DIVINE INFORMATION 2-29 MatsyaPurana part16
Postedby: "DILIP KUMAR RAVINDRAN" prd...@yahoo.com prdili Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:32 am (PDT) Kacha and Devayani The gods and the demons fought witheach other all the time. As you know, Brihaspati was the preceptor of the gods and Shukracharyawas the preceptor of the demons.Shukracharya knew a wonderful art known as mritasanjivani.This was the knowledge of bringing back dead people to life. (The Harivamsha tells us thatShukracharya learnt this art by prayingto Shiva and pleasing him. The Matsya Purana refers to this story later.) Since Shukracharya knew this art,the gods were in a terrible fix. Any demons whom the gods killed were promptlybrought back to life by Shukracharya. But Brihaspati knew no such art. So anygods that the demons killed, stayed dead. The gods pondered about this problemand finally arrived at a solution. Brihaspati had a son named Kacha.The gods told Kacha. "Go and become Shukracharyaтs disciple. Try to learnthe art of mritasanjivani from him. Shukracharya has a beautiful daughter namedDevayani. Try tocurry her favour so that your task maybecome easier." Kacha went to Shukracharya."Please accept me as your disciple," he said. "I am the great Brihaspati’s son. I willserve you faithfully for a thousandyears." Since nomention was made of mritasanjivani, Shukracharya gladly agreed to thisproposition. Kacha lived with Shukracharya and served his guru (teacher). He became friendly with Devayani and Devayani started to fall in love with Kacha. Five hundred years passed. The demons got to know that Kacha wasBrihaspatiтs son. Since they hatedBrihaspati, they hated Kacha as well. Kacha was in the habit of takingShukracharyaтs cattle to the forest to graze. When Kacha was alone in theforest, the demons seized their chance. They slew Kacha and fed his body to the tigers. In the evening, the cattle returnedhome alone. Kacha was not with them. eeing this, Devayani told her father,"The cattle have returned home without Kacha. I am certain that someone has killed him. I am in love with Kacha and cannot survive without him. Pleasedo something." "Do not worry,"Shukracharya told Devayani. "I will bring Kacha back to life with the art of mritasanijivani. " As soon as Shukracharya recited themagical mantra (incantation) , Kachaappeared before them, hale and hearty. Days passed. Kacha went to the forest once more,this time to pluck flowers. The demonskilled him again. But this time they burnt the dead body and mixed the ashes in a goblet of wine. They then served the wine to Shukracharya to drink. When Kacha didnot return, Devayani again told her father. "I am certain that someone haskilled Kacha. I cannot survivewithout him. Please do something. Through this powers, Shukracharyadiscovered what had happened. He told his daughter, "We have a real problem onour hands. Kacha is inside my stomach. I can revive Kacha by summoning him through mritasanjivani. But in the process, he will have to tear asundermy body and I shall die. Tell me, beloved daughter, which do you want?Either Kacha or your father willlive." "I refuse the choice." replied Devayani. "Both you and Kacha must live. Icannot survive without either." Shukracharya then decided that therewas only one way out. He addressed Kacha, who was inside his stomach, and taughthim the words of the mrtasanjivani mantra. He then recited the words himself and outcame Kacha. Shukracharyaтs body was tornapart and the sage died. But Kacha had learnt the words of the mantra. He now recited them to bring Shukracharya back to life. Kacha thuslearnt what he had set out to achieve.After spending a thousand years with Shukracharya, he prepared to return to heaven. "Where are you going?" askedDevayani. "Do you not know that I am in love with you? Please marry me." Iam afraid that I cannot do that,"replied Kacha. "You are my guruтs daughter. Therefore, you are my superiorjust as my guru is my superior. I cannot marry you. Moreover, I have spentsome time inside his body. And when I came out, it was as if a son had been born from him. Youare therefore my sister. How canI possibly marry you?" Devayani became very angry."You are playing with words," she said. "I curse you that although you have learnt theart of mritasanjivani, it will prove tobe of no use to you." "You have needlessly cursedme," retorted Kacha. "I too curse you that no brahmana will ever marry you and that you will never get whatever it is that you wish for. "Sharmishtha and Devayani As you alreadyknow, Sharmishtha wasthe daughter of Vrishaparva, the kingof the danavas.Sharmishtha and Devayani were greatfriends, until Indra played some mischief. The two friends had gone to bathe in a pondand had left their clothes on the bank. Indra adopted the form of a breeze and mixed up theclothes. When Sharmishtha donned her clothes after having had her bath, sheput on Devayani’s clothes by mistake. Devayani said, "How dare youwear my clothes? My father is your father’steacher and you are my inferior in every respect. You have no business to put on my clothes." "I am not your inferior." repliedSharmishatha. "It is you who are my inferior. My father is the king and yourfather thrives on my father’s generosity." The two friends started to quarrel. Sharmishtha flung Devayani intoa well and left her there, taking her to bedead. At that time, King Yayati came tothe forest on a hunt. He was thirsty and looked for some water. When he found the well, hediscovered Devayani inside it.He rescued Devayani. Yayati also fell in love with her, so that the two got married.Shukracharya got to know about allthis and was furious at the treatment that Sharmishtha had meted out to his daughter. He threatened toleave the demons. Vrishaparva did hisbest to persuade Shukracharya not to leave them, but Shukracharya insisted that he wouldstay only if Devayani was pacified.Vrishaparva promised to give Devayani whatever it was that she wished for. "Sharmishtha has insulted me," saidDevayani. "She has called me her inferior. My mind will be set at rest only if Sharmishtha serves as a servant. Vrishaparvaagreed to this condition and "Sharmishtha became Devayaniтs servant,together with one thousand other demon women. After Yayati and Devayani gotmarried. Shukracharya told Yayati, "Sharmishta is Devayaniтs servant andyou are married to Devayani. Under no circumstances marry Sharmishtha, otherwise I am going tocurse. In due course, Devayani gave birthto Yadu and Turvasu. Sharmishtha had secretly married Yayati and she too gave birthto Druhya, Anu and Puru. "How came you to have sons? Who is yourhusband?" Asked Devayani. "My husband is a brahmana," replied Sharmishtha."I do not know his name." Butwhen Devayani asked Druhya, Anu and Puru about their father, the truth came out. They told her that theywere King Yayati’s sons. "You have insulted me," Devayanitold Yayati. "I will remain your wife no longer. You have married my servant." Shukracharya was also furious. Yayati had gone against his wishesand had married Sharmishtha. Shukracharya cursed Yayati that old age would set upon the king, although he was still in the prime ofyouth. "Please do not curse me," said Yayati. "I am married toyour daughter. I wish to live with heras her husband. Do you wish your son-in-law to be an old servant?" "My curse cannot be lifted," repliedShukracharya. "But I will try and mitigate the effects. I grant youthe power that you can pass on this oldage to whomsoever you wish." It was this old age that Puru accepted. The Matsya Purana nowdescribes the descendants of Yadu,Turvasu, Druhya, Anu and Puru. Iwill continue in next posting. Posted to google groups by R. Gopalakrishnan on30-11-2021 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to thatha_patty+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/29850271.4465013.1638262833985%40mail.yahoo.com.
