Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 9 Chapter 18:1-17

Book 9: Chapter 18

Prev.png
Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 9: Chapter 18: Verses 1-17
The story of Yayati

Sri Suka resumed : Like the six senses (including the mind) of an embodied soul, the following six were the sons of Nahusa-Yati, Yayati, Samyati, Ayati, Viyati and Krti: Yati (the eldest) did not desire the sovereignty, offered by his father, since he knew the end of sovereignty, having entered which one is no longer able to realize the Self. On his father (Nahusa) having been hurled from heaven and transformed into a python by the (curse of) the Brahmanas (the sage Agastya and others) due to the former's impudence towards Indra's wife, therefore, (it was) Yayati (who) became the king. Yayati (the elder brother) appointed (his four) younger brothers (Samyati and others) as governors in the four quarters (each in one quarter), and, having taken to wife the daughters of Sukracarya and Vrsaparva, ruled over the globe (as its suzerain lord). The king (Pariksit) submitted The glorious Sukracarya was a Brahmana sage and Yayati (the son of Nahusa), a mere Ksatriya. How did the irregular marriage of a Ksatriya king with a Brahmana girl take place ? Sri Suka replied : Accompanied by a thousand girl companions as well as by Devayani, the daughter of Sukracarya (the preceptor of the Danavas), Sarmistha, the virgin daughter of Vrsaparva (the celebrated Danava chief)-who, though belonging to the weaker sex, was (yet) very proud-was strolling, on one occasion, in the city garden, full of flowering trees and adorned with the sandy strands of a lotus pond swarming with sweetly humming bees. Arriving at the pond and leaving their clothes on the margin, those maidens with eyes beautiful as a pair of lotuses sported in it, sprinkling one another with water. Observing Lord Sankara, mounted on a bull alongwith His divine Consort (Goddess Parvati) passing (that way), the damsels felt abashed and put on their clothes, coming out of the pond at once. Sarmistha unwittingly put on the raiment of the preceptor's daughter, regarding it as her own. Getting enraged (at this), Devayani spoke thus "Oh I just look at the indecorum of this servant-maid in that like a bitch snatching away the oblation in a sacrifice she has put on the clothing which was meant to be put on by us. Even among the Brahmanas--by whom this world has been created by dint of (their) asceticism, who represent the mouth of the supreme Person (in the sense that they emanated from the mouth of the Cosmic Person and also because it is by feeding them that the Lord is easily propitiated) and by whom is cherished (as the object of their worship) the (transcendent) Brahma (that is all effulgence), by whom has been revealed the way to blessedness (in the shape of the Vedic religion), whom hail and extol the guardians of the spheres and the rulers of the gods, (nay,) even the almighty Lord, the Soul of the universe, the Purifier (of all) and the abode of Sri (the goddess of beauty and prosperity)-we are the descendants of Bhrgu ! Her (Sarmistha's) father, a demon chief, is a disciple of ours. (Yet) like a Sudra who has learnt by heart the Veda, this wench has put on the garment which was to be worn by us !" Hissing like a female serpent and biting her lips in anger, the ill-treated Sarmistha spoke (as follows) to the preceptor's daughter, who was thus abusing her: "Not knowing your own status, O beggar-maid, you brag much ! Do you not (all) wait at our door like a swarm of crows (the eaters of crumbs offered to them as representatives of the feathered kingdom)?" Reproaching in such exceedingly harsh words the preceptor's daughter, who was worthy of respect, Sarmistha violently dashed her into a well after snatching her clothes through anger.

Next.png

References

Related Articles