Aśrubindumati: Daughter of Rati and Wife of Yayāti

Aśrubindumati was the daughter of Rati. She was born from a thousand-petaled lotus that grew in the Kāma-saras, a divine lake whose waters came from Rati’s own tears. These were the tears of joy that Rati shed when Manmatha was brought back to life after Bhagavān Śiva’s third eye had burned him.

King Yayāti found her in a forest, seated on the lotus and playing the vīṇā (a stringed instrument) with matchless skill. She became his wife through gāndharva-vivāha (a marriage by mutual consent) and lived with him for twenty thousand years. Her complaint about the jealousy of Yayāti’s other wives, Devayānī and Śarmishṭhā, led to Yadu’s famous refusal to kill his own mothers. It also led to Yayāti’s declaration that Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa would take an avatāra in the Yadu line.

Origin: from Rati’s tears

The Kāma-saras was a divine lake, five yojanas wide and ten yojanas long. It lay in a forest region that Yayāti came to. The lake began in Rati’s grief. Manmatha had been burned to ash by Bhagavān Śiva’s third eye. Rati came to this lake in her sorrow and wept. Her tears of grief filled the lake. They also gave rise to jarā (old age), viyoga (separation) and duḥkha (sorrow) in the world.

When Manmatha was restored to life, Rati returned to the same lake and wept again, this time tears of ānanda (joy). These tears fell into the water and made a lotus of a thousand petals. Aśrubindumati was born from this lotus. She is therefore the ratiputrī, the daughter of Rati’s joy-tears. Her nature carries Rati’s love, changed from grief into bliss.

Viśālā, Aśrubindumati’s friend (sakhī) and the daughter of Varuṇa, told Yayāti this account of her origin. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa gives it in the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, chapter 77.

First meeting with Yayāti

Yayāti had entered the forest while hunting. This followed the Manmatha-nāṭaka episode, which brought jarā into his body. He came to the Kāma-saras and first met Viśālā. She refused to speak to him and vanished.

Then he saw Aśrubindumati herself. She sat on the thousand-petaled lotus in the middle of the lake and played the vīṇā with a skill that held all the senses. Yayāti was struck by her great beauty and her music. Desire rose in him, and he wished to make her his wife.

Conditions for the marriage

Viśālā acted as Aśrubindumati’s messenger. She told Yayāti the conditions. Aśrubindumati would accept only a young husband who had no other wives.

Yayāti was then weighed down by jarā, because old age had entered his body through his unplanned part in the Manmatha-nāṭaka. Viśālā also pointed out that Devayānī and Śarmishṭhā were already Yayāti’s wives. So there were two obstacles.

Yayāti removed both. He went back to his sons. Pūru gladly took Yayāti’s jarā and gave him his own youth in exchange. This made Yayāti look like a sixteen-year-old. Yayāti then promised Aśrubindumati complete and exclusive devotion. With both conditions met, she accepted him.

Marriage and life with Yayāti

The marriage was a gāndharva-vivāha. Yayāti and Aśrubindumati lived together for twenty thousand years. She became pregnant. In the happiness of her life with Yayāti, she made two requests. First, she asked Yayāti to perform an Aśvamedha yajña (a horse sacrifice). Second, she asked that the two of them travel together to visit the divine lokas (worlds).

The complaint against Devayānī and Śarmishṭhā

Yayāti had promised her his exclusive devotion. Even so, his other wives, Devayānī and Śarmishṭhā, grew jealous of Aśrubindumati’s place in his affection. Their jealousy showed as dushṭabhāva (ill conduct) toward her.

Aśrubindumati told Yayāti about this. He was so angry that he ordered his son Yadu to kill the two women. Yadu refused. He said that killing one’s mother is mahāpāpa (a great sin), condemned by all the learned knowers of the Vedas.

Yayāti then gave Yadu a second śāpa (a curse). After it, Yayāti gave a surprising vara (a boon). He said that Bhagavān Śrī Nārāyaṇa would take a svāṃśa-avatāra (an avatāra from his own part) in Yadu’s line. In this way he made holy the line he had cursed. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells this in the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, chapter 80.

Sources

Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, chapters 77–80