In today’s mini-episode, we’ll meet Arundhati. Arundhati is well known as the wife of Vashishta whom we’ve met in Episode 15 – Rishi vs Rishi: Un-civil war, where he was the wiser of the two warring Rishis.
Arundhati was the daughter of Devahuti and Kardam, whom you may not know from Adam. But Devahuti was the daughter of the Indian Mythological version of Adam – or Manu whom we met in Episode 1 Unicorn Fish. Devahuti has quite an interesting story herself, involving a flying house, and how I played matchmaker to her and Kardam. But that’s for another episode.
Getting back to Arundhati, she was a brilliant child who had no interest at all in doing ordinary things on her parents’ hermitage. She didnt want to milk cows and feed the sheep when she could be learniung advanced science. As her father had a side hustle as a professor at the hermitage, Arundhati would often listen in.`
When she grew up, she married the wisest person she could find. And that was Vashishta. Vashishta, similar to Arundhati’s father Kardam taught at his own hermitage. Arundhati had the responsibility of household chores, something that she could not shirk off as she had done in her childhood. But she would set the alarm clock for really early in the morning and finish everything before Vashishta was ready to begin teaching in the morning. Once when Vashishta had a sore throat and couldn’t really teach, Arundhati stepped in as his substitute. And she did a fantastic job.That was when Vashishta recognized her as his equal. He pleaded with her “Could she take on equal teaching duty? Imagine, they could teach twice as many kids now!”
“I’d love to!” replied Arundhati “Does that mean you’re going to help with the household chores now?”
But Vashishta ignored her.
Still Brahma the Creator of the Universe, who also happens to be my dad, gave them a gift that would help them with their household chores. No, it wasn’t a Roomba. Instead this was way better. It was Nandini, a calf of the magic cow Kamadhenu. And yes, wish fulfilment ran in that family. While Nandini’s presence did a lot in terms of making Arundhati and Vashishta comfortable, it ultimately led to misfortune and the loss of their hundred sons. Those events are described in Episode 15, so check that one out.
Ancient India is not typically known for gender equality, but this character is an exception! Only to an extent. Though Vashishta considered Arundhati her equal, Ultimately, Vashishta was inducted into the Rishi hall of fame and not Arundhati. The Rishi hall of fame was basically the Saptarishi which literally translates as the 7 Rishis. Imagine the reaction if when inducting the Beatles into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they’d left John Lennon out?
She was not completely ignored though. When the 7 rishis were placed in the sky as the constellation Ursa Major a.k.a the Great Bear a.k.a the Big Dipper a.k.a. Saptarishi Arundhati was included. But only as a tiny companion star.
Those stars are really close to each other and they symbolize love and everlasting companionship. That’s why it’s a ritual during traditional Hindu marriages to look at Arundhati and Vashishta in the sky at the conclusion of the wedding, in the hopes that the couple can see each others as their equals, just as Vashishta and Arundhati did, even though clearly Vashishta is way easier to spot than Arundhati.
That’s all for this mini-episode.
In this weekend’s full episode we’ll talk about Shiva the destroyer! There are many stories of Shiva, and I’ve had a listener request for one.
We’ll see how dancing can destroy the world. And we’ll see how to tackle ignorance – by hopping on it!