Maṇi-Kuṇḍalas of Madayantī

The maṇi-kuṇḍalas are a pair of divine earrings that belong to Madayantī, queen of King Saudāsa (also called Mitrasaha). Their power is so great that devas, yakshas and mahāṛshis keep watching for any lapse in their guarding, so that they can seize them.

The ṛshi Uttaṅka sought them as his guru-dakshiṇā (the gift owed to a teacher). A nāga stole them from him. His quest then took him into Nāgaloka, the world of the nāgas, to win them back.

Nature and powers

Madayantī herself describes the kuṇḍalas to Uttaṅka. They are divya, of purely divine origin. She says they have these qualities:

• They shed gold, day and night, without end.
• At night their own radiance outshines the stars and constellations, so they need no other light.
• Whoever wears them has no fear of hunger and thirst.
• Whoever wears them has no fear of poison, fire or fierce beasts.
• They change size to fit the wearer. They become small on a short person and take whatever measure suits the person who wears them.

Madayantī calls them of the very greatest value, famous in all three lokas.

The danger of guarding them

Because of this power, the kuṇḍalas cannot be guarded carelessly. Madayantī explains that devas, yakshas and mahāṛshis are always planning upāyas (means) to seize them. Every day they watch for a chidra, a lapse or opening. She names three:

• If the kuṇḍalas are put on the ground, even for a moment, serpents will carry them off.
• If they are worn while impure, with food stains or saliva on them, yakshas will seize them.
• While the wearer sleeps, even devas may take them.

Such a chidra undid Uttaṅka on his way back to Gautama’s āśrama. Madayantī had told him to carry the kuṇḍalas tied in a deer-skin bundle for safety. But Uttaṅka became absorbed in shaking vilva fruit down from a tree. He did not notice that the falling fruit was loosening the knot of the bundle. When the bundle fell to the ground, a nāga of the Airāvata line seized the earrings at once.

How Uttaṅka won them back

The recovery took the combined help of three great powers:

• Indra’s vajra (thunderbolt) joined with Uttaṅka’s digging-stick. Together they opened the earth into a path toward Nāgaloka.
• Agni, in the form of a horse, guided Uttaṅka to raise a terrifying smoke throughout the realm of the nāgas.
• The nāgas then gave way and returned the earrings with full honour.

Uttaṅka was a tapasvin (one who practises tapas) of great resolve. He declared that he would give up his own prāṇas (life breaths) rather than fail. Only a man like him proved able to hold on to the earrings for good. The earrings are both greatly desired and very hard to keep, as if they test the fitness of anyone who would own them.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 56–58 (the powers are in Chapter 57; the guarding, the loss and the recovery are in Chapter 58)