Ghṛtācī

Ghṛtācī is a celebrated apsarā (a heavenly dancer). She is known from the Purāṇas, which often mention her in the accounts of ṛshis whose attention is drawn away. Her story is told in the Brahma Khaṇḍa of the Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa.

At Pushkara-tīrtha she and Viśvakarmā each spoke a śāpa (a curse) against the other, and both were made to take human births. Later they met again and had nine sons on the Malaya mountain. These sons began nine communities of craftsmen. The account belongs to the Purāṇa’s teaching on the origin of jāti (birth-groups) and varṇa (social orders).

Who she is

Ghṛtācī is one of the best-known apsarās in the Purāṇas. In the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa she is at Pushkara-tīrtha at a time when Viśvakarmā is there too.

The meeting at Pushkara

Chapter 10 of the Brahma Khaṇḍa tells of this meeting. Viśvakarmā met Ghṛtācī at Pushkara and was drawn to her. She refused him and gave two reasons.

  1. That day was “Manmatha’s assigned day”. She was under the ritual care of Manmatha.
  2. On that day she stood in the position called guru-patnī-tulya (equal to a guru’s wife), a woman who must be protected and not wronged.

Viśvakarmā was angry at the refusal. He spoke a śāpa on Ghṛtācī: she would be born as a śūdra woman. Ghṛtācī answered with a śāpa on Viśvakarmā: he would be born as a human being.

Human lives and meeting again

Both śāpas took effect. Ghṛtācī was born as a śūdra woman. Viśvakarmā was born as a human being. In these forms they met again at Gaṅgā-Prayāga. They went together to the Malaya mountain and lived there as husband and wife.

The nine sons

Nine sons were born to them on the Malaya mountain. They became the fathers of nine communities of craftsmen. The Purāṇa names these:

  1. Mālakaras, garland-makers
  2. Karmakāras, blacksmiths, workers in iron
  3. Śaṅkhakāras, workers in conch shell
  4. Kuvindakas, weavers
  5. Kumbhakāras, potters
  6. Sūtrakāras, carpenters, thread-workers
  7. Svarṇakāras, goldsmiths
  8. Citrakaras, painters

The community of the ninth son is also named in the Purāṇa. Three of the nine sons became patita (fallen from the standing of their community) through a brahma-śāpa, a śāpa from a brāhmaṇa.

Place in the Jāti-Varṇa Nirṇaya

This account is part of the Brahma Khaṇḍa’s teaching on jāti and varṇa in Chapter 10. That teaching explains where the many communities of society came from. The birth of the craft communities from beings who had been made to take human births is the Purāṇa’s account of the holy origin of skilled work.

Sources

  • Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 10