Rishi Dadhichi
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Rishi Dadhichi
Suman K Sharma , The sage who had to give away his bones "Daily Excelsior" 25/2/2018
Once, Indra was holding court, surrounded by the pomp and show that befitted the king of heaven. So puffed up was he with his kingly pride that when Brihaspati made an appearance, he did not get up from his throne to greet his venerable guru.
Brihspati took offence and vowed never to have anything to do with the arrogant king of devas.
Soon after, in the absence of a wise counsel, Indra lost his throne to daityas. The humbled deva king managed to persuade Vishvaroopa to perform a yagya so that he could regain his kingdom.
Now, this Vishvaroopa was a highly gifted Brahmin. He had three faces to separately consume somrasa, vine and food. Before he sat down to perform the yagya, a daityacame to him secretly. The daitya poisoned Vishvaroopa’sears with the plea that since the latter was related to daityas on his mother’s side, he should be supporting theirs, and not the devas’ cause. Vishvaroopa saw no reason to counter the daitya’s argument.
Thus compromised, Vishvaroopa presided over the yagya, only to cause offerings being made to daityas and not to devas. As a consequence, Indra lost the war to daityas.
Later, when Indra came to know of Vishvaroopa’s treachery, he killed the Brahmin in a fit of rage. The matter did not end there. The tidings reached Tvashta, Vishvaroopa’s learned father. With the enormous mystic powers that he possessed, Tvashta created a seemingly invincible giant, Vritasura, so fearsome that devas did not know where to hide from him. Vritasura set upon to devour devas. No power in the world knew what to do with him.
It was Vishnu who advised Indra that the giant could be killed only with a mace made out of the bones of someone who was pure, pious and self-sacrificing. Rishi Dadhichi was one such man, Vishnu said.
Indra hastened to the rishi to beg of him his skeleton.
‘But why should I? Don’t I cherish my life as you do yours?’ The sage asked in all earnestness.
Indra said it was on Vishnu’s suggestion that he had come to him with the request.
The sage relented,seeing that it was Vishnu Himself who had asked him for his bones. He advised Indra to rub salt on his body and let a cow to lick the salted flesh off his body. The weapon was crafted out of Dadhichi’s skeleton and with its help Indra killed Vritasura after many attempts.
It is rather a complicated story, having all the elements of power, pride and vengefulness. But what of Dadhichi’s sacrifice? The sage meditating in the solitude of a forest was as far removed from the tussle of the supra-natural beings as could be imagined. The question is: could he have set himself free from the web in which he was caught? For their ambitions he was asked to lose his life.
One cannot find a fitter analogy to the present scenario in our country when the ordinary man is systematically being reduced to a skeleton so that the elite may go on with their power games.
