Cyavana, Sukanyā and the Aśvins

The narrative of Cyavana Maharshi, the princess Sukanyā and the twin Aśvins is told in the Brahma Parva of the Bhavishya Mahā Purāṇa as the sacred account tied to the dvitīyā tithi (the second lunar day). It shows the power of tapas (austerity), the dharma of a faithful wife, and the grace that comes to a devotee who stays firm in a righteous purpose even against Indra’s opposition. The same narrative is told in the Pātāla Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa and in the Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, each with its own details. All three are given below.

Cyavana’s tapas in the anthill

At the dawn of the Satya Yuga, Cyavana Maharshi entered deep samādhi on the bank of the Gaṅgā and stayed absorbed in tapas for many years. In that long time an anthill grew up around his still body and covered him completely. Only the bright light of his eyes, like the glow of padmarāga (ruby) gems, shone out through openings in the anthill. The shining light caught the eye of anyone who passed that way.

Śaryāti’s visit and Sukanyā’s fault

One day the great king Śaryāti, a king of dharma, went with his army and the women of his household to bathe in the Gaṅgā. He camped near the āśrama where Cyavana sat in his anthill. After the Gaṅgā bath, the pūjā of the devas and the offering of piṇḍa to his pitṛs (forefathers), Śaryāti got ready to go back to his capital.

Just then a strange and sudden affliction struck his whole army. The natural passing of waste from the body stopped completely, and every eye lost its sight. The king was alarmed. He knew this was holy ground, the place of the great tapasvin Cyavana, so he asked each member of his company whether anyone had done wrong near the āśrama.

At last his daughter Sukanyā came forward. She confessed that she had been walking with her companions in the pleasure grove near the āśrama. She had heard a voice calling, “Sukanyā! Come here! Come here!” There was no one to be seen. Curious, and not using good judgment (viveka), she had taken a stalk of kuśa grass and pushed it through the two glowing openings in the anthill, and the light went out. Those openings were the eyes of Cyavana himself, who lived inside the anthill.

Śaryāti went at once to the anthill, bowed down before Cyavana in deep humility and begged forgiveness for his daughter’s fault.

The marriage of Sukanyā and Cyavana

Cyavana, always kind, said he had already forgiven the fault. But he set one condition: “Give your daughter to me in marriage. Great good fortune will come to you.”

Śaryāti agreed gladly and without delay. The moment the king agreed, the afflictions that had troubled his whole army and household vanished. Śaryāti performed the kanyādāna (giving of the bride) with all the proper rites, placed Sukanyā in the ṛshi’s care and went back to his capital with joy.

Sukanyā took up her new life with complete devotion. She put aside the royal clothes and ornaments she had worn as a princess and dressed in bark cloth and deer skin, as is fitting in an āśrama. She quickly and easily took to forest life. Cyavana, seeing her quiet sincerity and whole-hearted service, became deeply pleased. After some time he promised her: “I will give you the blessing of becoming a mother.”

Sukanyā gently wished that he would come to her as a young man of beauty and splendour. Cyavana answered that he would not spend his tapas-power for such a purpose. Sukanyā accepted this calmly and went on serving him with even greater peace.

The Aśvins’ proposal

One day an Aśvinī Kumāra was passing through the forest and saw Sukanyā alone. He asked who she was. She said she was Śaryāti’s daughter and the wife of Cyavana Maharshi. The Aśvin was amazed that such a bright young woman should serve such an old husband in this lonely forest. He suggested that she choose one of the two Aśvins as her companion instead.

Sukanyā refused firmly. She said: “I am a pativratā (a wife devoted only to her husband). I am bound to my husband in thought, word and deed with complete devotion. Your proposal is unworthy of divine beings.”

Then the Aśvins made a different offer: “We two will use our divine power to make your husband young and handsome. Then the three of us, your husband and we two, will all enter the Gaṅgā and come out, and at that point you must choose one of us.” Sukanyā said she could agree to nothing without her husband’s leave.

She went to Cyavana and told him the offer. He himself walked to where the Aśvins were waiting, agreed to the plan and went with them to the Gaṅgā. In a very short time three men of rare beauty and youth came out of the water before Sukanyā. All three looked the same, with the same dress and bearing. They looked at her, waiting.

Sukanyā knows her husband

For a moment Sukanyā was bewildered. She could not tell which of the three was her husband. She did not guess and did not despair. She turned to the divine beings in prayer, placing full trust in her dharma as a faithful wife: “When he was old and without beauty I would not leave my husband. Now that he has become beautiful by your grace, that is my great good fortune. Do not turn this vara (boon) into a śāpa (a curse). Act as divine beings should.”

The Aśvins, moved by her śraddhā (faith), then let their divine marks show. Sukanyā looked closely at the three figures. She saw that only one had eyes that blinked, and only one had feet that touched the ground. These are the signs of a human ṛshi, unlike the devas, whose eyes do not blink and whose feet do not touch the earth. By this she knew Cyavana and chose him.

At once a shower of flowers fell from the sky, and divine drums sounded in joy.

The Soma yajña: Cyavana wins the Aśvins their place

The Aśvins then told Cyavana their real purpose in helping him: “O great ṛshi, the havis (offerings) of the yajña that are shared among all the devas reach us too. But our share is not accepted among the other devas, because we are the physicians of the devas. This lowers our standing among the devas. Please give us full recognition as devas, with equal rights in every yajña.”

Cyavana agreed. At the request of his father-in-law Śaryāti, a great mahāyajña was arranged. The great ṛtviks (priests) began offering āhutis into the agnikuṇḍa (fire pit) with the call svāhā, and all the devas came in person to receive their share. Cyavana called the Aśvins and got ready to give them soma pāna (a drink of Soma) in the yajña.

Indra’s objection. Indra, king of the devas, stepped in angrily: “The Aśvins are physicians among the devas. They practise medicine. So they have no right to a share of the yajña. Do not offer them the āhuti!”

Cyavana answered calmly. He said the Aśvins had shown him immeasurable grace and fully deserved the honour of being devas. Though Cyavana reasoned gently, Indra grew harsher: “If you go against my word, I will hurl my vajra on you!”

Cyavana was unmoved. He went on with the yajña and gave the Soma to the Aśvins with the full Vedic mantras. At that moment Indra raised his vajra and moved to strike the ṛshi. In an instant Cyavana used his stored tapas-śakti. Indra was frozen, stiff in place along with his vajra, unable to move a single limb.

Brahmā’s settlement

The Aśvins received their Soma and were content. Then Brahmā Deva himself appeared. He asked Cyavana to free Indra and declared that from now on the Aśvins were recognised as full devas with a permanent right to shares in the yajña.

Freed from the stiffness, Indra himself praised Cyavana: “O great muni! This whole event came about so that your tapas-power might be known throughout the worlds. The Aśvinī Devatās will from now on be complete devas, equal to all of us. Those who hear or recite this tapas-filled account of yours will be blessed with the finest form and youth.”

With this Indra went back to svargaloka. Cyavana, Sukanyā and Śaryāti returned to the āśrama. They found that Indra’s gift had turned it into a great palace, ringed with beautiful groves, ponds and gardens, with splendid beds and rooms full of jewels and ornaments. Cyavana, as calm as ever as a great ṛshi, understood this as Indra’s sign of friendship and was pleased.

The Dvitīyā vrata

This narrative is tied to the Pushpa Dvitīyā vrata (vow). A person who keeps this vrata on Kārtika śukla dvitīyā (the second day of the bright half of Kārtika), keeps it up for a full year, lives only on pushpa-bhojana (flowers as food), and gives gold or silver flowers, or lotus flowers, to brāhmaṇas on the vrata days, receives the grace of the Aśvinī Devatās. After death such a person reaches svarga for an eon. In the next birth he is born as a learned brāhmaṇa with knowledge of the Veda, wealth and pure character.

The Padma Purāṇa account (Pātāla Khaṇḍa)

The Pātāla Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 14 to 16, tells this narrative in its own way.

The birth of Cyavana

In the Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Cyavana does not begin as a ṛshi who went into tapas in an anthill from his youth. He was born in an unusual way. The asura Damana seized Bhṛgu’s pregnant wife one evening while Bhṛgu was out gathering sacred fuel. Agni (Fire) was there and should have guarded her, but in fear he showed the asura where she was. As Damana carried her off, the unborn child fell from the womb. The child at once said: “O you of wicked mind, do not go. Be turned to ashes quickly. Having touched this chaste lady, you will not find happiness.” Damana was at once burned to ashes. The mother took the child back to the āśrama. Bhṛgu learned that Agni had betrayed his wife and laid a śāpa on Agni that he would eat everything. Agni begged for mercy and Bhṛgu softened the śāpa: Agni would still eat all things, but would stay pure. All the ṛshis named the child Cyavana, because he had fallen (cyuta) from the womb. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 14)

Sukanyā and the anthill

Cyavana later went to the bank of the Revā (Narmadā) and entered deep tapas for ten thousand years. Anthills grew on his shoulders and trees grew on his body. The king, called Manu in Chapter 14 and Śaryāti in Chapters 15 and 16 (Śaryāti being Manu’s son in the tradition), came to the tīrtha with his daughter. The princess, walking with friends, saw an anthill with a steady glow and pierced it with small sticks. Blood flowed. At once troubles fell on the king’s camp. Horses and elephants died, wealth was lost and men quarrelled. The king looked into the cause and learned what his daughter had done. He went to the ṛshi, begged pardon and gave his daughter Sukanyā in marriage to Cyavana. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 14)

A thousand years of service

Sukanyā served the blind and aged Cyavana in his āśrama for one thousand years. She lived on fruits, roots and water, free from pretence, hatred, greed and pride. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 15)

The Aśvins and the sacred pond

The two Aśvins came to the āśrama, and Sukanyā welcomed them well. Pleased, they offered her a vara (a boon). She asked for her husband’s sight to be restored. The Aśvins said: “If your husband gives us a share of the offerings made to the devas, we will give him back his sight.” Cyavana agreed. The three entered a pond made by siddhas. All three came out as equally handsome young men with golden necklaces and the same form. Sukanyā could not tell which was her husband. She gave herself up to divine grace and knew Cyavana by the faint signs of a human ṛshi. The Aśvins left in a vimāna (an aeroplane). (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 15)

The vimāna made by yoga

In this account, Cyavana was delighted with Sukanyā’s faithful service. By the power of his deep samādhi he made a splendid divine vimāna. It gave every wish, was set with gems and furnished with divine beds. It had jewelled pillars, pearl curtains, emerald slabs and coral thresholds. A hundred and ten maidens bathed Sukanyā in the lake and dressed her. The couple then enjoyed the divine gardens Vaiśrambhaka, Nandana, Pushpabhadraka, Mānasa and Caitrarathya. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 15)

Śaryāti’s yajña and Indra’s frozen arm

Śaryāti later arranged a yajña and invited Cyavana. When he saw a handsome young man seated beside his daughter, he was confused and scolded her. Sukanyā smiled and explained that this was her husband, his son-in-law, the son of Bhṛgu. Śaryāti was amazed and glad. At the Soma yajña Cyavana gave the Aśvins their due share of Soma. Indra saw the divine physicians seated in the row of devas and raised his vajra to strike Cyavana. The ṛshi made a single sound, “huṃ”, and Indra’s arm was frozen at once. Everyone present saw Indra stand with his arm held still. Indra then praised the ṛshi with a fearless heart, gave himself up, and asked that the Aśvins receive their Soma share. He also asked Cyavana to forgive his great pāpa (sin). The ṛshi, a treasure of kindness, quickly let go of his anger, and Indra’s arm became free. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 16)

The Devī Bhāgavata account: Tripurā Sundarī and Madāsura

The Saptama Skandha of the Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 2 to 7, tells the account of Sukanyā and Cyavana and the Aśvins with some elements of its own. The main course is the same: Sukanyā pierces Cyavana’s eyes by accident, she marries him, the Aśvinī Kumāras come to the āśrama and offer to make Cyavana young, and three identical forms come out of the lake. The Devī Bhāgavata adds two particular elements.

Sukanyā’s prayer to Tripurā Sundarī. When the three identical forms came out of the sacred lake, Sukanyā could not tell which was her husband Cyavana. She did not use the faint physical signs of the Bhavishya and Padma Purāṇa accounts. The Devī Bhāgavata says she turned inward and prayed with deep feeling to Devī Viśveśvarī (Tripurā Sundarī), the parā-śivā-devī, giving herself up to her fully. She praised the Devī as jagat-mātā (mother of the world), as Hrīṃkārī-Kamalālayā, and as Saccidānanda-svarūpiṇī, and called on her to guard her dharma as a faithful wife. She cried: “O Devī, show me my husband. You are sarvajñā (all-knowing); you know my dharma as a pativratā.” In answer the Devī gave Sukanyā divya-netra (divine sight), and by her grace Sukanyā knew her husband Cyavana among the three identical forms. (Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapters 4 to 5)

The Madāsura episode. When Cyavana went on with the Soma offering for the Aśvins at Śaryāti’s yajña, Indra stepped in fiercely and threatened Cyavana with his vajra. Cyavana was not shaken. He used his tapas-śakti to freeze Indra’s arm. He then went further. He made an āhuti with mantras into the fire and from it made a terrible great asura named Madāsura, the asura of intoxication and pride. Madāsura had a body as large as a mountain, fangs a hundred yojanas long, a form blacker than collyrium, eyes blazing like wildfire and a mouth that could swallow all three worlds. At the sight of Madāsura every deva, Indra included, froze in terror. Indra’s vajra became useless and his arms were stiff. The devas cried out in fear. Bṛhaspati came and told Indra: “Neither mantras nor the vajra can stop him. He is born of the tapas of a devotee of Śrī Parābhaṭṭārikā. Only Cyavana can stop his own creation. Give yourself up to him.” Indra then bowed before Cyavana, admitted his fault and promised that the Aśvins would from then on always have full rights to Soma. When Indra gave himself up, Cyavana relented. He then gave Madāsura four places in which to live always: women, gambling, alcohol or intoxication, and hunting. These are the four places where mada (pride and delusion) naturally dwells. With Madāsura held in these places, the yajña was finished, and Indra and the Aśvins received their Soma together. (Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapters 6 to 7)

Sources

• Bhavishya Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 19
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapters 14 to 16
• Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapters 2 to 7