Saṃvaraṇa

Saṃvaraṇa was a king of the Kuru line and an ancestor of the Pāṇḍavas. He fell deeply in love with Tapatī, the daughter of Bhagavān Sūrya, when he met her alone on a mountain during a hunt. With the help of his family purohita (priest), Vasiṣṭha, Bhagavān Sūrya gave Tapatī to him in marriage. Their son was Kuru, who gave the Kuru line its name. The Mahābhārata tells this in the Ādi Parva.

The meeting on the mountain

Saṃvaraṇa was hunting in a great mountain forest. Suddenly he came upon a young woman of great radiance. She was Tapatī, the daughter of Bhagavān Sūrya. Her beauty was so bright that it seemed to Saṃvaraṇa as if the sun itself had come down in human form. A love so strong struck him at once that he could not stand. He fell unconscious where he was.

His horse ran away and his weapons fell from his hands. He lay on the mountain, his mind overcome.

When he came partly to himself, he called out to Tapatī. He asked who she was, whose daughter she was, and whether she was a devī, an apsarā or a human woman. Tapatī listened but did not stay. She told him only that she was not hers to give. Her father Bhagavān Sūrya must be asked. Then she went up into the sky.

Vasiṣṭha speaks for the king

Saṃvaraṇa came back to his senses, but he could not forget Tapatī. He went to his purohita Vasiṣṭha and told him what had happened. Vasiṣṭha agreed to go to Bhagavān Sūrya for him. By tapas (austerity) he went up to the realm of the sun. He met Bhagavān Sūrya and put Saṃvaraṇa’s wish before him as a proper formal request.

Bhagavān Sūrya agreed to give his daughter Tapatī in marriage to the king of the Kurus. The match was seen as worthy, because Saṃvaraṇa came of a great line and had a noble character. Tapatī was given to him.

Twelve years in the forest

After the marriage, Saṃvaraṇa and Tapatī went into the forest together. Their love for each other was so deep that they stayed there for twelve years, lost in each other. They left the kingdom with no one to rule it.

The result was serious. There was no king to do the needed rituals, keep dharma (right conduct) and rule with care, and the kingdom fell into drought. No rain fell, the crops failed and the people suffered greatly.

The return and the birth of Kuru

In time Vasiṣṭha went to them and brought them back to the kingdom. He performed the rituals that ended the drought and restored the land. Saṃvaraṇa took up his royal duties again.

From the union of Saṃvaraṇa and Tapatī, a son was born: Kuru. He gave the whole line its name. He is the one who performed his well-known karmabhūmi rite at Kurukṣetra and changed that field. From him come all the Kurus, the Pāṇḍavas and the Kauravas.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva