Sukanyā and Cyavana (Devī Bhāgavata)

King Śaryāti took his daughter Sukanyā to the forest. There, in play, she pierced two bright points in an anthill, and they were the eyes of the ṛshi Cyavana, who sat deep in tapas. To make up for it, Śaryāti gave Sukanyā to Cyavana as his wife. She served him with complete loyalty. The Aśvins, the physicians of the devas, then gave Cyavana new youth, and in return Cyavana won them the right to the Soma cup, even against Indra. The Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells this in Skanda 7, Chapters 2 to 7, within its account of the solar line (sūryavaṃśa).

Śaryāti goes to the forest

The account opens in the age of the great solar king Vaivasvata Manu and his descendants. King Śaryāti, a mighty ruler of the Ikshvāku line, went on a grand outing to the forest with his followers and his beautiful young daughter Sukanyā. The forest was full of flowering trees and pleasant streams. Sukanyā wandered freely, picking flowers and exploring the groves in happy play.

In the middle of the forest she came upon a large anthill (valmīka), covered with leaves and creepers. Inside it, half buried in earth after ages of meditation, sat the great ṛshi Cyavana of the Bhṛgu line. He was so deep in tapas that his body had become covered by the anthill. Only two bright points of light shone through the surface. To Sukanyā’s innocent eyes they looked like glow-worms or fireflies. In her play she pierced both of them with a sharp point. (Skanda 7, Chapter 2)

The śāpa and Śaryāti’s answer

Cyavana’s eyes had been pierced. The ṛshi came out of samādhi blind and in great pain, and his power of śāpa (a curse) woke up. As a sign of divine punishment, Śaryāti’s whole camp was struck by trouble. The soldiers could not move their limbs, their bowels were blocked, and a kind of paralysis fell on men and animals alike.

Śaryāti at once understood that someone had wronged a tapasvin in the forest. He demanded to know from his followers and family who had offended the holy dweller of the forest. After he questioned them, the trembling Sukanyā confessed what she had done. Śaryāti went straight to Cyavana, bowed to the ground and begged forgiveness. Cyavana’s anger was eased in part, but he said that the pāpa (sin) could be fully undone only if Sukanyā were given to him as his wife. She who had wronged him must become his dharmapatnī (lawful wife) and look after him for the rest of his life.

Śaryāti agreed without delay and gave his daughter Sukanyā in vivāha (marriage) to the ancient Cyavana. The trouble on the camp was lifted the moment the marriage was accepted. (Skanda 7, Chapters 2 and 3)

Sukanyā’s loyal service

Sukanyā was a princess born to comfort and royal ease, but she took up her new life without complaint. She served her blind and ancient husband with total devotion. She fetched water from the forest streams, gathered wild fruits and roots, tended the sacred fire, washed his clothes and saw to all his needs, with the devotion of a great pativratā (a wife true to her husband). She did not grieve that her young beauty was spent on an aged ṛshi, and she did not seek the company of others. Her single-minded devotion to Cyavana became known through the three worlds as an example of pātivratya-dharma. (Skanda 7, Chapter 3)

The Aśvins arrive

One day the twin physicians of the devas, the Aśvinī-kumāras, who are also called the Nāsatyas, came to the āśrama. They saw Sukanyā’s beauty and thought it strange that so lovely a young woman should be the wife of so old and weak a ṛshi. They came to her with an offer: “O beautiful one, you deserve a handsome young husband to match your radiance. We are the physicians of the devas. Come with us, and we will give you the husband your heart truly wants.”

Sukanyā refused firmly. She said that Cyavana was her lawful husband, that her vivāha was completed before his fire, and that she would not leave him for any reason. Her honour, her dharma and her love were bound to him alone. (Skanda 7, Chapter 4)

Cyavana’s new youth

The Aśvins were not offended by her refusal but moved by her purity and loyalty. They made a different offer: “We honour your faithfulness, O pativratā. We will give your husband back his youth and handsome form. In return, you will win for us from Cyavana the right to receive the Soma cup in yajñas. The devas have kept this right from us because they think us lower among them.” Sukanyā accepted the exchange and went to Cyavana with the offer.

Cyavana agreed. The Aśvins took him to a sacred lake, and all three, the two Aśvins and Cyavana, went into the water. Three young men, all alike and brilliantly handsome, came out of the lake. Sukanyā was asked to pick out her husband. The sight of three equal splendours did not confuse her. Guided by her devoted heart, she chose rightly. Cyavana stood before her, restored to the prime of youth, shining and magnificent. The Aśvins left, glad and thankful. (Skanda 7, Chapters 4 and 5)

The yajña and the quarrel over the Soma cup

Young and strong again, Cyavana arranged a great yajña for King Śaryāti. When it was time to offer the Soma cup, Cyavana offered it to the Aśvins as he had promised. He kept his word and honoured the right of the divine physicians to take an equal part in the yajña.

Indra, the king of the devas, was furious. He thought the Nāsatyas (the Aśvins) lower in rank, physicians who mixed with mortals and so not fit for the Soma cup kept for the higher devas. Indra threatened to destroy the yajña and hurled his vajra at Cyavana.

Cyavana’s tapas had been renewed by his new youth, and he stood firm. By the power of his mantra he froze Indra’s arm. Then he made a terrible being out of the sacrificial fire, an asura-like figure called Mada (frenzy or drunkenness), whose gaping mouth could swallow the three worlds. Faced with this fearful form, Indra gave way. He agreed that the Aśvins had the right to the Soma cup and asked Cyavana to call Mada back. Cyavana agreed and scattered Mada into four things: gambling (dyūta), women (strī), hunting (mṛgayā) and wine (madya). These became the four carriers of the fault of mada in the world.

The yajña was finished without more trouble. The Aśvins received the Soma cup, and Śaryāti’s yajña was completed with full puṇya (merit). (Skanda 7, Chapters 5 to 7)

Sources

• Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 7, Chapters 2 to 7