Birth of Svaroci

This is the narrative of the birth of Svaroci, who became Svārocisha Manu, the second Manu of the present cycle. The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa tells it in Chapters 58 to 64. It begins with a brāhmaṇa who travelled to the Himālaya with the help of a special oshadhi (a herb ointment). It goes on to the apsarā Varūthinī, who loved him without return, and to the gandharva Kali, who took the brāhmaṇa’s form and deceived her. From their union Svaroci was born, shining with his own light.

The brāhmaṇa and the oshadhi

A certain brāhmaṇa had a wonderful oshadhi. When he rubbed it on his feet, he could travel thousands of yojanas (a yojana is a long measure of distance) in a single day. One morning he wished to see the glory of the Himālaya mountains, and he set out. By the power of the oshadhi the journey was quick and easy.

The mountains showed him all their splendour. He wandered among waterfalls tumbling from great heights, peacocks dancing with spread tails in the forest clearings, and gandharvas and apsarases moving through sweet-smelling groves. The air was thick with the scent of flowering trees. He went deeper and deeper into the mountains, lost in their beauty.

As the day wore on and the light began to fade, the brāhmaṇa thought of home. Then he found that the oshadhi on his feet had melted away in the cold mountain air. Without it he could not cross the great distance home before night. He was stranded, far from his own country and alone in the Himālaya.

Varūthinī’s love

The apsarā Varūthinī was among those who moved through those groves. She was known for her beauty even among the apsarases. She saw the brāhmaṇa, alone, noble in bearing and helpless, and Kāma struck her. Sudden and strong love for him moved her heart.

Varūthinī went to the brāhmaṇa openly and told him her feelings. She said she loved him and wished to be united with him. But the brāhmaṇa was a man of firm purpose. His mind was fixed on going home, and the apsarā’s wish did not touch his heart. He refused her. In the end, by the inner power of his sacred fire practice, the energy of his Gārhapatya fire, he was able to leave the mountains quickly and return to his own land.

Varūthinī was left behind with her love unfulfilled. She pined for the brāhmaṇa she had loved and lost.

The deception of Kali

The gandharva Kali had earlier sought Varūthinī himself, and she had refused him. Now he came back to those groves and found her pining in grief for the brāhmaṇa. Kali saw his chance. He was skilled in illusion and disguise, and he made himself the exact likeness of the brāhmaṇa, with his face, his bearing and his manner. In that disguise he went to Varūthinī.

Varūthinī’s heart was full of longing for the brāhmaṇa. She believed she was seeing the very man she loved, come back to her. She did not know he was Kali. She welcomed him with all the love she had kept waiting. They were united, and from this union Varūthinī conceived a child.

The birth of Svaroci

The child born to Varūthinī was unlike any other child. From the moment of his birth he shone with his own light, a radiance that needed no outside source. He was named Svaroci, meaning “self-luminous”, for this brilliance that marked him from the first moment of his life.

He grew up under great good omens, as befitted his shining birth. He gave himself fully to sacred learning. He mastered all four Vedas completely and became skilled in archery, ready both in jñāna (knowledge) and in the way of the warrior.

The rescue of three women and the Padminī-vidyā

In his wanderings, Svaroci came to Mandara mountain. There he met Manoramā, the daughter of the Vidyādhara king Indīvara, with her two companions Vibhāvarī and Kālavatī. A ṛshi (seer) whom Manoramā had once mocked had cursed the three of them. They stayed on Mandara, waiting for a foretelling to come true.

Kālavatī, who had deep knowledge, told Svaroci that Satī herself had foretold that he would be the husband of all three women. She also told him that she held the Padminī-vidyā, the mastery of the eight nidhis (the treasures of Kubera) through the worship of Mahālakshmī. Through this vidyā (knowledge), all eight nidhis would serve their household. They are Padma, Mahāpadma, Śaṅkha, Makara, Kacchapa, Mukunda, Nanda and Nīla.

Kingdom and rise to Manu

Svaroci married all three women, and through Kālavatī’s Padminī-vidyā the eight nidhis came to serve them. He built three cities in the mountains, one for each of his queens, and lived there in great happiness and plenty. From Manoramā he had a son, Vijaya. From Vibhāvarī he had Meru-nandana. From Kālavatī he had Prabhāva.

Through his tapas (austerity) and the justice of his rule, Svaroci rose to the highest station a mortal king can reach. He became the second Manu of the present cycle, Svārocisha Manu. The age of his rule is the Svārocisha Manvantara.

Sources

• Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapters 58–64