JAMBAVAN
Munmi Buragohain
The month of August heralds the beginning of all festivities in our country till the end of year with Janmashtami and Ganesh Chaturthi right around the corner. one year ago, Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated on 22nd August. A kind old lady had once told me we must not look at the moon on the night of Ganesh Chaturthi. It is believed to bring defamation on the person; however, one can be freed of its ill-effects by listening to the story of Syamantaka jewel and Jambavan.
The beautiful and vain Moon had once made fun of Lord Ganesh’s fat belly and ended up being cursed that no one should look at the Moon on that night of Ganesh Chaturthi. Seems like Lord Krishna had also accidentally seen the reflection of the moon on this night. I did not pay much attention to it till I came across this chapter of Krishna and Syamantaka jewel and Jambavan in the Bhagavat Purana some years ago. This tale is quite fascinating as it involves characters from both the Ramayana and the Mahabharat.
Before we begin this story, have you heard of Jambavan, the wise old bear king from Valmiki’s Ramayana? This character had always amazed me as the epitome of combined wisdom and strength. He had fought valiantly alongside Lord Rama in the war against Ravana. I think his greatest contribution during the course of Ramayana was reminding Hanuman of his own strength. Hanuman, being very mischievous in his childhood, troubled the pious Rishis no end and being fed up with his antics, they cursed little Hanuman that he would forget his powers until someone reminded him of his strength. Later, when the Vanar Sena went in search of whereabouts of Sita, they realized they would have to cross the vast sea to reach Lanka where Sita was held captive by Ravana.
The leader of the group, Angada, asked each of them if they could jump across the sea, which was a hundred yojanas equivalent to 1200 kilometers. But no one seemed capable of jumping that far. Even the old Jambavan said he could jump only ninety yojanas at hisage. Hanuman was not sure if he could cross it either and sat quietly in hesitation. Jambavan cast an admiring glance at Hanuman and addressed him, ‘O Son of Vayu, your strength is infinite and you are not inferior to even the King of Birds, Garuda, who easily crosses the oceans, but you are not aware of your own powers. When you were little, you could leap high into the sky to swallow the Sun, mistaking it for a fruit. Your powers are unparalleled, arise and do your duty.’ Thus, the curse was broken and Hanuman was able to rouse his dormant courage. He increased his body size and leapt high across the sea. The rest of the story, we all know.
Jambavan was an immortal (Chiranjeevi) and had a long association with Lord Vishnu even before he met Lord Rama Avatar. Jambavan had seen the Vaamana Avatar of Vishnu, when Vaamana grew huge into the three worlds and pushed King Bali deep into Pataalalok. Jambavan was also present during the churning of oceans (Sagar Manthan) by Devas and Asuras during the Kurma Avatar. The Shrimad Bhagavat mentions Jambavan’s encounter with Lord Krishna during the episode of Syamantaka jewel.
While Lord Krishna ruled in Dwarka city, there lived a wealthy treasurer called Satrajit. Satrajit was an ardent Sun devotee and pleased with his worship, one day Sun God appeared before him and gifted him the brilliant gem called Syamantaka. This awesome gem shone bright like the Sun itself and bestowed the owner with wealth and good fortune, it was said no calamity or faminecould reach its owner. Moreover, it yielded hundred kilograms of gold every day. One day, Satrajit wore the Syamantaka jewel around his neck and proudly paraded around the streets of Dwarka. The Syamantaka jewel shone so bright, people mistook him for the Sun God himself and ran to inform Lord Krishna about the arrival of the God. But, Krishna,who was playing chess, only smiled.
Satrajit, however, did not come to see Krishna, so attached was he to the Syamantaka jewel, that he installed it in a temple and reaped the benefits of its wealth. To curb his greed, Krishna suggested Satrajit to deliver the Syamantaka jewel to the ruling chief of the Yadavas, King Ugrasen who was the grandfather of Krishna. But Satrajit was adamant and refused to give away the jewel.
After a few days, Satrajit’s younger brother, Prasena wore the Syamantaka around his neck and went hunting into the forest. But a lion attacked him and his horse and took away the jewel. Before the lion could reach its cave, it came face to face with the bear king, Jambavan, who killed it with bare hands and carried away the Syamantaka to his own cave. He had no attachment to this jewel though and gave it as a toy to his young son to play with.
Meanwhile, Satrajit was upset when Prasena did not return from the forest and grew suspicious of Krishna having hatched a conspiracy to obtain the Syamantaka from Prasena by force. He left no stone unturned in spreading the rumor that Krishna had waylaid and killed Prasena to take the gem. Now, Krishna was not pleased with the turn of events and in order to clear His name from this false allegation, He set out in search of Prasena into the woods with a group of citizens. Soon, they found the body of Prasena mangled by a lion, but there was no sign of the Syamantaka and then they came upon the corpse of the lion not very far away.
They realized the lion had been killed without any weapon and followed the bloody trail to a dark cave deep in the forest. The citizens hesitated to enter the cave fearing what beast lies within, for they had seen how the lion was butchered. So, Krishna asked them to wait outside and entered the cave alone in search of Syamantaka. Jambavan’s son was busy playing with his shiny new toy when Krishna stood before him asking for the gem.
Jambavan was furious seeing the intruder and was not willing to part with the gem, out of affection for his young son. In his anger, Jambavan did not recognize Lord Krishna as the same Lord Rama and Vaamana and Kurma. They fought each other day and night without stopping for 28 days. As Jambavan grew tiredand slowly his superhuman strength drained away, his surprise turned into realization that his opponent can be none other than Lord Vishnu himself.
He fell at Lord’s feet and apologized. Krishna, seeing His devotee had recognize Him, took him by the hand and explained with love, ‘I am here for the Syamantaka. I was accused of having killed its owner’s brother, so I need it to prove My Innocence.’ Jambavan immediately handed the Syamantaka to Krishna and also gave his daughter Jambavati in marriage to the Lord.
Meanwhile, as the fight inside the cave had carried on for many days, the citizens who were waiting outside the cave grew impatient and anxious. So, on seeing no signs of Krishna, they returned to Dwarka city on the 12th day and recounted the sad tale.Grief-stricken that they would never see beloved Krishna again, everyone mourned and prayed and blamed Satrajit for Krishna’s disappearance. Much to their relief, on the 28th day, Krishna showed up in Dwarka with the bright Syamantaka.
King Ugrasen called for a meeting with all royals and chiefs and before the entire assembly, Krishna narrated the incident from Prasena being killed by the lion to recovery of the gem from Jambavan. Stricken with remorse at his false accusations on Krishna, Satrajit apologized and offered Krishna the Syamantaka as well as his beautiful daughter Satyabhama. Krishna accepted his daughter as wife but refused the gem, saying it was the gift to him from the Sun God so he should keep it in the temple as before, but everyone in Dwarka should derive its benefits.
I am sure, Krishna had enough of this gem and loathed the sight of it by then. But it is interesting that Krishna demanded for the gem when Satrajit did not want to part with it and when Satrajit was ready to part with it, Krishna did not need it. Seems to me like the definition of attachment in life, material wealth that we hold too dear in life will surely lose value in due time, and the sooner we realize it, the better.
Of course, what use is a gold yielding jewel to the Divine Almighty who owns every atom in this Universe. But Satrajit’s woes did not end there. He made a lot of enemies due to that incident and one night, while Balaram and Krishna had gone to Hastinapur, Satrajit was killed and Syamantaka disappeared again. Finally, it was traced back to the general, Akrura, who possessed the Syamantaka for the rest of his life.
No one knows where the Syamantaka gem is today. Some speculate it might be the Kohinoor diamond adorning the British crown. Interestingly, a jewel which is supposed to bring good fortune to its owner eventually brought about misfortunes and downfall to its owner, Satrajit. Had he acted wisely and not blinded by greed…but how many of us act wisely while fortune shines on us? When do we know that we have amassed enough and how can we measure it? In these unpredictable times of inflation and slipping economy, this is a tough decision…many would argue.I think the answer isContentment – our ability to accept and appreciate what we have. And I know for sure it is not easy to be always content in today’s ambitious world.Probably we all need a Jambavan in our lives to remind us of the fine line between need and greed. To remind us of the strength to be better versions of ourselves each day.
As for the actual Jambavan from the above story, he departed to heaven after returning the Syamantaka to Lord Krishna. There is a village in Madhya Pradesh called Jambanta Nagari believed to be where Jambavan lived in ancient times. Anyways, if you happen to accidently glance at the moon on the night of Ganesh Chaturthi, now you know where to find the story of Syamantaka.
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26-05-2022
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