Kanika & Karthika (BH:D129)

December 10, 2011

If you expected this to be a write-up on the south Indian actresses, sorry to disappoint! Not that those lovely ladies don't deserve to be written about. But I am more fascinated today with the character of Kanika from the Mahabharatha. 

Fascinated since yesterday, to fully disclose.

Since I had been asked to wait on doing any heavy lifting, the Mahabharatha tome by Kunjikuttan Thampuran had stayed for the whole of last month in the bottom rack of the main room teapoy. As the book involves intellectual heavy lifting as well, I stuck to Tavernier's work which is blissfully devoid of any philosophy. Yesterday morning, I felt courageous enough to go back to the great Bharatha epic.

"Kanikavakyam" episode comes right after Karna's entry. Dridhrashtra, the blind king, increasingly worried about the rising popularity and strength of the Pandavas, would like to get rid of them. But he needs reassurance. Enter Kanika. Introduced as an expert in mantras and the sciences, in a relatively short chapter, Kanika encapsulates Sun Tzu, Chanakya, Machiavelli and Vishnu Sharma. He lays down the essential principles that were much later elaborated in The Prince.

Here are some samples from the most Machiavellian episode of the Mahabharata:

"A powerful king must always be prepared to torture!" 

Dick Cheney's smirk comes to mind.

"Never reveal your weaknesses but strike hard at your enemy's. Even if they are your own blood relatives, never shy away from poisoning your enemires" Aurangazeb should feel smug.

"Like jackals, deceive your population with rituals, acts of charity, 'kaashayam' and 'jada'" Kaashayam is the saffronish dress that is standard costume of Hindu holy men. 'Jada' is the long hair that usually accompanies that dress even to this day. I guess when modern day gurus and swamis say that they live by the book, they must be specifically referring to the Kanika chapter.

He proceeds to illustrate his point with the fable a clever fox that cheats its friends, a leopard, a rat, a mongoose and a jackal of some deer meat. Perhaps setting a precedent to the Panchatantra tales. Wikipedia informs that Panchatantra's date of composition remains unknown. The famous Persian translation of that incredible work happened in the 6th century AD. But clearly, the stories were compiled centuries earlier. Animal stories with morals have been common since the time of Buddha in the form of Jataka tales. Kanika delivers a brilliant one with questionable morality!

Surprising that Kanika's chapter has not received wide-spread attention considering how much of its brutal pointers are religious followed in modern Indian politics. Shashi Tharoor, in his Great Indian Novel, has a character called V. Kanika Menon who is the high commissioner to London (as if the V and the Menon clues weren't enough) and gives crucial advice to Dridhrashtra.

In the original great Bharatha, Dridharashtra is obviously excited to hear his deepest desires find a voice and approval in Kanika. He wastes no time in allowing Duryodhana to proceed with conspiracies to get rid of the Pandavas. But before sending Pandavas off to Varanavata where they can be burnt to death, Dridhrashtra doubts for a moment. He wonders if the ministers, military and the people, who are still loyal to his brother, Pandu, will revolt sensing the sinister motives. Duryodhana assures him that he has won enough officials and people to his side using money and lures of official positions and promotions. Hmm...what exactly has changed in India after thousands of years?!

Yesterday was Karthika festival. Actually it was split between the day before yesterday and yesterday. So some homes in the city had arrays of lamps lit the day before. We went for the display yesterday. After 14 years, small oil lamps lined the compound wall of our home. 'Therali' wrapped and steamed in 'Vayana' leaves is the main delicacy that is associated with the festival. 

Kanika, Karthika, fragrant delicacies and me...good times!