Abuse of power

With elections round the corner, abuse peppers the hyperbole and rhetoric employed by candidates to boost their image. They are calling each other frauds, imposters and murderers. Some have cast aspersions on their opponents' virility, some others have flaunted their own.

Interestingly, several examples of employing abuse as a battle axe can be found in the epics. In the Mahabharata, the Sisupala-Krishna encounter is a case in point. Yudhisthira was conducting the Rajasuya Yagna - a sacrifice meant for the gods at the end of which a king is anointed emperor - and he offers arghya (water from the ritual or fruit and sweets from the sacrifice) to the assembled kings. Yudhisthira asked Bhisma to point out the foremost among the kings gathered at his court so that he could offer him the first arghya. Bhisma pointed to Krishna. At this, the king of Chedi, Sisupala, let loose a barrage of insults. He called Krishna a wretch born in the race of the Vrishnis and Yudhisthira a mean fool who had abandoned the path of dharma. Bhisma he called arrogant and ignorant and an old and infamous wretch living in the third state (celibacy).

Sisupala had never forgiven Krishna for eloping with Rukmini, whom he had sought to marry, and for killing Kansa, Krishna's own uncle, and Putana, a rakshasi - he felt both had been wronged - and his friend Jarasandha. His hatred found release in the vitriolic attack which also caused his end. Sisupala, who had been born with three eyes and four hands and had brayed like an ass when he came into the world, was fated to be killed by Krishna. His parents had wanted to abandon him but were held back by a heavenly voice that assured them that the deformities would disappear once the baby was placed in the lap of the right person but that the same person would cause Sisupala's death. That is what happened when Krishna picked up Sisupala. At Sisupala's mother's insistence Krishna had agreed to forgive her son one hundred insults before he took his life. Sisupala tipped the scale and lost his life.

Pentheus, king of Thebes, faced a similar fate for his abuse of Dionysus. Pentheus found the Dionysian cult strange and horrifying and called Dionysus an "eastern stranger", refusing to accept him as a god. When Dionysus visited his kingdom, Pentheus insulted and imprisoned him. But Dionysus broke free and led Pentheus to a horrific death at the hands of his mother.

Harsh words are used in most epics as triggers and turning points. Duryodhana's desire for revenge was apparently hardened when he saw Draupadi mocking his gauche inspection of the Pandava's palace at Indraprastha. He mistook a crystal surface for a lake and then a lake for a crystal surface, tripping and falling as he made his way around the palace. Draupadi laughed out loud and, according to one version, called him "blind as a blind man's son". Overly sensitive, Duryodhana bore her a lifelong grudge, as did Karna against Arjuna and Bhima for calling him a low-caste interloper.

In the Iliad, an insult, at least a perceived one, was also the reason for Helen's abduction. Eris, the goddess of strife, was piqued at not being invited to the wedding of a mortal, King Peleus, and a sea-nymph, Thetis. She sent a golden apple for the nuptial feast inscribed with the words: "For the fairest". Athene, Hera and Aphrodite laid claim to the apple. Zeus appointed Paris as judge. Each goddess promised Paris special favours in return for the prize: Hera said she would give him royal power, Athene wisdom and victory in war, and Aphrodite said she would get him the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris chose Aphrodite and earned the enmity of Hera and Athene for life. The battle of Troy followed soon thereafter.

Epic literature is full of insulting words and acrimonious exchanges, some fatal and some amusing. Our modern-day politicians could use them to find new swear words and, perhaps, to learn when to stop.