We all know that Dhaumya was chosen as the family priest of Pandavas. Before that Arjuna had once met with Chitraratha; the king of the Gandharvas and defeated him who had genuinely advised him of the origin of 'Tapatya' and the necessity of appointing a priest for a King by giving him the example of King Samvarana(Sambarana) whom his priest sage Vasishtha had helped in getting Tapati; the daughter of Sun or Surya god. Moreover, Arjuna who was born to Kunti was also acknowledged as 'Tapati Nandana' via Gandharva.
(Please check the below video👇 in Hindi)
Surya god had a daughter named 'Tapati'. She used to be engrossed in 'Tapasya' or penance constantly for which she was once named as such. Not any females from Deities, demons, and Yakshas matched her exceptional beauty. She reached her youth. Sun god was concerned as he didn't find any appropriate husband for his daughter. Those days King Riksha had a mighty son named Samvarana. Samvarana was a religious, charming, and saintly individual who dedicatedly worshipped the sun god. Sun god after seeing the wholehearted devotion of Samvarana towards him, thought of giving his daughter's hand to him. Kshatriyas and Vaishyas used to pray the glorious Samvarana always.
One day the king went on hunting wild animals in a wooded area near a mountain. His horse died out of starvation there. After the death of his horse, the king roamed around the mountain on his feet and observed one fascinating lady there. That female was none other than incredible Tapati. The king flattened by her beauty, stood in front of her while staring. She resembled the goddess Laxmi. He could not take his eyes off that beautiful lady. The king had by no means seen such an appealing woman before in his life. He was consumed by lust and out of curiosity, he requested her introduction and her reasons behind roaming around such a dense forest all alone. The king also elaborated on Tapati about her heavenly beauty and seductiveness which had made the king stunned. That female after listening to everything from the king did not answer him at all and vanished from there. Then the king searched in all places for her, however, could not find her whereabouts. Out of melancholy King lost his consciousness there.
Seeing King Samvarana in such a state, Tapati appeared in front of him and woke him up. In a sweet voice, she told the king that, "a superb king like you must not be subdued through the illusion or moha of a lady." But Her beauty used to be occupied in the mind of the king therefore he expressed his wish and cited that, "it wouldn't be possible for me to live without you. I wish nothing else but to have you." King pleaded with her to fulfil his needs and also gave her the proposal of Gandharva marriage.
Tapati then gave him her introduction and answered him, "Due to the fact that my body as of now belongs to my father only for which I am unable to take such a decision. If you sincerely love me then you must ask my father for my hand followed by way of the rituals, only after taking the permission of my father (Sun god) I will agree to marry you and it will be a great pleasure for me to choose such a devoted king as my husband." Then she went toward the sky and disappeared again. By not having Tapati by his side, the king again lost his sense there.
Ministers along with other guards came to the wooded area looking out for their king Samvarana and found him unconscious on the ground. After awakening their king, they were relieved to see that he was not attacked by enemies at that time. King then sent all of them except his minister back to the kingdom and he stayed on the mountain peak praying to the sun god there. Then he recalled his purohit or priest Sage Vasishtha there. Vashistha with his Ascetic power knew about the feelings of the King towards Tapati.
Sage Vasishtha after discussing with the king, went to meet the sun and offered his prayers to the god. Sun god asked the saintly sage for a boon and Came to know from the sage about the intention of King Samvarana for his daughter. Sage Vasishtha requested his daughter's hand for the king there. Sun god gladly agreed and presented his daughter to the sage. Sage Vasishtha along with Tapati reached close to the king where he was lamentably sitting whilst wondering about Tapati. After that, the king delightfully accepted her as his spouse there. Because of Sage Vasishtha king was able to get Tapati as his beloved wife.
Those days because of the scarcity of rain in the kingdom of Samvarana, all the water of the ocean n n dried up, and poverty and hunger arose out of less farming. Indra deity stopped raining there. People started stealing, killing others, and leaving the kingdom to survive. Seeing such a devastating state of affairs for all people in his kingdom King took the help of sage Vasishtha again, who with his Ascetic power helped in raining there. The king alongside his spouse Tapati and those humans who had already deserted the kingdom reached there. After Seeing them, pleased Indra started raining like before. King alongside his queen Tapati commenced yajna for twelve years.
Considering the reality that Samvarana was the father of kuru as well as the ancestor of Arjuna and Tapati was his wife, hence Gandharva regarded Arjuna being 'Tapati Nandana'.
Ref: Mahabharata book Adi Parva
No comments:
Post a Comment
If you have any doubts, please let me know