Māṇḍakarṇi and the Apsarasas

The Rāmāyaṇa tells of the ṛshi (seer) Māṇḍakarṇi in the Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, as part of Rāma’s journey through Daṇḍakāraṇya, the great forest of the south. The devas sent five apsarasas (celestial women) to break his tapas (austerity). The apsarasas did not distract him. They stayed with him as his wives, and the lake beside his āśrama (hermitage) was named in their memory.

Māṇḍakarṇi’s tapas

The ṛshi Māṇḍakarṇi did tapas without a break for ten thousand years. He lived on the bank of a lake in Daṇḍakāraṇya. His tapas was of the hardest kind. For the whole time he lived on nothing but vāyu (air) and jala (water), and he ate no food at all.

Such tapas gathered great spiritual power. The ṛshi shone with tejas (inner fire). He stood in the heart of the forest like a burning point of sacred energy.

The devas’ concern

The devas saw how much tapas the ṛshi had gathered in ten thousand years, and they became concerned. They met and decided to send five apsarasas to draw his mind away from his austerity. The plan was the usual one. The beauty and grace of the apsarasas would turn the ṛshi’s attention, scatter the energy he had gathered, and set things in balance again.

The unexpected outcome

Five apsarasas came to Māṇḍakarṇi’s āśrama on the lake and used all the arts of celestial beauty and grace before him. The result was the opposite of what the devas wanted. The apsarasas could not stand against the power of his tapas. In Māṇḍakarṇi they met a radiance and a wisdom that held them completely.

They did not draw him away from his austerity. They themselves became devoted to him. All five stayed with the ṛshi as his wives and made their home for good at his āśrama on the lakeside.

Pañcāpsaras lake

After this, the lake near Māṇḍakarṇi’s āśrama was called Pañcāpsaras, the Lake of Five Apsarasas. The name remembers the five celestial women who came to distract a ṛshi and became his wives instead. The lake became a sacred tīrtha (holy place) in Daṇḍakāraṇya. Rāma visited this āśrama and lake while he travelled through the forest.

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, Chapter 11