Vidura

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Vidura (

In the Sanatsujatiya section of the Mahabharata, shortly before the Kurukshetra War began, Vidura invoked the sage Sanatsujata to answer Dhritarashtra's questions about death.

During Krishna's visit, Vidura repeatedly advised everyone in the Court to heed the messenger. Continuously irritated, Duryodhana bursts out, blaming the low-born mother of Vidura as the cause for him betraying the Kauravas who have been feeding him. In protest against verbal assault, Vidura resigned on the spot from the post of Prime minister and broke his bow, vowing not to take part in the Kurukshetra War. Lesser known versions of Mahabharatha praise Vidura as an archer so great that if he had participated on the side of Kauravas in the war, the Pandavas would have been crushed. Vidura's bow was crafted by Vishnu himself, and it was destroyed at the behest of Vishnu's visit.

Death

After the Kurukshetra War,

In Chapters 33 through 40 of Udyoga Parva in the Mahabharata, Vidura outlines things wise people and leaders should do, and things they should not. Collectively, these are known as Vidura Niti (Vidura's Statecraft).^[11][12] Some examples of his recommendations for leaders:

1. He should wish for the prosperity of all, and should never set heart on inflicting misery on any group.
2. He should pay attention to those who have fallen in distress and adversity. He should not ignore persistent sufferings of those that depend on him, even if the suffering is small.
3. He should show compassion to all creatures, do what is good for all creatures rather than a select few.
4. He should never impede the development and growth of agriculture and economic activity by anyone.
5. He should be always be prepared to protect those that depend on him for their safety and security.
6. He should be fair and accessible to his people. By means of virtue should he attain success, by means of virtue should he sustain it.
7. He should consider the welfare of his people as his personal responsibility.
8. He should encourage learning and transmission of knowledge.
9. He should encourage profit and virtue. Prosperity depends on good deeds. Good deeds depend on prosperity.
10. He should avoid friendship with the sinful.
11. He should never misuse wealth, use harsh speech nor inflict extreme or cruel punishments.
12. He should only appoint those as ministers (senior positions in his staff) whom he has examined well for their history of virtue, dispositions, activity and whether they give others their due.

Vidura Niti also includes a few hundred verses with suggestions for personal development and the characteristics of a wise person.^[13] For example, in Chapter 33, Vidura suggests a wise person refrains from anger, exultation, pride, shame, stupefaction and vanity. He has reverence and faith, he is unhampered in his endeavors by either adversity or prosperity. He believes virtue and profit can go together, exerts and acts to the best of his ability, disregards nothing. He understands quickly, listens carefully, acts with purpose. He does not grieve for what is lost, and does not lose his sense during crisis. He is constantly learning, he seeks enlightenment from everything he experiences. He acts after deciding, and decides after thinking. He neither behaves with arrogance, nor with excessive humility. He never speaks ill of others, nor praises himself. He does not exult in honours to himself, nor grieves at insults; he is not agitated by what others do to him just like a calm lake near river Ganges.^[14]

In popular culture

Vidura is considered as the Mahachohan in the Theosophical world. Mahachohan is said to be the chief of a Social Hierarchy of the trans-Himalayan mystics. Most characters in the Mahabharata were reincarnations of one God or the other. Vidura was the reincarnation of Dharmaraja, more popularly known as Yamadharmaraja, who was born as a maid's son due to the curse of sage Mandavya.When Vishnu decided to take birth as Krishna, other deities also incarnated along with him. This is seen both in the Mahabharata and in the Ramayana. For example, in the Ramayana, the sage Narada was born as Vibhishana.^[15]

Vidura Niti, or Vidura's Statecraft, narrated in the form of a dialogue between Vidura and King Dhritarashtra, is considered the precursor in some ways of Chanakya Neeti by Chanakya.

Vidura is held to be a paragon of truth, dutifulness, impartial judgement and steadfast dharma. He is considered the embodiment of the inner consciousness of the Mahabharata. The curse carried by Narada was also transferred to Vidura. The curse that though he being bestowed with ultimate knowledge and wisdom about the past, the present and the future, he would not be believed.

Kaka Vidura, a Hindi minor poem by Rambhadracharya, has Vidura and his wife Sulabha as central characters.

Vidura Bhiksha is a Malayalam poetry work by Ullur S. Parameswarayyar.

See also

• Dhristarashtra
• Sanjaya
• Bhishma

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vidura.

• Original Text + English translation
• Persons and Stories from Mahabharata