Violence - where does it all starts?

Tune in into any channel or read any newspaper. You will be looking at innumerable news filled with violence in many forms –political, poverty, castes, racism, domestic and even sex. The first thing I would have thought was disgust and anger for the one who inflicted violence. At the same time, the feeling for sympathy comes in for the victim.

I have often asked where does the violence starts? Is it only the result of the social or poverty injustice or is it inbuilt part of the human nature? I guess both. While there has been a great deal of discussion on the former reasoning, I shall work on the later part here!

Imagine a forest with a tiger and a deer. The deer is running all over chased by the tiger. Finally when the tiger catches the deer, the tiger rips the deer with it claws and tears the flesh of the deer’s skin with its teeth. The tiger savors the deer and then moves on looking for another prey another day. A violent story, ain’t it? I say NO.  This is the story of the survival. The tiger has to kill the deer for itself to survive. The deer has to run and save itself or else it will be killed.

Now let’s talk of another story – King Shibi and the dove. This story is very famous in both the Hindu scriptures as well as the Buddhist Jataka tales.

Once upon a time, king Shibi was very famous for his generous and altruistic character. Once a dove flew into the lap of the king looking for shelter. The dove was being chased by an eagle. The king immediately granted sanctuary to the dove. The eagle then cried foul and asked the king to feed his hunger. The king offered the food for eagle weighing equal to the dove. No food in the entire kingdom could match the dove’s weight. Finally Shibi started to cut himself in order to feed the eagle.

In one version of the tales, the eagle and the dove transformed into the gods and praised Shibi. Shibi was then offered a way to heaven.

In the other version, the eagle then stopped Shibi and called him fool. Enraged, Shibi asked him the reason for such salutation? The eagle explained – “If you take the dove away from me, you may save the dove but my family would die of hunger. If you give your body to me, what happens to my hunger tomorrow? Who would save this dove from me tomorrow? Who would take care of your kingdom tomorrow? Who would take care of the subjects and ensure a better life for tomorrow? Saving the dove is great, but is also against the nature. It’s the wish of the god who made dove weak and gave an eagle the hunger for the dove.”

This similar idea is also displayed in the Vishnu Purana – “Matsya Avtar” through the “Matsyay Nyay” or the rule of the wild. The big fish easts the small fish to survive and any disruptions in this cycle would lead to devastations as experienced by Manu. The great Manu was approached by a small fish and the fish requested – save me from the bigger fishes today and someday I shall save you. Manu took the fish to his home and kept her in a small vessel. The fish outgrew the vessel and many more with time while Manu kept transferring her to the bigger one. Manu couldn’t believe that his small fish has become the big fish now and can fend for itself. Finally one day when Manu couldn’t hold her in the pond or the lake or the river, had to let go of the fish in the sea. This was the time of the great deluge or “Pralay”. The Vishnu purana says that the same fish came to save Manu and his family’s boat. This fish was the first embodiment of the Lord Vishnu. This story teaches two concepts for the early mankind – empathy and the law of the jungle.

Thus violence for me is also the need for survival. The humane in us should be able to judge when the need subsides and when the cruelty starts.