Looking in (II)

III.

"Vyasa continued, Oh Yudhishthira, now I understand that your wisdom is far from sufficient. Realize though, no one can accomplish virtuous deeds on their own. The deity moved one, both for the better and for worse, oh donors of blessing."

An almost Protestant sentiment, namely that because good deeds are by nature divine, the gods  therefore must be turned to. Of course, people must do this on their own, usually, and saying that the gods must treat them robotically and turn them to virtue somehow, or that virtue has no relation to the person's intentional actions or themselves generally, raises more problematic questions usually associated with Protestantism that they presumably don't wish to explore here. In general, they perhaps do not wish to go so far in that essentially amoral direction. This is hence perhaps more to be understood as a loose phrasing, rather than otherwise, with reference to the specific context where divine intervention is a valid claim.

The reference hence seems to be that the deed would not be accomplished, the word 'Jaya' not spoken, without divine aid, rather than that the virtue itself must be imputed. It requires this divine or spiritual aid for its realisation in deeds.

In a sense, in causing Yudhistira to turn towards a religious perspective, it actually aids his point, or implies that they should be able to consider such divine aspects as aren't usually associated with their position, despite having it. Whether they are in any position to do so, is another question.

As such, in dealing with continuance, or stability, reference must be made to alterations in the divine order, and not just to the earth. The divine order hence sets limits to men and their actions.

"Where is there room for this repentance? But since you think you have very even sinful acts committed, so listen to the agents how sin may be adjusted. Oh Yudhishthira, he who sinned, can free himself of them always by abstinence, sacrifices and offerings."

 Hence, things are strictly limited. The sense that Duryodhana was in sin as well, and this led to the collapse of their side, means that there is still a prevailing threat against Yudhistira. This threat is treated lightly, but is implicit. Hence, he must win over the gods again, in order to assure continuance for the moment, and this requires a sacrifice.

As such, continuance is attained through sacrifice and instability, just as his accession came with the death of men and horses. This is hence not a stable period of kingship, but instead a period of continual fluctuations and suffering to attempt to be in harmony with the divine order.

"Oh good man, I say it again: sinful people can be purified by sacrifice, penance and offerings."

However, this seems problematic. While Yudhistira wishes to be an ascetic, they are promised a quick way out of this, which will allow them not to disturb their social role. This is in some ways a forged or assimilated version of genuine virtues, in the form of grand, conventional demonstration. Roman Catholic Indulgences, and Protestantism generally, served a similar function. However, in the process, ascetic virtues like sacrifice and penance are proclaimed as counter-acting sin, and hence as notably positive things or things which lead in the opposite direction to sin. In this sense, again, their ascetic impulse is furthered rather than otherwise.

In general, then, these means serve to counter-act the sins and the state of sin which these place them into. They are therefore advocated, and he is to do these. Although sins manifest themselves, or culminate, in a certain form, these serve to abate this or act against this directly, which is hence an aim they share.

"The high-souled gods and demons perform sacrifices to secure religious merit."

This kind of thing manifests a slightly Buddhistic tendency. If the 'gods' are such mostly nominally, but otherwise act similarly to humans, then the 'religious' clearly appeals to an uncertain force which stands above them, and is to be done penance to. Buddhism, likewise, would subject all things to a universal force, and in this sense is only 'atheistic' by a small and mostly nominal variation. It arose quite easily in a religion polytheistic to the point of triviality. Christianity, though resistant, leads to similar phenomena, due to things such as the Trinity and multiplicity of God in that religion. Christianity gives commands without caring if it is an atheist, Jew or otherwise listening, pretending that vague platitudes will always have a clear meaning, and hence ultimately allows easily for a religious which goes beyond God. A strictly monotheistic Christianity, given the mildness of the religion, would seem quite too trivial to be widely adopted among anyone particularly religious.

In any case, even the gods perform these sacrifices, they are hence standard and occur frequently. They have a penchant which is not only occasional, as when kings do them or people opt to do them, but eternal, in nature - they are not performed just once or twice, on a whim, but there is an endless pattern formed by the gods' performance of them, that people can partake in. They are hence firmly established. In this sense, the gods serve as something akin to what many speculate Stonehenge is for, to keep the time. Still, this is a limited paraphrase of the purpose of deities, and in a sense a parasitic use of them, or one where they are used as an image, but otherwise iffy. Nonetheless, the Roman Catholic Church did not follow it, or made its rituals merely human in nature or performance, ultimately, tied to the specific circumstances and continuity of the Church, and hence Protestantism's discarding of much of this need come as no surprise.

"Prepare you, O king, a Rajasuya offering before, or a horse-sacrifice and maybe a Sarvamedha or Naramedha. Yes, just like Rama, Dasaratha's son, and as the pious Bharata, have done it, you execute in accordance with the authorities a horse sacrifice with rich gifts to the Brahmins."

 Hence, they are to form a part of this cyclical progression, founded among the gods. The gods in the sense give this demonstration a cyclical nature, and these luminaries, though speculated to be incarnations of deities, function to elevate it from there, or give the specific occurrence worth among this cycle. By itself, this appeal need not mean much unless one has a particular tie to historical re-enactment, but in the context it is notable. Of course, such sacrifice of horses would be looked on differently later on, and hence the religious status of these texts now might be uncertain. The gods used to freely commune with men, now they do so less commonly, but nonetheless more has changed in this time in terms of mores than then, and yet without divine sanction. These deities seemingly do not wish to clarify their position on these things.

Perhaps, despite the Church's cautions, they too have been made a victim of 'enthusiasts' who claim to speak for God, based on some random encounter, and hence can take these changing mores as indeed a divine reprimand. This can only be done because their texts are highly flexible.

Hence, such sacrifices are a cyclical thing, but take on greater intensity due to their treatment by venerated people, and this is how Yudhistira is to be persuaded.


'Yudhishthira replied, Undoubtedly a horse sacrifice cleanses a king. But I have another intention that thou mayest listen. After this devastating destruction among my relatives, I can not even give away small gifts, because I do not have more resources."

Hence, Yudhistira is caught in a certain sense of contradiction. Though they need cleansing from sin, they cannot give away gifts, to attempt to ease this problem, because they lack resources. This is in part due to the destruction. Though they are caught in sin, they are also not afforded of the means to heal themselves by official or 'easy' means.

This is a highly ascetic viewpoint, from one perspective. They wish to posit that, from the point of view of poverty, these kinds of demonstration cannot cleanse, whatever their heritage. Hence, they are viewing things from so to speak an ascetic perspective, one where they must be able to achieve heritage without such worldly possessions, one where the ascetic stripping away of these things is presupposed and one is to begin from there. Hence, the ascetic is supposed to be the beginning of any religious task, and indeed a highly ascetic sage shall have to be drawn on even to resolve this scenario amicably. The essentially or personally religious is that which can be done without such means, which are not essential to it, and indeed which in the pursuing of duty might cut them away and leave one hypothetically having to ignore them and act. While only loosely touched on, they hence imply a rather ascetic tendency, although one that might not be realised as yet, for they are still fixated on personal themes and interests from their position.

Nonetheless, more notable is the 'bind' that they are moored in here: caught in sin, but due to these circumstances unable to free themselves from it, and so on. This passage is one of the more complex in this section, and summarises a situation more involved than most of the war.

"I can not ask among the sons of the slain kings for riches, these grieving, inexperienced and yet already injured youths."

Hence, again, having to propitiate their sins, they have given themselves a situation where they cannot find favour among others, for they have just fought them. They must attempt to atone for, among other things, their perception among these people, but have no means of doing so. They have as it were cut away the legs on which they stand.

"And after this devastation of the earth, how can I raise taxes there to celebrate a sacrifice?"

This theme continues on - after this devastation, they can hardly atone as easily, with the risk of offence or aggravation. They have bound themselves, and yet must attempt to escape by further action.

"Oh ascetic, Duryodhana's stubbornness met the kings of the earth for their destruction, and we all have harvested shame. For riches and treasures Duryodhana and his brothers have ravaged the earth, and now the treasury is empty."

The stubbornness of Duryodhana has left the earth empty. In this, Yudhistira might be absolving themselves of their own sin somewhat. In that sense, the sacrifice is already given, although in a sense people who wish to 'absolve' themselves of sin by a gesture like a sacrifice presumably already accept that they are free of it from the first, and the rest is only convincing others.

In any case, the acts of Duryodhana have taken the gifts of the earth, and hence by seeking these none is left for Yudhistira. They have therefore ravaged the earth until there was little for Yudhistira to take, apparently, and even less from their people, who are stubborn and will not give.

This point about Duryodhana is poignant for Dhritarashtra's earlier speech, they condemn Dhritarashtra rather than just mourning them, in the wake of their death. In a certain sense, Duryodhana, in ravaging the earth for its treasures, has left it dry and barren, and therefore harmed the chances of those without these finding or using them.

They have sent it into a negative situation which is now a problem for Yudhistira. In this sense, Duryodhana was also unlikely to aid with this, and was inimical to it, or became a force which by their sins depleted the earth and their side in the battle, rather than winning per se.

"In a horse sacrifice the gifts of the earth are the first rule. Although the reversal of this rule is endorsed by some scholars, but I do not want to hurt. So I graciously grant your esteemed Council in this matter, oh dear."

In order to sacrifice, some stable means of procuring the sacrifice is a start. Otherwise it is either a rare thing, or otherwise. As such, this in a sense becomes a religious issue, or the continuance of the ritual in the divine order, drawn upon, becomes the basis for the sporadic occurrence of these sacrifices among people.

However, these means are seemingly lacking, and will have to be found otherwise. They hence have little incentive to keep going.

"After these words Vyasa thought for a while, and then he said to Yudhistira, Your now empty treasury should be refilled. In the Himalayas there's a lot of gold, which the Brahmins have left there, for they could not carry all of it away."

Vyasa hence says that, for the moment, they should take some leftover gold from the Himalayas, which was of the king Marutta. This is a somewhat exaggerated legend, so far as the gold goes - people in this epic slay thousands, some have much gold despite rarely seeming to go anywhere with it, people in other epics have multiple heads and arms, etc. - and bespeak a certain indifference to it.

As such, Yudhistira is still able to replenish what Duryodhana has left of the earth, by seeking out gold from elsewhere. This gold is associated with ascetism and such, which again seems to suggest an ascetic or pseudo-ascetic path for Yudhistira, although they are probably too late for this aim to be fully realised.

This must be sought in a slightly remote and high place, the Himalayas. It previously belonged to others, but they have left some for Yudhistira to take. Yudhistira may hence take this to perform the sacrifice, at the moment, although there is the acknowledgement that it is what the Brahmins have 'left behind,' or in brief the sacrifice is merely a substitute for truly religious life.

The Brahmins hence, like those who claimed rent, carry away a certain sum of gold, and then leave the rest to be found. They do not distribute the gold, but simply attempt to keep it. Nonetheless, in this case, they were the source of the gold which resulted, or contributed to it, and hence claim some of what occurred.

Yudhistira, interested, enquires further into this.

"And Vyasa replied, If you are curious to learn everything about this king from the House of Karandhama, then listen to me, as I tell of the mighty monarch, who had enormous wealth."

 Vyasa promises to tell them more of the past bearer of this wealth, Marutta, and this wealth. It shall in all likelihood, as it is mythological in character or exaggerated to an indefinite extent, be merely mythological or involve some sort of divine interaction or defiance, and hence the intervention of Brahmins and ascetics. This divine interaction helps to give this wealth its 'indefinite' character, although of course wealth is generally a matter of specifics and particular quantities, and hence this wealth is in a sense metaphorical as much as it is anything else. Vyasa hence ends this section with a claim along the lines of: 'Let me tell you a story in the form of a dream, / I don't know why I have to tell it but I know what it means, / Close your eyes, just picture the scene, / As I paint it for you,' albeit less flamboyant. Yudhistira, by contrast, is in a sense restored to their general role here - though they have gone in a different direction, mostly, they are now called upon to take 'what the Brahmins have left behind,' hence merely to try and limply catch up if they wish to take an ascetic path. Nonetheless, the discussion so far is interrupted by this tale, which nonetheless elucidates from an external perspective the relevant categories.

In a sense, then, this discussion does not come to a clear resolution, but instead resolves in a story. However, it has covered much of note about the situation. They are bound in a scenario where they are unable to procure what they need to go on, and need a sacrifice. These are a periodic thing, with notable examples, nonetheless this periodic nature is disrupted, and hence they must explore the treasure of Marutta, or go on an innovative journey. This hence sets them 'out of tune' or departed from the divine order, or from the cycle of sacrifices and their eternal order. They must hence eventually resort to more extreme means if Yudhistira is to compensate for this distance, and voyage to attempt to meet the gods and show allegiance. In this work, Yudhistira is unlikely to be given an ending which does not satisfy this redemptive plot-line, although the complete accuracy of this may be questioned because the angle of the work is already quite clear. Yudhistira's purification is in a way a means of reassuring the kings of the day that their salvation is also vouched for. In any case, due to Duryodhana's ravaging of the earth, or struggle against it, Yudhistira is forced to look for a religious sacrifice for the purpose of off-setting his sins, or at least to display this, which leads to a somewhat ascetic tendency arising nonetheless due to the religious means. While he is not wont to run off to the forest like the Buddha, which is in itself a political act, though one which the Buddha doesn't necessarily want to acknowledge - despite their act being meant to have general significance, they attempt to avoid acknowledging this and so restrict their 'religion' to a primarily personal or felt one which is idle on more notable matters and allows the state freedom to operate, so long as it give shallow demonstration -, nonetheless there is a tendency to give up what they hold. Hence, they are faced with a possible solution to the general situation, a possible direction which will free them of this inability to sacrifice, at least for the moment, but nonetheless requires them first to hear through its story and abide by the precepts of this story, or at least claim to. Hence, they must first grasp a religious moral or the general form in which Marutta gained this, so as to be one appropriate in some way to claim Marutta's fortune, before they may go on to attempt the sacrifice.