Yesterday i realised that the cute Ellen Page has finally transformed into a male boxer and actor named Elliot Page. While i have my reservations about people changing their genders, i believe that people have their freedom to exercise what is possible. But i could not help but remember the one shloka which we know from Mahabharata.
धर्मे चार्थे च कामे च मोक्षे च भरतर्षभ |
यदिहास्ति तदन्यत्र यन्नेहास्ति न तत् क्वचित् ||
(Source: Adi Parva, Chapter 62, Verse 53)
Translation - "O best of the Bharatas [Janamejaya], in matters regarding Dharma (righteousness/duty), Artha (wealth/purpose), Kama (pleasure/desire), and Moksha (liberation), whatever is found here may be found elsewhere; but whatever is not found here is nowhere else."
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| Shikhandi and Elliot Page |
Now why is that? In Mahabharata we have a character named Shikhandi, who is also a transgender. Born as the daughter of King Drupada of Panchala, she undergoes a gender transformation and becomes an instrument in the defeat of Pitamaha Bhishma. Her story is as follows;
The need for a son as an instrument of revenge
Kind Drupada is burning with the rage of humiliation inflicted upon him by Bhaaradwaaja Dronaacharya. Dronaacharya did this as a revenge for a past humiliation he had faced in the court of King Drupada. Both were thick friends in their Gurukula and had made some promises, which, according to Dronacharya, was not fulfilled by King Drupada, making the revenge necessary.
To avenge the humiliation Drupada needs a son to defeat Dronacharya in the battle field. But he only has his daughter named Shikhandi. The daughter wants to help her father and is not happy with her father lamenting about her being a daughter, so after a lot of search and attempts she finally approaches a Yaksha named Sthunakarna and achieves a gender transformation, after a long and a very painful procedure. She transforms into a man completely.
Drupada achieves his objective by performing a Putra Kameshti sacrifice, which give him Dristadyumna, and Draupadi. Draupadi becomes the catalyst for the Bharata war and Dristadyumna beheads Dronacharya on the battle field.
The seed of Shikhandi's transformation - The fire of revenge which burned across births
Amba, the princess of Kashi, was abducted along with her sisters Ambika and Ambalika, by Devavrata Bhishma, the prince of Hastinapura, from their Swayamvara, after defeating all the princes assembled there. He had done so to avenge the humiliation of the Kuru Rajya by the Raja of Kashi, as he had not invited its King Vichitraveerya to the swayamvara.
Amba was deeply in love with King Shalva the ruler of the Saubha kingdom. She pleaded with Bhishma to let her go and he did so. But Shalva would not accept her after being defeated by Bhishma in the Kashi Sabha. So Amba was hanging in the middle with no where to go. She wanted Bhishma to accept her, but he would not, due to his vow of lifelong celibacy. Fuming with rage, as a last resort, she approached Bhishma's teacher, the formidable Parashurama, to help her achieve her desire. Parashurama called upon his student and battled with him, which ended in a draw.
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| Sage Narada and the Gods stop Bhishma's battle with Parashurama |
Parashurama advised her to make peace with her situation, however hopeless it was. Amba being the wounded tigress, entered the fire, wanting to become the reason for Bhishma's death in her upcoming birth.
This Amba was born as Shikhandi, King Drupada's daughter. Her life situations were such that she had to take the path of transformation and eventually achieved her revenge from the previous lifetime.
Some thoughts
Elliot (Ellen) Page is in news after her appearance in Odyssey which is a re-telling of Homer's classic. This is an epic of the Western civilization. Though there is no transgender in the epic as far as i know, a quick comparison with Mahabharata tells that there is no comparison between the two epics.
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