Kalidasa’s portraits of the life of Rishis and Hermitages
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Kalidasa has probably provided us with the finest pictures of the simple, unsullied and pure life led by our Rishis in hermitages. These pictures are among the many things that he has pioneered in the Indian literary tradition.
From his description of life in hermitages, it is clear that a Rishi or Sage is one who is more humane than most humans. It is because of this that he becomes divine in the larger meaning of the word. It is not as if a sage has no personal concerns, it is just that he is concerned about everything around him. And it is not as if he has given up everything, it is just that he accommodates everything. And finally, it is not as if he has given up pleasures; it is just that he is pleased with himself. It is this lofty ideal that Kalidasa has presented in his works.
We shall have the privilege of looking at a few of them beginning with the hermitage of Rishi Vasishta on an evening as seen by King Dilipa in Raghuvamsham.
When the wives of the sages were taking the sun-dried grains back into their huts, they were stopped at the door by deer demanding their daily share of grain. They appeared like the children of those women for the liberty and love they enjoyed.
The young girls of the hermitage would fill the trench around the root of the trees with water and quickly walk away from there. This was to allow the birds to quench their thirst without any fear from anyone being present around them.
The grains which had dried during the day were piled up during the evening in the grounds of the hermitage. That served as a cushion for the deer which would sit and ruminate on those piles.
And then, we can look at King Raghu enquiring about the well-being of the hermitage of Sage Varatantu, when talking to his pupil Kautsa.
I hope the trees of your hermitage are not being troubled by wild winds or any other difficulties. They have been brought up like their own sons by the people of your hermitage and have been relieving every one of their tiredness.
I hope the fawns of your hermitage are fine. They enjoy the comfort of the laps of your sages’ till the remains of their umbilical cords drop off and they also enjoy the luxury of feasting on the blades of grass collected by the sages for their rituals.
I hope the waterbodies in your hermitage which are used by the people of the hermitage for their ritual bath and oblations are hale and healthy. Their banks are littered with the grain offerings made by the hermits who believe in handing over a sixth of their share to the king.
And then, we can look at the advice given by Sage Valmiki to a pregnant Seeta, who is given shelter by him after she has been sent to the forest by Rama.
In our hermitage, you shall water young saplings from water-pots suited to your carrying. That way, you shall feel the joy of breast-feeding your kids even before you have given birth to them.
In Kumarasambhavam, Lord Shiva, in the guise of a Brahmachari enquires Parvathi about the well-being of her hermitage.
I hope you are happy with the liberty the deer take in snatching the blades of grass from your hand.
Here, the poet seems to imply that such wide-ranging compassion is the expected result of penance. And who better to talk about it than the primordial hermit, Lord Shiva? After all, he has accommodated everything from the deadly poison haalahala to the divine river Ganges and has no problems with snakes inhabiting his body.
Finally, we can see one glowing example of life in hermitages from the ‘play perfect’ – Abhijnanashakuntalam. When Shakuntala is preparing to leave the hermitage to go to her husband’s home, this is what she requests of her foster-father sage Kanva:
Father! Whenever the pregnant she-deer roaming around our hut here has a safe delivery of its baby, then please send someone to deliver me that good news.
And then, she is waylaid by a deer who is described thus by sage Kanva:
Look at this deer blocking your way! It has been like a son to you. When it injured its mouth while eating the sharp blades of grass, you had treated it with ingudi oil. And it has grown up by eating grains out of your own hands.
With this, we shall take leave of the wonderful world of hermitages created by our master poet.
Continued in the next part
Amazing article. Hope you continue this series and continue to inspire us towards a more pristine life. Thanks a lot.
I would like to see articles on female Rishis. And by women. Thank you…
It is important that women as teachers, gurus and guides be respected…not just in theory, romantic idealization or assumptions…but in reality and on these websites.
I am appalled how men only want female adulation, female consent and female compliment in India and on the internet…to their work. but when women are assertive or confident and forthright they are maligned, accused of being men or men-like.
My wonderful research assistant is a male and I have asked him many times if he is an exception among his peers. He says “yes”, and so does his wife who is a dynamic woman technologist earning more than him and free from pettiness and jealousy.
India in reality has many radicals and daredevils who defy culture to create new culture. Unfortunately they are not part of “evolving Hinduism and India”. In many parts of India Hinduism has stagnated and is backward culturally. Let us change that. Let us not stagnate Hinduism and turn it into a 14th century feudalism that men, who are afraid of change and are afraid of changing women, cling to.
Male rishis of the past either were single and celibate, or they had “a wife”, maybe a woman partner they were not married to. Some of these women might have been older and bolder, Some rishis, after spending much time in philosophical pursuits, married much younger women with whom they had children with in their 60s and 70s. We know this for sure. I do not know any male Rishis with co wives, multiple women or a wife and a mistress. Evolved men consider this beneath them, and unkind to women…though evolved men might understand “a woman with multiple husbands who all stay loyal to her”.
I am interested in looking at women gurus, leaders and rishis who might have been single celibate women, single non-celibate women, women with multiple partners or even many husbands. Women who have children on their own. Women who cohabit with their partners before marriage or without marriage, Women who are older than their partners. Women with house husbands. Women who are divorced, date and remarry successfully. Women who are lesbians. Women who are beautiful, sexy and active in their 40s, 50s and 60s, 70s…on top of women married to one man and living with him forever (hopefully happy).
There are women in India who have given birth to biological children in their 50s and 60s. There are women who have had many lovers and never married, and some of their lovers were their students. Unfortunately there is not much research on this.
Hinduism has stifled into “a world of obedient compliant sumangalees” where a woman cannot even remain single respectably in her 30s, or divorce because of domestic violence or unfaithful or drunk husbands, or live a respectable and well supported life as a young working widow who might want a partner, or want to remarry”.
We need to make diversity among women acceptable, respectable, well understood, and socially well integrated.
I was appalled at how in a women’s support group I created for diverse group of women housewives never talked to working women, women in science did not mingle much with women in the social sciences, women with children avoided women without children, and women who were single avoided women who were marred, and women who were lesbians or divorced did not show up for the group as they felt they would be gossiped about…etc.
I managed to make these women realize all their lives are wonderful, meaningful and important. And Mark, at that time fairly well, would leave the house for these sessions to give us space, or he’d do the kitchen work and serve us women while we were talking and processing.
And I want more women and men to be voting for more Indian women in high office, and work for women or work under women.
Let India join the 21st century by bringing its some of its past evolved psychology towards women into this century. Lets get rid of the patriarchy and misogyny that is also far too abundant and pervasive.
Absolutely beautiful…the paintings and the sketches certainly bring this out.
Mr. Vasumk…are there any Indian painters (male and female) who have helped translate these works in three dimensions…to help us identity not only hermitage life, but the flora and fauna in our forests, jungles and wild life?
A native American in Florida told me that her father, who’d go fishing and gathering for berries in the woods of northern Canada in the summer, would encounter bears. He would talk to them in a way that would calm them…and they’d patiently wait with him for some fish and berries that he would throw to them before he left. He would talk to them in way they understood…with firmness but kindness. They never attacked him, or even got too close. She had seen bears run, and then when they saw her father they’d just quieten down and literally sit close like they were children observing and waiting for.their treat.
This happened with our yogis, gurus, sages and sanyasins. Their positive energy and their kindness was felt by our animals…even at the minutest level.
My own grandmother would talk to the cows when she milked them, and they would lick her forehead as if to show affection. A street dog we adopted long ago never left my mother’s bed in the hospital when she was sick. And he did not eat for two days, sitting and sleeping under her hospital bed 24/7. It was a touching site. Only when my mother fed him did he eat. Many people have stories of such kind, affectionate and humane animals…and some with messages from the beyond. They also need and attach to our kindness and goodness.
I wonder how do we deal with insects and rodents in our cities…without pesticides, chemicals and killing? How can we make them go away, and come only when we are okay with them and only for their need, while not hurting us in our hygiene and sanitation? Hindus must come up with a solution for our urbanization and citification. What do our sages predict?
Our closeness to nature was not just “tolerance”…but “birthing their spirit, sharing their spirit, growing their spirit and expanding”. One Karnatic music singer told me that his grandfather would sing certain raagas to make wild jasmine grow in the woods of Palghat.
That is how we figured out that animals are part of our cycle of birth and rebirth.
Kindly do some translation on evolutionary path of our planet and our lokhas from our texts…That is of great interest to me.
There is a saying in Telugu—“Whenever a Rishi walks in the forest, even the wild animals shall and will, bow down their heads in respect, for those noble souls.”
I don’t deny this, as animals have a perception, intuition and abilities different from us…They are not inferior, though their intellect is not equivalent to ours. But some humans behave worst than some wild animals at their primitive savagery.
All this knowledge has to be researched…and with hard evidence we must promote lot of this knowledge around the world for the next evolution in the human race, and for the next stage of our lokha development. Serious stuff. Hinduism is clear and firm when it comes to free will of of the human body and neurology. Hence human beings have privileges, but also special responsibilities. Are we evolving?
Good thoughts…”out of the 84,00,000 lakhs of species[1] in this beautiful world—not-so-beautiful today—, man is not only the most intelligent also, the most responsible; but, all the other animals have their own reverent standards of intelligence” goes another saying…..anyone out there to listen?…….excuse me,for I do not think so….and also[1]—this is the same number, that recently appeared in a Nature Science Journal`s article about the “number of species in the world”… but in India it is at least 6000 years old…..
Beautiful series, very enlightening. One small gripe – most of the Sanskrit shloka sentences are written as one single word without spacings, making them a bit difficult to read.
I think the samAsa is like that. – it is debatable whether breaking it and putting words out harms or it doesn’t, in the context of poetry 🙂
A Rishi is someone who is self aware & uses this self awareness to delve deeper into the universal consciousness to derive benefits for humanity as a whole