A Brahmana Reveals the Grief Caused by Rakshasa Baka
Kunti notices a Brahmana's profound sorrow and asks him to share his burden. He reveals the source: a rakshasa named Baka rules their town, demanding a terrible tribute of food and a human life from each household in turn. Now it is his turn, and he sees no escape.
Kunti saw the Brahmana’s grief — a weight so heavy it seemed to bend the air around him. She approached him and said, “I wish to learn exactly from you the reason for this grief. On learning it, I will remove the cause from you, if it can be removed.”
The Brahmana looked at her. “O lady blessed with austerities! What you have said is worthy of righteous ones. But removal of this grief is beyond humans.”
Then he told her.
Not far from the town lived a rakshasa named Baka. He was immensely powerful, the lord of that town and that country. An evil-minded maneater, chief among asuras, with the full power of rakshasas, he ruled over and protected the region. The protection came at a price: he was sustained through human flesh.
Because of him, the townspeople had no fear of enemies or any other living beings. But his stipend had been fixed. Each household, when its turn came, had to provide a cartload of rice, two buffaloes, and the human who would deliver these to him. One after another, all the people provided the food. The turn came to each man only after intervals of many years, but when it did, the task was impossible to escape. If anyone ever tried, the rakshasa ate them up, along with their wives and children.
The king lived in a place known as Vetrakiyagriha. But he made no effort to free his subjects from this danger for good. “We deserve all of this,” the Brahmana said, “because we live in continued harassment in the kingdom of a weak and incompetent king.”
He spoke of the freedom of Brahmanas — how they were free to live, as they wished, on anyone’s land. They based themselves on their qualities and, like birds, freely went where they willed. There was an old saying: first one should find a king, then a wife, and then riches. By acquiring all three, one could maintain one’s relatives and one’s sons.
“But in acquiring these three,” he said, “I have chosen the wrong order.”
Therefore, having fallen into this danger, he was suffering great grief. It was now his turn. It would destroy his family. He would have to provide the food and a man as stipend. He didn’t have the riches to purchase a man. Nor was he able to give up someone who was dear to him. He saw no means of saving himself from that rakshasa.
“I am immersed in this great ocean of grief from which no escape seems possible. Today, I will go to that rakshasa with my entire family, so that the evil one can eat all of us together.”