Satyaprakāśa
Satyaprakāśa · satya-prakāśa, “the light of truth”
Sindhu has other meanings too: see all meanings of Sindhu.
Satyaprakāśa was the minister of King Dharmavallabha of Puṇyapura. His wife was Lakshmī. The Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa tells his account in the Vaitāla‘s tellings to King Vikramāditya, to show that a king given to pleasure becomes the cause of his kingdom’s ruin. Satyaprakāśa taught the king the four kinds of ānanda (bliss), won a divine bride for him by his prayer to the ocean, and gave up his life when the king sank into pleasure.
The four ānandas
The king asked how many kinds of ānanda there are. The minister said there are four:
- Brahmānanda, of the brahmacarya āśrama: it is excellent.
- Vishayānanda, of the gṛhastha āśrama: it is middling.
- Dharmānanda, of the vānaprastha: it is ordinary.
- Śivānanda, attained in sannyāsa: it is the highest of the high.
“Of these, the Vishayānanda of the gṛhastha āśrama has the woman at its head, for in the gṛhastha āśrama there is no happiness without a wife.”
The prayer to the ocean
The king sought a fitting wife and found none, and sent the minister to look. Satyaprakāśa went through many countries and came to the Sindhu, best of all tīrthas. He prayed to the ocean: “Abode of all ratnas, master of the Sindhu country, namaskāra to you. Śaraṇāgatavatsala, I have come to your refuge. Master of Gaṅgā and the other rivers, Jalādhīśa, namaskāra to you. Grant my king an excellent jewel of a woman. If you do not, I shall give up my life here.”
Pleased, the ocean showed him in the water a tree with leaves of coral and fruits of pearl, on which sat a lovely girl. The minister told the king, and the king followed her, freed her from a śāpa and married her. She was Madavatī, a vidyādhara’s daughter.
His death
Some days later the minister suddenly died. The Vaitāla asked why. Vikramāditya answered that Satyaprakāśa was the king’s friend and the highest well-wisher of the people. After the marriage he saw the king given to pleasure, neglecting kingdom and people, and knew the kingdom’s ruin was near. Not to see it, he gave up his life.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 2, Chapters 1–23
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 2, Chapters 1–23