Sampoorna Mahabharata • సంపూర్ణ శ్రీమహాభారతము • Episode 30

Maharishi Jaratkaru decides to leave his wife
Jaratkara Maharishi decided to marry and beget a son so as to uplift his ancestors. But he put forth a condition that he would marry only that girl who bore the same name as him and who would be offered in bhiksha by her relatives. He then resumed his journey.
As he was aged, no man was willing to give his daughter to him in marriage. In desperation he went into the woods and shouted, ‘If there is any female, of any species, who bears the same name as mine, please offer her to me. But remember to not burden me with the responsibility of maintaining her. I am marrying for the upliftment of my ancestors’.
The serpents who were in vicinity heard this and reported it to their king Vasuki who in great happiness, decked sister Jaratkaru in bridal attire and offered her as bhiksha to the rishi.
But the Maharishi did not accept her immediately. He asked, ‘What is her name?’ and then revealed his vows.
Vasuki said, ‘O best among Brahmins! Her name is Jaratkaru and hence she bears the same name as you. She is addicted to penance. In this aspect too there is unity between you both. I accept all your other clauses. I will take her responsibility. There is nothing you need to do to please her. Please marry her’.
Jaratkara said, ‘She must never do any deed that displeases me. Without asking me she must read my mind and do as per my will. If she goes against my will, I will leave her then and there’. Vasuki agreed.
Maharishi then went to Vasuki’s home and in according to Vedic procedure married her. The next moment, he said to her, ‘Never do anything that displeases me. Never utter words not loved by me. Any mistake I shall leave you and go away’. She agreed.
Time went by. She was pregnant. One evening, totally fatigued, Jatarkara Maharishi placed his head on her lap and drifted off to sleep.
‘To sleep during sunset and abstain from offering water-oblations to Sun-god is against dharma’- thought Jaratkaru. Fearing that her husband may abstain from dharma, this chaste lady was frightened. ‘My husband is very righteous. He is very harsh. If I wake him up now, will I obtain merit? Or will he think that I am acting against his will?’- she thought deeply.
‘If he abstains from the duty mandated to him, it will harm the lineage. He will incur sin. To wake him implies going against his will. What am I to do? If I don’t wake him, he may get angry with me, for, he would have erred in his disciplines. Either way I am in trouble.
If I do wake him up now, he will be angry with me. This is true. But if I don’t wake him up, the Sandhya time will pass by and he would have erred in completing his duties. Then also he could be angry with me.
In this dilemma, I think I can withstand my husband’s anger but I will not allow dharma to be transgressed. Therefore, I shall wake him up’- she thought.
With very gentle words she woke him up. She said, ‘O Mahabhaga, please get up. The Sun is setting. Please complete Sun worship. The homa fire is ready. Worship the Fire-god. This is the auspicious time for completion of your dharmic duties. In the west, the Sun is setting’.
Maharishi Jaratkara immediately got up. He was furious. He said, ‘You have insulted me. Henceforth I will not live with you. Do you think the Sun has the guts to set when I am asleep? Do you think he has that power? No one can tolerate this insult, especially not a righteous man like me’.
Grieving and trembling, she said, ‘Please excuse me. I did not do any wrong. Seeking that you must not be tainted by sin of transgressing dharma, I acted thus’.
Without listening, he said, ‘You had agreed to the condition I had laid down during marriage. Therefore, I am now leaving. You report this matter to your brother’.
Weeping, she said, ‘O dharmajnya, you never transgress dharma. Nor do I. is it right on your part to abandon me, who has done no wrong? When giving me in marriage to you my brother Vasuki said to me, ‘Dear sister, due to the curse given by our mother, all our kinsmen are troubled. There is one way for us to overcome this curse. It can happen only by the son born to you. He alone will uplift us’.
But till now I have not got a son. Only if a son is born my relatives can be freed from the curse. If you truly seek the wellbeing of my kinsmen, please listen to my prayer. The child in my womb has not even obtained a shape till now. Is it right on your part to abandon me, who is faultless?’
Maharishi Jaratkara said, ‘O Devi, the child in your womb will glow like fire’.