Śrutāvatī
Śrutāvatī was a woman of very great tapas (austerity). She was born through the river Sarasvatī from the seed of the ṛshi Bharadvāja. She wished to have Indra as her husband and did extreme tapas for it. She cooked badara (jujube) berries with her own legs as fuel. Indra appeared, was moved by her firmness and gave her the vara (boon). She left her body and went to svarga to live with Indra. The Badara-pācana tīrtha on the Sarasvatī is named from this account of cooking badara.
Her birth
Her birth came from an unusual event. The ṛshi Bharadvāja was offering tarpaṇa (a water offering) in the Sarasvatī when he saw the apsarā Ghṛtācī pass by in great beauty. His seed fell from him without his will. He kept it in a leaf cup. The river Sarasvatī, out of devotion to the great ṛshi, took the seed into her womb and in time bore a daughter. She gave the child to Bharadvāja in an assembly of ṛshis.
Bharadvāja did the birth saṃskāras (rites) and named her Śrutāvatī. The name suggests one who has śruti (sacred hearing). He then left for the forests of the Himavat and left her in his āśrama.
Her tapas
Śrutāvatī grew up in the āśrama. She kept strict vows and worshipped the devas with one wish only, to have Indra as her husband. Her tapas grew stronger with time. At its height she did an act of extreme self-denial. She put her own legs into the fire as fuel and cooked badara (jujube) berries over it, using her own flesh as the fuel.
Through this ordeal, which was great even among the tapas told in the Mahābhārata, she showed no pain, no change in her face and no trouble in her mind. She stayed perfectly calm. Her mind held one thought: “I must cook these jujubes.”
Agni burned her feet. Her mind did not shake.
Indra’s vara and her rise to svarga
Indra, ruler of the three worlds, saw this and was amazed and very pleased. He came to her in his own form and said: “O auspicious one! I am pleased with your devotion, your tapas and your resolve. Your heart’s wish will surely be fulfilled. You will leave this body and live with me in my realm. This tīrtha will be called Badara-pācana, ‘the cooking of jujubes’. It will destroy all pāpa (sin) and will stand in the world for ever. All brāhmaṇa ṛshis will bathe here.”
Indra then told her of Arundhatī’s tapas, which was like her own. For twelve years Arundhatī cooked jujubes in the Himavat forest during a famine. She did not notice time passing, because Bhagavān Śiva was telling her divine stories. Indra gave this as a second example of devoted firmness. He gave Śrutāvatī the same kind of vara that Bhagavān Śiva gave Arundhatī. He said: “Those who stay at this tīrtha for one night will gain the fruits of 58 years of brahmacarya.”
After Indra left, a shower of divine flowers fell. The dundubhis (drums) of the devas sounded. Pure, sweet-smelling winds blew. Śrutāvatī left her body, went up to Indra’s realm and became his wife.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, chapter 48