Sunīdhā
Sunīdhā (also written Sunīdha) is the daughter of Mṛtyu, death in person, in the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa. She marries Aṅga, the son of Atri, and becomes the mother of Vena, the wicked king whose account is the Vena Upākhyāna (chapters 30 to 38).
Sunīdhā was beautiful and many sought her. Then the gandharva Suśaṃkha cursed her, after she struck him. The devas and ṛshis told her father Mṛtyu that any son born of Sunīdhā would carry the taint of adharma (the opposite of dharma). Sunīdhā performed tapas (austerity) in grief. With the advice of the apsarā Rambhā she was at last united with the brāhmaṇa Aṅga, to whom Bhagavān Vishṇu had promised a great son.
Lineage and character
Sunīdhā was the daughter of Mṛtyu. Mṛtyu is the force of death itself, a principle of the cosmos, and not only a father. Her beauty was extraordinary. Mṛtyu wished to arrange a proper marriage for her, and he approached the devas and ṛshis with the proposal.
Her companions later listed twelve virtues of an ideal woman that she had: rūpa (beauty), śīla (good conduct), satya (truth), ārjava (honesty), dharma, mādhurya (sweetness), śuci (purity), pitṛ-bhāvanusaraṇa, śuśrūshā (service), sahana (patience), rati and pātivratya (devotion to her husband). The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa gives this list in chapter 34.
The curse of Suśaṃkha
In a forest, Sunīdhā struck the gandharva Suśaṃkha. He was a tapasvin (one who practises tapas) of great purity, free from kāma (desire) and krodha (anger). Mṛtyu called her act a grave wrong: she struck one who was blameless, who was absorbed in tapas, and who would not strike back. Suśaṃkha pronounced a śāpa (a curse) on her.
Mṛtyu then tried to find a husband for Sunīdhā among the devas and ṛshis. Each of them refused because of the śāpa. They said that any son born of Sunīdhā would be a mahāpāpī (a great wrongdoer) who would corrupt or destroy his family line. They gave this picture: if a single drop of liquor falls into a full pot of Gaṅgā water, it becomes a pot of liquor. One such son in a noble line would ruin it. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, chapters 33 and 34)
Tapas and the advice of Rambhā
All the possible husbands turned her away. Sunīdhā went into a forest in deep grief and performed tapas. Kind apsarā companions joined her, and the chief of them was Rambhā. They told her not to torment herself in despair, and they pointed to a way out. Aṅga, the son of Atri, had received a vara (a boon) from Bhagavān Vishṇu: he would have a son with the qualities of Indra. Rambhā said that the purity of Aṅga’s tapas and tejas (spiritual radiance) would work against the taint of the curse in any son born to him. She said that a pure field brings out only pure fruit from a seed.
Rambhā also gave Sunīdhā a powerful vidyā (a captivating knowledge) and agreed to be her dūtī (messenger). In this way Sunīdhā approached Aṅga and won him. (Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, chapters 33 to 36)
Marriage with Aṅga and the birth of Vena
Through Rambhā’s help, Sunīdhā was united with Aṅga. Their son was Vena. As the devas and ṛshis had feared, he carried the adharma of the curse. Vena became a king of extreme wickedness. He rejected the Vedic order and took up pāśaṇḍa teachings (teachings against the Veda). He forbade yajña (fire ritual). He declared himself greater than all the devas and worthy of all ārādhanā (worship) himself. The ṛshis killed him with a tṛṇa curse, a weapon made of grass.
Aṅga’s great virtue did not fully remove the effect of the curse in Vena. Yet from Vena’s right arm came Pṛthu, the greatest of dharmic kings. (Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, chapters 36 to 38)
Sources
- Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, chapters 30 to 38 (Vena Upākhyāna), with chapters 32 to 36 for Sunīdhā, Suśaṃkha, Rambhā and Aṅga