Arundhati

Rishi Vasishtha married her. Arundhati was a model wife. She loved and served her husband Vasishtha with all her heart. She never quarreled with him.

Once the seven great rishis, Kashyapa, Atri, Bharadwaja, Vishwamitra, Gautama, Jamadagni and Vasishtha went to the Himalayas to bring fruit and rice.

They left Arundhati alone in the forest. In the meantime a great famine occurred. So the rishis built an ashrama in the Himalayas and stayed there.

For twelve years the famine continued.

The rishis too stayed on in the Himalayas all those twelve years. Down below in the country Arundhati had nothing to eat. She therefore started doing tapas herself.

God Siva wanted to test her. He came to her dressed like an old Brahmin. He said to her, "O lady, I am hungry. Give me something to eat. Arundhati said, “O Brahmin, I have no rice left. Please eat these badari seeds."

God Siva said, "Will you cook these for me?" Arundhati started a fire. While frying the seeds in it, she told the Brahmin stories and talked of dharma. She continued to talk for twelve long years. She neither ate nor slept, but went on explaining dharma.

At the end of twelve years, the famine was over. The rishis also returned from the Himalayas. They brought fruit and rice to eat. God Siva was pleased with Arundhati’s tapas.

So he took his real form and said to the rishis, “Arundhati’s tapas is greater than yours on the Himalayas!” God Siva made the place very holy where Arundhati lived. Rishi Vasishtha sits in the sky as a star. Arundhati also sits there by his side.

Arundhati is the patron deity of marriages. Newly married girls see the star Arundhati. They want to love their husbands the way Arundhati did, and want to live the way she did. Arundhati is one of our great women. We must always remember her.