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Indian Mythology is full of stories where a sage and an apsara fall in love. The tale of Menaka and Vishwamitra is perhaps the best and the most interesting one of such tales. The love between the two in fact also led to another great love story of ancient India, i.e., of Shakuntala and Dushyant.
Tales of Amour from Ancient India
Menaka was a beautiful dancer in Devraj (King of Gods) Indra’s court. She was in fact, one of the most beautiful apsaras in the whole universe. Born during the Samudra Manthan, she was a perfect combination of beauty and brains.
Brahmarshi Vishwamitra on the other hand was one of the most honoured and popular sages of early India. He is credited to have written the holy Gayatri Mantra, which is highly revered in Hinduism. Surprisingly, he was a king before he became a sage. As per the Hindu epic ‘Ramayana’, he was also the guru or teacher of Lord Rama and his brother Laxman. With his difficult Tapasya or penance, he had become so powerful that it scared the Gods! In fact, he had even tried to make another heaven with his enormous spiritual powers!!
Sage Kanva narrated the interesting tale of Menaka and Vishwamitra’s union in the great Hindu epic ‘Mahabharata’. The story goes like this:- Vishwamitra was so engrossed in his ascetic practice to achieve that it worried Lord Indra. Devraj Indra hence sent Menaka, an apsara from his court to seduce Vishwamitra. He did this so that the sage’s penance was nullified because otherwise, Vishwamitra would be unstoppable!
It is said that Menaka then entered the forest in which Vishwamitra was meditating and turned it into a beautiful garden. At the same time, the strong blow of wind lifted up her clothes. Vishwamitra came out from his penance and saw an extraordinarily beautiful woman who was almost naked.
He was amazed by her beauty and therefore, made love to her. As a result of this copulation, a girl child was born to them. Sadly soon after this, Menaka had to return to the heavens as her job was done. Vishwamitra left this child in a patch of reeds, where she grew up among birds. Kanva, the sage found this girl and took her to his ashram along with him. He brought her up, educated her, and named her ‘Shakuntala’. Shakuntala later met King Dushyant at this hermitage and married him. This made another great love story from ancient India. In fact, they together had a son called ‘Bharata’, after whom India was named.
Another version of a similar story says that Menaka had fallen in love with Vishwamitra. Therefore, she told him the real reason behind her appearance there. Hearing the truth, Vishwamitra was furious and he cursed her! Even though he loved her too, he cursed her to be separated from him and their daughter. So, Menaka was heartbroken and went away, never returning to his life.
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