Raibhya
Raibhya, simply known as Raibhya, Sanskrit: रैभ्य, Telugu: రైభ్యుడు, Hindi: रैभ्य.
Three different ṛshis named Raibhya appear in the Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata. The first is the ṛshi of Gaṅgādvāra in the Varāha Purāṇa, whose ten thousand years of tapas (austerity) led to the holy place Kubja-āmraka. The second is a ṛshi of the Himāvan in the Skanda Purāṇa, who cursed the apsarā Urvaśī. The third is the Raibhya of the Mahābhārata, father of Arvāvasu and Parāvasu.
Raibhya of Gaṅgādvāra (Varāha Purāṇa)
The great tapas
In the seventeenth yuga of this cycle, Raibhya chose Gaṅgādvāra as the place for his tapas. Gaṅgādvāra is the source-region of the Gaṅgā in the Himālaya. His tapas was very long and very hard. It lasted ten thousand years in all. It was done in stages, each harder than the one before:
- 1,000 years standing in water (jala-sthāna tapas)
- 500 years living on water-moss (śaivāla-bhakshaṇa)
- Further stages of deeper renunciation through the remaining years
The strength of this tapas (tapas-śakti) drew Bhagavān Vishṇu to appear before Raibhya and offer him a vara (a boon). (Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 125)
Bhagavān Vishṇu appears
Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared in a mango tree (āmra) at the place of Raibhya’s tapas. By a divine arrangement this tree was shrinking and bending. It had become kubja (bent, dwarfed) and did not stand in its full glory. The Purāṇa treats trees as living beings. Out of his boundless compassion even for trees, Bhagavān Vishṇu made himself small and bent to match the tree. He made his home beneath it and kept the tree alive by his presence. (Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 125)
The vara
Bhagavān Vishṇu offered Raibhya any vara he wished. Raibhya asked for nothing for himself. He did not ask for moksha (liberation), or for children, or for power, or for knowledge, or for a long life. He asked only that Bhagavān Vishṇu stay in that very place, beneath that mango tree, in that form, so that all who came after him could worship there. (Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 125)
Bhagavān Vishṇu gave this vara without hesitation. He agreed to stay there for ever as Kubja-āmraka, the Bent Mango form. The bent mango tree (kubja-āmra), kept alive by his presence, became the mark of the kshetra (holy ground). The kshetra has eleven smaller tīrthas, seasonal signs and great puṇya (merit). It exists because Raibhya asked for others and not for himself. (Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 125)
Raibhya of the Himāvan (Skanda Purāṇa)
The Ayodhyā Māhātmya in the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa names another ṛshi called Raibhya. The Purāṇa says clearly that he is not the Raibhya known to the Mahābhārata. This Raibhya did hard tapas on the slopes of the Himālaya. He gave up food and held his senses in check.
Indra was alarmed by this tapas and sent the apsarā Urvaśī to disturb it. Urvaśī came to the āśrama (hermitage) and played in the forest nearby. The ṛshi’s senses were stirred. He grew furious and gave her a śāpa (a curse) to become very ugly.
Urvaśī pleaded that she was only a tool of Indra’s will and had not come of her own wish. The ṛshi relented. He told her to go to a tīrtha in Ayodhyā, where she would get her beauty back. She did so, and the place became known as Urvaśīkuṇḍa. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Ayodhyā Māhātmya, Chapter 7)
Raibhya in the Mahābhārata
The Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata tells of another Raibhya. He was a great forest ṛshi who lived next to the āśrama of Bharadvāja, the father of Yavakrīta. He was Bharadvāja’s friend of many years. Raibhya had two sons, Arvāvasu and Parāvasu. Both were learned in the Vedas. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 135)
Bharadvāja’s son Yavakrīta violated Raibhya’s daughter-in-law. Raibhya then performed a rite. From his own matted locks he made a female form and a rākshasa. They chased Yavakrīta and killed him.
Bharadvāja was crushed with grief. He gave Raibhya a śāpa: Raibhya would be killed by his own son. Then Bharadvāja entered the fire himself. The śāpa came true when Parāvasu came home at night and, by mistake, killed his father in the dark forest. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 135–138)
The Raibhya of the Mahābhārata, the Raibhya of the Varāha Purāṇa who made Kubja-āmraka at Gaṅgādvāra, and the Raibhya of the Skanda Purāṇa whose tapas Urvaśī disturbed are three different ṛshis.
Sources
- Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 125
- Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Ayodhyā Māhātmya, Chapter 7
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 135–138