Sumanā, Wife of Somaśarma

Sumanā was the wife of the brāhmaṇa Somaśarma at the Revā tīrtha (holy place), at Amarakaṇṭaka. The family lived in great poverty and had no child. Somaśarma fell into despair, and Sumanā taught him a full dharmic teaching. This became the base of the Suvrata Upākhyāna in the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa.

She taught the ten aṅgas (limbs) of dharma. She taught that sons are ṛṇasambandha, bonds of karmic debt. She also taught the right way to meet karma and suffering. She did tapas (austerity) with Somaśarma at Revā. When Bhagavān Kṛshṇa took their son Suvrata to the highest abode, she went up in her body to Vishṇuloka.

The ten aṅgas of dharma

Sumanā gave her most important teaching to Somaśarma when he was sunk in despair over their poverty and having no child. She did not comfort him with feeling alone. She gave him a full framework of dharma.

She named the ten aṅgas of dharma that every householder must keep:

  1. Brahmacarya: continence and self-control in conduct
  2. Satya: truth in thought, word and deed
  3. Dāna: generous giving
  4. Kshamā: forbearance when wronged
  5. Śauca: purity, inner and outer
  6. Ahiṃsā: not harming
  7. Śānti: inner peace
  8. Asteyam: not stealing
  9. Dama: control of the senses
  10. Śuśrūshā: devoted service, especially to elders, the guru and the husband

She tied each aṅga to practical reasoning. She showed how lacking them causes the suffering that Somaśarma now felt, and how keeping them will end it. This is from the Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 12.

The teaching on sons and ṛṇasambandha

Sumanā also taught Somaśarma what sons are and why some householders have none. The key teaching is ṛṇasambandha. Karma works as a bond of debt, and it decides who is born into whose family.

  • Some sons come to repay a debt that the parents owe them from earlier lives. They come as givers.
  • Some sons come to collect a debt that the parents owe them. They come as takers, and they leave once they have taken what they came for.
  • The rarest sons come from pure love, prema-sambandha. They have no link of karmic debt. They are born because bhakti (devotion) and dharma draw like-minded beings together.

This explained why Somaśarma had no son. His karma from past lives had not yet cleared the way for such a son to come in the ordinary course. The way forward was tapas and bhakti. Through these, an extraordinary son, born of divine grace and not of ordinary karma, would be granted. This is from the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 11.

Tapas shared with her husband

The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa shows Sumanā taking full part in the tapas at Revā. It was the tapas of Somaśarma and Sumanā together. When Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared and granted the vara (a boon) of a son, both of them saw him, and both offered the prayer. This shows the wife’s needed presence beside her husband in every auspicious act of dharma. This is from the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 19 and 20.

Rising to Vishṇuloka

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa appeared before Suvrata at Vaidūrya Parvata after his tapas. He told Suvrata of his past life as Dharmāṅgada. Then Bhagavān Kṛshṇa took Suvrata in his body to Vishṇuloka. Sumanā and Somaśarma were taken with him.

The family had lived in poverty and hardship at Revā tīrtha. They were made pure by dharma, by tapas and by the grace of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s gift. They rose together to the highest abode. Sumanā, whose wisdom had begun the whole turn to the spiritual path, was carried up with them. This is from the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 22.

Sources

  • Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 11–22
  • Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 11
  • Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 12
  • Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 19–20
  • Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 22