Yayati was a puranic king. He was the
son of king Nahusha. He marries Devyani and takes Sarmistha as his mistress on
her request. His story was mentioned in Mahabharata-Adi Parva and also
Bhagavata Purana. His story gives a moral message that “no matter how many
carnal pleasures a man enjoys as a young man, he would never truly feel
fulfilled.”
The Story of King Yayati
Shukracharya was the guru of the demons.
One day his daughter Devyani was taking a bath in forest pool with Sarmistha,
daughter of the Danava king, Vrishparva. They left their sari (clothes) on the
bank. After the bath Samristha confuses with Devyani sari with hers and puts it
one her assuming it as hers. Devyani returns and scolds Samristha for wearing
ger sari. She criticizes Samristha that her father, king Vrishparva and his
kingdom is living happily because of her father Shukracharya blessings. Annoyed
with the words of Devyani, Sarmistha pushed her into a well and lefts the forest.
Later Yayati, son of Nahusha, passes by the well. Seeing Devyani, he helps her
to climb out of it.
After sometime, Shukracharya started
searching for her daughter. Later he came to know the truth. He with outrage
went to the Vrishparva and threatened to leave the kingdom. Vrishparva begged
Devyani for her forgiveness. Devyani agreed but on condition that Sarmistha
should serve her as a maid. Vrishparva agrees to this, since he fears that his
kingdom would be in trouble without the sage counsel Shukracharya. Sarmistha
also agrees to this to save the kingdom and becomes Devayani's maid servant.
One day Devyani goes on a picninc with
Sarmistha. There she again mets Yayati as he was in a hunt. Yayati was so madly
enchanted by Sarmistha’s beauty. Devyani observed this and asks Yayati to marry
her as he already held her hand while helping her out of the well. Yayati
presumed that it is not Dharma for a King to marry a Brahmin girl. He fears
Shukracharya and tells Devyani that he will marry her if her father agrees with
this.
Surprisingly Shukracharya agrees to for
their marriage but on condition that Yayati shouldn’t have sex with Devyani.
Yayati marries Devyani and looks after her well. As days passes Sarmistha had
crush on Yayati. She asks him to give her a son and convinces him that it’s a
dharma to fulfill a desire of princess. Yayati already had a secret crush on
Sarmistha and agrees to give her child. So they involved in a sexual
relationship. In due course, Sarmistha gives birth to three sons Druhyu, Anu
and Puru.
Eventually Devyani came to know that her
maid Sarmistha was the mistress of Yayati. She complains to her father.
Shukracharya curses Yayati with premature old age in punishment for having
relationship with maid. Devyani was very sad at this. She asks her father to
make her husband young again. Shukracharya told her that it was not possible to
take back the curse but a son of Yayati could exchange his youth with him.
Yayati asks his children to give up one
of their youth to revitalize him. No one accepts to that except Puru. Puru
agrees to sacrifice his youth to rejuvenate
his father. Yayati subsequently enjoyed the pleasures of the youth for many
years. After longtime he came to realize that no pleasure of sense can make him
happy and all of them are nothing. He returns the youthfulness to his son
saying “Know this for certain, not all the food, wealth and women of the world
can appease the lust of a single man of uncontrolled senses. Craving for
sense-pleasures is not removed but aggravated by indulgence even as ghee poured
into fire increases it. One who aspires to peace and happiness should instantly
renounce craving and seek instead that which neither grows old, nor ceases - no
matter how old the body may become.” After returning youthfulness to his son he
went to the forest to spend his remaining life in spiritual path.
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