Shamvuka

Shudra ascetic who appears both in
the Ramayana, the earlier of the two
great Indian epics, and in the poet
Kalidasa’s Raghuvamsha, whose
story line is based on the Ramayana.
According to the story a brahmin
comes to Rama, the epic’s protagonist, and complains that his son has
died because of the unrighteousness
running through the land. Since the
king is considered responsible for the
general moral climate in his kingdom,
Rama immediately asks the brahmin
for more information. He is told that a
man named Shamvuka has been
doing physical asceticism (tapas) in a
bid to generate spiritual powers
through his suffering, even though
Shamvuka is a member of the servant
(shudra) class, and these sorts of religious exercises are forbidden to people of such low social status. Rama
finds Shamvuka hanging his head
downward over a smoking fire, and
when he refuses to desist from his
ascetic practices, Rama kills him. This
episode conveys several important
messages. One of these is the Indian
cultural belief that physical suffering
generates spiritual and/or magic
powers. When this belief is combined
with a profoundly hierarchical model
of society, it becomes important for
the higher-class people to control the
people who are allowed to do this,
lest the lower classes gain power over
their “betters.” Finally, this story
shows the Ramayana’s general tendency to uphold established social
values and boundaries.