19 – The Unbreakable One and his Unbroken Promises

Hi Friends!

Today let us continue the tale of the underdogs, the one’s everyone expects to lose. Last time we looked at the story of the powerful unborn son of Diti. We saw how (as an embryo) he got broken before his birth, from a single daitya (“son of Diti”) who was pre-destined to defeat Indra, to forty-nine devas (“the shining ones”) who were destined to support Indra. These forty-nine “new” devas became known as Maruts, after the first phrase Indra uttered in their presence, which was “ma ruda”, or “don’t cry”.

Incidentally today’s story is different to the earlier discussed stories of the sons of Diti. In this story, we meet the son of Diti who not just defeats Indra, but remains undefeated. So let us dive into the story of the Unbreakable One, and how his promises (unbreakable like him) create exceptional circumstances.

The story goes, that after yet another instance of the sons of Aditi foiling the plans of Diti, the sad Mother of Daityas went back to her husband, Sage Kashyapa. She asked as a boon, a son who would make her proud by defeating Indra. This time she specifically asked that it may be impossible to physically harm him, before or after he was born. Diti learnt from the past defeats of her sons (and Danu’s).

• The Golden Eyed One (Hiranyaksha), son of Diti, asked to be unkillable by a list of entities – mortals, immortals and animals. But missed out the lowly wild boar, and was killed by Vishnu who took the form of that animal, becoming the hunter instead of the hunted.
• The Gold-Cushioned One (Hiranyakashipu), son of Diti, asked to be unkillable by any weapon – by any known form of mortals, immortals or animals. This time Vishnu took the form of Narsimha, half-man-half-lion, and killed using his nails.
• The Un-Born Defeater of Indra was cut into 49 parts (Maruts) by Indra within womb of Diti, and instead of fighting the king of gods, these became Indra’s helpers, as he entreated them to stop crying (“ma ruda”) and gave them positions of respect as devas.
• The Encircler (Vritra) son of Danu, received a boon of being unkillable by any weapons known till then. On the behest of Brahma and Vishnu, Indra got a new weapon made from the bones of a yoghurt-eating sage, and broke his pride and his ninety-nine dams.

The wise sage realised that, as a mother, Diti was extremely dejected by the repeated defeats of her sons by the sons of Aditi, her sister and competitor. May be he also knew that Indra had grown too proud, and had stooped to the level of trying to harm unborn foetuses, and needed to meet unqualified defeat atleast a few times.

He advised Diti to go for deep penance for 10,000 years, post which she would be blessed by an undefeatable and unbreakable son, as per her wish.

So Diti went to the forests (most probably hiding from Indra‘s preemptive attack on her unborn son) and started the required penance. At the end of 10,000 years, she was blessed with a son whose body was strong as vajra, the celebrated and favorite weapon of Indra. He was aptly named, The One Whose Limbs are Unbreakable (like vajra), or Vajranga. This son of Diti was not just strong, but righteous (believed in doing the right thing whatever be the cost), humble (respected others and accepted good counsel) and learned (he became fully conversant with all the knowledge in Vedas at his birth itself).

The knowledgeable and strong son was extremely devoted to his mother, and humbly asked her what he could do for her. At this Diti with tears in her eyes said, “O brave son of mine, before your birth many sons of mine (your elder brothers) were killed by the king of devas, Indra. He is proud of his victories, and has stooped many times to unrighteous behavior. He once tried to abduct Kayudhu, wife of your brother Hiranyakashipu, hence your sister-in-law. Only the timely intervention of Sage Narada saved her. He once used a loophole in your father’s boon, and tried to harm the foetus in my womb while I slept, tired with my penance. That one would-be son of mine is now forty-nine, and serve Indra as gods of wind. I wish you to avenge the death, and disfigurement of your brothers, as well as my sorrow and loss of respect, by defeating and slaying Indra.“

Vajranga took permission from his mother, and proceeded to the world of devas, or deva-loka, with his army of daityas. The battle was well-fought, with Indra striking the army of invaders using his weapon of thunderbolts, called vajra. It was highly effective on everything and everyone else, but could not harm Vajranga, whose body was stronger than vajra, due to the boon of Sage Kashyapa, and penance of Diti. With the strength of his powerful arms, he defeated all the devas. Then just like a terrible lion drags a small animal which is its prey, Vajranga dragged Indra by his legs, and brought him to the feet of Diti, to fulfil his promise.

In the meantime, hearing the cries for help from Indra, Lord Brahma and Sage Kashyapa, came there. Seeing the abject terror of Indra, they decided to intervene. The humble Vajranga seeing his father, Sage Kashyapa, and his great-grandfather, Lord Brahma, stopped immediately, and paid his respects to them.

Sage Kashyapa said: “Be victorious and righteous my son. Your elder brother, Indra is begging for relief, yet you keep tormenting him. It is said dishonoring an honorable person is worse than killing him, so please stop and let him go.”

At this Vajranga said: “I have promised my mother to avenge the death and disfigurement of my brothers, who were born of her womb. So I cannot stop punishing him, O respected ancestors! But I cannot in right conscience reject your suggestions. So please tell me which way lies the path of righteousness?”

The wise Lord Brahma then explained thus: “Your father rightly said that to an honorable person dishonor is worse than death. Those who kill an enemy in battle are victorious, but those defeated get the glory if they get heroic death. They who defeat a strong enemy, and then release him on the request of others, damage not just his body and pride, but also his honor. This is a fate worse than death. Thus you have already more than fulfilled the promise you made to your mother. By sparing the life of Indra, you would also fulfil the words of your respected father. This would make you not just The One With Unbreakable Limbs but also The One With Unbroken Promises.”

Quick aside. Please note that the name, and the more important characteristics (strength, righteousness, humility and knowledge) of Vajranga are also seen in one more divine entity in Indian mythology, who is much loved and better known by most. This divine individual is said to be the inspiration of the famous Sun Wukong (or Monkey King) of Chinese mythology as well. I am talking about Lord Hanuman, sometimes also called Bajrang or Bajrang-Bali. The name Bajrang is just another way of pronouncing Vajranga.

Another connection of Hanuman with sons of Diti may be seen from one of his popular names (which is also a well-known brand name in India), namely Maruti. He is also known as Marut-nandan, or Son of Marut.

Come to think of it even the story of Garuda‘s victory of Indra has some parallels with this story, including his taking the fight to Indra to redress wrongs done to his mother (albeit by other half-brothers of his, and not by Indra), and being victorious and yet remaining humble.

Are the stories connected and/or “inspired” by each-other? Or is it that some one who is strong (and knowledgeable) yet humble (and righteous), and who playfully defeats those who are proud of their own strength, is liked by the keepers, tellers and listeners of stories, and with time their stories become similar?

As expected, the knowledgeable Vajranga realised the wisdom of this advice. He released Indra and addressed Brahma and Kashyapa thus, “O respected ancestors, you are the progenitors of the devas as well as the daityas. You are respected by the suras as well as the asuras. I will walk the path pointed out by your wisdom. I will not even usurp the kingdom of Indra, as that would be like wearing a garland already worn by another, or eat out of a plate already enjoyed by another. The wealth that is gathered by snatching from another is not a way to glory. I would like to make my intellect pure and my achievements unsullied. O wise one’s, please tell me the way to achieve the same.“

This behavior of Vajranga pleased Brahma and Kashyapa immensely, and they happily blessed him.

Brahma said, “You have shown the inclination towards the right path, my righteous descendant. Penance is the highest wealth that can be gained by any one. In times to come, when this heating up of self through penance, or tapasya, is not possible for mortals, those who show determination, and work towards bettering themselves, physically, spiritually or mentally, shall achieve true happiness and greatness. I advise you to let go of your aggression and embark on the path of penance. At the end of which you yourself will know what boon to ask for, and I shall definitely grant you that.“

In addition Lord Brahma, who himself was born out of a lotus, fashioned an exceedingly beautiful woman from the stalk of lotus he held in his hand. She was named The One of Beautiful Limbs, or Varangi. After officiating her marriage with Vajranga, Brahma and Kashyapa went away to the heavens, taking Indra and Diti with them.

So The One of Unbreakable Limbs (“Vajranga“) went with his wife The One of Beautiful Limbs (“Varangi“), and started deep penance. Vajranga went under-water in a huge lake to undergo tapasya, may be to ensure the heat emanating from his tapasya would dissipate and not harm the world. In fact the word “tapasya” literally means “heating up”. In the meanwhile Varangi stayed at the banks of the lake and meditated on him, as an ideal wife. She observed a vow of silence as she knew her husband could not speak under water. Thinking that Vajranga went without food while under-water, Varangi also abstained from any food.

Again, Indra showed his unpredictable and amoral nature (like the rainstorms he signifies), and decided to avenge his dishonour in the hands of Vajranga, and descended at this idyllic location in the form of a mischievous monkey. Please note this is the form of a monkey as an animal, hence will be referred to as marka. The form sometimes confused by a few as monkey-men (the form taken by Bajrang-Bali, close-namesake of Vajranga), is different and is referred to as vanara.

Indra’s monkey-ing around became the reason of Varangi asking Vajranga for another promise, and as we know the Unbreakable One’s promises also were unbroken. Let’s explore that story next time.

Spoiler alert, it would be a story of the defeat of Indra in the hands of the son of Vajranga and Varangi, and Indra being forced to revert to monkey (“marka”) form for a long time. In fact for the ultimate defeat of their son (and later their grandsons) Shiva and his family had to fight against the daityas. This is in contrast to other tales, where Shiva is either neutral or supportive of the cause of the asuras, the underdogs. May be because these descendants of Vajranga and Varangi were so strong, that fighting against them made even the super-strong devas, clear underdogs. This would be our excuse to embark on a series of interconnected tales of Shiva‘s family, some of which are well-known, and some lesser known.