ANASUYA - SITA'S GURU ! : THE GODDESS OF CHASTITY AND HOSPITALITY

ANASUYA – SITA’S GURU !     :       THE GODDESS OF CHASTITY AND HOSPITALITY 

              

                

Anasuya was the wife of Sage Atri.  Sage Atri was one of the Sapta Rishis being Vasistha, Bharadvaja, Jamadagni, Gautama, Vishwamitra, Agastya and  Atri.

Anasuya was most chaste, charitable and pious woman.   Sage Narada sung the laurels of Anasuya in the Brahma Loka, Vaikuntha and Kailasa.  The wives of the holy trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva become jealous of Anasuya.  

Anasuya is a synonym for no jealousy.

Before exploring the story of Anasuya, her chastity belt and hospitality we need to know the circumstances that leading to her chastity test.

Anasuya is the daughter of Kardama Prajapati and Devahooti. She was well established in Pativrata Dharma. ‘Pati means husband and ‘Vrata’ means vow. Pativratas are those who have taken vows, even if it means risking life, to devote their life faithfully to their husbands. The husbands are worshipped and served with all their heart, mind and soul. Goddess Anasuya served Atri with intense devotion. She did severe tapas for the welfare of her husband and to beget sons equal to the Gods. Her personal endeavor of discipline undertaken to achieve a goal was not without tests and sufferings. But towards such tapas, Anasuya was second to none.

As such Anasuya invoked her pativrata shakti, took refuge at Atri’s feet and sprinkled a few drops of water used for washing the husband’s feet. Water collected from patha puja of Gurus’s and husbands is called Charanamrita and it is holy water.  At the instance of the sprinkling, the Trimurtis were converted into three little children. At the same time, she felt the urge of motherhood and there was accumulation of milk in her breast.  Standing nude, She breast fed the three children as if her own and with motherly passion. She waited for Maharishi Atri to relate the event but he had already known what has transpired through divine vision. Upon return, Atri embraced the three children.

Now the Saraswathi, Lakshmi and Parvathi are in a fix, aren’t they? Sage Narada travels to Brahma Loka, Vaikuntha and Kailasa to inform that their husbands have been turned into little babies through Anasuya’s pavithra shakti. Big problem! The Trinity could revert to their original status only after the Consorts asked for Pati Bhiksha – praying for the return of their Husbands. You can’t win all the time - can you?   that is what the Consorts did. They appeared before Maha Sati Anasuya and asked pati biksha. She duly honored the three Goddesses and with folded hands prayed to them that her wish for children should be fulfilled. The boon was given.

Then the Trinity appeared in their true form before Maharishi Artri and Maha Sati and blessed them a child equal to the Trinity. ‘He will be known as Dattatreya’ They said – the sage avatar of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. Datta is regarded as the Adi-Guru. Thereafter, the divine couple were blessed with the sage Durvasa and the Moon-god Chandra. The triplets were therefore ‘Amsas’ meaning born of divine manifestations.

SITA AND ANASUYA: In her later years Anasuya would become a confidante to many. She had settled with her children in Sati Anusuya Ahsrama, located further upstreams the Mandakini river. Valmiki describes in the Ramayana that apparently there was no rain in Chitrakuta for a decade. There was famine affecting human, animals and birds. Anusuya performed intensive austerities and got the Mandakini River down on earth. Mandakini River led to fresh greenery. Forests and vegetation removed all sufferings on the land ruled by Ravana. The dense forest of Dandaka starts from this place.

Once Sita meets her and shares memories of Ayodhya. There were many who wanted Sita’s hand in marriage. It was supposed to be self-choice, a Swayamvara. The groom was not decided before hand and was to be Sita’s choice. But King Janaka faced an issue in this area. He had found Sita in a field, so her ancestry could not be traced to ascertain her future. Janaka did not want to give her up so easily. He placed the lifting of the bow as a condition to those who came like a line of conveyer belt. The thought of marriage made him feel he was losing a fortune. Sita described the circumstances to Anasuya many years later. ‘After seeing that I had reached an age suitable for giving me away to a proper husband in marriage, my father became overcome with fear and anxiety, like a man who was about to become poor’ – Valmiki Ramayana Ayodhya Kand 118.34.

                      

                   

It was in this ashram that Anasuya explains to Sita the grandeur and importance of satitva – chastity and total devotion to one’s husband. She also brought great joy to Sita with her hospitality and taught her the duties of a woman and fidelity to one’s husband. Vedic culture sets the syllabus for virtuous woman. Pathni is one who leads the husband through life; dharmapathni is one who guides the husband in dharma and sahadharmacharini is one who moves with the husband on the path of dharma – righteousness and duty. Anasuya has set the stage as a living example of such virtues***.

Dandaka was once a kingdom called Janasthan, ruled by one Danda.  While out hunting one day, Danda came upon a beautiful woman called Aruja and he forced himself upon her.   After becoming the rape victim,  a traumatized Aruja ran  crying upto her father, a rishi by the name of  Shruka.  An enraged  Shruka reportedly said that “A land where boundaries are not respected is no different from a jungle” cursing that dust storms and thunderstorms  would wipe away Danda’s kingdom of Janasthan, leaving no trace of it replacing with a jungle.  And so this land has become the most dreadful of forest that few dared to cross and was known as Dandakaranya.

In the forest there are no boundaries, no rules.  During his 14 years of exile when Ram stepped in, he remembered his ancestors and said, “Ram may leave Ayodhya, but Ayodhya shall never leave Ram”.  Then glancing towards Sita, he added ‘As Videha has never left Sita’.

The epic Ramayana is aligned along Dakshina-patha or the south highway that connects northern India to Southern India while the epic Mahabharatha is aligned along Uttara-patha or the northern highway that connects western India to Eastern India.  Thus the two great epics cover the length and breadth of India.

The trio – Ram, Sita and Lakshman – decided to spend the night at the edge of dreadful forest Ram could not sleep.  As the wind whistled he watched stars and sensed Sita watching him.  ‘This too shall pass’, Sita said.  He knew that too, but knowledge is no antidote to anxiety.  His mind was like the restless comet. ‘Let us enjoy what we have, my husband, rather than wonder about what we had or could have. Let us enjoy the stars,’ she said.  So while Lakshman watched over the fire, Ram and Sita watched the sky until they were overtaken by sleep.  Before he shut his eyes, however, Ram placed his bow between him and Sita thus indicating his desire to live a celibate life. 

At dawn, Sita woke up to find that Ram and Lakshman at the feet of a beautiful woman.  She had large eyes, a generous smile and a sensuous figure.  Who was she?  The lady noticed Sita, and called out, ‘Come here, little one, I am your husband’s elder sister, Shanta.’

Shanta made Sita to sit on her lap and said, ‘Your decision to follow your husband to the forest is indeed a noble one.  But it will not be easy for you to travel dressed as a bride, with two handsome men beside you, neither of them looking at you, one because he is a hermit and the other because you are his brother’s wife. 


Everywhere around, you will hear the mating calls of birds, you will see snakes and frogs and deer and tigers in intimate embrace, and you will smell flowers calling out to the bees and butterflies.  Your body will cry out; how you will resist the call of your senses, Sita?  And the Rakshasas: they do not know the meaning of celibacy and fidelity.  They will compel you and these two brothers of mine to satisfy their desires, for it is the most natural thing to do.   What you will do then, Sita? How will you save yourself from your desires and those of the men around you?  There are no boundaries in the forest, Sita.  Where there are no boundaries, there is no violation.’

Sita wondered why Shanta was telling her these things.  She had heard the feelings Shanta spoke of in the romantic stories and love songs of bards, but had never really felt them.   Yes, she liked the way she had felt when Ram looked at her during the wedding ceremony and the few times they had met in the   women’s courtyard, but now he never looked at her, at least not in that way.  Is that what Shanta spoke of, or was it something else?

Sensing her thoughts, Shanta elaborated.  ‘You are still young but your body is changing, my child.  I can sense it.  You will sense it too.  It is as if your stepping into the forest has caused it to bloom.  You are truly the daughter of the earth.’

Songs depicting conversations between Sita and Shanta are often found in South Indian folklore.

Shanta took Sita to the hermitage of Anasuaya and Atri.  

 

             

 


Now let us retell the story of Anasuya.

Once three handsome tapasvis came to her, while her husband was away, and said, “We have been fasting for twelve years.  To break our fast we have to suckle on the breasts of a Rishi’s wife.  Will you help us?  Anasuya agreed.  She saw the three youths as the children she never had.  So she uncovered herself and the three youths, of questionable intent, turned into three infants.    

The wives of the youths then begged for forgiveness and Anasuya was surprised to learn their true intentions:  they were seeking to seduce her, to destroy her reputation as the most chastened woman on earth.  Anasuya forgave the tapasvis unconditionally, for in her view, despite performing tapasya, the youths were still children, seeking pleasure in trickery.   She restored them to the original youthful forms and offered them food from her kitchen to break their fast.

In gratitude, the three youths blessed Anasuya that she would be mother of a great son, Datta, who would need no teacher, he would learn from all the things he saw: the sky, the earth, fire, water, wind, rocks, rivers, plants, animal, birds, insects, men and women.   He would become Adinath the primal teacher.  
  

      

 

Anasuya welcomed Janaka’s daughter and took her under a flower-bearing tree, where she revealed to her the secrets of her body that had finally started to unfold.  She gave Sita a garment, a garland and a pot of cream.  That garment would never become dirty, the garland would never whither and the cream would always soften her skin.

‘Had you been in the palace, this would have a great ceremony.  Your father would have sent you gifts, so would your mother.  Your mothers-in-law would bathe you in turmeric water and bedeck you with flowers.   You would be given a courtyard of your own and when you felt ready, you would send areca nuts wrapped in betel leaves to your husband and invite you to show you the Arundathi star.  But alas, for that to happen, you have to wait for fourteen years.  What can I give you to compensate?’

“The strength to survive these fourteen years in the forest,  being true to both mind and body.  My Sister-in-law says it will not be easy”, said Sita.

‘If you see chastity as an obligation, it will be tough, not otherwise’, said Anasuya. ’If you acknowledge the desires of your body, not suppress them, and reflect on what really matters to you in life, it will not be tough.’

                                                                                                                                                                                      

Atri saw his wife bedeck Sita.  So he asked Ram and Lakshman.  ‘It is spring and the flower has bloomed. Can the bee resist the nectar?

Lakshman spoke first:  My flower sleeps in Ayodhya.  She will bloom fourteen years hence.’

Then Ram said, ‘I am not a bee.  Neither I am a butterfly.  I am a human, scion of a Raghu clan, who has to live as a hermit in the forest for fourteen years.  Nothing will make my mind waver.

Atri was convinced that Ram has grown up as a true ascetic and can control his senses. 

• ·           In folklore, the three ascetics who try to seduce Anasuya are Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

• ·         Datta or Dattatreya, son of Atri is worshipped as Adinath, the primal teacher, and is considered  a   form of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.  He is called Adinath because he has no Guru and has gained  wisdom by observing the world around him, according to the Avadhut Gita of the Bhagavat Purana.

• ·       The gift of cloth and cosmetics that Anasuya gives Sita reinforces the great value given to SHRINGARA or beautifying the body, in Vedic times.

I am a great admirer of Chastity in a woman and thus the story of Anasuya who was the epitome of chastity finds a place in JOHNNY’S Blog.

P.S.:  The photos of women shown in this BLOG post are those of who essayed the role of Sita, Shanta        and Anasuya  on Celluloid, Mini Screen and Bharatha Natyam, an Indian Classical Dance Form.