Bharat and Bähubali

Bharat and Bähubali

Before his renunciation of worldly life, Lord Rishabhadev or Lord Ädinäth, was known as King Rishabh and had two
wives, Sumangalä and Sunandä. By Sumangalä, he had 99 sons, of whom Bharat was the eldest and the best
known, and one daughter named Brähmi. By the second wife, Sunandä, he had one son named Bähubali and a
daughter named Sundari. All of them were given proper training in different arts and crafts. Bharat became a great
warrior and a politician. Sunandä's son was tall, well built, and strong, and hence was called Bähubali. In Sanskrit,
“Bähu” means arm and “Bali” means mighty. Brähmi attained a very high level of literary proficiency. She developed
the first known script, known as the Brähmi script. Sundari was very proficient in mathematics. After Lord
Rishabhadev attained omniscience, both girls renounced their worldly lives and became his disciples.
As a King, Rishabhadev had the responsibility of a large kingdom. At the time of his renunciation, he handed over
the city of Vinitä, also known as Ayodhyä, to Bharat, and the city of Taxshilä (Pottanpur according to Digambar
scriptures) to Bähubali. He gave different parts of his vast kingdom to his remaining 98 sons.
Bharat quickly established control over Vinitä. He was an ambitious ruler and intended to become emperor of the
entire nation. For this purpose, he organized a strong army and started developing different types of fighting
equipment. He also possessed a miraculous wheel called Chakraratna (“Chakra” means wheel and “ratna” means
precious jewel) that would never miss its target. After developing his army and weapons, he embarked upon his
journey of conquest. There was hardly anyone at that time who could withstand his well-equipped army. He easily
conquered all the regions around Vinitä. Then, he turned his attention towards the lands of his 98 brothers and
asked them to acknowledge his superiority. They all turned to Lord Rishabhadev to ask for advice. Bhagawän
explained to them the importance of conquering their inner enemies (passions) and not external enemies. He also
advised them on how to attain liberation, a “true kingdom.” Having realized the futility of fighting with their elder
brother, the sons surrendered their territories to him, renounced worldly life, and became disciples of Lord
Rishabhadev

Now, only Bähubali remained. However, he had a different vision and would not surrender. He was conscious of
his right to rule the kingdom handed over to him by his father. Moreover, he had the will and capacity to fight any
invader. Therefore, when he received Bharat’s request to accept a subordinate status, he refused and began
preparations to fight.
Both brothers were strong, and war between the two was sure to result in large-scale bloodshed. Therefore,
counselors on both sides tried to dissuade their masters from resorting to war, but neither of them would give up
his ground. War seemed inevitable as the brothers brought their armies face to face on the battlefield. Everyone
shuddered at the prospect of the heavy casualties that would result from the imminent war.
The counselors then made one last effort. They explained to their masters that the main point of contention was to
determine which brother was superior. Instead of assembling a large-scale war for that purpose, a fight between
the two brothers would just as easily settle the issue and would avert unnecessary bloodshed. Both brothers thought
this was an excellent idea and immediately agreed. The plan was to engage in a straight duel, and the victor of the
duel would be acknowledged as the leader.
On the day of the duel, Bharat tried to beat Bähubali by using his various permissible weapons, but all his attempts
to defeat Bähubali failed. Bharat contemplated on how unbearable and shameful his defeat would be. His ambition
to rule the entire world was also at stake if he did not defeat his brother. He grew desperate and ignored the rules
of the duel by unleashing his miracle wheel, the Chakraratna, at Bähubali. However, he had forgotten one important
characteristic of the miracle weapon: it would not harm any blood relatives of the bearer. Therefore, the wheel
returned to Bharat and Bähubali remained unharmed.
Bähubali became enraged by Bharat’s violation of the rules of the duel, and he thought of smashing his elder brother
with his mighty fist. As he raised his hand for that purpose, the onlookers trembled at the thought of Bharat’s
imminent death.
But just as he was about to unleash his wrath, a flash of insight came to him. “What am I doing?” thought Bähubali.
“Have I gone mad? Am I going to kill my elder brother for the sake of some worldly possessions that my revered
father willingly abandoned and which my other brothers have given up?” He shuddered at the prospect of the
imminent death of Bharat, seeing the evil in killing a respected brother. At that very moment he changed his mind.
Instead of lowering his hand to hit his brother, he used it to pull out his hair (as the monks do during Dikshä) as a
symbol of giving up everything and renouncing the worldly life.
However, Bähubali had not lost all his pride and ego. He realized that if he went to his father and stated his intention
of renouncing the world, he would be required to bow down and be subservient to his 98 younger brothers who
were senior to him in monkhood. This was unacceptable to him. Instead, Bähubali decided to seek enlightenment
on his own and started meditating on the very same spot upon which he stood. He became so immersed in his
meditation that he lost track of time and could not remember how long he had stood there. He was motionless for
so long that creepers began to grow around his feet.
A year passed with Bähubali standing in that posture of meditation, yet he did not gain enlightenment. How could
he gain it without shedding his ego? At last, Lord Rishabhadev sent Brähmi and Sundari to bring him to the right
path. They came to the place where Bähubali was meditating. Seeing their mighty brother standing like a rock,
they calmly told him, “You cannot achieve enlightenment while sitting on an elephant. You need to get off the
elephant.” As their familiar voices reached Bähubali’s ears, he opened his eyes in amazement and looked around
but did not find himself on an elephant. He then realized that the elephant they were referring to was his ego. He
immediately dissolved his ego and decided to go to Lord Rishabhadev and was ready to bow to his 98 brothers.
During his long penance, he had overcome all other defiling passions except ego which still remained between him
and enlightenment. Now his ego was dissolved and humbleness prevailed in its place. Therefore, as he took the
first step towards the Lord, he achieved full enlightenment and became omniscient. (By Digambar tradition,
Bähubali later became the first person to attain liberation in this era. However, Shvetämbar tradition indicates that
Rishabhadev’s mother, Marudevi, attained liberation first in this era.)
In memory of this event, a gigantic, 57-foot upright statue of Bähubali stands on the hill of Vindhyägiri at
Shrävanbelgolä, near Bangalore in southern India. It is made out of a single rock of granite and was erected about
1000 years ago. Pilgrims and visitors marvel that the statue, even under the open sky, stands spotless today.

At the same time that Bähubali was carrying out his intense meditation, Bharat had become the undisputed emperor,
or Chakravarti, of the world. He was the first Chakravarti of the current time cycle of Avasarpini Ärä. As a ruler, he
ruled equitably and in the interest of all, and the people were happy under his administration. India was recognized
as Bhäratvarsha. He himself was happy in every respect and ruled for a very long time.
One day, a ring slipped off his finger while he was in his dressing room. He noticed that the finger looked rather
odd without the ring. His curiosity overtook him and he removed all his rings. Seeing that his fingers were no longer
beautiful, he took off his crown and other ornaments decorating his body and looked in the mirror. He realized that
he did not look as handsome as he used to look.
This set off a train of thoughts. “I consider myself handsome and strong, but this entire look is merely due to the
ornaments which do not belong to the body. The body itself is made up of blood and bones. Then why am I so
attached to my body?” He thought further. “My body will not last forever and will decompose sooner or later. At that stage, I will have to leave everything behind. The only everlasting entity is the soul.” He realized that nothing
in the world, including his body, really belonged to him and he soon came to a major decision. “Why not do away
with my attachment of all the temporary things and instead focus on something that lasts forever like my father did?”
Thus, he developed an acute detachment for the worldly life. As per Shvetämbar tradition, this reflection led to the
rise of true enlightenment from within. As a result, he attained omniscience, or keval-jnän, in that very room as a
lay person. According to Digambar tradition, after he attained an acute detachment of worldly life, he renounced
that life and became a monk, immediately achieving keval-jnän. At the end of his life, he attained liberation.

Moral:
The focus of this great story is on ego and self-realization. Ego and pride build negative
karma and lead one to destructive behavior as detailed in the story. Ego also causes
anger and leads one to irrational behavior. Ego and superficial pride must be overcome
on the path to enlightenment and omniscience. We should all strive for cultivating
humility, one of the fundamental principles of Jainism.

Questions:
1. How many children did Lord Rishabhadev have? Who wanted to become sovereign over all the kings?
2. Who did not want him to be sovereign? What did both of them do?
3. Why did they decide to stop the war? What would they do?
4. What stopped Bähubali from hitting his brother, Bharat, with his fist?
5. What was preventing Bähubali from attaining Keval-jnän?
6. Who helped him understand his mistake? What did they do?
7. What elephant were they singing about?