topics: |  myth | india

These stories are literary re-workings from bare outlines from the
Mahabharata.  Young rishis and princesses, and rishi-maidens, fall for the
affection of kings and mendicants and enchantresses.  Each story unfolds a
different crisis - the lovers have to undergo a trial of abstinence, a
lover is accursed to die that very day, or the arrogant other is certain
that he will never need her love (atirath and piMgala).

That said, the chemistry of love and how it unfolds is left untouched.  In
most of the stories, it is the woman who suddenly feels a strong desire for
the man (sushobhana, piMgala, lapitA...), and occasionally it is the father
of the daughter who sets forth seeking a groom (guNakeshI).  Nowhere is there
a class mismatch between the pair; indeed, all the lovers are royals or
rishis.  All who are not in this class are outsiders, like the bird-woman
Jarita (wife of Mandapala), the temptress Udichi (lover of Ashtavakra), or
the underworld god Varuna (stealer of Chandreyi).

The translation of this text bears comment.  The language is completely
artificial, amazingly Bengali in its constructs.  Very often, the subject
will appear at the end, a common literary device in post-Tagorean Bengali.
Occasionally, a sentence will finish without having been graced by a verb, as
has become common in copula-free Bengali in modern times.  There is an
attempt to imbue the text with sensuousness, through a rich description of
flower-laden greenery reminiscent of Keats' "mellow fulfilness". ???

However, the ambition of this invented language is not matched by its
execution.  Other points on the text calling for simple descriptions are
convoluted with unnecessary circumlocutions, use of antiquated language and
other lapses that makes the reader believe that these new contrivances are
simply infelicitous language rather than any attempt to invent a language.

And the stories themselves, while electrifying in some of their themes (as
in aShtavakra and suprabhA, who are separated by her father because he feels
that the obsession of love can only bring sorrow and is ill-suited for a
conjugal happiness...

author bio

    Subodh Ghosh was born in Hazaribagh, Bihar on 14th September, 1909. After
    completing his education from St. Columbus College in the same town, he
    dabbled in a variety of professions. He worked as a Municipal Vaccinator,
    a bus conductor, a circus staff, a crew member on a ship, before settling
    down as a proof-reader, and subsequently as an editor, for Ananda
    Publishers. Many of his novels and short stories have been made into
    hugely popular films in Hindi and Bangla. Winner of the Sahitya Akademi
    Award, Subodh Ghosh also won the Filmfare award as the best story writer
    twice: in 1959 for Sujata, and posthumously for Izzazat (based on
    "Jatugriha") in 1990.

    Pradip Bhattacharya was born in Kolkata in 1947. He is a former member of
    the Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, and is
    on the editorial board of its Journal of Human Values and also on the
    Board of Directors of Webel Technologies Ltd. Professionally an IAS
    officer, he did his MA in English from Calcutta University with Gold and
    Silver Medals, Post Graduate Diploma in Public Service Training from
    Manchester, and is India's only International HRD Fellow (Manchester
    University), besides being a Transactional Analysis Trainer. He has
    written several books and numerous papers on Public Administration,
    Comparative Mythology, the Mahabharata, Homeopathy, Management, and human
    values.

Stories

Almost all the stories are quite unknown and hardly part of any of the
stories that one comes to know.   Are the stories authentic?  Yes, but the
stories are told only extremely tersely.  Here they are elaborated with great
verve.

Comparisons with source: In the notes below, "kmg" refers to matches for the
names (in many versions) with KM Ganguly's full text translation of the
Mahabharata.

    Parikshit and Sushobhana  [Vana Parva, Book 3: CLXLI]
    Sumukh and Gunakeshi [Udyog Parva, Book 5, Section CIII-IV]
    Samvaran and Tapati [Chaitraratha Parva Section CLXXV]
    Agni and Svaha,
    Agastya and Lopamudra,
    Utathya and Chandreyi: utathya ignores chandreyi, meanwhile she is
        kidnapped by Varuna.
    Bhaskar and Pritha,
    Vasuraj and Girika,
    Galav and Madhavi,
    Ruru and Pramadvara,
    Anala and Bhaswati,
    Bhrigu and Puloma,
    Chyavan and Sukanya, [Vana Parva: Tirtha Yatra Section CXXII]
    Jaratkaru and Astikaa,
    Janak and Sulabha,
    Devsharma and Ruchi,
    Ashtavakra and Suprabha,
    Indra and Shruvavati.

Parikshit and Sushobhana

      fulltext: http://www.boloji.com/stories/premkatha/pk01.htm

Manduka princess Sushobhana has many secret lovers, whom she meets without
revealing her identity, and then fends them off from permanence by feigning
to have a curse from a tamaal tree.  Her maid, Subinita, is not happy with
her wanton ways, and is her foil, in a deep discussion on the goals of a
woman's life.

Here Subinita is decorating Sushobhana's body: [Note: ancient cosmetics]

Moistening the stubs of new leaves in the juice of red kumkum flowers, she
draws designs on Sushobhana's breast. Waving the whisk she fans Sushobhana's
cheeks, pained with beads of perspiration. Like an expert hairdresser, with
gentle fingers she arranges the rebellious ringlets on Sushobhana's forehead
into an artful disarray. On the coiffure, arranged like layers of clouds, she
pins a brilliant white moonstone. Then, raising Sushobhana's chin with one
hand, she scrutinises anxiously whether anything else is wanting in
touching-up the loveliness of the princess' face.

How beautiful am I, asks Sushobhana?
       [Note: Metaphor as a function of culture - what is conventionalized
        is not the word but the concept...]

Bright as a bejewelled sword-blade, intoxicating like the wine of
the golden dhatura, delicate as a flower-laden thorn-bush. Your voice
is plangent like the insubstantial echo. Like the monsoon lightning,
you are a dancing, vanishing flame.  [plangent: sad]

The maid wants Sushobhana to give up her "playacting at love to
destroy male hearts". She wants her to become "the lover's beloved,
his bride, his wife."  But Sushobhana knows that "Being a wife means
becoming man's slave....

At one point, they encounter Parikshit of Ayodhya, scion of the Ikshavahu
family.  Sushobhana sets out to beguile him, "rippling with arrogant
laughter", and tells Subinita:

"You are a fool and merely a servant. You cannot even imagine the
thrill of shattering by a single glance the heart of that powerful,
armoured male."

After being with Parikshit for a month, when he is in his most
intense infatuation, she suddenly disappears one day.  But she is
also a bit in love.  Parikshit goes mad and destroys much of the
Manduka kingdom.  To seek a way out, the king himself goes and tells
Parikshit of his daughter's perfidious ways.  Her infamy spreads, and
now of course, no one will look at Sushobhana.  She gears up to drink
poison.

With the cup of poison frothing in her hand, Sushobhana stands gazing
out onto the enemy camp, when Parikshit sends word that he is waiting
for her..  The story ends with her asking Subinita to dress her for
the last time.  How should she dress her?  "In bridal attire".

[source: Vana Parva, Book 3: CLXLI;
kmg: Susobhana mentioned by name only once; Subinita
     / maid does not appear; Manduka = frog]

[To dress up as a mysterious, identity-less courtesan, is this a common
female fantasy perhaps?  Especially, perhaps, in an era of immense strictures
on the freedom of women - see Lalitambika Antarjanam's tale of Tatri in
Revenge Herself. (Inner Courtyard) ]

Sumukh and Gunakeshi

[IDEA: it is actually the father's responsibility to fall in love with the
       prospective groom]

It is the bride's father, Indra's charioteer-friend Matila, who is seeking a
match for his daughter.  He comes to like the Naga prince Sumukh, but it
turns out his life-span is finished; he will be killed this very day by
Garuda, arch enemy of the Nagas.  However, Matila takes him along to the city
of immortals, hoping to secure some amrita for him from Indra or Vishnu.
Arriving, Gunakashi leads Sumukh to the vine grove; and Matila tells her that
Sumukh is her intended groom; she falls in love with him, saddened beyond
measure by the possibility of his impending death.  She resolves:

	Matali's daughter Gunakeshi will not deprive you. If you should
	truly go out like a short-lived tongue of flame, then, before you die
	out, feel on your breast the anguished, infatuated breath of your
	beloved, the daughter of Matali.”

She comes to Sumukh, and offers her love, saying:

	If the evening star rises a little earlier, does that distress the
	sky's breast? If the crimson rays of the dawn awake a little
	earlier, then does the lotus protest?  You will take my hand, it is
	by greeting you as husband that my Parijat garland will be blessed.

Gunakeshi says she has loved him, not his immortality:

	Gunakeshi loves you, not your life's eternity. Your heart is a
	hundred times more desirable and electable and precious to me than
	your life-span, O Naga prince. I am a lover. To me it is that
	momentary touch of your breast that will be eternal, son of Chikur,
	if in your heart there is even a drop of love for me.”

But Sumukh says he cannot entertain her with doom hanging over them; he
desists.  At that moment, Garuda comes to wreak his vengeance, and Gunakashi
puts her arms around Sumukh; she wants to be merely "your companion on the
path of death, I can only sweeten the moment of your death."

	`By sweetening the last moments of one on death's road what joy will
	you gain, daughter of Matali?'

	Gunakeshi: `That sweetness will become immortal in my life, till my
	very last breath.'

Garuda draws nearer; his shadow falls on the vines covering the lovers'
vine-covered .

    At that instant like a bouquet of Parijat flowers flung up, uncovering
    the glory of her nubile body, Gunakeshi, daughter of Matali, falls on
    Sumukh's breast:

    `Before departing, make my dream come true, dear Naga youth.'

    Sumukh: `Do not punish yourself thus, maiden!'

    In the corners of Gunakeshi's eyes two sweet and bright tears spring
    forth like pearls, `Do not question, do not be surprised, do not
    hesitate, beloved of Gunakeshi, son of Chikur. In Gunakeshi's
    thirsting blood plant the seeds of your child's being.'

They lie in embrace through the night.  Garuda is unable to rend Sumukh's
breast with his claws.

	Stars awaken in the sky. Kissed by the night breeze the Mandaar scent
	droops into sleep. ... The sky heralds the dawn; birds call.

Garud departs, calling her a whore.
The lovers awake.  Sumukh sees two tears that have welled up in Gunakeshi's
eyes.  He says:

       `I have realised, standing in the shade of death I have understood
       Gunakeshi, how much sweeter are these ephemeral tears than extreme
       joy. I have realised, that which can make even the moment of death
       honeyed is truly amrita.'

Matali returns without amrita...  Sumukh says:

       The amrita of the abode of immortals only deceives, friend of
       Indra. But even the very moment of death can become immortally sweet
       through two extremely ephemeral tears of two eyes.'

[ Udyog Parva, Book 5, Section CIII-IV:

Narada and Matali go through many nether kingdoms seeking a groom, and
finally approach Naga Aryaka's kingdom Narada tells that Chikura, father of
Sumukha, was slain by Garuda [Vinata's son.

The interaction between Gunakesi and Sumukha is not there in Mbh,
and Matali goes to Indra with Sumukha, as well as Narada.

The scene of Garuda's anger is told in section CV, but he is angry only with
Vishnu, and does not encounter the lovers.

BUREAUCRACY: Indra asks Vishnu to give Sumukh Amrita, but Vishnu says, you
give it to him yourself.  Finally, Indra gives him a "length of days".
]

Samvaran and Tapati

King Samvaran, excellent to his subjects, ascetic in his worship, is
approached by Bhagwan Aditya who seeks him as a match for his daughter
Tapati.  But he declines to marry.  But then one day on a hunt he meets a
maiden in the forest, with whom he is besotted.  She tells him that she is
Tapati, and that it is upto her father to decide her husband.  Then, mediated
by raj-guru Vasishta, they marry.  But then, so involved are they with each
other that Samvaran leaves the palace to live in a secluded grove, ignoring
his kingly duties.  After some time, Tapati says,
   "I am not Tapati... I am but a woman's body." 113
Her mind and heart seek a husband's heart and mind, not just his body.
But he says,
   "You are wholly mine, my own wedded woman."
   "True, but my marriage with you has not taken place just for the sake of
union, not only for your and my happiness, but for the happiness of the
world.
So accompanied by Vasishta, they return to the world.

-- source: [Mahabharata, kmg: Section CLXXV]

Chaitraratha Parva: narrated to Arjuna by the Gandharva king Angaraparna =
"the blazing vehicle".  After Arjuna defeats him in battle, his wife
Kumbhinasi pleads with Yudhishtira and his life is spared.  At this point, he
abandons his former name, and becomes their friend, and teaches them the
skills of illusion known only to the Gandharvas.  In the course of this
discourse, he calls them Tapatya, and Arjun wants to know why.  Then he
relates the story of Samvaran and Tapati, from whom they are
descended (hence Tapatya, child of Tapati).

The initial story, of Aditya approaching S for a match, is not there in the
Chaitraratha parva version.  The rest of the story matches.  For twelve years
after the marriage,
    Samvarana, sported with his wife in the woods and the under-woods on that
    mountain for twelve full years. And the god of a thousand eyes poured no
    rain for twelve years on the capital and on the kingdom of that monarch.
    So Vasishta brings them back.  They have a son called Kuru - hence
    "kaurava".  They are the race of Kuru.

KINGS IN PURU's LINE
[Narrated by Vaisampayana to Janmajeya]

1. Puru --> Pravira --> Manasyu  -->
4. Kaudraswa --> Richeyu --> Matinara --> Tansu --> Ilina -->
9. Dushmanta --> Bharata ---> Bhumanyu --> Suhotra --> Ajamidha -->
14. Riksha --> Samvarana --> Kuru

Prachetas : ten sons, then Daksha
    (from Muni Daksha all creatures have sprung, he is the Grandfather)

Daksha + Virini --> thousand sons - taught Sankhya philo by Narada
       		--> fifty daughters
		    [These daughters were "appointed" so their sons could
		    carry the name / perform relig acts.]
		    [Ten given to Dharma, 13 to Kasyapa, 27 to Chandra
		        (nakshatras).

Kashyapa (son of Marichi) + eldest of the 13 -->
	 12 Adityas, incl. Indra and Vivaswat (sun)

Vivaswat = Martanda --> Yama, Manu

  [all 'mAnavas' = human beings, incl. Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, and others,
  are descended from Manu]

Manu (ten sons) --> Vena, Dhrishnu, Narishyan, Nabhaga, Ikshvaku, Karusha,
     	  Saryati, Ila (eighth, daughter), Prishadhru, Nabhagarishta,
	  (fifty other sons - perished fighting each other)

Ila (both mother and father) --> Pururavas

Pururavas + Urvasi (apsara):  Ayus, Dhimat, Amavasu Dhridhayus, Vanayus, Satayus


Ayus + (dtr Swarbhanu) Nahusha, Vriddhasarman, Rajingaya, and Anenas

     [Swarbhanu = Rahu is the mighty asura who ate amrita upto his neck, so
     his head is immortal.  While he was drinking amrita with the gods, Surya
     and Soma recognized him, and pointed him out to Vishnu, who decapitates
     him with the chakra.  That is how he is the enemy of Surya.  But then
     this may be a different Swarbhanu.  ]

Nahusha

Yayati : Yadu and Puru and Turvasu and Drahyu and Anu
       [Puru, the youngest son, accepts his old age, and becomes king so that
       he can be young and enjoy women]

Yayati + Devayani -->  Yadu and Turvasu
       + Sharmishtha (dtr Vrishaparvan) -->  Drahyu, Anu, and Puru

Puru + Paushti --> Pravira, Iswara, and Raudraswa,

Pravira + Suraseni --> Manasyu

Manasyu + Sauviri --> Sakta, Sahana, and Vagmi
	(perhaps Sakta = Kaudraswa)

Kaudraswa + Misrakesi (apsara) ten sons: Richeyu, Kaksreyu Vrikeyu;
   Sthandileyu, Vaneyu, Jaleyu, Tejeyu, Satyeyu, Dharmeyu, Sannateyu

Richeyu = Anadhrishti --> Matinara

Matinara --> Tansu, Mahan, Atiratha, and Druhyu

Tansu --> Ilina

Ilina+Rathantara --> Dushmanta, Sura, Bhima, Pravasu, and Vasu

Dushmanta + Sakuntala: Bharata

Bharata - had nine children who were "not like their father" so their mothers
became angry and "slew them all".  Then through the grace of Bharadwaja
Bharata obtained a son named Bhumanyu.

Bhumanyu+Pushkarini--> Suhotra, Suhotri, Suhavih, Sujeya, Diviratha and Kichika

Suhotra + Aikshaki --> Ajamidha, Sumidha, and Purumidha

Ajamidha +  Dhumini --> Riksha,
  +Nili --> Dushmanta and Parameshthin  [Panchala tribe desc from these]
  +Kesini --> Jahnu, Jala, Rupina
  	      [Kushikas : Jahnu's descendants ]

Riksha --> Samvarana

Samvarana + Tapati --> Kuru

Kuru + Vahini --> Avikshit, Bhavishyanta, Chaitraratha, Muni, Janamejaya
  (made Kurukshetra sacred by practising asceticism there)

Avikshit --> Parikshit

Parikshit --> Kakshasena, Ugrasena, Chitrasena, Indrasena, Sushena,
	Bhimasena.

Janamejaya -->  Dhritarashtra  Pandu Valhika Nishadha Jamvunada Kundodara
	Padati Vasati


APSARAS:

Anuchana and Anavadya,
Gunamukhya and Gunavara, Adrika and Soma, Misrakesi and Alambusha,
Marichi and Suchika, Vidyutparna and Tilottama and Ambika, Lakshmana,
Kshema Devi, Rambha, Manorama, Asita, Suvahu, Supriya, Suvapuh,
Pundarika, Sugandha, Surasa, Pramathini, Kamya and Saradwati;
Menaka, Sahajanya, Karnika, Punjikasthala,
Ritusthala, Ghritachi, Viswachi, Purvachiti, the celebrated Umlocha,
Pramlocha the tenth and Urvasi the eleventh


TWELVE ADITYAS:  Dharti, Aryaman, Mitra, Varuna,
       		 Bhaga, Indra, Vivaswat, Pushan,
		 Tvastri, Parjanya or Vishnu  (not 12, but 10)

ELEVEN RUDRAS: Mrigavyadha, Sarpa, Niriti, Ajaikapada,
	       Ahivradhna, Pinakin, Dahana, Iswara,
	       Kapalin, Sthanu and Bhaga

]

agastya and lopamudra

princess lopamudra of vidarbha, fond of all earthly pleasures, is dancing,
when a nurse announces that they should be silent so as to not disturb the
rishi agastya who is at the palace gate.  Piqued by the power of this rishi,
Lopamudra goes to the gate and observes him, and falls in love with him.  It
turns out that when she was born, her father had sought out Agastya's help,
and had promised her to him in return.  Today was the day.  The king is
worried - how can she live like a pauper?  But she gladly agrees, shedding
her clothes for bark, and they go to the forest.  But she is loth to leave
her jewellery, but even this she has to give up.  But one day when

ashtavakra and suprabhA (p.277-307)

Is a beautiful tale about the role of passion.

the young rishi ashtavakra and rishi badanya's daughter suprabhA are in love
with each other.  but they have both committed to the rishi that they will
refrain from consummating their love until he is ready to bless them.  they
meet in the dew-stained mornings in the seclusion of their bower near a
murmuring stream, where the yellow ketaki flowers cover the blood-red stone.
"On the rippling invitation of [his] gently heaving breast Suprabha wishes to
lay down her head.  And drinking the blushing beauty of Suprabha's blooming
face with parched lips Ashtavakra wishes to be satiated..." (278; the
paragraph here on why they cannot unite is convoluted to the point that one
can't make out what it says.)

one day ashtavakra approaches the rishi, and Badanya says, you are filled
with obsessive intemperance now... come back to me
after the completion of a year and I will decide.

Somehow the year passes, and the couple approach the Rishi.  He says, you are
not ready yet.  It is only through the desire of getting bodily pleasure that
you have become desperate.  Ashtavakra agrees.

Badanya says, "It is this desire that is called obsession"
   "I admit that."
   "You do not gain the right to get married only because of this
obsession. [Unlike the animals] Obsession is not the real bond of a couple's
conjugal life."
   "It is the first knot of a genuine tie."
   "That knot is utterly evanescent."
   "I do not agree."
   "The dedication of an obsession is proved false in a few moment's test, as in
a few moments of blazing summer the tiny water-filled hoof-marks become dry."
   "Beautiful obsession never becomes false.... like an ascetic's resolve, it
is immovable in its dedication."

Badanya cannot tolerate this lecturing by Ashtavakra.  He proposes a further
trial.  Ashtavakra is to travel to Kuber's land of Alokapuri in the Himalayas,
There, in the indigo forest, he is to stay with the ever-virginal Udichi,
enchantress.  The day he comes back, they will be married.

So Ashtavakra goes to Udichi's.  But in a few hours he is tempted, and starts
enjoying her, night after night.  If she satiates him, he will be hers for
life, he agrees.

Badanya gives up on him and holds a swayamvara for suprabhA, attended by a
hundred eligible rishis.  But suprabhA turns all of them down.

Meanwhile, one day, Ashtavakra rises from a dream of ketaki flowers.
udichi approaches him and says that she is his satiety.

But Ashtavakra rejects this.  While his breath is agitated on seeing her,
satiation for him will lie only with suprabhA.

Udichi's eyes are like flames: "I am not satiation?"
   "You are a friend."
   In an unimaginable wonderment Udichi's gaze grows soft, "What did you say,
rishi?" [language is rather stilted]
   "You make thirst more thirsty, add flames to desire.  O you vibrantly
youthful one, goddess of amorous sport, you are the dazzling light of my
secret thoughts' abode. ... raising storms with your breath, you are an
intoxicating festival.  My dream, intoxicated by your hospitality, has
stretched out to the fragrance of ketaki pollen.  You have distressed me,
bewildered me, before my thirsty eyes it is you who have brought her fortgh
and made me recognize her who is my obsession's adoration... You are my
friend." [300]

so he returns to suprabhA.  Badanya now has no obstacle to their marriage,
but he is still unhappy with their obsessive love.  He wants to bless them so
that "from your mind and heart may the last trace of obsession vanish."

ashtavakra and suprabhA are both utterly dismayed by this.

"What sort of blessing is this? By mistake, instead of a benediction, you are
trying to grant a curse," says A.

But Badanya reasons with him.  "In your life there will be no obsession.
Because of that you will never be unhappy. If there is no thirst, no one
feels sorry at heing not thirsty.  Obsession-less life is the only life of
happiness."

But Ashtavakra cannot agree.  He says that by returning from Udichi, he has
just proved that obsession can indeed be beautiful.  305

But what is beauty, argues Badanya.  Poisonous waters may seem just as
beautiful and cool, but it cannot be the water of life.

suprabhA and ashtavakra look at each other in unspoken agreement.

He then tells the rishi, that in exchange for this blessing, he will ask for
a boon, as promised.  He asks that they may both be struck dead at the very
instant his blessing is uttered.

At this, Badanya is silenced.  Suddenly his stern look melts with
moisture... Badanya acknowledges that their beautiful obsession is the
genuine truth:

	"It is obsesson that is verily the garland of man's and woman's
	mingled lives on this earth, the first knot of a genuine bond."
		[infelicitous language]

He marries them with his blessings.  In return, for their
boon, they ask merely to touch the dust of his feet.

[While the debate and the story has deep philosophical promise, the story
does not develop Badanya's character sufficiently; the story hints that
he was simply besotted with his daughter's love - he feels pangs also when
the rishi's come for the swayamvar.

In the last debate however, he seems to he truly believe that obsession is a
thorn on the path to a happy life.  Indeed, there is considerable merit in
such a position, but in the end, passionless love is completely meaningless,
and possibly that becomes the position of the defeated cynic rather than the
triumphant lover. ]

MANU: 'These six persons should be avoided like a leaky boat on the sea, viz.,
a preceptor that does not speak, a priest that has not studied the
scriptures, a king that does not grant protection, a wife that utters
what is disagreeable, a cow-herd that likes to rove within the village,
and a barber that is desirous of going to the woods.'"[Santi Parva LVII]

NOTE: wife that utters what is disagreeable - to be avoided

agni and svAhA

svAhA is in love with Agni, but agni ignores her to go to the land of the
seven celestial rishis.  There, after the puja is over, he suddenly feels a
lust for the seven young wives of the rishis.  One by one, he makes love to
the wives but it is really svAhA in different guises.

[The Satapatha-Brahmana (2,1,2,4) states that the six Pleiades were separated
from their husbands on account of their infidelity; other texts specify that
only one of the seven wives, Arundhati, remained faithful and was allowed to
stay with her husband: she is the small star Alcor in the Great Bear, pointed
out as a paradigm of marital virtue to the bride in the Vedic marriage
ceremonies.  - http://www.harappa.com/script/parpola12.html]

Mandapal and Lapita

Rishi-daughter Lapita lives near the ashram in Khandava-vana, and has been
given a boon by the Kinnara couple.  They can only bestow the vow of being
like them:

	We are everlasting lover and beloved.  We never separate.  We are
	eternally husband and wife; never do we become mother and father.
	No offspring is seen in our lap.  We are lover and beloved
	ever-embracing.  In between us we do not permit any third creature
	demanding affection.  Our life is a life of perpetual pleasure. 71

the kinnaras depart; lapita sits on her swing in the garden, until one
day, Mandapala the youthful rishi appears.  She is taken by him, but
he will not have her - he is on his way to marry Jarita, with whom he
will have a family.
	"But is that life truly a happy life?" she asks... "The love of
	  Jarita will gain you offspring, but not the bliss of love... Like
	  dacoits, your offspring will loot all the eagerness of your beloved
	  Jarita's eyes and lips."
	"That indeed, is the law of life," he agrees. ... "For the first time
	  in my life I have heard, Lapita, that a Spring-creeper does not
	  wish to flower."

As Mandapal is leaving, she invites him, saying that the seat beside her will
forever be vacant.  "In Lapita's life there is no place for anyone but you."

After several years with Jarita, one day Mandapal feels restless.
When questioned by Jarita, he says that her "lover's
heart" has gone;

	All the kisses of your lips are looted by the sons' smiles. ... it is
	in vain that in the privacy of this bower the moonlight showers
	itself, in vain the spring flowers bloom, vainly does the midnight
	grow silent.

He leaves, and returns to Lapita and "ceaseless desire sways on the flowery
swing".  Years pass by.  Then suddenly Mandapal senses the coming of fire -
the fire god Hutashan is coming to burn down the forest - and pleading on
behalf of Jarita and his sons, he gains their safety.  Then he returns to
them, to see how they are, but stays on.  Lapita arrives, but she accepts her
defeat, not to Jarita or to Mandapala, but by the four sons.

source: Mahabharata, Adi Parva, khAndava-dAha parva

[www.sacred-texts.com/hin/maha/index.htm]

The Mandapala-Lapita story as appears in the khAndava-dahana episode at the
end of the Adi parva of the mahabhArata.  In that version of the story, the
pious ascetic Mandapala reaches heaven through his intense ascetism, but
finds that many doors are closed for him.  The gods tell him:

	... it is for religious rites, studies according to the ordinance,
	and progeny, that men are born debtors. These debts are all
	discharged by sacrifices, asceticism, and offspring. Thou art an
	ascetic and hast also performed sacrifices; but thou hast no
	offspring. [book1:231, transl. Kisari Mohan Ganguli]

So he returns to earth to have offspring.  For this act, he realizes that
birds are better "blessed with fecundity".  He becomes a Sarngaka-bird and
takes the bird Jarita in the khAndava vana as wife, but after they have
children he is and Lapita as the lover he turns to afterwards, mentioned only
as "another wife".
The four sons of Mandapala and Jarita, "who were all reciters of the Vedas",
are left while in their eggs by Mandapala, and Jarita raises them.  Then
while one day "wandering over that forest in the company of Lapita", he sees
Agni coming, and gains a reprieve for Jarita and his four sons.  ]

after the fire, when Jarita, finds all of four of her sons, who also have escaped the
fire, they all begin to weep...
	"Just at that time, O Bharata, the Rishi Mandapala arrived there. But
	none of his sons expressed joy, upon beholding him."

	"Mandapala then said, 'Who amongst these is thy first born, and who
	the next after him? And who is the third, and who the youngest? I am
	speaking unto thee woefully; why dost thou not reply to me? I left
	thee, it is true, but I was not happy where I was.'

	"Jarita then said, 'What hast thou to do with the eldest of these,
	and what with him that is next? And what with the third and what with
	the youngest? Go now unto that Lapita of sweet smiles and endued with
	youth, unto whom thou didst go of old, beholding me deficient in
	everything!'
	    kiM te jyeShThe sute kAryaM kim anantarajena vA
		 kiM ca te madhyame kAryaM kiM kaniShThe tapasvini
	    yas tvaM mAM sarvas'o hInAm utsr.jyAsi gataH purA
		 tAm eva lapitAM gaccha taruNIM cAruhAsinIm

	Mandapala replied, 'As regards females, there is nothing so
	destructive of their happiness whether in this or the other world as
	a co-wife and a clandestine lover. There is nothing like these two
	that, inflames the fire of hostility and causes such anxiety. Even
	the auspicious and well-behaved Arundhati, celebrated amongst all
	creatures, had been jealous of the illustrious Vasishtha of great
	purity of mind and always devoted to the good of his wife. Arundhati
	insulted even the wise Muni amongst the (celestial) seven. In
	consequence of such insulting thoughts of hers, she has become a
	little star, like fire mixed with smoke, sometimes visible and
	sometimes invisible, like an omen portending no good (amongst a
	constellation of seven bright stars representing the seven Rishis).
	    apadhyAnena sA tena dhUmAruNa samaprabhA
		lakShyAlakShyA nAbhirUpA nimittam iva lakShyate
	I look to thee for the sake of children. I never wronged thee, like
	Vasishtha who never wronged his wife. Thou hast, therefore, by thy
	jealousy behaved towards me like Arundhati of old towards
	Vasishtha. Men should never trust women even if they be wives.

[What bird is the Sarngaka ? ]

--- DOWSON
http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/jarita.htm

JARITA.  [Source: Dowson's Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology] A certain
female bird of the species called Sarngika, whose story is told in the
Mahabharata. The saint Mandapala, who returned from the shades because he had
no son, assumed the form of a male bird, and by her had four sons. He then
abandoned her. In the conflagration of the Khandava forest she showed great
devotion in the protection of her children, and they were eventually saved
through the influence of Mandapala over the god of fire. Their names were
Jaritari, Sarisrikta, Stambamitra, and Drona. They were "interpreters of the
Vedas;" and there are hymns of the Rigveda bearing the names of the second
and the third.

MANDAPALA.  [Source: Dowson's Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology] A
childless saint, who, according to the Mahabharata, after long perseverance
in devotion and asceticism, died and went to the abode of Yama. His desires
being still unsatisfied, he inquired the cause, and was told that all his
devotions had failed because he had no son, no putra  (put, 'hell,' tra,
'drawer'), to save him from hell. He then assumed the form of a species of
bird called Sarngika, and by a female of that species, who was called Jarita,
he had four sons.

PARIKSHIT.  [Dowson's] Son of Abhimanyu by his wife Uttara, grandson of
Arjuna, and father of Janamejaya.

When Yudhishthira retired from the world, Parikshit succeeded him on the
throne of Hastinapura.

He died from the bite of a serpent, and the Bhagavata Purana is represented
as having been rehearsed to him in the interval between the bite and his
death.