MENAKA Dear friends,
One can see the name boards ofmany town buses while waiting outside Ernakulam junction to “MENAKA VIA JETTI.”Jetty is the Ernakulam Boat jetty and about 2 Kilometres more is there to reach“Menaka”. Menaka was the name of a famoustheatre once available there. Though there is no more theatre there now, stillthe place is called “MENAKA”. I have walked with my friend Sri Sankaranarayananthrough the road from Jetty to Menaka once to enjoy the beauty of back waterswhile on camping for inspections at Ernakulam. Recently also to show my grandsonthe areas, I made a similar walk with family while visiting temples inErnakulam and nearby areas. Other than interrupting the penance of sageVISWAMITHRA and living a long time with him with intimacy and affection betweenthemselves, I tried to trace anything more could be gathered from the internetabout Menaka the APSARAS. . I could gather a lot more information about apsarasthough not specific to Menaka. I havecompiled those interesting information also here. Viswamithra incident also I havebriefed for telling the birth of SAKUNTALA, and her son BHARAT from whom, ourcountry has got the name Bharatham. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 22-2-2014. Reposted on 13-2-2021 after editing and updating. R. Gopala krishnan 1. Menaka and sage Viswamithra Menaka is considered one of themost beautiful of the ten heavenly Apsarasas, as per theHindu mythology. We know Urvasi, Menaka, Rambha, and Tilottama. I have giventhe names of a few more also in this posting. There is a mythical story inwhich it is said that Menaka was sentby lord Indra, the king of the Devas, to break the severe penance undertaken bysage Vishwamitra. Menaka was successful inprovoking Vishwamitra's desire and passion when he saw her swimming in a lake near a waterfall. Vishwamitra's meditation was broken and the two developedpassion and lived together for many years. BUT MENAKA FELL IN LOVE WITH HIM. When Vishwamitra realized that hehad been tricked by Indra he becamefurious. He asked Menaka to be separated from him forever. By the time Menaka borea female child who later came to be known as Shakuntala. Sage Viswamithra too loved Menaka as well and knew that she hadlost all dubious intentions towards him long ago. Since Menaka could not take thechild with her and sage Viswamithra also not ready to bring up the child, she left the child, near thehermitage of sage Kanva when she was a baby. Sage Kanva saw the childand took her to his ashram and she was brought up by sage Kanva. Later King Dushyanta who made a visit toashram, saw young Shakunthala and fell in instant love with her and married herthrough gandharva method. Shakunthala gave birth to a son. He was Bharatfrom whom our country got the name Bharatham. Update- Two days back I could hear the story repeated in a context in asoap, Sathya enne Penkutti. Now a days many soaps give excellent informationalso. 2. Apsaras- interesting information. Apsaras are beautiful, supernatural female beings. They areyouthful and elegant, and superb in the art of dancing. They are often the wives of theGandharvas, the court musicians of Indra. They dance to the music ofthe Gandharvas, usually in the palaces of the gods, entertain and sometimesseduce gods and men. Apsaras are said to be able to change their shape at will, and rule overthe fortunes of gaming and gambling. Urvasi, Menaka, Rambha andTilottama are the most famous among them. Apsaras are sometimes compared to the muses of ancientGreece, with each of the 26 APSARAS AT INDRA'S COURT representing adistinct aspect of the performing arts. Apsaras are associated with water; thus, they may be compared to thenymphs, dryads and naiads of ancient Greece. They are associated with fertilityrites. 2a, two types of apsaras There are two types of Apsaras; Laukika (worldly), of whothirty-four are specified, and Daivika(divine), of which there are ten. 2b. Parents of apsaras The Bhagavata Purana also statesthat the Apsaras were born from sage Kashyap and Muni. (I haveread twice, not Kashyapa muni, but sage Kashyap and Muni) 3. Apsaras and Vedas The Rig Veda tells of an Apsarawho is the wife of Gandharva; however, the Rig Veda also seems to allow for theexistence of more than one Apsara. THE ONLY APSARA SPECIFICALLYNAMED IS URVASHI. Anentire hymn deals with the colloquy between Urvashi and her mortal loverPururavas. Later Hindu scriptures allow for the existenceof numerous Apsaras, who act as the handmaidens of Indra or as dancers at hiscelestial court. 4. Mahabharatha. Three apsaras stories are told,and list of apsaras is also given. The stories told are about Tilottama and Urvasi andMenaka. About Tilottama I have already wrote in subhead 1. Urvasi incidentcomes when Arjuna visit Lord Indra, his real father. Urvasi, advanceto Arjuna, but Arjuna do not agree to it, telling she is like Mother. Urvasi says, in their world, nosuch things. Still Arjuna does not agree, and Urvasi curse him to be eunuch for sometime. This helps him during anjathavasam. Hence the saying “Urvasi sapam upakaram” (Blessing in disguise) Recently I read a very thoughtprovoking posting in the USB group about the relationship between Karna andYudhishithra. Yudhishtira was born to Dharma Deva, son of Sun God and Karna wasborn to Sun God to the same mother Kunthi. It was detailed in theposting Devas being immortals the regulations of we, mortals do not apply tothem, quoting Urvashi incident, and stating they are onlybrothers. 5. List of Apsaras names from Mahabharatha. Ghritachi, MENAKA, RAMBHA,Purvachitti Swayamprabha, URVASHI, Misrakeshi, Dandagauri, Varuthini, Gopali, Sahajanya,Kumbhayoni, Prajagara, CHITRASENA, CHITRALEKHA, Saha and Madhuraswana, theseand others by thousands, possessed of eyes like lotus leaves, who were employedin enticing the hearts of persons practising rigid austerities, danced there…Then there is a description about the beauty of these apsaras while dancing. 6. Natyasasthra Natya Shastra, the principle workof dramatic theory for Sanskrit drama, lists the following apsaras: Manjukesi, Sukesi, Misrakesi, SULOCHANA,SAUDAMINI, Devadatta, DEVASENA, MANORAMA, Sudati, SUNDARI,Vigagdha, Vividha, BUDHA, Sumala, Santati, SUNANDA, SUMUKHI, Magadhi, ARJUNI,SARALA, KERALA, Dhrti, NANDA, Supuskala, Supuspamala and KALABHA 7. Easily remembering names of other apsaras 1) Arjuni 2) Budha 3) Chitra sena4) Chitra Lekha 5) Devasena 6) Kerala 7) Kalabha 8) Manorama 9) Nanda 10)Sarala 11) Saudamini 12) Sulochana 13) Sumukhi. 14) Sunanda and 15) Sundari. All the while I was thinking Sundari as another name of Devi. An apsara also is there with the nameis new to me. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/168727371.1026106.1613224391126%40mail.yahoo.com.
