The Ashvamedha Yagna of Janamejaya
Recap:
Uttanka had been asked to fetch the earrings from the queen of Paushya. When Uttanka had stopped on the way back to perform ablutions, Takshaka had stolen the earrings. Uttanka then went to Patala and retrieved the earrings. He was angry and he went to Janamejaya. There he asked the king to take revenge, after all Takshaka was the killer of Parikshit. Hearing this Janamejaya started the snake sacrifice. It had started when Astika, wanting to save the Nagas, arrived there and had the sacrifice stopped.
Sauti continued talking to Shunaka and the other rishis, "With the sacrifice stopped, Janamejaya summoned all his ministers and friends. He was extremely sad and he said to them, 'I am still in pain and that has not subsided. I seem to have no enemies besides Brahmins. A Brahmin cursed my father and here too, a Brahmin stopped my sacrifice. Unfortunately, Takshaka still lives. I am so angry now, I am not sure if I will be able to tolerate the Brahmin community any more. I feel like killing all of them like Kartavirya Arjuna had done once.'
The ministers were quiet. 'Why are you quiet?' asked Janamejaya.
The ministers said, 'Listen to us. You mentioned Kartavirya killed Brahmins, and for that he was appropriately punished. At the same time a Brahmin called Parashurama was born. This Brahmin killed all kshatriyas. History is a cycle; for every Kartavirya who rose against the Brahmins, a Parashurama was born to eliminate the Kshatriyas. There are remedies for everything, but no remedy is available from the anger of a Brahmin. Do not even think of killing Brahmins. What you could do is reduce their powers. A Brahmin uses the Kusha grass and holy water to purify himself. Without the grass, their rituals will not be effective. Their powers will diminish and then they will be powerless and weak.'
This idea was suitable. Why end up with the sin of killing a Brahmin? He called for people who were experts in digging. When they came, he asked them to spread out, 'Go everywhere. In all directions. Wherever you see Kusha grass growing, uproot that and throw it away.' The diggers were about to leave when the ministers asked the king to stop. They said, 'If you send the diggers, all will see your hand in this. The people will say the King has declared war on the earth. Your reputation will be tarnished. Instead of digging the grass, have the diggers destroy the grass in a different way. Order them to gather milk, honey, molasses, and every sweet juice the land has. Ask them to mix them well and then pour those substances near the roots of the grass. The sweetness will call the ants. In their hunger to reach the sugar, the insects will gnaw the roots. The grass will perish, and no man can blame the King for the act of ants.'
Hearing this, the king told the diggers to leave. He then called some people and appointed them to the task. They were to pour the sweet substances near the roots of the grass. The people followed the orders. Day after day, the diggers moved across the country. Vats of honey and molasses were poured wherever Kusha grass was seen growing. The base of each tuft was drenched with the sticky liquids. The transformation was absolute. The ants emerged and began chewing through the roots to get to the syrup. Within weeks, the landscape began to change. The patches of Kusha grass began to turn brown and died.
The brahmanas noticed this. Initially, although they were not happy, they did not let this bother them. Soon when the land was completely devoid of Kusha grass, they were frustrated. Their rituals stopped. Their path to spiritual progress was getting hampered. Vyasa heard about this; along with his disciples, the great rishi arrived at the palace. He found King Janamejaya amidst his court.
'I was in my ashrama at Badrika when I heard about your hostility,' Vyasa said. 'Why do you pursue this path? You are a man of high standing, a descendant of a noble line. How could you allow yourself to do such things? Do not take the words or the existence of the Brahmins lightly, Janamejaya. The entire dynasty of the Yadavas was brought to ruin by the curse of a Brahmin. The sixty thousand sons of Sagara were reduced to ash because of a Brahmin's wrath. It was a Brahmin who made the very oceans salty, and even Indra, the king of the gods, became thousand-eyed because of a Brahmin. Your ancestors served and respected them. Why do you break this tradition?'
Janamejaya was wondering what to say. He slowly said, 'For no fault of his own, my father was cursed. And when I sought closure through my sacrifice, it was a Brahmin who stopped me. The pain of my father's death and the failure of my sacrifice, both are difficult for me to bear.'
'Be patient,' Vyasa said. 'Anger is a blind guide. What was destined to happen has occurred. When your father was born, the astrologers had said that he would die from the bite of a serpent. Do not grieve for the inevitable, and do not fight those who are the vessels. Give up this bitterness.'
The King looked at his hands and realized what he had done. 'I have already done the unthinkable. In my fury, I have killed millions of non-violent snakes. I see no escape from the darkness that awaits me for such a sin. Tell me, Great Rishi, how shall I cross this sea of guilt? My grandfathers once killed their own kinsmen, and they performed the Ashvamedha Yagna—the horse sacrifice—to atone. I believe that is my only way out.'
To his surprise, Vyasa said, 'No. I forbid you to perform that sacrifice.'
'Why?' Janamejaya challenged the rishi. 'My ancestors did it. Do you think I am not capable? I give you my word—I will perform it.'
'I do not doubt your strength,' Vyasa said. 'But the age of Kali has begun. In this era, the Ashvamedha is no longer valid. The rituals involving the slaughter of horses are now forbidden. The ancient practices, such as a woman bearing a child through a husband's brother, are no longer permitted. The world has changed, Janamejaya.'
'I will perform this yagna,' the King insisted.
Vyasa sighed, seeing the stubbornness of the king. 'If you have made up your mind, then I have no place here.' Without another word, the sage turned and walked away, followed by his disciples.
Janamejaya began preparations for the yagna. The horse was identified. It wandered through many lands and returned after a year. For this one year, the king and his queen Vapushtama remained celibate. It was the month of Chitra, on the day of full moon that one year was over. The horse returned. Janamejaya organized a big event. Kings from all over were invited to the event. Janamejaya took a sharp sword and the horse was slaughtered and cast into the sacrificial fire. The gathered Brahmanas chanted the Vedic hymns with such fervour that the sound reverberated and filled the entire sky. From their positions in the celestial sphere, the devas looked down and witnessed this unusual sacrifice — an Ashvamedha sacrifice in the age of Kali. Fearful that the Vedas would be brought into disrepute by this improper act, Indra began to tremble. He needed to do something. He saw the head of the horse, which was not yet burnt. Using his powers, Indra possessed the cut head. Suddenly, to the horror of all, the horse's head began to dance and leap around the sacrificial altar. The king and queen hung their heads in shame. Janamejaya realized he had made a mistake. Every person in the assembly lowered their gaze, unable to look at the dancing head of the horse. The head dancing around was a public signal that the devas had rejected Janamejaya's sacrifice.
A solemn event had been reduced to a spectacle of the absurd. All felt that instead of purification, Janamejaya had invited chaotic forces into the assembly. The adults understood the gravity of the head jumping from the flames; what could a child understand? For a child this was something amusing. That is exactly what happened. A Brahmin boy, who had come to attend the event with his father, saw this dancing head of the horse. Finding it funny, he burst out laughing. The boy's laughter was the ultimate provocation. Janamejaya had been compelled to stop the snake sacrifice. He had waited for a year for the horse sacrifice, and the fruits of the sacrifice had been rejected by the devas. To top that, a boy laughing. The little one was clapping his hands and laughing away. The laughter was turning the sacrifice into a joke in front of his entire assembly.
Janamejaya could not bear this any longer. To the King, this was not the laughter of a child; it was an insult. He felt his blood begin to boil. He looked at the ritual items laid out before him. There lay a sword, that had been used to slaughter the horse. Without a word, Janamejaya moved forward. With a single blow of the weapon, the King severed the Brahmin's son in two. The boy's laughter stopped instantly. The dancing head fell back in the fire. A new horror descended. People who had seen this were initially stunned and then they started shouting. Brahmanas who had come there started screaming at the king and said, 'You are a killer of a Brahmana, a great sinner. You have defiled the seat of the Kurus.' They spoke to the people there and said, 'Immediately throw away all gifts that this king has given you. Do not even look at him. Even looking at him is a sin. We Brahmanas will leave your country and go elsewhere.' Turning back to the king, they said, 'You lured us here with the promise of a Yagna and you killed one of us. You probably brought us here to consume the flesh of a Brahmana.' Saying this they started walking out. The invited guests saw this and then they too started leaving one by one. Every invited person from kings to merchants to workers, all left. Soon Janamejaya was left staring at the empty ritual site, alone, with his family.
Analysis
Janamejaya tries to use his power to override laws. He attempts to 'diminish' the power of Brahmins by destroying Kusha grass. This is a materialistic approach to the problem. When an individual's ego becomes so large that they try to 'fix' a decree with violence or trickery, they inevitably fall into sin.
Rejecting the advice of Vyasa indicates a complete breakdown of humility and discipline.
Let me talk about some things here and what they possibly mean.
The dancing head of the horse - An impure ritual. Something that was acceptable. Janamejaya's internal state was not pure and he was going the against of his advisor. The child laughed out of innocence at something absurd. Janamejaya's power was fragile now. Instead of looking at his own flaw, he used violence and shut off the innocent. A sacrificial site is said to a site of purity. Instead of purity, Janamejaya ends up adding to his list of sins.
Probable Reference Sources
In the Vyasa Mahabharata, the story ends with Astika stopping the sacrifice. Janamejaya listens to Astika, stops the sacrifice, rewards the boy, and continues his reign. The 'war on Kusha grass' and the 'killing of the Brahmin boy' are not present in Vyasa's work. Let me talk about another work, that is attributed to Vyasa — the Harivamsa. The Harivamsa is technically called a Khila-Parva (an appendix or supplementary book) of the Mahabharata. While the Mahabharata is divided into 18 Parvas (books), the Harivamsa is considered the 19th Parva.
The reason why I am bringing this up here is the third book, the Bhavishya Parva, of Harivamsa. This has a chapter which is very similar to the horse sacrifice of Janamejaya. Very similar, but not the same. The portion in the Purana talks about the horse sacrifice that Janamejaya is not supposed to do, but he goes ahead. There instead of the head dancing, it gets darker where Indra molests his wife, Vapushtama. It's later found that this was an illusion that Vapushtama was none other than the apsara Rambha.
The second text that I want to refer to here is the Vayu Purana. In Vayu Purana, it is mentioned that Janamejaya became loha-gandhi (smelling of iron/ became an outcast) after he killed the young son of the sage Gargya.
The third text which I want to talk about is Mahabharata by Kavi Sanjay. This text predates Kashidas's work. I was looking for this text but was not able to come across this, so I cannot say for certain that some parts are from this. What I do know is that this version of the Mahabharata does contain the confrontation between Vyasa and Janamejaya.
As a scholar, Kashidas would have come across references of Chanakya and his tactic of destroying kusha grass by throwing something sweet at the base of the grass. My assumption is, that a combination of all this ended up creating this chapter. If someone has more information, I would really appreciate it, if someone could share that. While talking about Chanakya, I would like to refer to Arthashatra, by Kautilya. This talks about how Janamejaya was not able to control himself.
Also, the incident related to the grass is probably to be found in oral renditions, to highlight the transition into the Kali Yuga, where kings would become hostile toward spiritual authorities. As per some people (as it is oral and without any proof) Kavi Sanjay's work mentions the incidents with Kusha grass, the horse head incident and the killing of the Brahmin boy.
On a later period, I will try and share a separate post on this.
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