Oghavatī

Oghavatī was the daughter of King Oghavat and the sister of Ogharatha. She was given in marriage to Sudarśana, the son of Bhagavān Agni. Her husband had told her that whatever an atithi (guest) wishes must be given, even her own body. She kept this word without doubt when Dharma came in disguise to test Sudarśana’s vrata (vow) of atithi-sevā, the service of guests.

For her steady pātivratya (devotion to her husband), Dharma said that she would become a holy river bearing her own name. In her other half she would stay for ever in her husband’s service through yogabala (the power of yoga). Indra carried her and Sudarśana together to the highest worlds, from which there is no return.

Lineage and marriage

Oghavatī was the daughter of King Oghavat. In that same age, Oghavat was the grandfather of King Nṛga. She was of divine form (devarūpiṇī). Her father gave her in marriage to Sudarśana, the son of Agni and the princess Sudarśanā. She made her home with her husband as a gṛhasthinī (a wife in the household life) at Kurukshetra.

The husband’s instruction

Sudarśana told Oghavatī that she must never act against the wish of an atithi. Whatever an atithi desires must be given without delay, even her own body. For a gṛhastha (householder), he said, there is nothing greater than the atithi. Oghavatī joined her palms above her head and said that nothing in his word was something she would refuse to do.

The test

Sudarśana had gone to the forest to gather samidhas (sticks for the sacred fire). A radiant brāhmaṇa came to the āśrama as an atithi. Oghavatī honoured him with a seat (āsana) and water for his feet (pādya) in the Vedic way, and asked what he wished for. He said that he wished for her own self. She remembered her husband’s instruction and agreed, though she blushed at the request.

The brāhmaṇa was secretly Dharma, testing Sudarśana’s vrata. Mṛtyu followed behind him, hoping to catch a lapse. The brāhmaṇa went into the house with her.

When Sudarśana came back and called for her, she could not answer. As a pativratā, she thought herself made unworthy by the touch of the atithi. Her silence was broken only when the brāhmaṇa himself explained what had happened.

Dharma’s prophecy

Dharma was pleased that the couple had together won over Mṛtyu through perfect atithi-dharma (the duty to a guest). He showed himself. He said that no being in the three lokas has the power even to look at Oghavatī with desire, so fully is she guarded by her own virtues and her pātivratya. Whatever she declares, he said, will come true exactly as she says it.

Through her divine tapas (austerity), she would become a river bearing her own name, making all the lokas pure. Half of her body would stay as that holy river, and in her other half she would remain for ever in Sudarśana’s service through yogabala. Dharma also said that through the strength gained by her devoted service, Oghavatī had herself conquered bala (strength), sneha (attachment), rāga (desire), ālasya (laziness), moha (delusion) and droha (malice).

Then Indra carried her and Sudarśana in a chariot drawn by a thousand white horses to the eternal worlds, from which there is no return.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 2