Mārishā

Mārishā was a woman of unusual origin. She was not born from a womb. She arose from the sweat that fell from the limbs of the apsarā (a heavenly dancer) Pramloca as Pramloca fled through the forest after her long stay with the maharshi Kaṇḍu. Mārishā grew up in the Gandhamādana forest, cared for by its trees. She later came to the ten Pracetasas when they rose from their ocean tapas (austerity), became their shared wife, and bore Daksha Prajāpati, one of the great progenitors of living beings.

Her origin

The account begins with Kaṇḍu Maharshi. Indra had sent the apsarā Pramloca to break his tapas. Kaṇḍu lived with Pramloca in the Gandhamādana forest for 907 years. To him it seemed like only a few pleasant days. When he saw how he had been deceived, he sent Pramloca away in controlled anger.

Pramloca fled. She rushed through the trees, brushed past branches and leaves, and rose into the sky. The sweat from her body shook loose as she went. Drops fell on the forest floor, on leaves and on the morning dew. From this sweat, in the forest, Mārishā took form and began to grow. (Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Prathama Aṃśa, Chapter 15)

Childhood in the forest

Mārishā grew up in the Gandhamādana forest. The trees were her guardians and the forest was her home. She had no parents in the ordinary sense. She grew into a woman of great beauty and grace.

The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa does not stay long on her childhood. It moves straight to the moment when the ten Pracetasas rose from their ocean tapas and she came to them.

Marriage to the Pracetasas

The ten Pracetasas were the sons of Pracīna-barhish. They came out of the ocean after ten thousand years of tapas. Mārishā came to them and said she wished to be their shared wife. Bhagavān Vishṇu had told the Pracetasas that a wife would come to them and that Daksha would be born through her. Her coming was the fulfilment of that promise.

The Pracetasas accepted her. (Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Prathama Aṃśa, Chapter 16)

Daksha Prajāpati

From the union of Mārishā and the ten Pracetasas, Daksha Prajāpati was born. Daksha became one of the great progenitors of the living world. His daughters Aditi and Ditī gave birth to the Ādityas and the daityas. His other daughters filled the world with every kind of being. In the genealogy of the Purāṇas, all this abundance of life comes through Daksha, and so through his mother Mārishā.

Sources

• Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Prathama Aṃśa, Chapters 15–16