Marisha
MARISHA.
[Source:
Dowson's Classical Dictionary
of Hindu Mythology] Daughter
of the sage Kandu, and wife of the Prachetasas, but from the mode of
her birth she is called "the nursling of the trees, and daughter of
the wind and the moon." She was mother of Daksha. Her mother was a celestial
nymph named Pramlocha, who beguiled the sage Kandu from his devotions and lived
with him for a long time. When the sage awoke from his voluptuous delusion,
he drove her from his presence. "She, passing through the air, wiped the perspiration
from her with the leaves of the trees," and "the child she had conceived by
the Rishi came forth from the pores of her skin in drops of perspiration. The
trees received the living dews, and the winds collected them into one mass.
Soma matured this by his rays, and gradually it increased in size till the exhalations
that had rested on the tree-tops became the lovely girl named Marish." - Vishnu Purana. According to the same authority Marisha had been in a former birth
the childless widow of a king. Her devotion to Vishnu gained his favour, and
desired her to ask a boon. She bewailed her childless state, and prayed that
in succeeding births she might have "honourable husbands and a son equal to
a patriarch." She received the promise that she should be of marvelous birth,
should be very beautiful, and should have ten husbands of mighty prowess, and
a son whose posterity should fill the universe. This legend is no doubt an addition
of later date, invented to account for the marvelous origin of Marisha.
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Modern
Languages MLLL-4993. Indian Epics. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D.
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October 16, 2007 12:22 PM
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