Saṃjñā, Chāyā and the Sun

Where the story stands

This short chapter comes in the part of the Umā Saṃhitā where Sūta is telling the sages about the Manus, the fathers of humankind in each age. Having listed the fourteen ages of Manu, he turns to the family from which the present Manu came — the household of the Sun. It is a family story, and Śiva does not appear in it.

The Sun's wife

Vivasvān, the Sun, was born to the great sage Kaśyapa from a daughter of Dakṣa. His wife was the goddess Saṃjñā, daughter of Tvaṣṭā; she was also known as Sureṇukā.

Saṃjñā was young and beautiful, but she was not happy. Her husband's radiance was fierce and impossible to endure. Unable to bear it, she felt herself burning and grew deeply distressed.

She bore the Sun three children. First came Manu, called Śrāddhadeva, a lord of creatures. After him came twins, Yama and Yamunā.

The shadow left behind

After that, looking at the Sun's oppressive form and no longer able to stand it, Saṃjñā made a likeness out of her own lovely shadow. This was Chāyā, a woman made of māyā.

Chāyā spoke to her with devotion: bright, sweetly smiling lady, tell me, what shall I do for you here?

Saṃjñā answered: may it go well with you. I am going to my father's house. Stay in this home without any change in your manner. And if you wish me well, look after my two good-natured sons and this lovely daughter, and bring them up in comfort.

Chāyā gave her word. Goddess, she said, I will put up with ill-treatment right up to the point of being seized by the hair, and until then I will not tell the Sun your secret. Go in peace.

The mare in Uttara Kuru

So Saṃjñā, ashamed, went to her father. But Tvaṣṭā scolded her sharply and pressed her again and again to go back to her husband.

Then she hid her own form. Taking the shape of a mare, she went to the land of Uttara Kuru and wandered there unseen among the grasses.

Chāyā and Yama

The Sun took Chāyā to be Saṃjñā, and by her he had a fine son, Sāvarṇi Manu.

Saṃjñā had asked Chāyā to care for her children, but Chāyā loved her own son Sāvarṇi more and did not show the same affection to Saṃjñā's. Śrāddhadeva Manu put up with it. Yama could not.

Out of childishness — and, the Purāṇa adds, because it was fated — Yama grew angry and raised his foot at Chāyā to threaten her. Chāyā in her fury cursed him: let that foot of yours fall to the earth.

Yama went to his father with folded hands and told him everything. He was badly shaken by fear of the curse. A mother, he said, ought to treat all her sons with the same love. But she has turned her affection away from us and cherishes only our younger brother. That is why I raised my foot to strike her; please forgive me for it. Lord of the gods, brightest of the bright, my mother has cursed me — by your grace let my foot not fall.

The Sun's judgment

The Sun said: son, there must certainly be some reason behind this, for anger to rise in someone like you, who knows dharma and speaks the truth. Yet your mother's word cannot be made false.

This is what will happen, he said. Worms will take flesh from your foot and carry it into the earth. In that way her word will come true and you will be saved as well. Set your mind at rest, my child, and have no doubt.

Then the Sun turned angrily on Chāyā. What have you done, he asked — why do you love one of your sons more and the others less? Tell me.

Scorched by the blazing Sun, Chāyā told him the truth of the matter. And the Sun, having heard it, comforted her.

Tvaṣṭā's wheel

The Sun then went to Tvaṣṭā and asked him where Saṃjñā was.

Tvaṣṭā told him plainly. She burns in your excessive radiance, he said, and so this form of yours does not please her. Unable to bear it, she is living in a forest thick with grass. She is worthy of praise; she has the strength of yoga and abides in yoga. Be gracious, lord of the gods. I will now make your form pleasing.

Hearing this, Vivasvān's anger left him. Tvaṣṭā set him on his grinding-wheel and pared his radiance away. With the excess trimmed off, the Sun's form became beautiful, and he shone all the more handsomely for it.

The Aśvins

Then the Sun, settled in yoga, saw where his wife was — and saw that, through her discipline and her own radiance, no creature could overpower her.

He took the form of a horse and went to her, wishing to be united with her. Saṃjñā saw him approach and, fearing that this was some other male, would not receive him; the Purāṇa says she took his seed through her mouth into her nostrils.

From it were born twin gods, the Aśvinīkumāras, the best of physicians. The two are known as Nāsatya and Dasra.

After that the Sun showed her his new and pleasing form. Seeing her own husband, she looked on him with respect and was glad. With a happy face the faithful wife went home with him, and the two were more content with each other than they had been before.

What became of the children

Yama was deeply pained by what he had done to his mother. He set himself to keeping the people content through dharma, and so he became Dharmarāja. By that conduct he gained lordship over the ancestors and the rank of a guardian of the world.

Sāvarṇi, rich in tapas, also won the rank of a Manu: when the age of Vaivasvata Manu is over, he will be the Manu of the Sāvarṇi age. Even now, Sūta says, he is practising hard tapas on Mount Sumeru.

And Yamī, the younger sister of the two brothers, became Yamunā, the best of rivers, who purifies the world.

Sūta closes with the fruit of hearing it: whoever listens to or remembers this account of the birth of the gods is freed from trouble even when it has already fallen on him, and gains great renown.