Śacī
Śacī is the consort of Indra, the king of the devas. She is also called Indrāṇī, and Paulomī because she is the daughter of Puloman, an asura (called Puloma the Dānava in the Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa). She is the patnī (queen) of svarga (heaven). She is known as the model of the pativratā, the wife whose complete devotion to her husband is a source of great spiritual power. Her son by Indra is Jaya.
In the Indravijaya account of the Mahābhārata’s Udyoga Parva, Śacī plays a central and active part. She asks Bṛhaspati for protection when Nahuṣa tries to claim her. She finds the hidden Indra and advises him. She also plans the trap that shows Nahuṣa’s pride and leads to his fall.
Who Śacī is
Śacī is the consort of Indra. As Paulomī she is the daughter of the asura Puloman. Though her father was an asura, she is fully part of the world of the devas through her marriage to Indra. The tradition praises her devotion and her beauty.
The Mahābhārata (Udyoga Parva, Chapter 14) treats her pativratā nature, her complete devotion to Indra as her husband, as an active spiritual power. It works even when Indra himself is weak and in hiding.
Birth and parentage
Śacī is the daughter of Puloma the Dānava. Puloma is named among the hundred Dānavas, the sons of Danu by Kaśyapa Prajāpati. The Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa gives the line in two parts. One line is Prabhā, the daughter of Svarbhānu. The other line is Śacī, the daughter of Puloma, who is the wife of Indra.
Marriage to Indra
Śacī became the chief consort of Indra, king of the thirty-three devas and ruler of svarga. Her son by Indra is Jaya.
The Purāṇas tell of Indra’s wrong acts and of Śacī’s steady devotion as a pativratā in several accounts. One is the Nahuṣa episode. Nahuṣa took the place of Indra for a time and tried to make Śacī his own. She refused him, and in the end she brought about his fall.
The crisis: Nahuṣa’s demand
The brahmahatyā-pāpa (the sin of killing a brāhmaṇa) drove Indra into hiding at Lake Mānasa. Nahuṣa was set up as Indra for a time. Soon after, the order of the world was first broken by Nahuṣa’s desire for Śacī. He summoned her to come to him as his consort.
Śacī was deeply distressed. Her husband was alive and only hidden. To submit to Nahuṣa would break her pativratā dharma at its root. But to refuse the one who now held Indra’s throne was dangerous. She had no protector in the ordinary sense.
She went to Bṛhaspati, the teacher of the devas, and asked for his protection. Bṛhaspati declared that she was formally under his protection. He told Nahuṣa that his demand was against dharma (Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapters 14–15).
Finding Indra
Bṛhaspati sent the night-devī Upāśruti to guide Śacī. With Upāśruti’s guidance, Śacī travelled through the dark to Lake Mānasa. There she found Indra hidden inside a lotus stalk. He was weak and afraid, and weighed down by the brahmahatyā-pāpa.
Śacī’s advice to Indra was practical and in line with dharma: make the right atonement. Offer pūjā to Viṣṇu, Agni and Mahādeva. Let the brahmahatyā be shared out among the earth, the trees, the rivers and the women who take it up willingly in return for varas (boons). Each one who took on the burden received something in return.
Through this advice Śacī was more than an anxious wife looking for her husband. She set Indra on the path of his cleansing and recovery (Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapters 15–16).
The plan against Nahuṣa
Śacī went back to face Nahuṣa. She agreed to come to him, on one condition: that he arrive in a palanquin carried by the seven great ṛṣis (the saptaṛṣis). This gave Indra time to recover. It was also a trap that was bound to show Nahuṣa’s pride. The same pride that made him demand such a palanquin would destroy him when he kicked the ṛṣi Agastya.
Nahuṣa agreed, and the trap was set. Nahuṣa kicked Agastya, and the ṛṣi gave him a śāpa (a curse) that he would become a serpent. Nahuṣa fell from Svarga. The crisis was over, Indra was restored, and Śacī was joined again with her husband (Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapters 17–18).
What Śacī did
In the Indravijaya account, Śacī:
- Sought protection through the proper channel of dharma, Bṛhaspati.
- Found Indra and advised him in the night, guided by Upāśruti.
- Planned the trap that showed Nahuṣa’s pride.
- Stayed fixed in her dharma throughout and never wavered.
She was the chief actor in bringing the matter to its end. Without her, Indra would have stayed in the lotus stalk and Nahuṣa’s rule would have gone on.
Indrāṇī
As Indrāṇī she is honoured as the queen of the devas. Although she was born in the Dānava line, her great standing as a pativratā places her among the most honoured of divine women.
A passing mention in the Āśramavāsika Parva
In Nārada’s account of a conversation he once overheard at Indra’s palace, Indra is called “husband of Śacī” (Śacīpati). This is only a title used in passing. Śacī herself does not appear in the episode (Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 20).
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapters 14–18
- Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 20
- Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 7