Suruci

Suruci · su-ruci, “of lovely radiance”

Śama has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śama.

Suruci was the favoured queen of King Uttānapāda, the son of Svāyambhuva Manu, and the mother of his son Uttama. She was the stepmother of Dhruva, the son of her co-wife Sunīti. The king loved her greatly, and in her pride she could not bear to see the child Dhruva try to sit on his father’s lap: she told him he was not born of her womb and must worship Parameśvara to be born of her in his next birth. Her words, which the Bhāgavata Purāṇa calls spear-like, wounded the five-year-old Dhruva so deeply that he went to the forest, did tapas and won the darśana of Śrī Hari. When he came back she raised him up, embraced him and blessed him with long life. Later her son Uttama was slain while hunting, and Suruci, searching for him in the forest, died, as Śrī Hari had foretold.

Her words to Dhruva

Maitreya Maharshi, telling Vidura the account of Dhruva, says that Uttānapāda had two wives, Sunīti and Suruci; his love for Suruci was very great, and he did not have as much love for Sunīti. Suruci’s son was Uttama.

One day the king had Uttama on his lap and was fondling him. Dhruva too tried to sit on his lap, but the king did not allow it. As Dhruva kept trying, Suruci, his stepmother, could not bear it. Very proud, and not caring even that the king was present, she spoke to her stepson:

  • “Child, it is not right for you to sit on the king’s seat. Though you are a king’s son, it was not I who carried you ten months and bore you.”
  • “You were born not from my womb but from another woman’s. You are a foolish little boy who cannot even understand this, and so you desire a place you cannot attain.”
  • “If you want the king’s seat, perform tapas and worship Parameśvara. Only his grace can make you be born from my womb in your next birth. If you achieve that, your wish will be fulfilled.”

So the stepmother wounded Dhruva’s mind with harsh words, and his father, seeing it all, kept silent. Dhruva went weeping to his mother Sunīti, who heard from the people of the antaḥpura what her co-wife had said and grieved; yet she told her son that what Suruci had said was true, and that he should give up hatred and do as Suruci said, worshipping the lotus feet of Śrī Hari. Dhruva himself told Nārada that, with the fierce nature of a kshatriya, his heart wounded by Suruci’s harsh words could not hold to peace, and the king confessed to Nārada that he had pushed his son away under a woman’s sway.

The Bhāgavata recalls these words again and again. Brahmā, telling Nārada the avatāras, says that the stepmother wounded Dhruva with taunts in the presence of Mahārāja Uttānapāda. When Śrī Hari had granted Dhruva his vara, Dhruva grieved that he had not asked for mukti, because, Maitreya says, he still remembered the spear-like words of his stepmother. Svāyambhuva Manu, counselling Dhruva, and Nārada, singing of him at the satra of the Pracetas, both recall that at five years old, his heart wounded by his stepmother’s words, he left for the forest and won Śrī Hari.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 7; Skandha 4, Chapters 8–9, 11–12

Dhruva’s return

When Dhruva came back with Śrī Hari’s grace, Uttānapāda‘s chief queens, Sunīti and Suruci, adorned themselves with golden ornaments, mounted a palanquin with Uttama and went out to meet him. Dhruva bowed his head to both his mothers. Suruci lovingly raised up the boy who had bowed at her feet, embraced him, shed tears, and in a choked voice blessed him: “Cirañjīva” (live long). The Purāṇa adds that as water flows downward of itself, so all people bow of themselves to one on whom Śrī Hari has bestowed his grace. Then Dhruva and Uttama embraced, overcome with love for each other, tears flowing from both.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 9

Her end

When Śrī Hari granted Dhruva his vara in Madhuvana, he foretold: “Your younger brother Uttama will die while hunting. His mother Suruci, unable to forget him, will search for him in the forest, enter a forest fire and die.” So it came to pass. Uttama did not marry; he went hunting on the Himavat mountain and died at the hands of a mighty yaksha, and his mother also died.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapters 9–10

Sources

  • Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 7; Skandha 4, Chapters 8–12