Manorama and Swarochi

March—25—2012            (Sunday)

This story appears in Markandeya Purana.                                                           In the days of epics and puranas (3000—2000 BC), many ladies were educated.  Some of them acquired expertise in one branch of knowledge or other.  Draupadi in Maha Bharatha epic was an expert in interior decoration, beauty parlour (decorating women) and preparing rare health-drinks and wines.   When she stayed in the palace of King Virata, she took the profession of Sairandhri (beauty parlour expert).  Here is a story.

Once King Swarochi went to forests for hunting cruel animals and protect the people of nearby towns and villages.  There he saw a very beautiful teenage girl. She was being chased by a demon (Brahma-rakshasi).  She was running fast and approached Swarochi.  She beseeched the King to protect her from that demon.  She told him her name as Manorama; she was a princess.  She was the daughter of Gandharva King Indeevaraksha.  She had two close friends, Vibhavari and Kalavathi.  Vibhavari was the daughter of Mandara, a king of Vidyadharas.   Kalavathi was the daughter of a sage Maharshi Paaru.         One fine evening, the three friends want to a flower garden inside a forest for a pleasure trip.  There, they collected many sweet-scented  beautiful flowers. Then they found an old aged sage doing meditation (Tapas) in a small cave in the garden.  They were amused and approached him.  They poked in his face for fun.  The sage was disturbed in his tapas; he cursed Manarama that she will be pested by a fierce demon. He cursed her two friends to suffer with incurable disease of tuberculosis.

The curse of the sage caused a fierce demon chasing the princess Manorama.  She begged Swarochi to protect her. She told she learnt  powerful martial techniques of magic weapons from her father.  She offered to teach that Asthra-vidya to Swarochi, so that he can kill the demon. Swarochi agreed. He learnt that Asthra Vidya from Manorama and killed that fierce demon easily.   

Later King Swarochi was married to the princess Manorama by king Indeevaraksha.  Soon Manorama beseeched Swarochi to cure her friends, Vibhavari and Kalavathi.  King Swarochi learnt the science of Ayurveda (herbal medicine) from his mother when he was a boy.  He treated the two damsels for one month with proper medicines; the two damsels were cured completely.

Vibhavari taught Swarochi  a vidya of talking and understanding the languages of birds and animals.  Kalavathi taught Swarochi a vidya called Padmini.  This vidya can provide a person all royal comforts within a few minutes.  Later, King Swarochi married those two damsels and also.  He lived happily for a thousand years with his three learned wives.  This story was depicted beautifully in a great prabandha “Manucharithra” in Telugu by Allasani Peddana who was one of the Ashta Diggaja poets in the royal court of Sri Krishna Devaraya.

This story depicts many women of noble families were experts in various Vidyas (knowledge) during the purana and epic age (3000 to 2000 BC). -------------------------------------------------------------

Author :  Prof. Komaragiri Venkata Ramana Rao. Ph.D., (Retired Professor; Andhra University College of Engineering); Astrologer-Scienitst. Durham. NC; U.S.A.: (Tatayya = Grand-father). My e-mail address : pandit@jyothishi.com---------- I dedicate all these stories in the blog to Sri Parama  Paalakas (Supreme Rulers of this entire Universe): Bhagavan Sri Siddhi Vinayaka,  Sri Lakshmi Narayana and Sri Gouri Sankara and Sri Saraswathi and Bhagavan Sri Venkateswara !