Epic Characters of Puranas

Yaajnavalkya, son of Sage Brahmaratha and Sunanda, was a rare brahmajnani. It is said that the Lord initiated him into the Vedas even as he was in his mother's womb. He was born with the blessings of the Sun God. He had the privilege of studying all the four Vedas from the four respective gurus- Paila, Vaishampayana, Jaimini and Sumanthu. He mastered the Karmakanda(which describes the performance of yajnas) and the Jnanakanda(which describes the Godhead). In trying to single handedly help one of his gurus (Vaishampayana) to free him from the sin of killing a brahmin which the guru had earned, Yaajnavalkya ended up inviting the guru's wrath. The guru thought that the sage had been arrogant by suggesting that he was capable of handling the situation alone. This was when he had to give up all the knowledge that he had earned. But, he did it with grace and left the gurukula. The knowledge that he gave up was received by the rishis and this came to be known as Thaithariya, a branch of Yajurveda. Lord Suryadeva initiated him into newer aspects of Yajurveda that hadn't been revealed to anyone till then. This came to be known as Shukla Yajurveda. Yaajnavalkya taught this to Kanva, Madhyandina and to his other disciples. Thus his preceptor's curse turned out to be a blessing. Yaajnavalkya got married to Kathyayini. King Janaka was on the lookout for a brahmajnani whom he could accept as his preceptor. In the conference of mighty scholars that the king had organized for the purpose, Yaajnavalkya shone as he was accepted to be the greatest of brahmajnanis. The sage accepted Maithreyi as his spiritual partner as no woman other than the wife was allowed to stay on the ashram premises. In course of time, the sage wished to free himself of all worldly attachments and aim for salvation. The Ishavasya Upanishad, which is the smallest Upanishad, represents Yaajnavalkya's philosophy. It contains in a nutshell the ideas of knowledge, devotion and action. In other words, it teaches us the art of living and gives us supreme knowledge of Atma and Paramatma. Yaajnavalkya's greatness was acknowledged by Sri Shankaracharya and other great religious leaders.

Dhruva, a bright star right in the middle of a large constellation (Dhruva mandala), was a great devotee of Lord Narayana at the tender age of five. Son of King Uttanapada and Queen Suneethi, he left home and went to the forest in search of the Lord after his step-mother forbade him from sitting on his father's lap and told him to make himself worthy of his father's love. Narada met him on the way and tried to persuade the child to return home but Dhruva was bent upon achieving what his father and grandfather had not. He performed very severe penance and meditated on the Dwadashakshara manthra into which Narada had initiated him. The young devotee not only got the Lord's darshan but also experienced His presence within himself. After this, the Lord granted him immortal status but not until he had performed his duties to his kingdom and his people. Dhruva went on to becoming the emperor after his father became too old for state duties. He avenged the death of his brother at the hands of a Yaksha by killing thousands of yakshas. Only his grandfather, Swayambhu Manu, was able to convince him to stop the bloodshed. This pleased Kubera as Dhruva had renounced anger and hatred. By and by,Dhruva handed over the reins of his kingdom to his son and sat in deep meditation of Lord SriHari.

Matha Parvathi, the mother of the entire world, is delineated in this book in her three forms- as Sati, Parvathi and Kathyayani. Sati was Dakshabrahma and Prasuti's daughter. Her consort, Shiva, didn't get up to pay respects to her father due to which he was cursed. Getting to know that her father was performing a yagna for which all her sisters were invited, Sati sought Shiva's permission to attend the yajna. As Shiva refused to accompany her, she went alone and as expected, her father insulted her husband. Unable to bear it, Sati entered the sacrificial fire. Shiva lost no time in sending Veerabhadra who not only spoilt the yagna but killed Daksha as well. Later, upon Brahma's request, he brought back Daksha to life who completed the yagna and offered havis to Shiva. Shiva retreated to the Himalayas as he had lost Sati and engaged himself in severe penance. Parvathi was born to Meena devi and Himavantha. She served Shiva with all devotion so that he would marry her. When he declined, Manmatha was sent to make him fall in love. Shiva was so enraged that his penance had been disturbed that he burnt Manmatha to ashes. In spite of the devas begging him to marry Parvathi, Shiva didn't relent. So she gave up all her royal finery and continued to serve him through severe tapas. She recognized Shiva when he came to her disguised as a Brahmin after which they got married. A divine child, Kumaraswamy, was born to them in course of time. Devendra vested Kumaraswamy with the responsibility of getting the world rid of Tarakasura. Kathyayini was born of a divine light due to the yogic power of Sage Kathyayana. The purpose of her birth was to destroy the rakshasas as Mahishasura had wrested power over heaven from the devas. She laid a condition to Mahishasura when he desired to marry her – that he must defeat her in battle. A terrible battle ensued in which Kathyayini crushed the marauding Mahishasura with her tender feet.

Srinivasa, also known as Venkateshwara, Venkataramana, Venkatesha, etc. is the reigning deity in Tirupathi, a holy place in Andhra Pradesh. The Tirumala hills comprises seven hills and Lord Venkateshwara is atop the last hill. It is believed that a person who worships the Lord here gets cleansed of all sins as it happened in the case of Madhava. Madhava had committed several sins but he got free of them and in another birth he came to be known as Akasharaya and got Lakshmi as his daughter. Sage Bhrigu was in search of a recipient of a yajna's benefit and thus visited the Trinity. His anger had grown by the time he reached Narayana as he had not been welcomed by either Brahma or Sankara. So when Lord Narayana also didn't pay heed to him, he kicked him on his chest which is the region where Lakshmi dwelt. Though the Lord regretted it and paid due respects to the sage, Lakshmi felt sad and left Vaikunta to dwell at Kolhapur. Unable to stay without his consort, Narayana also descended on earth and reached Venkatachala. He stayed inside an anthill engaging himself in severe tapas. Brahmadeva came to know of it and came disguised as a cow to serve the Lord. As this was a special cow, the queen of the Chola king who reigned there wanted to feed her children with its milk. But, the cow was emptying its udders on the anthill. The cowherd was taken to task and when he found out the truth, he tried to hit the cow with his axe. Narayana tried to protect Brahmadeva and took the blow on himself. The king came in person to see things for himself when Narayana revealed himself. He also told the king that a great king called Akashraya would be born in his line and that his daughter Padmavathi would become Narayana's consort.Narayana then met Varahaswamy with whose help he got a place to stay in Venkatachala. Bakula Devi was sent to serve the Lord. Out on a hunting expedition, Srinivasa saw Padmavathi and both fell in love, but she drove him away from there. Bakula Devi went to approach Akashraya and his queen while Srinivasa himself came to meet them disguised as a female soothsayer. The soothsayer advised the queen to get her daughter married to the person with whom she had fallen in love. Acharya Brihaspathi came to the palace and sent for Sage Shuka. Everyone was happy with the divine alliance. Viswakarma built exquisite buildings to house the guests, Kubera financed Srinivasa's marriage and Sage Vasishta was the royal priest. The marriage was conducted in all splendor. From then on Padmavathi resided close to Narayana.

Bali, the king of Asuras, was Bhakta Prahlada's grandson and Virochana's son. Devendra took away all his wealth and killed him but Shukracharya brought him back to life with the help of Sanjeevani Vidya. Thus, Bali became Sukracharya's disciple and offered all his wealth to his preceptor. Bali wanted to make heaven a part of his kingdom and hence, performed a yaga and entered Amaravathi, Devendra's capital. All the devas left swargaloka on the advice of Brihaspathi as none could face the valour of Bali. Bali now ruled over his vast kingdom of the three worlds. The devas approached Lord Vishnu, who was born as Vamana, and asked him to bring round Bali and return to them all that they had lost. Vamana came to Bali as a young brahmin and impressed the king with his knowledge so much that Bali offered him all that he had. Vamana, who had gone there with a purpose, declined the offer saying that he was interested in establishing a yagashala in memory of his preceptor for which he needed land measuring just three footsteps. Sukracharya warned the king not to give the young Brahmin anything as he was none other than Lord Vishnu in disguise. Instead of taking his preceptor's advice, Bali spoke at length about how he had taken yagnadeeksha which meant that he couldn't refuse anything to someone who had asked for something. Thus Vamana took his famous three steps and in an instant, deprived Bali of all that he had. Bali's followers were so enraged that they waged a bloody battle in which thousands were killed. Bali, on the other hand, advised them to stop fighting and become good. Only then could they hope to get back all that they had lost. The Lord was impressed and made Bali the king of the nether world. Bali thus stood tall by not buckling down to any pressure, be it giving up truth, listening to others' advice or even to his preceptor's curse or advice.

Prahlada, son of the demon Hiranyakashipu who was the Lord's worst enemy, was one of the greatest devotees of Lord Narayana. Wanting to avenge the death of his brother, Hiranyaksha, the demon king performed such severe tapas that even Brahma melted and granted him a boon rendering him all powerful and ruling supreme over the three worlds. The demon king was so arrogant that he had forbidden everyone from even uttering Lord Vishnu's name. It was an irony that his own son, Prahlada, constantly prayed to the Lord and sang his praises.. His teachers Skanda and Amaraka, who were Shukracharya's sons, were surprised at the boy's unshakeable devotion. The king got to know of it and asked one of his servants to take the boy to the forest and kill him. He got him tortured, tied him with the varunapasha and threw him into prison. Gradually, the father was forced to accept defeat. The father and son entered into a duel as a challenge during which Lord Vishnu emerged out of a pillar in Narasimha avatara and killed the king. Vishnu's anger and fury came down only after he saw his devotee, Prahlada's loving countenance. Prahlada begged Him to release his father from all his sins and the Lord readily granted his devotee's wish. In fact, he went further and sent the demon king to heaven. Lord Vishnu blessed Prahlada and said that he would be the emperor of the vast world and be his devotee forever.

The mention of Savithri's name reminds one and all that she was first and foremost one of the greatest pathivrathas. Goddess Savithri is worshipped for begetting progeny. King Aswapathi was one such who received the boon of progeny from the goddess and very rightly, named the child Savithri. She grew up to be beautiful by the day. Princes who came seeking her hand in marriage turned away voluntarily as they thought they were undeserving. Her father thus got anxious and asked her to look for a husband for herself. Roaming far and wide, she settled on Satyavan. Unfortunately, Narada came to know of it and said that though Satyavan was of exemplary character, he was destined to live for just one more year. Even Dhyumatsena, Satyavan's father, was hesitant to accept this divine beauty as his daughter-in-law as he was away from the comforts of the palace and living in a forest. But, Savithri's resolve could not be broken by anyone or anything. As the day of Satyavan's death approached, she undertook a vratha for three days. On the day of Satyavan's death, she accompanied him to the forest. When Yama pulled out Satyavan's atman and started pulling it towards south, Savithri followed him. She did not heed to Yama's advice of going back but in fact, pleased Yama with her utter devotion. Yama relented and gave her back not only her husband but blessings for her to bear a hundred sons.

Puranas are simple stories through which the meaning and principles of the Vedas emerge in a clear and uncomplicated style. They are meant to reach out to the masses because the fountain of knowledge contained in the Vedas must be made available to one and all. Through the ten characters that feature in this series, one gets acquainted with the original creation and the evolution of our culture. What emerges is the thinking of the days of yore but which is relevant for all times, present and future.