Not Your Father's Lap

As the child grew in her womb and pressed hard upon her, Sujātā went to her husband in private. He was poor, and she needed money, and she said to him: How shall I manage with nothing, great sage? This is my tenth month, and you have nothing to see us through when I give birth. So Kahoḍa went to King Janaka of Videha, one of a line of kings who all bore the name Janaka, to ask for wealth. There a learned debater called Bandin defeated him in argument and had him drowned in the water.

When Uddālaka heard that Kahoḍa had been beaten in debate by Bandin, a sūta, a bard and not a brahmin, and drowned, he said to Sujātā: Aṣṭāvakra must not know this. She kept the secret, and when the boy was born he never heard of it. He thought of Uddālaka as his father, and of Śvetaketu as his brother.

Then, when Aṣṭāvakra was twelve, he was sitting one day in Uddālaka's lap, and Śvetaketu took him by the hand and pulled him away, crying as he was, and said, This is not your father's lap. The cruel words stuck in Aṣṭāvakra's heart. He went home in tears to his mother and asked, Where is my father? Sujātā, in great distress, told him everything. When he had understood it all, he said to Śvetaketu: Let us go to King Janaka's sacrifice. They say it is full of wonders. We will hear the brahmins debate and eat fine food there, and we will grow wiser. The sound of the Veda is gentle and good.