Uttarā Diś

Uttarā Diś is the presiding devatā (divine being) of the northern direction. She appears in the Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, in the itihāsa (history) of the ṛshi Ashṭāvakra. She lives in a bright, gem-studded āśrama near Kailāsa and the Mandākinī river. She is one of seven kanyās (maidens) who stand for the seven directions. At Ashṭāvakra’s own request she stays before him in the form of an old woman in fine ornaments, the wisest of them and the master of her senses.

Through a test lasting a night and a day, she changes from an old woman to a beautiful young maiden and speaks to Ashṭāvakra as one who claims to be free (svatantra). She tests the steadfastness (dṛḍhacitta) that the ṛshi Vadānya had asked her to check before giving his daughter Suprabhā to Ashṭāvakra in marriage.

The seven maidens

Ashṭāvakra travelled north, past Kubera’s city Alakāpurī and the Himālaya. He came to a divine āśrama of gems and gold, finer even than Kubera’s own. He called out at its gate. Seven kanyās of varied and charming forms came out together.

Ashṭāvakra’s mind was stirred by their beauty, but he held firm with inner courage (dhairya). He asked that all but one return to their own homes. He asked that the one who stayed be wise (jñāna) and fully master of her senses (indriya) and mind (manas). The other kanyās walked around him in respect (praṇāma) and left. Only the old woman stayed. She was worn with age, dressed in clean clothes, seated on a couch and adorned with every ornament. The Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 19, tells this.

The night of testing

At Ashṭāvakra’s invitation, the old woman took the second couch to rest. In the deep of the night, driven by the winter cold, she came trembling to his own couch. He welcomed her politely, but he stayed completely unmoved, like wood or a wall, even as she embraced him.

She was distressed by his firmness. She said she was overcome by desire (kāma-mohitā) and asked him to take her as a lover. Ashṭāvakra refused plainly. He said he had taken a vow (vrata) to marry Vadānya’s daughter for the sake of children in dharma (santāna), and not for the pleasure of the senses (vishaya-sukha). He urged her to give up her self-willed conduct (svaccha-cāra). She replied in the manner of Prajāpati’s own teaching on women’s nature (strī-svabhāva). She said that desire is dearest to women, and that the pursuit of pleasure (rati) often overrides every other bond, such as family, husband and sons. The Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 19, tells this.

The next day she kept testing him. She rubbed him with divine oils, bathed him with her own hands and served him food like amṛta. She gave the pleasure of touch (sparśa-sukha) and of taste (rasa-sukha) so fully that a whole day and night passed without his noticing.

That night she came to his couch again, and again he refused her. She declared herself free (svatantrā), no one’s wife, so that no fault of union with another’s wife (paradāra-saṃgama) could touch either of them. Ashṭāvakra answered with the old teaching that no woman in the three worlds is ever truly free. A woman is guarded by her father in childhood, by her husband in youth and by her sons in old age, so her claim could not stand. She then said she was a maiden who had kept brahmacarya since childhood, and she asked him to make her his wife and not destroy her faith (śraddhā). The Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 20, tells this.

The change of form

At this point Ashṭāvakra saw that the woman before him, who had looked old and worn all along, now stood changed into a young maiden dressed in divine ornaments and clothes. He was greatly amazed. He asked himself whether this was māyā (illusion), and whether Vadānya himself might be testing his nature through this sight.

He held to his resolve all the same. He reasoned that the power of restraint over desire (śakti) and steadfastness in his first promise (dhṛti) together forbade any step away from dharma (vyutthāna), however great the temptation. The Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 20, tells this.

Then he asked her directly why she kept changing her form (rūpa), since a woman who seeks honour from a brāhmaṇa should not speak falsely. The Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 21, tells this.

The truth revealed

The woman then told him the truth. Wherever man and woman are together, in any of the three worlds, the desire (kāma) born of their union never ceases. This, she said, was the deeper reason for her test, and she had no real wish toward him.

She said, “I did this only to make you steadfast (dṛḍhacitta). By your unwavering hold on dharma you have won all the worlds of puṇya (merit). Know me to be Uttarā Diś, the northern direction itself. You have seen the fickleness (cāpalya) that stays even in old women. The fever of union troubles them no less. Brahmā, Indra and all the devas are pleased today at your steadfastness. Your errand here is done. The ṛshi Vadānya himself sent me with this task, that I test you and teach you accordingly, and I have now done so. Go in peace now. You will receive Vadānya’s daughter as your wife and have sons through her.”

Ashṭāvakra folded his hands in respect before her. With her leave, he went home to marry Suprabhā. The Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 21, tells this.

Her place in Bhīshma’s answer

The episode of Uttarā Diś is the core of Bhīshma’s answer to Yudhishṭhira’s question. Yudhishṭhira asked whether the shared life of husband and wife (gṛhastha-sahadharma), which arises from natural desire (rāga), can truly be dharma. Her teaching comes through the test itself and not through a direct talk. It shows that power of restraint (śakti) and steadfastness (dhṛti) are what turn a union that comes from desire into one that is complete in dharma. The same capacity for desire is found in all, even the highest beings. But only the one who holds to satya (truth) and dharma in the face of it reaches a truly righteous result.

She is a dik-devatā (devatā of a direction) who takes part directly in human affairs at a ṛshi’s request. Her episode is a test of righteousness (dharma-parīkshā).

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapters 19–21