[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [An Index to the Names in the Mahabharata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.sorensen-1904) › c5.s6.132 # An Index to the Names in the Mahabharata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation c5.s6.132 An Index to the Names in the Mahābhārata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation c5.s6.132 - **Language:** English ### [c5.s6.132](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.sorensen-1904.c5.s6.132) \[Indra-Matanga-saṃvāda(h)\] ("the conversation between Indra and Matanga"). § 735\*b\* (\*Anuśāsanik.\*): \*Bhīṣma\* said: Once a \*brāhman\* obtained a son named \*Matanga\*, who, though procreated by a person of a different order, had, however, the rites of infancy and youth performed according to the ordinances laid down for \*brāhmans\*. His father, desiring to perform a sacrifice, ordered him to collect the articles, and he set out riding in a car drawn by a young ass, that bore away the ear to its mother; \*Matanga\* repeatedly struck the animal with his goad on its nose; but the old she-ass consoled it, saying, "A \*Cāṇḍāla\* it is that is driving thee; there is no severity in a \*brāhman\*." Asked by \*Matanga\*, the she-ass revealed to him that his father was a \*Śūdra\* following the profession of a barber, who begat him upon a \*brāhman\* woman excited with desire; "thou art, therefore, a \*Cāṇḍāla\* by birth." \*Matanga\* returned home, told his father what he had heard, retired to the forest, and began to undergo the austerest penances in order to acquire the status of a \*brāhman\*, so that he scorched the very deities. Indra came and offered him boons, but the status of a \*brāhman\*, he said, could not be won by penances (XIII, 27). \*Matanga\* then stood for 100 years on one foot. \*Indra\* came once more and said: "From the order of brute life one attains to the state of humanity; if born as a human being, one is sure to take birth as a \*Pukkaça\* or a \*Cāṇḍāla\*; after 1,000 years one attains to the status of a \*Śūdra\*; then after 30,000 years that of a \*Vaiśya\*; after a period that is sixty times longer, that of a \*kṣatriya\*; after a period that is sixty times longer than this, to that of a fallen \*brāhman\*; after a period 200 times as long, to that of a \*brāhman\* living by the profession of arms; after a period 300 times as long, to that of a \*brāhman\* reciting the \*Gāyatrī\* and sacred \*mantras\*; after a period 400 times as long, to that of a \*brāhman\* conversant with the entire \*Vedas\* and the scriptures" (XIII, 28). \*Matanga\* then practised austerer penances, standing on one foot for 1,000 years in \*yoga\*-meditation. \*Indra\* once more came and said the same. \*Matanga\* then repaired to \*Gayā\*, and there passed 300 years on one foot in \*yoga\*, and was reduced to only skin and bones, and dropped down on the ground from sheer exhaustion. \*Indra\* came quickly; now \*Matanga\* accepted the boons that he should be celebrated as \*caṇḍadeva\*, and obtain the worship of all women, and his fame should become unrivalled in the three worlds (XII, 29). - [Previous: c5.s6.131](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.sorensen-1904.c5.s6.131) - [Next: c5.s6.133](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.sorensen-1904.c5.s6.133) - [Up: c5.s6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.sorensen-1904.c5.s6) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.sorensen-1904.c5.s6.132](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.sorensen-1904.c5.s6.132) · Pramāṇa