Canto 5 - Chapter 8: Bharata conceives an infatuation for a fawn and is reborn as a deer ...

Discourse VIII

Bharata conceives an infatuation for a fawn and is reborn as a deer

Śrī Śuka began again : Having bathed in the great river (Gaṇḍaki) and having finished his routine of religious duties (both of an obligatory nature and those demanded by particular occasions) as well as other unavoidable duties (such as easing nature), one day, Bharata squatted on the bank of the river for three Muhūrtas (nearly two hours and a half), repeating the sacred syllable Om. (1)
Meanwhile, on that spot, O king, a deer approached the river bank all alone to drink water. (2)
While it was yet avidly drinking water, there arose a loud, deep and hoarse sound—striking terror into the heart of all—of a lion roaring not very far from that place. (3)
Hearing the sound, that deer, which was shy by its very nature and (already) looked with bewildered eyes, felt all the more perturbed at heart, overcome as it was with the fear of the lion, and precipitately leapt across the stream, its eyes swimming and its thirst not yet quenched. (4)

Even as the deer, which was big with young, took the leap the foetus, that had been dislodged through excessive fear, came out of the vagina and fell into the stream. (5)
Afflicted with exhaustion caused by the premature delivery and the (unusually long) leap (taken by it) as well as with fear (of the lion), and (further) strayed from its troop, the female deer dropped down in some cavern and died. (6)

Moved with compassion at the sight of the helpless young deer, forsaken (by its mother) and being swept away by the current, the royal sage picked it up and took it to the hermitage, like a (true) friend, knowing it to be motherless. (7)
As Bharata (now) intensely thought of the young deer as his own (charge) and conceived an attachment for it by nourishing it, protecting it (from wolves and other carnivorous animals), caressing it and humouring it (by scratching and stroking its body) everyday, all his routine duties (such as bathing) including practices of self-restraint as well as his devotional duties such as the worship of the Lord came to be neglected one by one and (were all) actually abandoned in the course of a few days. (8)
"Oh, torn from its class as well as from its near and dear ones and alas! brought under my protection by the fast rotating wheel of Time, this helpless young deer has accepted me alone for its parents, kith and kin and mates, knowing no one else, and has great confidence in me. Hence it behoves me (too) to nourish, protect (from enemies), gratify and fondle in an uncavilling spirit this fawn exclusively depending on me, knowing as I do that it is sinful to forsake him who seeks my protection. (9)
Surely worthy and pious souls who are given to self-control and are friends of the poor ignore their own big interests for the sake of such (wretched) creatures." (10)

Having thus developed an attachment for it, Bharata's heart remained knit with bonds of love to that young of a deer even while he sat (on the ground), lay asleep, sauntered (here and there), remained standing, ate his food and on other such occasions. (11)
When he thought of fetching (blades of) Kuśa grass, flowers, sticks for the sacrificial fire, leaves, fruits, roots or water, he repaired to the woods alongwith the young deer, apprehending danger from wolves and dogs and other (carnivorous) animals. (12)
Nay, when due to its innocence it got stuck up at some place on the wayside, he picked it up and bore it on his shoulder out of tenderness with a heart full of great affection and, holding it thus on his lap and bosom, experienced supreme felicity in fondling it. (13)
Even while (actually) performing (some) ritual act, the emperor would rise at frequent intervals (to cast a look at it); and, when he had seen it, he pronounced his benedictions on it with a reassured mind, saying "May you be safe on all sides, my darling !" (14)

At other times (whenever he failed to see it) he would feel extremely perturbed like a miser who had lost his fortune and, sorrowing for it alone with a heart full of agony and overwhelmed with grief at his separation from that young deer, and actually infatuated by an inordinate longing to see it, pitifully exclaimed, it is said, as follows:—(15)
"Oh, will that poor young deer, the offspring of a deceased mother, return (to this spot), reposing confidence by virtue of its own credulity in me—a wicked and unlucky soul, deceitful as a cheat and hard-hearted like a hunter—and overlooking like a saint my wicked nature ? (16)
Shall I see it (once more) grazing in safety tender blades of grass in the grove of this hermitage, protected by Providence ? (17)
May it not be that a wolf or a dog or any other (carnivorous) beast roaming all alone (such as the tiger) or going about in herds (as for instance the boar) will devour it ? (18)
Lo ! the Lord (the sun-god) who has the three Vedas for His body and who rises for the welfare of the whole world is going down; but the pledge of the doe is not yet returning to me. (19)
Will that prince of a deer (ever) come back and delight me—an unlucky soul relieving the sorrow of its kith and kin by its manifold, delightful and charming fawn-like sports ? (20)
When I closed my eyes in jest putting up a false show of meditation, it would approach me greatly agitated and, feeling indignant through love, would strike me with the end of its horns, soft as a drop of water. (21)
When, on the Kuśa grass—with the offering for the sacred fire placed on it—being polluted (by it through the impure touch of its mouth), it was scolded by me, it got much frightened and instantly abandoning (its) playfulness, would sit (motionless) like a young hermit with all its senses fully controlled. (22)

"Oh, what austerities have been performed by this fortunate Earth, who by the series of impressions imprinted (on her bosom) by the feet of that docile young of a black antelope with their tiny, lovely, most propitious and soft hoofs not only reveals the tracks of my fortune to my wretched self, robbed of his wealth and therefore miserable, but at the same time adorns her own person on all sides and turns it into a sacrificial ground* for the twice born seeking after heaven or final beatitude. (23)
(Observing the dark spot in the moon, which is likened by poetic fancy to the figure of a deer, and imagining it to be his own pet deer) May it be that the glorious moon-god (the lord of the stars), who is (so) kind to the afflicted, is protecting (has taken under his own fostering care) that young deer, whose mother died from fear of a lion, and that has strayed from its abode ? (24)
(Deriving solace from this idea as well as from the cool and refreshing moonbeams) Or is it that he is soothing—by the cool and placid slobber, in the form of nectarean rays flowing copiously from his mouth through love—me, the lotus of whose heart has been burning with the flames of wild fire, in the form of agony caused by separation from my pet (that was like a son to me), and who had followed (in search of) that young of a deer." (25)

Troubled at heart with such fantastic ideas, Bharata (who was engaged in austerities for union with the Lord through Devotion and spiritual enlightenment) was diverted from the practices leading to such union as well as from (devotional) practices in the form of worship of the Lord by his own (evil) destiny appearing in the form of that young antelope ! Otherwise how could there appear (such a strong) attachment for the young of a deer, that belonged to a different species, in (the mind of) one who had already left his own sons, so difficult to part with, as a direct impediment to (the attainment of) final beatitude. While the royal sage Bharata was lost in self-oblivion, the practice of Yoga commenced by him having been thus interrupted, and his mind (ever) engrossed in the thought of nourishing, protecting, humouring and caressing the young deer, the hour of death, which is difficult to overpass and which approaches with terrible speed, arrived even as a serpent would run up to the hope of a rat. (26)
Continuing even at that time to look intently on the deer, that was lamenting by his side like a (real) son, with his thought fixed on that animal alone, Bharata, on quitting that body (the body of a royal sage) simultaneously with the deer, attained (in his next birth) the body of a deer as any other mortal would do (under similar conditions). Of course the memory of his previous life did not leave him as did the dead body. (27)
Recollecting—by virtue of the sustained endeavours (in his previous existence) to propitiate the Lord—even in that incarnation the cause of his being reborn as a deer, and repenting bitterly, he said (to himself as follows):— (28)
"Oh, how painful it is that I have strayed from the path trodden by the self-poised in that, even though I had completely shaken off all attachments, and, strong-willed as I was, had retired to a lonely and holy forest, my mind—which had been wholly devoted to and thoroughly concentrated in Lord Vāsudeva, the Self of all (individual) selves, in course of time, every hour of which was (fully) utilized through diligent application to sacred pursuits such as constantly listening to, fixing one's mind on and duly chanting His names and praises, worshipping Him and incessantly thinking of Him—slipped in no time after the young of a deer, a fool that I was." (29)

• The sanctity of a tract of land inhabited by the black antelope is proclaimed by the Smṛtis in the following words :—

Acquire the knowledge of your duties in that land where resides the black antelope.

With this feeling of remorse fully disguised, Bharata (reincarnated as a deer) forsook his mother (the doe) and returned from (the mountain of) Kālañjara (his birth-place) to the hermitage of the sage Pulastya and Pulaha, also known by the name of Śālagrāma-Kṣetra, a site consecrated to the Lord and a favourite resort of hermits naturally given to self-control.(30)
Awaiting his death (every moment) and terribly afraid of attachment, he lived there too all by himself, subsisting on dry leaves, blades of grass and low shrubs and looking forward to the exhaustion of the stock of Karma responsible for his birth as a deer, and (eventually, when the hour of death arrived) cast off his bestial form, a part of which had been laid* (by him) under the water of the holy river (Gaṇḍaki). (31)

Thus ends the eighth discourse, forming part of the story of Bharata, in Book Five of the great and glorious Bhāgavata-Purāṇa, otherwise known as the Paramahamsa-Sarhhitā.
* Death with half of one's body immersed in the water of a holy river or lake or the ocean is believed to confer great religious merit on the dying soul and the posture has been referred to in the scriptures under the name of Ardhajala. The great Bharata was evidently put in mind of this purificatory process while casting off the form of a deer.