Sumati (Son of Pramati)

Sumati · su-mati, “the one of good understanding”

Sumatī has other meanings too: see all meanings of Sumatī.

Sumati is the son of the emperor Pramati. While still a boy, he freed his father, whom the gandharvas had bound and carried off after Pramati’s dice game with Indra, by doing tapas on the bank of the Gautamī as his purohita Madhucchandas taught him. By the grace of Bhagavān Śiva and Bhagavān Vishṇu, Pramati was set free and won back his kingdom, and the place became the tīrtha known as Urvaśītīrtha.

Pramati’s dice game

In the Gautamī Māhātmya, Brahmā tells Nārada of Urvaśītīrtha, where Maheśvara and Vishṇu, the bearer of the Śārṅga bow, dwell. There was a powerful emperor named Pramati. He laughed at Indra, who sat with the dice in his hands, and Indra invited him to play. Pramati won the apsarā Urvaśī as his stake, and then, playing with other dice, won again, and defeated both Indra and the gandharva Viśvāvasu. Then, in his folly, he spoke disgraceful words to Devendra: that Indra would never win in battle or at dice, and should become his worshipper. He spoke slightingly to Urvaśī as well. The gandharva Citrasena then played with him, bound him with the strong nooses of the gandharvas, and won everything Pramati had: his kingdom, his treasury, his army and Urvaśī herself.

Sumati and Madhucchandas

Pramati‘s son Sumati, a mere boy, went to the family purohita, Madhucchandas of the line of Viśvāmitra, and asked him earnestly: “What pāpa has my father committed? Where has he been imprisoned? How will he come back to his own home, and how will he be freed from the nooses?”

Madhucchandas meditated for a while and told him that his father was held prisoner in the world of the devas, driven from his kingdom by cunning gamblers. He spoke of the evil of gambling: even one who merely walks into an assembly of gamblers comes to sorrow; gambling, liquor and meat are vices that lead to naraka; no gambler is seen happy in this world or the next; the Vedas forbid it, yet Pramati took it up eagerly.

Sumati asked: “What must my father do to regain the kingdom?” Madhucchandas meditated again and said: “Dear boy, go to the Gautamī. There worship Śaṅkara, Aditi, Varuṇa and Vishṇu. By that he will be freed of his nooses.”

The tapas at the Gautamī

Saying “So be it”, Sumati hastened to the Gaṅgā. He bowed to Bhagavān Vishṇu and worshipped Bhagavān Śiva, and, keeping all the observances, performed tapas. So he freed his father from the devas, after Pramati had been held prisoner there for a thousand years. Through the grace of Śiva and Vishṇu and the effort of his own son, Pramati was freed from the nooses and regained his kingdom, and because he had gained the lore of the gandharvas he became a favourite of Indra.

From then on the tīrtha is called Śāmbhava, of Śambhu, Vaishṇava, of Vishṇu, Urvaśītīrtha, and Kaitava, of the gamble. Brahmā says: “What cannot be gained through the grace of Śiva, Vishṇu and the Gautamī, the mother of all rivers?” A holy bath and dāna there give the fruit of many righteous deeds, release one from the nooses of pāpa and dispel every misery; bath, dāna and the pūjā of Mahādeva and Vāsudeva there give the fruit of an aśvamedha.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 101

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 101