The Modern Day Shishupala

While historians argue that history repeats itself, spiritual commentators believe characters in epics are reborn to only tally old scores and meet their end. Sometimes characters in the present day remind us of characters in epics due to its uncanny resemblance. Once such resemblance made me look up Shishupala Vadha (the slaying of Shishupala), a work of classical Sanskrit composed by Magha during the 7th/8th century. This epic poem of about 1800 highly ornate stanzas is considered one of the six Sanskrit mahakavyas.

 

Shishupala, a very interesting character in mahakavya caught my attention. He is a considered to be a reincarnation of Hiranyakashipu, a king slayed by Nrisimha (one of the 10 avatars of Vishnu). Shishupala incarnated as the son of King Damagosh and Satyavati, aunt of Krishna. He was born with three eyes and four arms that qualify him as a man with extra-ability than disability. Though Shishupala and Krishna were first cousins, but it didn’t help them to have an easy relationship as Krishna took away his intended wife, Rukmini and married her. This incident permanently marred their relationship, which led to frequent war of words between the two.

Though there have been many instances of standoffs between Krishna and Shishupala, the real enemy of Shishupala was his ill-temper and acerbic tongue. He repeatedly annoyed Krishna with his insults and today, when I hear Donald Trump speaking ill of women, declaring a war on Muslims, building a wall across the Mexican border, supporting water boarding and other inhuman practices to extract confessions from criminals, and finally, expressing his dark desire to torture families (wives and kids) of ISIS terrorists, I am immediately reminded of the haughty and hot-headed Shishupala.

Just like Donald Trump being surrounded by sycophants, Shishupala too was surrounded by the same kind and specially the Kauravas, who hated Krishna. They often created opportunities or put Shishupala in an assembly of noble men to take on Krishna or used his as an entertainment factor. Interestingly, Krishna had given a vow to his aunt that he would pardon her son a hundred times per day and will kill him when he exceeds the limit.

Every time Shishupala approached his limit Krishna reminded him of his vow and asked him to calm down. Krishna went on to diffuse his temper and douse his fiery words with kindness and advise. Not only candidates, but people belonging to various religious faiths and race have been subject to slander by Donald Trump and have in turn advised Trump to tone down his rhetoric. Today, the world leaders have joined with a section of Republicans to keep Trump's meteoric rise in check.

If we go back to the epic, the relationship between Krishna and Shishupala reached the tipping point as Pandavas were getting ready to perform Rajasuya yajna. When Krishna was bestowed the highest honor in this yajna, the enraged and jealous Shishupala derided Krishna not heeding to his warnings. Shishupala had no idea that his life was coming to an end in the hands of Krishna who represents love, affection and inclusivity.

As much as the present reminds you of the past, does the past outcome extrapolates to future? While Donald Trump may be overconfident about his recent wins in the primaries, but his end isn't far away from reaching the same end as Shisupala. Before he realized Shishupala quickly crossed the pardonable limit and faced his end in the hands of Krishna concludes the epic.

Not sure about the history of Trump’s earlier incarnations and what scores he is going to tally in this birth and against whom, but there seems to be a Krishna somewhere doing the countdown. Will the Trump Vadha will soon become a modern day mahakayva set in the United States? Let's sit back and closely watch the primary just like the audience in the assembly of Pandavas.