Arundhati

 

Arundhati

We saw the story of Anusuya. (https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2024/05/anusuya-and-trimurtis.html). This is the story of another Rishipathni, Arundhati, the wife of Rishi Vasishta. Arundhati and Vasistha were an ideal couple. There is an interesting story in the Shivapurana on the previous birth and life of Arundhati and her rise to eminence and fame.

    In the constellation of stars that we call the the Saptarishi Mandala (Ursa Major constellation), we can see the star that represents Vasishta, while Arundhati is a smaller (twin) star circling Vasistha. At a Vedic wedding, the priest shows the twin stars to the couple asking them to emulate the ideals of Arundhati and Vasistha in their married life. 

Arundhati is mentioned in our Puranas and Ithihasa. So who was Arundhati? Why is she famous enough to have a star named after her and placed in the Saptarishi Mandala. Let us go back a bit.

There is a story in the Shiva Purana of a girl called Sandhya that throws light on Arundhati. 

The creator Lord Brahma once created a beautiful manasa putri (Child born through meditation). This girl was named Sandhya. Sandhya was a pious and devout girl from a young age. To seek Shiva’s blessings, on the advise of Vasistha, she went to the forest and did a deep tapasya to Shiva for four yugas.

At the end of the fourth yuga, a very pleased Shiva appeared in front of Sandhya. He blessed her and asked her what she desired. Sandhya was overwhelmed by the presence of Shiva. She praised him reciting all his traits and characteristics. Shiva was very pleased with this young girl.

Shiva again asked what she desired. Sandhya responded saying “I would like you to bless me to become the most famous woman in the three worlds. No creation or child of mine shall become lustful or degraded. Any person who looks at me with lustful eyes shall lose his manliness. I would like to marry a man who respects me and is my friend first and my husband later.”

Shiva blessed her and granted her all she desired. He told her that she will marry a wise and learned man and live with him as a couple for seven kalpas. (One kalpa is supposed to be one day and night of brahma. One kalpa is equal to 994 yugas).

Shiva also told her that during the four yugas she spent in tapasya, Daksha got 27 of his daughters married to the beautiful Chandra. Since Chandra was partial to one of the daughters Rohini, this made his other daughters unhappy. So Daksha cursed Chandra that he would lose both his beauty and lustre, and disappear. The disappearance of Chandra led to an imbalance in the cosmos and worried the Gods.

Chandra prayed to Brahma for redemption. Brahma created the Chandrabaga river. Chandra did a snaan (bath) in the river as directed by Lord Brahma and did Shiva puja to get out of the curse. Shiva took a sliver of Chandra and placed it in his head thereby preventing Daksha’s curse from making Chandra disappear completely. This restored the balance of the cosmos.

Lord Shiva continued to tell his story to Sandhya “When the devas came to Bhulok looking for a place of redemption, they passed you. You were deep in your tapasya towards me. They blessed that your tapasya should be fulfilled.”

Shiva continued, “On the banks of this sacred Chandrabaga river that was created by Brahma, Sage Medathithi is performing a yagna. Since your birth as Sandhya is coming to an end, enter the yagna fire and rise as a new born.”

Shiva told her “I will make sure that you are invisible to the others in the yagna when you enter the sacrificial fire. The new birth will help you in fulfilling your desires. At the time when you enter the sacrificial fire, whoever you think about will become your husband in the next birth and will be your friend, companion and husband for seven kalpas. Your marital life shall serve as a reminder of an ideal couple for newly weds.”

Sandhya followed the instructions of Shiva. She went to Medathithi’s yagna and entered the fire. She remembered Vasishta who taught her the Shiva mandiram and the process of doing the Shivapuja. 

The fire God conducted the essence of her spirit to the auspicious Sun God, Surya. Surya was pleased to receive the essence of this person who was a devotee of Shiva, did a penance for four yugas and finally sacrificed her physical body as per Shiva’s instructions.

To benefit all of humanity, Surya, the Sun God split the essence of Sandhya into two and put them in the front and back of his chariot. The essence in the front of the chariot became known as Prathaha Sandhya and pleased the Gods and the essence in the back of the chariot was called Sayam Sandhya and pleased the manes.

(The essence of a pious person is essentially their energy or good deeds that they accumulate during their life time. In the case of Sandhya, she started her penance at a young age, was single mindedly focussed on Lord Shiva and gave up her physical form as per Lord Shiva’s advice. Hence, her essence / energy would have carried the power of her tapasya and blessings from the Gods.)

In the meantime, the physical body of Sandhya that entered the yagna fire of Medathithi became a small and glorious girl child. When the yagna was over, Medhathithi was surprised and pleased to find this girl child. He brought her up as his own child thinking of her as the prashad for his devotion and yagna.

Medathithi and his wife named the child as Arundhati. Growing up in the pious household of Medathithi at Tapasaranya (the hermitage of Sage Medathithi on the banks of the river Chandrabaga) Arundhati was well versed in the ways of a religious household. The blessings of Shiva and the upbringing of her parents ensured that Arundhati was obedient to her parents, devoted to her religious duties and well versed in the scriptures.

At a suitable age, Arundhati’s parents decided to get her married to Sage Vasishta. This was as per the blessings of Lord Shiva who told Sandhya that the person who she thinks about while entering the fire will be her husband. The fame of Medathithi, the reputation of Vasishta and the fondness for Arundhati made this marriage a much celebrated event. Vasishta and Arundhati were married in the presence of Trimurthis Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma.

The couple went on to live an ideal life and gave birth to many famous children including Sage Sakthi and Chitraketu. The Mahabharatha describes her as a woman completely devoted to her husband. It is also said though pious and devoted to her household and husband, Arundhati was knowledgeable enough to give discourses to the Saptarishis on Vedic concepts. It is said that when a severe drought afflicted the forest and made the lives of the rishis and hermits living there difficult, a prayer by Arundhati brought rains.

Arundhati is perhaps a shining example of an accomplished woman of ancient times who was still happy to support and fulfil her responsibilities as a rishipathni. Perhaps that is why she found a place in the Saptarishi mandala as a star with a status equal to that of the rishis.

Next time we look at the sky and can identify the Ursa Major, let us make sure we look at the star of Arundhati and pay our silent respect to her.