Disclaimer: This is not an endorsement of the consumption of tobacco in any form, but the documentation of a lesser-known sub-genre of Indic literature.
Here are a few anonymous snippets that invoke Indic mythology to glorify tobacco.
(1) One of the most celebrated exploits of the infant Krishna is the slaying of the shapeshifting ogress Putana (पूतना). When Kamsa, Krishna's uncle who had usurped the throne of Mathura and was destined to be killed by Krishna, suspected that his future killer had been spirited away to the nearby settlement of traditional dairy farmers, he dispatched Putana to put all children born in that area within a certain window of time to death. The wily murderess changed herself into a graceful and pretty young woman, and charmed the naïve milkmaids into letting her nurse their babies, killing these innocents with her lethal breast-milk. However, Krishna was fully aware of her motives; so, when it was his turn, he sucked all vitality out of her along with her milk until she was forced to resume her true, hideous form and give up her life, screaming and flailing in pain. Our poet has interpolated a clever detail into this well-known narrative to create their own (facetious) etiological myth about tobacco and its use.
श्रीकृष्णः पूतनायाः स्तनमलमपिबत्कालकूटेन पूर्णं
प्रस्कन्नं भूप्रदेशे किमपि च पिबतो यत्तदा तस्य वक्त्रात्|
तस्मादेषा तमाखुः सुरवरपरमोच्छिष्टमेतद्दुरापं
स्तुत्वा नत्वा मिलित्वा ह्यनिशमतिमुदा सेव्यते वैष्णवाग्र्यैः||
प्रस्कन्नं भूप्रदेशे किमपि च पिबतो यत्तदा तस्य वक्त्रात्|
तस्मादेषा तमाखुः सुरवरपरमोच्छिष्टमेतद्दुरापं
स्तुत्वा नत्वा मिलित्वा ह्यनिशमतिमुदा सेव्यते वैष्णवाग्र्यैः||
zrIkRSNaH pUtanAyAH stanamalamapibatkAlakUTena pUrNaM
praskannaM bhUpradeze kimapi ca pibato yattadA tasya vaktrAt|
praskannaM bhUpradeze kimapi ca pibato yattadA tasya vaktrAt|
tasmAdeSA tamAkhuH suravaraparamocchiSTametaddurApaM
stutvA natvA militvA hyanizamatimudA sevyate vaiSNavAgryaiH||
stutvA natvA militvA hyanizamatimudA sevyate vaiSNavAgryaiH||
Loose translation: As Shri Krishna was suckling the breast of Putana, filled with the deadliest of poisons, to his heart's content, a small amount of the liquid trickled out of his mouth and fell upon the earth, and from it emerged the tobacco plant. This makes tobacco the most sublime of the leftovers of the Great Deity('s meal); hence, the foremost among the Vaishnavas (devotees of Vishnu-Krishna) sing the praises of this rarity, bow down to it, and get together to partake of it with great joy all the time!
Source: Subhashita Ratna Bhandagara Verse 6 of Chapter on tobacco.
Notes: By describing tobacco as a toxic substance with divine associations, the poet acknowledges both the short-term pleasure it bestows and the long-term ill effects it leaves on its consumers.
kAlakUTa (कालकूट) is one name given to the potent miasma that emerged from the depths of the Ocean of Milk in the famous mythical episode of the Churning of the Ocean and threatened to destroy all life before Shiva swallowed it and entrapped it in his throat; different treatises identify it with different poisons found in nature.
(2) Devanagari text:
Source: Subhashita Ratna Bhandagara Verse 6 of Chapter on tobacco.
Notes: By describing tobacco as a toxic substance with divine associations, the poet acknowledges both the short-term pleasure it bestows and the long-term ill effects it leaves on its consumers.
kAlakUTa (कालकूट) is one name given to the potent miasma that emerged from the depths of the Ocean of Milk in the famous mythical episode of the Churning of the Ocean and threatened to destroy all life before Shiva swallowed it and entrapped it in his throat; different treatises identify it with different poisons found in nature.
(2) Devanagari text:
भ्रातः कस्त्वं तमाखुर्गमनमिह कुतो वारिधेः पूर्वपारात्|
कस्य त्वं दण्डधारी न हि तव विदितं श्रीकलेरेव राज्ञः|
चातुर्वर्ण्यं विधात्रा विविधविरचितं धर्मकर्मप्रभेद-
-मेकीकर्तुं बलात् तन्निखिलजगति तच्छासनादागतोऽस्मि||
कस्य त्वं दण्डधारी न हि तव विदितं श्रीकलेरेव राज्ञः|
चातुर्वर्ण्यं विधात्रा विविधविरचितं धर्मकर्मप्रभेद-
-मेकीकर्तुं बलात् तन्निखिलजगति तच्छासनादागतोऽस्मि||
bhrAtaH kastvaM tamAkhurgamanamiha kuto vAridheH pUrvapArAt
kasya tvaM daNDadhArI na hi tava viditaM zrIkalereva rAjJaH|
kasya tvaM daNDadhArI na hi tava viditaM zrIkalereva rAjJaH|
cAturvarNyaM vidhAtrA vividhaviracitaM dharmakarmaprabheda-
-mekIkartuM balAt tannikhilajagati tacchAsanAdAgato(a)smi||
-mekIkartuM balAt tannikhilajagati tacchAsanAdAgato(a)smi||
Loose translation:
'Who are you, brother?'
'(I am) Tobacco!'
'Whence did you arrive here?'
'From the eastern shores[see notes] of the ocean!'
'Whose mace-bearer[see notes] are you?'
'Do you not know? Of none other than His Highness Kali! I have come here under (his) orders to unify by force all four varnas, whose different duties and practices were established by Brahma'.
Source: Udbhata Sagara Part II Verse 235; the third quarter is recorded as चातुर्वर्ण्यं विदित्वा विबुधविरचितं ब्रह्मणा धर्महेतोर् in Udbhata Chandrika Volume II Part 3 Appendix Verse 6 and as चातुर्वर्ण्यं विधात्रा विविधविरचितं ब्रह्मणा धर्महेतोर् in Subhashita Ratna Bhandagara Verse 7 of the chapter on tobacco, and both these versions end in रे शासनादागतोऽस्मि; 17th century Anyokti Muktaavali Section 7 Verse 235 gives the first quarter as भ्रातः कस्त्वं तमाकू सुहृदिह गमनं ते कुतोऽम्भोधिपारात्| and a second half that is metrically different from the first: चातुर्वर्ण्यं विधिविरचितं भिन्नभिन्नैकभूतमेकीकर्तुं जगति सकले शासनादागतोऽस्मि||
Notes: The language of the verse is a bit problematic. I am not sure if पूर्वपार refers to the coastline of Peninsular India that lies to the east of the author's location (making a port on the Bay of Bengal the point of entry of tobacco into the Subcontinent) or that to the east of the "ocean", i.e. the Arabian sea. The third quarter is also hard to parse but its import is clear: People from all socio-economic groups had become addicted to tobacco when this verse was written. In the worldview of many users of the Sanskrit language, one of the greatest catastrophes unleashed by the present sinful age of Kali (कलि) is the intermixing of the four varnas, and, in the poet's imagination, tobacco addiction is a major tool that is being used to this end.
दण्ड also means "punishment", so दण्डधारी can refer to an administrator of justice on behalf of a higher authority (the monarch or the state).
(3) Devanagari text:
'Who are you, brother?'
'(I am) Tobacco!'
'Whence did you arrive here?'
'From the eastern shores[see notes] of the ocean!'
'Whose mace-bearer[see notes] are you?'
'Do you not know? Of none other than His Highness Kali! I have come here under (his) orders to unify by force all four varnas, whose different duties and practices were established by Brahma'.
Source: Udbhata Sagara Part II Verse 235; the third quarter is recorded as चातुर्वर्ण्यं विदित्वा विबुधविरचितं ब्रह्मणा धर्महेतोर् in Udbhata Chandrika Volume II Part 3 Appendix Verse 6 and as चातुर्वर्ण्यं विधात्रा विविधविरचितं ब्रह्मणा धर्महेतोर् in Subhashita Ratna Bhandagara Verse 7 of the chapter on tobacco, and both these versions end in रे शासनादागतोऽस्मि; 17th century Anyokti Muktaavali Section 7 Verse 235 gives the first quarter as भ्रातः कस्त्वं तमाकू सुहृदिह गमनं ते कुतोऽम्भोधिपारात्| and a second half that is metrically different from the first: चातुर्वर्ण्यं विधिविरचितं भिन्नभिन्नैकभूतमेकीकर्तुं जगति सकले शासनादागतोऽस्मि||
Notes: The language of the verse is a bit problematic. I am not sure if पूर्वपार refers to the coastline of Peninsular India that lies to the east of the author's location (making a port on the Bay of Bengal the point of entry of tobacco into the Subcontinent) or that to the east of the "ocean", i.e. the Arabian sea. The third quarter is also hard to parse but its import is clear: People from all socio-economic groups had become addicted to tobacco when this verse was written. In the worldview of many users of the Sanskrit language, one of the greatest catastrophes unleashed by the present sinful age of Kali (कलि) is the intermixing of the four varnas, and, in the poet's imagination, tobacco addiction is a major tool that is being used to this end.
दण्ड also means "punishment", so दण्डधारी can refer to an administrator of justice on behalf of a higher authority (the monarch or the state).
(3) Devanagari text:
विडौजाः पुरा पृष्टवान् पद्मयोनिं धरित्रीतले सारभूतं किमस्ति|
चतुर्भिर्मुखैरित्यवोचद् विरिञ्चिस्तमाखुस्तमाखुस्तमाखुमाखुः||
चतुर्भिर्मुखैरित्यवोचद् विरिञ्चिस्तमाखुस्तमाखुस्तमाखुमाखुः||
vidaujAH purA pRSTavAn padmayoniM dharitrItale sArabhUtaM kimasti|
caturbhirmukhairityavocad viriJcistamAkhustamAkhustamAkhustamAkhuH||
caturbhirmukhairityavocad viriJcistamAkhustamAkhustamAkhustamAkhuH||
Loose translation: Once upon a time, Indra (the king of heaven) asked Brahma (the creator of the universe and ordainer of the universal order), seated in his lotus, "What is most excellent on the face of the earth?" The latter, with his four mouths, replied, "Tobacco! Tobacco! Tobacco! Tobacco!" (presumably, each mouth said 'tobacco' once).
Source: Udbhata Chandrika Volume II Part 3 Appendix Verse 6; Subhashita Ratna Bhandagara Verse 3 of Chapter on tobacco gives the third quarter as चतुर्भिर्मुखैरुत्तरं तेन दत्तं.
Notes: This is perhaps a solution to a samasyA (समस्या) where the last quarter was supplied by the examiner.
Almost every Indic mythological narrative is embedded in a frame story (or several telescoping frame stories, each of) which is styled as a conversation between an authority figure and a knowledge-seeker asking a series of questions – the verse above is evidently a parody of this literary device.
Source: Udbhata Chandrika Volume II Part 3 Appendix Verse 6; Subhashita Ratna Bhandagara Verse 3 of Chapter on tobacco gives the third quarter as चतुर्भिर्मुखैरुत्तरं तेन दत्तं.
Notes: This is perhaps a solution to a samasyA (समस्या) where the last quarter was supplied by the examiner.
Almost every Indic mythological narrative is embedded in a frame story (or several telescoping frame stories, each of) which is styled as a conversation between an authority figure and a knowledge-seeker asking a series of questions – the verse above is evidently a parody of this literary device.
