Śaryāti

Śaryāti was a righteous king of the Vedic age. He is known for his piety and for the way he answered a wrong done to a great tapasvin (one who practises austerity). He was the father of Sukanyā and the father-in-law of Cyavana Maharshi. He appears in the account of Cyavana and Sukanyā, told in the Bhavishya Mahā Purāṇa and in the Mahābhārata.

His great yajña (fire ritual) is the setting of the account of Cyavana and Mada. At this yajña the aged ṛshi Cyavana Maharshi offered soma to the Aśvins for the first time, and Indra objected. Cyavana had been made young again after he married Śaryāti’s daughter Sukanyā.

His character

The Bhavishya Mahā Purāṇa shows Śaryāti as a king true to dharma. He was deeply pious. He was wise enough to see how serious an offence against a great tapasvin was. He was humble enough to fall at the feet of the ṛshi and ask forgiveness, although he was a king. He was also able and well organised. When Cyavana told him to prepare a great yajña, he gathered all that was needed at once and with full speed.

The incident at Cyavana’s āśrama

The Bhavishya Mahā Purāṇa tells that one day Śaryāti travelled with his army and royal household to bathe in the Gaṅgā. He camped near the āśrama (hermitage) of Cyavana Maharshi on the Gaṅgā. The great tapasvin sat there in deep samādhi (meditation) inside an anthill. After bathing, worshipping the devas and making piṇḍa offerings to his ancestors, the king was about to return to his capital. Then a sudden and strange affliction struck his whole company. All natural bodily functions stopped, and all eyes lost their sight.

Śaryāti wisely guessed that someone had done wrong in that holy place. He asked until his daughter Sukanyā (called Sukanī in this Purāṇa) admitted that she had playfully pushed a stalk of kuśa grass through the openings of a nearby anthill, from which a bright light had been shining. Those openings were the eyes of Cyavana Maharshi.

Śaryāti at once went with Sukanyā to the ṛshi, without any hesitation or royal pride. He bowed flat before him and humbly asked forgiveness. Cyavana said that he had already forgiven him, and named his condition: “Give your daughter to me in marriage.” Śaryāti agreed at once and gladly. The afflictions on his army went away. He gave Sukanyā to Cyavana in the kanyādāna (the giving of the bride) with full ceremony and left content.

The account in the Mahābhārata

The Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata tells the same account of Śaryāti and Cyavana. Lomaśa tells it to Yudhishṭhira during the tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage). In this account Śaryāti is a great and righteous king. He was travelling with his court and family and camped near the forest where Cyavana had sat in meditation so long that an anthill had grown over his body. His daughter Sukanyā wandered about out of curiosity and saw two shining points in the anthill. She pierced them with a thorn. They were the eyes of Cyavana. The old ṛshi cried out, and blood flowed. A śāpa (curse) at once struck the whole camp of Śaryāti, and his soldiers could not perform their natural bodily functions.

Śaryāti knew this as a sign of the ṛshi’s anger. He asked until he found what Sukanyā had done. At once he went with her to Cyavana, bowed before him and apologised fully. Cyavana named his one condition: Śaryāti must give Sukanyā to him in marriage. Śaryāti agreed without hesitation and gave his daughter to the old and blind ṛshi. The curse was lifted. What followed came from this act of Śaryāti, who humbly accepted the demand of the ṛshi. The Aśvins gave back Cyavana’s youth. Cyavana had the Aśvins included in the soma yajña, and he bound the arm of Indra.

The yajña and Cyavana

Śaryāti held a great yajña with Cyavana Maharshi as the officiating priest. Earlier, Śaryāti had given his daughter Sukanyā in marriage to the aged ṛshi Cyavana, to calm him after she had hurt him without knowing it. The Aśvins later made Cyavana young again, in thanks for Sukanyā’s devotion.

At Śaryāti’s yajña Cyavana used his place to win for the Aśvins a share of the soma, the soma-bhāga, which the devas had long refused them. He offered soma to the Aśvins first. Indra rose in anger to strike him down with the vajra (his thunderbolt).

In the Aśvamedhika Parva of the Mahābhārata, Agni tells this account to Indra himself. Agni says that Cyavana’s tapo-śakti (power of tapas) struck away Indra’s hand, together with the vajra it held, in that moment. Then Cyavana brought forth the terrible being Mada, in a form that filled the universe (viśvarūpa). Indra shut his eyes in fear and took refuge with the maharshi, his hands joined. Indra gave way in the end. From that day the Aśvins held the right to soma at all yajñas.

The fuller account tells of Cyavana’s return to youth, the creation of Mada, and how Mada was divided into the four royal vices.

Patron of the soma yajña

The Bhavishya Mahā Purāṇa tells that later Cyavana asked Śaryāti to arrange a great yajña so that the Aśvins (the Aśvinī Kumāras) could receive their rightful share of soma. Śaryāti at once called his ministers and purohitas (priests) and made all the arrangements with great care. He received Cyavana, with Sukanyā, as the honoured ācārya (chief teacher) of the yajña. In this yajña Cyavana gave soma to the Aśvins, paralysed Indra, and finally won lasting rights in the yajña for the Aśvins. It was a great event in the history of the world of the devas.

After the yajña ended and Cyavana had returned to the āśrama, Śaryāti and his mahārāṇī (chief queen) visited Cyavana and Sukanyā. They saw Cyavana young and handsome, changed by the gift of youth from the Aśvins. Both parents were full of joy and happiness at the good fortune of their daughter.

Why the yajña is remembered

In the Mahābhārata, Śaryāti’s yajña is cited as proof that brahma-bala (the power of a brāhmaṇa) is greater than kshatra-bala (the power of a warrior). Agni gives it to Indra as an example. It explains why even Indra’s vajra could not win against a brāhmaṇa’s tapas. Agni speaks of it when Indra threatens King Marutta and the ṛshi Saṃvarta.

Sources

• Bhavishya Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 19
• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 121–125 (the account of Śaryāti and Cyavana in Chapters 121–122)
• Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 9
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 50