Bhavabhuti wrote a Sanskrit drama titled Uttara Rama Charita, where he continued the story of Lord Rama and Sita after the slaying of Ravana and after Rama has become King of Ayodhya. The playwright has many messages even while he carries the story forward, said Kidambi Narayanan in a discourse. Bhavabhuti says that gossip is a great demon, which is not got rid of easily. A demon like Ravana can be killed, but not the demon called gossip. Idle minds come up with tales to defame others and there is no stopping them. There is a sloka that clearly shows us what idlers do. It says the educated spend their time reading and imparting knowledge to others. Some who are not inclined towards study, spend their time sleeping, while the dangerous people gossip about others, spread untruths and cause disturbance.
So how does one deal with gossip? Bhavabhuti says one way is to make sure we don’t get caught in rumour mongering. But sometimes, for no fault of ours, we become the victims of slander. What do we do then? He says that if we find ourselves in a position where our reputation is at stake, then we must oppose the slander and fight it. This is what Lord Krishna did.
King Satrajit owned the Syamantaka gem, which was a gift to him from Surya. One day, his brother Prasena wore the gem and went to the forest to hunt. There he was killed by a lion, which made off with the gem. When Prasena did not return, a rumour began to do the rounds that Krishna had killed him in order to take hold of the gem. In order to prove that He had not killed Prasena, Krishna went into the forest and recovered the gem from a bear cub, the son of Jambavan. Thus, Krishna had to go to great lengths to put an end to rumours about Him.
