The Forgotten Love Story of Kacha and Devyani

During wartime, Kacha, the son of the master of gods, went to the land of the demons to learn the art of bringing back the dead to life from Shukracharya. In the events that follow, the guru's daughter fell in love with Kacha, only to get her heart broken in the end.

A love story from the Mahabharata Source- amarchitrakatha

Devyani was the daughter of Shukracharya, the guru of the Rakshasas, and Kacha was the son of Brihaspati, the master of the gods. The tale of these two lovers begins with war.

Once there was a war between the gods and the demons. The king of the demons was Vrishaparva and he had a daughter named Sharmistha. The demons were a force to reckon with as their guru, Shukracharya, knew the art of reviving the dead. With his art of Sanjeevani, he brought back many dead demons to life in the battle.

Indra, the king of the deities, was worried about this. He went to Guru Brihaspati with his concern and informed him about his worry. The Guru advised him that one of them should go to Shukracharya and learn from him the knowledge of bringing the dead to life. Indra doubted that Shukracharya would teach them the knowledge, to which the Guru said that for a Guru, knowledge is equal to friends and foes.

The assembly of the gods was called and a proposal was made in the assembly about who should go to learn the vidya from Shukracharya. No one was ready to go for fear of the invincible demons. At last, Kacha, the son of Guru Vrihaspati, agreed to do the task.

He reached Guru Shukracharya and worshiped at his feet. Seeing the young man, the teacher asked "Who are you and why have you come here?"

Introducing himself, Kacha said, "I am Kacha, the son of Guru Brihaspati." I have come here to learn Mrit Sanjivani Vidya from you."

Shukracharya laughingly said how can I teach the coveted knowledge to a person from the enemy side. To this Kacha said that for a Guru, both enemies and friends are equal, which means there is no enemy for him.

Shukracharya said with a laugh, "You are very clever. I am ready to teach you the Vidya but I have some conditions, and only after fulfilling them, I can teach the Vidya." The Guru asked Kacha to graze his cows while being hungry and thirsty. If he succeeded in the task, only then the Guru would teach him the skill.

Kacha said yes to this and started grazing their cows. Kacha soon became a part of the gurukul and as time went by, Shukracharya's daughter Devyani fell in love with Kacha.

However soon word spread in the enemy camp that Kacha is learning the art of reviving the dead from Shukracharya. They decided to get Kacha killed before he could learn the knowledge. One day, Kacha went to the forest for cattle grazing. As he was out, the spies of the demons got Kacha killed. In the evening, the cows returned home but Kacha did not come. Worriedhaving waited for some time, Devyani informed her father that the cows had returned but Kacha had not come.

Shukracharya saw with his yogaval (divine powers) and informed his daughter that Rakshasau had killed Kacha. Heartbroken, Devyani pleaded with her father to revive Kacha. At the behest of Devayani, Shukracharya went to the forest and resurrected Kacha.

A few days passed and Kacha had gone to his regular business of cattle rearing. This time again, the cows returned but Kacha didn’t. Devyani got upset and went to her father and said, "Father, Kacha has not come again today." Shukracharya said that today Kacha has been killed and burnt. Devyani pleaded with her father, "You can make him alive even by mixing a bone." He said yes. And again he revived Kacha and brought him home.

Everything was going well. Realizing that Shukracharya would always bring Kacha back from the dead, the asuras began to plot a way to kill Kacha that would make Shukracharya hesitate before bringing him back. This time Brishaparva killed Kacha and set him ablaze and made powder of his bones and mixed it with wine and gave it to Shukracharya.

When Kacha did not come in the evening, Devyani went to her father and said, "Father, today Kacha did not come." When the Guru saw with the power of yoga, he said, "Daughter, today a disaster has happened."

When the daughter asked what happened, he said, "Today I have a stomach ache. I have been tricked and Kacha is in my stomach." Shukracharya told Devayani that if he were to revive Kacha, only one of them would survive as Kacha would tear through his stomach when he came back to life. He passed on the secrets of the Sanjivani Mantra to the yet-to-be-revived Kacha, and after Kacha emerged from his guru’s stomach, he used the secrets he had learned to revive Shukracharya back.

Shukracharya was pleased with this noble act of Kacha and blessed him. When Kacha started leaving after learning Vidya, Devyani blocked his way. Kacha asked what she was doing. Devyani replied, "Take me along with you. I love you and want to marry you."

'How can I marry you, you are my teacher's daughter. Because of my resurrection, you became my sister and how can I marry my sister? So leave my way. And let me go."

Kacha categorically refused that it could ever happen. Devyani got angry and said, "I will not let you go like this, you are leaving a woman in agony, so I curse you that this knowledge of yours will be useful only once. After that, you will forget it."

Kacha got very angry after hearing this and said, "Devyani, you have done very wrong by being blind in love, now I curse you with sorrow that you will not get married in any Brahmin clan because you have broken all the rules."

And so a sad Kacha left for the heavens to use his knowledge for the benefit of his folks while the heartbroken Devyani stayed back at his father's hermitage. This is how the one-sided love story of Kacha and Devyani ended.