Śivaśarma of Dvārakā
Śivaśarma · śiva-śarman
Maṅgalā has other meanings too: see all meanings of Maṅgalā. Sudevā has other meanings too: see all meanings of Sudevā.
Śivaśarma was a brāhmaṇa (priestly scholar) who lived in Dvārakā. The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa of the Padma Purāṇa describes him as a householder of dharma, learning and devotion. His whole household was ruled by Vishṇu-bhakti (devotion to Bhagavān Vishṇu).
The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa tells two connected narratives about him. In the Śivaśarmopākhyāna (Chapters 1–5), he tests his five sons for the depth of their pitṛ-bhakti (devotion to their father). In the Sukala-caritra (Chapters 35–38), the story turns to his two wives, Sudevā and Maṅgalā.
Who he was
Śivaśarma lived in Dvārakā, the holy city of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa on the western shore of Bhāratavarsha. He was a brāhmaṇa of right conduct and Vishṇu-bhakti, and he had five sons. He had two wives. His first wife was Sudevā, who lived against dharma. His second wife was Maṅgalā, a mahāpativratā (a wife of the highest loyalty to her husband). One wife failed in patī-śuśrūshā (service to her husband) and the other perfected it. Both stories are told in the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa (Chapter 1).
The five sons and their tests
Śivaśarma decided to test each son’s pitṛ-bhakti before he left the world. Each test showed a different side of devotion to a father.
- Yajñaśarma, the eldest. Śivaśarma ordered him to get rid of what looked like his mother’s dead body. Yajñaśarma obeyed at once and without doubt. This showed that the father’s order stood above every other duty. Then the trick was revealed, and the mother was unharmed. Yajñaśarma passed.
- Vedaśarma. A woman, arranged through Śivaśarma’s will, made a request to him and said that it would honour his father. Vedaśarma cut off his own head. He gave up his life rather than refuse what would serve his father’s purpose.
- Dharmaśarma. His brother was dead, so Dharmaśarma did tapas (austerity) and called Yamadharmarāja himself. Yama offered him any vara (a boon). Dharmaśarma asked only for firm pitṛ-bhakti and for Vedaśarma’s life to be given back. Yama granted both.
- Vishṇuśarma. He did tapas, and Indra tested him. Indra sent the apsarā Menakā to break his focus. Vishṇuśarma stayed unmoved and finished his tapas. He received amṛta (the nectar of immortality) from Indra. The four sons then rose to Vishṇuloka.
- Somaśarma, the youngest. Śivaśarma and his wife took the form of two disgusting lepers and came to Somaśarma as patients. Somaśarma served them without a break through years of care. He never wavered, even when they abused him. Then the truth was shown. His service had been given without knowing who the two were, and it was confirmed as the deepest form of pitṛ-bhakti.
The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa tells these tests in Chapters 1–4.
The rise to Vishṇuloka
When the tests of all five sons were complete, Somaśarma knew the two lepers as his parents. Śivaśarma and his wife then rose to Vishṇuloka. They had raised sons of extraordinary pitṛ-bhakti, and they left the world sure that their duty was done. This is told in Chapter 5.
His wives: Sudevā and Maṅgalā
In a separate thread of the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Śivaśarma’s household is the setting for the teaching on pātivratya (a wife’s loyalty to her husband).
His first wife Sudevā did not follow dharma. She failed in patī-śuśrūshā, and she was later born as a śūkarī (a female boar), trapped in an animal birth.
His second wife Maṅgalā was a mahāpativratā of rare quality. Her whole life was given to serving Śivaśarma. When she met the śūkarī who was Sudevā reborn, she understood the plight of the trapped being. She then made the greatest dāna (gift): she gave away all her stored puṇya (merit) from serving her husband to the śūkarī. At once the śūkarī dropped her animal body, rose in her divine form as Sudevā, and went up to svarga (heaven).
The difference between the two wives is the central teaching of the Sukala-caritra. One neglected pātivratya. The other kept it so fully that its power could free another being. This is told in Chapters 35–38.
Somaśarma and Prahlāda
After Śivaśarma and his wife had gone to Vishṇuloka, Somaśarma did tapas at Śālagrāma-kshetra. Rākshasas came near, and a sudden fear fell on him, and he died. The sattva (purity) of his pitṛ-bhakti carried his being into a new birth. He was born as Prahlāda in the house of Hiraṇyakaśipu.
The same quality that made Somaśarma serve his leper parents with unshaken devotion made Prahlāda keep his Vishṇu-bhakti in the house of Hiraṇyakaśipu, the great enemy of Bhagavān Vishṇu. This is told in Chapter 5.
Sources
- Padma Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 1–5 (the Śivaśarmopākhyāna)
- Padma Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 35–38 (the Sukala-caritra)