Mitraśarman
Mitraśarman · mitra-śarman
Mitraśarman was a brāhmaṇa of the city of Māyāvatī, which the text glosses as Haridvāra. He loved poetry, was devoted to learning and was a man of refined taste. The Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa tells how by the grace of Bhagavān Sūrya he married Citriṇī, and how Bhagavān Sūrya took avatāra as their son Rāmānanda. Bṛhaspati tells this to the devas, and Sūta to the ṛshis.
Mitraśarman and Citriṇī
At Haridvāra, when Bṛhaspati entered Kumbha rāśi, many kings came to the great festival. There came Citriṇī, the twelve-year-old daughter of the southern king Kāmasena. Mitraśarman and Citriṇī saw each other, and love arose in both. Returning home, she began to worship Bhagavān Bhāskara daily to win him.
In the month of Vaiśākha Mitraśarman bathed in the Gaṅgā, stood in the middle of the water, meditated on Bhagavān Sūrya and recited the Āditya Hṛdaya Stotra every day. After one month Bhagavān Sūrya was pleased and gave him the vara (a boon) that his wish would be fulfilled. Bhagavān Sūrya told King Kāmasena in a dream to give his daughter to Mitraśarman, and the king did so.
Their life and their son
After the marriage both kept a vrata of Bhagavān Sūrya daily. They drew a Sūrya yantra on a copper vessel and worshipped it every day with red flowers, with faith and bhakti. They lived about a hundred years free of illness, their life filled with the divine, and after death they attained sāmīpya (nearness) with Bhagavān Sūrya.
As their son, in Kānyakubja, in the house of the brāhmaṇa Devala, Bhagavān Sūrya took avatāra, and he became famous in Kāśī as Rāmānanda.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 7
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 7