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Secondary Tales of the two Great Epics
represented as the teacher of Ācārya Drona who lived in the interval between the Dvāpara and the Kali Ages. No inconsistency or anachronism is felt, because Rāma is assumed to be "ever-living" (cirajivin).176 In the case of Droņa, "The pupilship is only symbolical, but the basis of the symbolism is significant. Acārya Drona is the guru of the Kauravas and the Pāndavas and of all the other valiant Ksatriyas of the time, and he was also one of the greatest warriors on the side of the Kauravas in the Bhārata war, But Acārya Droņa must also have a guru. And who would be more suitable as guru than the Bhargava Rāma, who is the foremost of all weaponbearers (sarva-sastra-bbịtām varah)?”:177 But Paraśurāma had taken a vow not to teach arms to anyone but Brahmins. And Bhisma and Karņa are the two exceptions. We can condone Bhişma's pupilship since if he is not a Brāhmin, at least he is a life-long Brahmacārin. Karņa, of course, managed to enrol himself under Parašurāma by telling a lie and was cursed upon its detection.
But the significant consequence of these three tales seems to have been lost sight of altogether, Neglecting Salya who is the last and the least of the leaders of the Kaurva army, all the remaining three viz. Bhīşma, Drona and Karņa, are thus shown to have been the pupils of Rāma Bhargava. We do not know whether the enthusiasm of the Bhārgava redactors of the Bhārata-poem was misfired, but the resultant fact is that Parasurāma is made the guru of all the leading heroes of the losing party of the war. The manner of reasoning might sound unreasonable, but it is perhaps the only one possible under the circumstances,
When we compare Parašurāma and Viśvāmitra as teachers, we realise the intentions of the author of BK in making Viśvā mitra the teacher of Rāma. We realize that the best possible teacher is chosen for Rama. Vasiştha is the family-priest of the Solar kings, and is a famous Vedic Seer, a gotra-pravartaka also; in the Vedas he is said to have fought on the side of the famous king Sudas Paijavana, but for Rāma, the son of Daśaratha, the great bow-wielder, the great slayer of Rävana, he cannot be the proper guru, since by the age of the Epics, he has lost his martial glory altogether. Other famous teacher of arms could be found in Paraśurāma. But, however great might Paraśurāma's reputation be as a warrior and as a brāhmin, to accept him as Rāma's teacher would mean, one, to accept the guru of the losers of the Bharata war as the guru of the greatest bow-wielder against Rāvaņa, and two, to accept brahmin superiority once again. For though Parasuráma is known for his martial achievements, basically he is a brāhmin. In other words, he is a brāhmin turned ksatriya. On the other hand, if there is a Ksatriya turned Brahmin, 178
176 Sukthankar Memorial Edition, Vol. I. Ed. P. K. Gode, pp. 288-289. 177 ibid. p. 288. 178 Cp. the famous story of the change of Carus. VanP. 115. Rcika, the son of Bhrgu, married
Satyavati, the daughter of Gadhi, King of Känyakubja. Bhrgu granted a boon to Satyavati, that to obtain a religious son, she, in her season, should eat a caru (pot of rice and milk prepared specially) and embrace an Udumbara trec. Her mother should eat caru and
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