DrupadaDropsy
Bodily condition in which the body
retains excess water, and in conse-
quence swells up. In several hymns
in the Vedas, the oldest Hindu
religious texts, dropsy is described as
the punishment levied by the god
Varunafor speaking falsehood. Varuna
was conceived as the guardian of
cosmic order (rta), and intentionally
false speech was considered the
paradigm of anrta, the destructive force
that ran counter to the ordering force
of rta. In this case the punishment was
seen as fitting the crime, as if one had
been metaphoricallyinflated by the lies
one had told.
Drshtanta
(“example”) In Indian philosophy, the
examples that are one of the required
elements in the accepted form of an
inference (anumana). These examples
were provided as further evidence to
prove the reason (hetu) given to support
the hypothesis. As a rule, there had to be
two such examples. One was a positive
example (sapaksha) to show that similar
things happened in comparable cases,
and the other was a negative example
(vipaksha) to show that this did not
happen in other cases. In the most com-
mon example of an inference, “There is
fireon the mountain, because there is
smoke on the mountain,” the sapaksha
could be “like kitchen” (a place with
both fire and smoke), and the vipaksha
“unlike lake” (a place without fire or
smoke). The purpose of both examples
is to support the reason given, by show-
ing that this reason gives sufficient
cause to support the theory.
Drugs
The attitude toward drugs in Hindu
society shows the incredible variation
for which the Hindu religion is famous.
In general, the use of drugs is zealously
condemned among “respectable” people,
as is anything leading to a potential loss
of control. Yet Hindu mythology also
portrays the god Shivaas regularly con-
suming intoxicants, particularly bhang,
a preparation made primarily from mar-
ijuana, and datura, a genus of plants
containing poisonous alkaloids. Given
this mythic example, some of Shiva’s
devotees (bhakta) do the same as a vari-
ety of religious practice. Many ascetics
regularly spend much of their day smok-
ing hashish (charas) mixed with tobac-
co, although this is not always viewed as
normal asceticpractice. There are also
particular times and places when con-
sumption of drugs is more accepted,
even among “normal” people.
Consuming bhang is a fairly common
element in the celebration of certain fes-
tivals, such as Shivaratri (“Night of
Shiva”) and Holi (the festival of reversal).
It is also sometimes consumed when
people are on pilgrimage, and govern-
ment-regulated stands selling bhang
can be found at several important pil-
grimage places (tirtha), including
Benares, Puri, and Haridwar. Despite
this more widespread use in particular
specialized contexts,there are many
people who do not use drugs under any
circumstances and would never consider
doing so. Such rigid refusal is still only one
part of the “orthodox” picture, in which
one can find many different attitudes.Drupada
In the Mahabharata, the later of the two
great Hindu epics, Drupada is the king
of the Panchalaregion, and the father of
Dhrshtadyumnaand Draupadi. Much
of Drupada’s life is absorbed by his
struggle with Drona, who has been one
of Drupada’s fellow students. After their
course of studies is finished, Drupada
assumes his throne and lives quite lav-
ishly, whereas Drona is so poor that he
cannot even afford to feed his family. In
distress, Drona approaches Drupada for
help, reminding him of their past con-
nection. Drupada arrogantly dismisses
him, telling him that such ties are of no
consequence. Drona swears that he will
get revenge, and after teaching the arts
of war to the Pandavasand Kauravas,