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Shambuka (Template:Lang-sa, IAST: śambūka) is a shudra ascetic mentioned in the Uttara Kanda section of the Hindu epic Ramayana.

According to the story, Shambuka was killed by the god Rama (the epic's protagonist) for attempting to perform tapas (austerities) in violation of dharma, the bad karma resulting from which caused the death of a Brahmin's son. This story is treated as a later interpolation to Valmiki's Ramayana, being created at a later period in opposition to Brahmins. In Jain literature, story of Shambuka is different and he is Surpanakha’s son.

Story

According to this story, when Rama was ruling Ayodhya, a Brahmin approached the court and told everyone that his young son has died due to the misrule of Rama. Rama immediately called a meeting with all his ministers and enquired about the cause of this. The sage Narada told him that this has happened due to a violation of a rule of tapas (austerities). Narada informed him that a shudra was performing tapas, which was prohibited in the age of Treta. So Rama went in search of the shudra and found the place where Shambuka was performing penance. After confirming that Shambuka is indeed a shudra, Rama killed him. The gods praised Rama for this act and congratulated him for protecting their interests and for not allowing shudra to attain heaven in person. Brahmin's son was also resurrected.

Reception

Authors such as Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi treat the character of Shambukha as an interpolation and creation of a later period. The Pushtimarg Vaishnavite tradition points out that the Ramayana refers to other shudras, such as Shabari, who lived in the forest. Shambuka therefore deliberately violated dharma in order to get Rama's attention, and attained salvation when he was beheaded. The celebrated Kannada poet Kuvempu, in his play Shudra Tapasvi shows Rama as having to both carry out his duty by punishing Shambuka, and simultaneously protect Shambuka, as a pious and devout sage, from persecution, and thereby turns the story into a critique of Brahminical attitudes and a defense of Rama.

In his seminal work Annihilation of Caste, B. R. Ambedkar points out the story of Shambuka while criticizing the varna system. He argues that not only it is impossible to accurately classify people into four definite classes but that the varna system faces the problem of the transgressor. He further explains that unless the transgressor is punished, men will not keep to their respective classes i.e. the whole system will collapse. In the Ramayana, according to Ambedkar, Rama ensured that transgression did not happen in his kingdom by killing Shambuka.

K.R. Raju termed the story of Shambuka as "frivolous" and "maliciously fabricated". Scholar N. M. Chakravarthy, treats "Uttara Kanda" to be an interpolation and finds the story of Shambuka to be "wholly untenable".

Notes

1. Government of Maharashtra, Nasik District Gazeteer: "History - Ancient Period". Archived from the original on 7 November 2006. Retrieved 1 October 2006. (text credited to Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. V. V. Mirashi)
2. Nadkarni, M. V. (2003). "Is Caste System Intrinsic to Hinduism? Demolishing a Myth". Economic and Political Weekly. 38 (45): 4783–4793. ISSN 2349-8846. JSTOR 4414252. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
3. ^ Paula Richman (2008). Ramayana Stories in Modern South India: An Anthology. Indiana University Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-253-21953-4. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
4. Indian Literature, Issues 213-218. Sahitya Akademi. p. 163.
5. An Introduction to Eastern Ways of Thinking. Concept Publishing Company. p. 158. By now, it can be confirmly said the ' Uttarkand ' of Ramayana is an interpolation of quite later period
6. Mangesh Venktesh Nadkarni. Hinduism, a Gandhian Perspective. Anne Books. p. 92.
7. ^ Hari Prasad Shastri (1957). The Ramayana of Valmiki. Vol. III - Yuddha Kanda and Uttara Kanda. Shanti Sadan. pp. 583–586. ISBN 978-0-8542-4048-7. OCLC 654387657. OL 8651428W.
8. "Cantos LXXV-LXXVI (75-76)". Śrīmad Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa (in English and Sanskrit). Vol. Part III - Yuddha Kāṇḍa and Uttara Kāṇḍa (3 ed.). Gita Press. 1992. pp. 2130–2135. OCLC 27360288. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
9. "Surpanakha's Shambuk". 18 June 2023.
10. Gangeya Mukherji (29 November 2020). An Alternative Idea of India: Tagore and Vivekananda. Taylor & Francis. p. 83. ISBN 9781000083774.
11. D. K. Misra; Shambhu Lal Doshi; C. M. Jain (1972). Gandhi and Social Order. Research Publications in Social Sciences. p. 14. ISBN 9780896843950. Archived from the original on 19 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022. Mahatma Gandhi , on the other hand, has regarded this entire story as an interpolation
12. Motiramji Sastri, Ramayan (in Gujarati) (Ahmedabad, 1961).
13. 'M. Raghava, "The king and the protector of the devout" The Hindu (26 October 2004).
14. B.R. Ambedkar (2020). Ambedkar's India. Sristhi Publishers & Distributors. p. 47. ISBN 9789387022898. Archived from the original on 1 May 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
15. Aishwary Kumar (2015). Radical Equality: Ambedkar, Gandhi, and the Risk of Democracy. Stanford University Press. p. 292. ISBN 9780804794268. Archived from the original on 1 May 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
16. Kurukundi Raghavendra Rao (1993). Babasaheb Ambedkar. Sahitya Akademi. p. 25. ISBN 9788172011529. Archived from the original on 1 May 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
17. Untouchability Affire Archived 5 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine, p.17, 1997
18. Nadkarni, M. V. (2003). "Is Caste System Intrinsic to Hinduism? Demolishing a Myth". Economic and Political Weekly. 38 (45): 4783–4793. ISSN 2349-8846. JSTOR 4414252. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.

• Characters in the Ramayana
• Hinduism-related controversies