Sambuka - the low caste Tapasa
A grieving Brahmin
Carrying the corpse of his young son
Cursed Rama
And threatened a hunger strike
Unto death if the sin
That caused his son's death
was not found and expiated.
Rama called his council
Eight learned Rishis and Narada
Who advised him
Of a Sudra
Aspiring to be a Tapasa
Transgressing Dharma
Doing what only Brahmins should do
Great Rama's duty
It was to find and punish
The evil doer and reassert Dharma
End the premature deaths
Among the twice born.
So promptly he set out
On his aerial car for the hunt.
At last, in a wild region
Rama espied
a man practising austerities
Inquiring his genealogy
Found the Tapasa was a Sudra
A practicing Yogi aiming Moksha
Named Sambuka
Great Rama cut off Tapasa's head
Instantly without a warning
Expostulation
Or any address
For a Sudra deserved
no explanation, no pity
Had no rights
Even before the severed head
Fell to the ground
The dead youth regained his breathing
And Deva's descended from heaven
Singing Rama's praises
Sages commended his action
And gifted a divine bracelet.
Such is the greatness
Of caste preserving Dharma
The divine justice or wrath
Against the Sudras seeking holiness
Crossing of the boundaries laid by Vedas
Misconstruing as good what was evil
Sadu, Sadu to Rama the righteous avenger.
(Tapasa- An acetic)
