Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat recently came out in the support of the LGBTQIA+ group and said that even Indian traditions acknowledge the community adding that the members of the community should be given their private space.
Bhagwat, who had earlier broken the RSS-related stereotypes by raising his voice on issues like women empowerment and suppression of minorities in India, backed the LGBTQIA+ community rights in an interview with RSS-affiliated magazines Organiser and Panchjanya and noted that these proclivities are natural, and people must be given their own private space.
The RSS chief also gave an example to prove how people with same-sex orientation existed in Indian culture and talked about two generals of king Jarasandha – Hamsa and Dimbhaka, who had waged a long war against Lord Krishna claiming that they were “in that sort of a relationship.”
“Yeh LGBT ki samasya hai. Jarasandha ke do senapati they Hamsa aur Dimbhaka. Woh itne mitra they ki Krishna ne afwaah failayi ki Dimbhaka mar gaya hai, tou Hamsa ne atmahatya kar li. Do senapatiyon ko aisehi maar dala. Ab yeh kya cheez…yeh woh hi cheez hai. In dono ke waise sambandha they (When Krishna fanned the rumour that Dimbhaka has died, Hans committed suicide. That is how Krishna got rid of those two generals. Come to think of it: what does the story suggest? This is the same thing. The two generals were in that sort of a relationship,” Bhagwat was quoted as saying.
Who were Hamsa and Dimbhaka? Jarasandh’s reported gay generals
Jarasandha was the father-in-law of Kans, who Lord Krishna killed in a wrestling battle. When Jarasandh came to know about Kans’ death, he vowed to avenge his son-in-law and raged a war against Lord Krishna
Jarasandha had attacked Lord Krishna 17 times and he could do that thanks to his strong generals Hamsa and Dhimbaka. In the Mahabharata, the reference to Hamsa and Dimbhaka can be found in a dialogue between Krishna and Yudhishthir, the eldest of Pandavas.
As per Professor Jawaharlal, of the philosophy department of Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University, Hamsa and Dimbhaka’s story was narrated in the epic’s Sabha Parv 14th adhyaya, in shlokas 40-44, The Indian Express reported.
The epic describes Hamsa and Dimbhaka as brave generals with the strength equivalent to Gods who had a boon that they could not be killed by any weapon. Krishna also tells how he had to deceive the two to kill them.
The Lord then tells Yudhisthir that there was another king by the name of Hansa who was fighting on Jarasandha’s side and was killed by Balrama, the news quickly spread that ‘Hamsa’ had died. When Dimbhaka heard this, he jumped into the Yamuna, deciding he could not live without Hamsa. When Hamsa heard of Dimbhaka’s action, he too drowned himself in the river.
Professor Jawaharlal told Indian Express that the words ‘saathi’ (companion) and ‘premi’ (lover) have been used to describe the relationship between Hamsa and Dimbhaka.
However, in other traditions, mention can also be found of a Hamsa and Dimbhaka pair described as brothers.
