Once upon a time, there was an eminent ruler of Chandravamsha, or the Lunar Dynasty named Shibi. He was also known by the name King Usinara. With his power and valor, he was able to free his kingdom from enemies and kept all his subjects happy. Gradually he became very popular. And very soon his fame reached heaven in the abode of demigods.
Once Agnidev started praising King Shibi in front of Indra. The king of demigods always disliked the praise of others in front of him. Agnidev blurted out that people nowadays compare Indra with King Shibi. The face of Indra raged with anger. Indra and Agnidev both set to examine him.
Indra turned into a wild-eyed hawk and Agnidev took the disguise of a tiny timid pigeon and both of them set forth flying towards his kingdom.
The king was sitting in his court and at once pigeon perched on the King’s thigh and took refuge in his lap. As everyone turned their head outside, they found the hawk flying with a rush towards the pigeon. The hawk said, “Hand over this food to me. You are a well-known pious person so give some value to my appetite.”
The king said, “This pigeon has taken my refuge so how can I hand it over to you? Protecting the one who has surrendered is King’s dharma.” Then a philosophical debate broke out.
“You are judging from your point of view”, the hawk claims. “When it comes to understanding dharma, you think you are the wisest and most perceptive person. But you refuse to take responsibility for your actions.”
The king interrupted, “However, in a kingdom where the ruler fails to give protection to his subjects, no vegetation will grow, no rain will fall, and the country will become barren. The king will consequently die and will be damned.”
The hawk argued: “Living organisms stay alive by taking other living beings as food. Just like deer is a food for a tiger, so pigeon is a food for a vulture. This is nature’s law. So in one way, I am always contributing towards maintaining the proper balance of nature through my consumption. Hunting is my dharma. By performing my dharma I am maintaining my family. Your act will not only shatter the ecological balance of the food cycle but also it will deprive me of my dharma. How will I feed my wife and children?”
The king has no other answer. This became a ‘Dharm Sankat’ or moral dilemma.
The hawk then spoke the following shloka: Dharmam yo badhate dharmo na sa dharmah kudharmkah. It means that any dharma that violates another’s dharma is not true dharma. Rather it is a violation of dharma.
A long silence absorbed the court of the king. At one end there was the life of a pigeon, and at the other end, there was the question of justice for the hawk.
King Shibi said, “Alright, you want to have meat so we will provide anything that you and your family want from the royal kitchen. You and your family can eat heartful.”
But the hawk was stubborn. The king tried various ways to divert him but he was unmoved. Finally, the king asked the vulture for any other alternative.
Indra in the disguise of vulture was ready to reply. “Can you exchange yourself with it? Will you give me flesh from your body equal in measure to a pigeon’s mass?”
The courtiers were shocked, but King Shibi happily accepted it. The king arranged for a scalepan, took his seat on the ground at one side, and placed the pigeon on the pan on the other side.
He started cutting his body parts one by one and brutally injuring himself. Surprisingly, even after keeping a lot of meat on the pan, the scale towards the pigeon still remained heavier. Smeared with blood, Shibi managed to tolerate his suffering and continued submitting more flesh from his body on the scale. Unable to balance the pigeon’s weight, he got up and sat on scale-pan himself.
Seeing his miserable condition and pain, Indra and Agni came to their original form. Satisfied with King’s determination and compassion, both the demigods healed his wounds and blessed him that his fame and compassion would always be remembered.
Moral of the story
The story serves as an example of how to adhere to dharmic values. Dharma is one’s duty and morals rather than religion, which is what most people nowadays connect it with. For Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Sudra people, the dharma is different. As a Kshatriya, King Shibi upheld the principles of compassion and sacrifice.
Reference: Mahabharata, Vana Parva, Chapters 130 and 131.