Jayantī, Śukra and Bṛhaspati
The Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells how Śukrācārya, the preceptor of the asuras, went to Kailāsa to win the Mṛtasañjīvanī vidyā (the power to bring the dead back to life) from Bhagavān Śiva. While he was doing his tapas, Jayantī, the daughter of Indra, served him with full devotion.
When the tapas was done, Śukra took Jayantī as his wife for ten years. In that time Bṛhaspati, the preceptor of the devas, took the exact form of Śukra and led the dānavas as their guru. When the real Śukra came back, the dānavas could not tell the two apart and turned away from him. Śukra gave them a śāpa (a curse). Bṛhaspati then showed himself and left.
Background: the war of the devas and dānavas
There was a great war between the devas and the dānavas. The dānavas lost many warriors, although Śukrācārya helped them. The devas, led by Indra, gained the upper hand. Prahlāda, the king of the dānavas, accepted defeat, and the dānavas went back to Pātāla.
The devas had one great advantage. Bṛhaspati was their preceptor, while the dānavas, though guided by Śukrācārya, had no way to bring back their warriors who were slain in battle. Śukrācārya decided that the only way was to get the Mṛtasañjīvanī vidyā directly from Mahādeva through hard tapas.
Source of this section: Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 4, Chapter 10.
Bhṛgu’s wife and the śāpa on Bhagavān Vishṇu
While Śukra got ready for his tapas, another event took place. The dānavas were running away, with Bhagavān Vishṇu in pursuit after a battle. They took shelter in the āśrama of Bhṛgu, the father of Śukrācārya. The wife of Bhṛgu felt pity and hid the dānavas within the power of her tapas. Bhagavān Vishṇu came after them and found the asuras protected by the wife of Bhṛgu. He could not let them escape, and he cut off her head with the Sudarśana cakra.
When the great ṛshi Bhṛgu came back and found his wife slain, his grief and anger had no limit. He gave Bhagavān Vishṇu a solemn śāpa: “Because you have slain a woman and a brāhmaṇī, you shall take birth on this earth as a mortal. In each birth you shall feel the full weight of human sorrow: exile, separation from your wife, the grief of battle, and loss.”
Bhagavān Vishṇu accepted the śāpa with perfect calm. Then, by his satyavacas (word of truth), he brought the wife of Bhṛgu back to life.
The Devī Bhāgavata places this account just before the tapas of Śukra.
Source of this section: Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 4, Chapter 11.
Śukra’s tapas at Kailāsa
Śukrācārya went to Kailāsa, the abode of Mahādeva, and began a tapas of unmatched hardness:
- He stood head downward (ūrdhvamukha), with his arms raised, for many years.
- He took only smoke (dhūmāhāra), the smoke that rises from burning dung, and nothing else.
- He kept this posture and this food for a thousand years.
- His one aim was to please Mahādeva and to receive from him the Mṛtasañjīvanī vidyā.
Even the devas and ṛshis who saw this tapas were amazed at how hard it was. The whole divine company at Kailāsa saw it: brahmarshis, devarshis, lokapālas, sādhyas, the eight vasus, ādityas, rudras, gandharvas and siddhas.
Source of this section: Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 4, Chapter 11.
Jayantī’s service
During this thousand-year tapas, Jayantī, the daughter of Indra, came to Kailāsa. She was drawn by deep respect for the tapas of Śukra and by a deep devotion to him. She served him through the whole of his tapas with great care:
- She saw to everything that his tapas needed, so that it went on without a break.
- She brought the dung that was fuel for the smoke, his only food.
- She guarded him from disturbances.
- She served with respect, without a pause, for the whole thousand years.
She asked for nothing in return. The Purāṇa shows her as an example of tapas-sevā, selfless service to a great tapasvin (one who does tapas).
Source of this section: Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 4, Chapters 11 and 12.
Bhagavān Śiva grants the Mṛtasañjīvanī
After a thousand years Mahādeva was pleased with the unequalled tapas of Śukra. Bhagavān Śiva himself appeared before Śukrācārya, with Pārvatī and the divine assembly, and gave him the Mṛtasañjīvanī vidyā. This was the highest knowledge, by which the dead can be brought back to life. It was the very thing the dānavas had lacked in all their wars with the devas.
Source of this section: Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 4, Chapter 11.
Śukra marries Jayantī
When his tapas was done and the vidyā was his, Śukra turned to Jayantī and thanked her for her great service. He asked what she wished as the fruit of her devotion. Jayantī said that she wished to be his wife for ten years.
Śukrācārya was moved by her steady devotion and felt bound by gratitude. He agreed. The two lived together in full seclusion for ten years. In that time Śukra was wholly given to Jayantī and could not be reached by anyone outside.
Source of this section: Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 4, Chapter 12.
Bṛhaspati’s deception
Bṛhaspati, the preceptor of the devas, learned that Śukra was in seclusion with Jayantī. He saw a rare chance. If he could be the guru of the dānavas while Śukra was away, the dānavas would be guided by a teacher on the side of the devas, and not by their true asura preceptor.
Bṛhaspati took the exact form of Śukrācārya, in looks, manner, voice and bearing. He came to the dānavas as their guru returned from tapas. The dānavas did not know it was a deception. They welcomed him with joy and came again under his guidance. For ten years Bṛhaspati led the dānavas in the form of Śukra.
Source of this section: Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 4, Chapter 12.
Śukra’s return and the confusion of the dānavas
When the ten years were over, the real Śukrācārya took leave of Jayantī and went back to his disciples. He came among the dānavas, expecting to take up again his place as their preceptor.
But Bṛhaspati, still in the form of Śukra, was already there with the dānavas. Two Śukras, exactly alike, stood before the assembly of the asuras.
The dānavas were bewildered. They could see no difference between the two. The false Śukra (Bṛhaspati) had been with them for ten years, and the real Śukra had been away. They knew best the one who had been present. The real Śukra tried to say who he was and gave reasons to show that he was the true one. The dānavas could not solve the matter, and in the end they took the side of the impostor.
They said: “This one (the false Śukra) has been our guru. The other is an impersonator.” The real Śukrācārya was rejected in public by his own disciples.
Source of this section: Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 4, Chapter 13.
Śukra’s śāpa on the dānavas
Śukrācārya blazed with anger. He had guided the dānavas through countless wars and disasters, and they had now turned him away. He gave the dānavas a śāpa for their faithlessness. He said that their failure to know their own true guru came from their mūḍhatā (foolishness). He said they would bear the result of it in the wars to come: they had left their real teacher, and so at critical moments they would find themselves without guidance.
He also spoke plainly about what he saw as their basic fault. They were guided not by jñāna (knowledge) but by nearness and ease. They could not see through appearance to what was real.
Source of this section: Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 4, Chapter 13.
Bṛhaspati shows himself
Bṛhaspati had done what he came to do. He had broken the bond between the dānavas and their guru in a time that mattered. He put aside the form of Śukra, showed his own divine brightness, and spoke to the dānavas calmly and with satisfaction. He told them what had happened and made clear that they had been fully deceived. Then he left.
The dānavas understood what they had done. They had turned away their true guru and trusted the preceptor of the devas. They were filled with regret and shame. They were left with no guide: Śukra had given them a śāpa and gone, and Bṛhaspati had gone back to the devas.
Source of this section: Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 4, Chapter 13.
Sources
- Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 4, Chapters 10 to 13