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Shambuka (IAST: śambūka) is an interpolation in Hindu mythology. According to a version Shambuka, a shudra ascetic, was slain by Rama for attempting to perform penance in violation of dharma, the bad karma resulting from which caused the death of a Brahmin's son.
Rama's killing of Shambuka or even the existence of the character Shambuka is highly disputed. The story is treated as a later interpolation to Valmiki's Ramayana, being created at a later period in opposition to Brahmins.
Reception
Hindu authors adopt other means to explain the reason behind Rama's killing of Shambuka. 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.
Other authors argue that not all tapas is done for a pious purpose. Ravana, a Brahmin killed by Rama, had also performed penance but not for pious reasons. They argue that Shambuka was killed for conducting penance with a motive of attaining a celestial power with his material body, which is not an unselfish motive for which penance is meant to be performed. It is particularly forbidden (e.g. story of Trishanku) in Hindu mythology to aspire for entering heaven with a material body. The belief is that the material body, i.e. Annamaya Kosha, is mortal and is meant only for performing ones Karma on earth. Bhimrao Ambedkar, in The Annihilation of Caste posits that Rama killed Shambuka because he was trying to change his caste (to Brahmin).
Notes
- Government of Maharashtra, Nasik District Gazeteer: History - Ancient Period "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 7 November 2006. Retrieved 1 October 2006.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) (text credited to Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. V. V. Mirashi) - Paula Richman (2008). Ramayana Stories in Modern South India: An Anthology. Indiana University Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-253-21953-4.
- 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
- Mangesh Venktesh Nadkarni. Hinduism, a Gandhian Perspective. Anne Books. p. 92.
- Motiramji Sastri, Ramayan (in Gujarati) (Ahmedabad, 1961).
- 'M. Raghava, "The king and the protector of the devout" The Hindu (26 October 2004).
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