefore, called the ‘fifth Veda’ and the most authentic commentary on ancient Indian life and polity. Despite all these knowledge and experiences, one can understand the trauma and humiliation that the illegitimate children had to face by giving a deep reading to the epic. In the Mahabharata, there are numerous examples of illegitimate children who were great people in the past and who were maltreated by the ancient Hindu society and were treated as the objects to serve the ‘legitimate heir’. Little is written about Satyavati, the great grandmother of the Pandavas and Kauravas princes, although she transformed the royal lineage of Hastinapura despite her low caste origins. But Satyavati was no ordinary woman. She was the daughter of Chedi king Uparichara Vasu who during the course of a hunt rested under a tree and ejected joyful semen while thinking about his wife. He did not want to waste the semen and so, he wrapped the semen in a leaf and gave it to a parrot to carry it to his wife so that she could bear a child with it. On the way to palace, parrot was attacked by a falcon and semen was consumed by a Vol.2, No.1 March, 2017 Page 164 : An International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in English ISSN 2455-7544 www.daathvoyagejournal.com Vol.2, No.1, March, 2017 cursed celestial-nymph-turned-fish Adrika. Few days later, some fishermen caught this fish and found twin children: a boy and a girl in its belly. They presented it to the king Uparichara who accepted the male child and declined the female child to be raised by fisherman chieftain Dusaharaj (a ferryman). Satyavati had a small emanating body and teased as Matsyagandha. She ferried people across the river Kalindi (Yamuna). One day, while ferrying sage Prashara across a river, he expressed his desire to make love to Matsyagandha and have a child by her. Finding him indefatigable and, pragmatically concerned that he might upset the boat in midstream, she surrendered herself on two conditions: that her virginity shall remain intact and that the dreadful body-odour of fish is removed. Her wishes were granted by Prashara. She bore him a son called Vyasa. The son was raised by the father and brought up as an ascetic sage, but before he returned to the forest life, he promised his mother he would come and help her whenever she faced difficulty. The tale of Prashara and Matsya-gandha can be seen as a tale of sexual exploitation of a young girl by a powerful elderly sage, or it can-be seen as a tale of sex hospitality that was prevalent in the epic age when fathers and husbands offered their daughters and wives to guests, sages and kings. Or it can-be seen as an attempt by Matsya- gandha to manipulate a sage by offering him sexual favours. (Pattanaik 35) Matsya-gandha (who stinks of a fish), transformed into Yojanagandha (whose fragrance can be smelled across a yojana), captivated the attention of Shantanu, the king of Hastinapuri. Although she married him on the condition that her children would inherit the throne. Thus, she manoeuvred the crown prince Bhishma out of reckoning. But fate played her false and both her sons died childless leaving widows Ambika and Ambalika. This created crisis as there was no legitimate heir to the throne of Hastinapur. So, Satyavati asked Bhishma to do his duty as a step brother and begot sons on the widows of his brother by Levirate (Niyoga). But Bhishma did not decline from his vow as he considered it sacred. A desperate Satyavati then sent for her first son Vyasa. As no ‘legitimate heir’ is left, illegitimate is summoned as a matter of necessity. So he fathered Pandu by Ambalika who Vol.2, No.1 March, 2017 Page 165 : An International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in English ISSN 2455-7544 www.daathvoyagejournal.com Vol.2, No.1, March, 2017 became the future king and Dhritrashtra by Ambika who was blind. But along with them, Vidura, a healthy son was born out of the union of Vyasa and a maid. Though fit to be a king, he would never be allowed to wear the crown as he was born of a maid. “The law states that only children of the lawfully wedded wife are the true sons, not the children of concubines” (Pattnaik 40). Therefore, some laws made Vidyura the illegitimate son and Dhritrashtra and Pandu the legitimate sons of Vichitravirya, there were the other laws which prevented Dhritrashra from becoming a king. As the law says that only a person who is physically fit, can be a king. Pandu was made king by superseding Dhritrashtra who was born blind. Ironically, even Pandu is physically unfit; his disability (sterility or impotency) is not evident as blindness. But soon fate turned off its table and Pandu had renounced the palacely pleasures due to the curse of sage Kindama. So in the absence of Pandu, the throne of Hastinapur was ruled by blind king and blindfolded queen. More to Pandu’s distress, Gandhari, wife of Dhritrsahtra was pregnant before his own wives. Not only fate had taken the crown from him, it had also left him in a state whereby he could never father kings. Kunti consoled her husband and told him the magic formula given to her by sage Durvasa by which she could call upon any Sky- god and had a child with him instantly. She also explained to him how according to the laws of marriage, children born by the wife belonged to the husband whether he fathered them or not. Women were bound to husbands, enabling all men to know who their fathers were. They could only have children by their husbands and if their husbands were unable to give them children, they could go to men chosen by their husbands. So it is that the father of the planet Mercury is the planet Jupiter even though it was moon who conceived him in the womb of the stars. (Pattnaik 47) This delighted pandu and he decided to take advantage of this law. With his permission, Kunti invoked Yama, the lord of Dharma and got Yudhistra; Vayu, the god of wind and conceived Bhima; and called upon Indra, king of the Devas and ruler of the sky and conceived Arjuna.