The Five Crocodile Apsarās
Five apsarās (celestial dancers) named Varcā, Saurabheyī, Sāmeyī, Budbuda and Latā were friends of Kubera, the keeper of wealth. They lived in the Nandanakānana, the divine forest. A brāhmaṇa ṛshi spoke a śāpa (a curse) over them. They had to live as crocodiles for one hundred years at five sacred coastal tīrthas (holy places) of the Kaumārikā region. Their fault was that they went to a brāhmaṇa who was doing tapas (austerity) alone and tried to disturb him by dancing and singing.
His tapas could not be shaken, but he was angry at their rudeness, and so he spoke the śāpa. On Nārada’s advice the five apsarās settled in the five coastal tīrthas: Kumāreśa, Stambheśvara, Barkaraśvara, Mahākāla and Siddheśa. There they waited for Arjuna, who would lift each of them out of the water and give them back their divine forms. This account opens the whole Kaumārikā Khaṇḍa, which begins with Arjuna’s twelve-year tīrtha-yātrā (journey to holy places) and his arrival at these abandoned tīrthas.
Who they were
The five apsarās were sakhīs (companions) of Kubera, the keeper of wealth. They lived in the divine Nandanakānana, the celestial pleasure garden linked with the devas. Apsarās are celestial beings of matchless beauty who serve the delight of the divine world. They take part in festivals, dance and divine play (krīḍā).
The fault and the śāpa
One day the five apsarās met a brāhmaṇa ṛshi who was doing tapas alone in a forest. His tapas was so strong that it filled the whole forest around him with a light like the sun. As apsarās were known to do with tapasvīs (people of tapas), they wished to disturb him for sport. The five went up to him dancing and singing, showing their charms and trying every celestial art to break his concentration.
The brāhmaṇa was not moved at all. His tapas stayed as steady as before. But their rudeness made him angry. They had treated a sacred place of deep tapas without respect, and they had treated a brāhmaṇa’s spiritual effort as a show. He spoke the śāpa: “You shall be crocodiles living in water for one hundred years.”
The five apsarās were sorry and afraid. They gave themselves up to him and begged his forgiveness. The ṛshi was calmed a little and changed the terms of the śāpa: when a man lifts each of them out of the water, they will get back their divine forms. He also taught them about the holiness of the righteous householder’s life, the nature of right union, and the pāpa (sin) of lowering the power of creation. This teaching was given to apsarās whose field was the joy of love.
Nārada shows the way: the five tīrthas
After the śāpa, the five apsarās met Nārada Devarshi. He kindly told them where to go. They should go to the five sacred coastal tīrthas of the Kaumārikā region, Kumāreśa, Stambheśvara, Barkaraśvara, Mahākāla and Siddheśa, and wait there. Nārada said that Arjuna, the son of Pāṇḍu, would come to these tīrthas during his twelve-year tīrtha-yātrā. He alone had the strength to lift each of them out of the water and give back their forms.
So the five apsarās settled, one in each of the five tīrthas, as crocodiles in the holy waters. Because of them the tīrthas became dangerous. Many kings and ṛshis who tried to bathe there had already been dragged under and killed. The ascetics who used to live at these tīrthas had fled. These tīrthas, among the holiest in the south, lay empty.
Arjuna frees the five
When Arjuna came on his twelve-year tīrtha-yātrā, the ṛshis nearby begged him not to enter the water and warned him of the deadly crocodiles. Arjuna answered fearlessly that a life given up for dharma is no loss. He went into the water of the Stambheśvara tīrtha first. A large crocodile seized him at once. With his great strength Arjuna lifted the crocodile out of the water. The moment it left the surface it became a beautiful apsarā wearing divine ornaments. This was Varcā. She told Arjuna the whole story of the śāpa and of Nārada’s words.
Arjuna then went through the other four tīrthas in turn and lifted each crocodile:
- Saurabheyī was freed at Kumāreśa tīrtha
- Sāmeyī was freed at Barkaraśvara tīrtha
- Budbuda was freed at Mahākāla tīrtha
- Latā was freed at Siddheśa tīrtha
Each of the five, once she had her divine form again, bowed to Arjuna in deep thanks. She blessed him with victory in all that he would do and went up to the world of the devas.
Sources
- Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārikā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 1