Śāṇḍilī
Śāṇḍilī is a pativratā, a wife wholly devoted to her husband. The Mahābhārata tells of her in the Anuśāsana Parva. She reached devaloka, the world of the devas, not through tapas (austerity), dāna (giving) or a life of renunciation. She reached it through strī-dharma, a wife’s duty, kept with perfect devotion and conduct toward her husband, her husband’s family, the devas and the pitṛs (ancestors).
She lives in svarga (heaven) in a vimāna, a divine aerial chariot. There Sumanā, the Kekaya princess, asks her the secret of her attainment. Her answer is one of the fullest lists of a wife’s ideal conduct in the Mahābhārata.
The meeting in devaloka
The Mahābhārata calls Śāṇḍilī sarva-tattva-jñā, one who knows all the truths. It also says she has ābhimāna, a proud sense of her own worth.
Sumanā saw her blazing like fire and bright as the moon’s own child. She sat in a vimāna, never ageing, with a thousand times the usual śubha-lakshaṇas (auspicious marks). Sumanā could not believe that so great a state came from any ordinary tapas, dāna or niyama (vow). She asked Śāṇḍilī to tell her the truth directly. This is from the Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 123.
Śāṇḍilī’s teaching on strī-dharma
Śāṇḍilī did not describe a ritual. She described steady discipline of conduct and feeling as a wife. She told Sumanā:
- She never spoke a harsh word about her husband, or any word that did him no good.
- She was always alert in honouring the devas, the pitṛs and the brāhmaṇas.
- She obeyed her husband’s parents.
- She never joined in gossip or slander.
- She never mocked her husband for his faults, even in play, and never exposed his private conduct to others.
- She served him herself, with full attention, whenever he came back from a journey.
- She gave up any food he disliked.
- She rose before dawn and saw to the needs of the house herself.
- While he was away, she wore only the maṅgala-sūtra (the marriage thread) and gave up adornment.
- She never once woke her sleeping husband, however urgent the needs of the house. She herself names this as the thing that pleased her own mind most.
This is from the Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 123.
Her standing
Bhīshma compares Śāṇḍilī’s radiance in svarga-loka to that of Arundhatī. This places her among the highest examples of pativratā-dharma.
The Mahābhārata says that anyone who recites this short kathā (account) at every parva gains devaloka and a home in the Nandana-vana. This is from the Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 123.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 123