Daily Prayers

Long ago, the land of Vidarbha was ruled by King Satyaratha, a righteous, steadfast and truthful monarch. One day the rulers of the Salva country invaded Vidarbha. A fierce battle followed, and Satyaratha was killed.

His pregnant queen escaped from the palace during the night. After travelling a great distance, she reached a lake and gave birth to a son beneath a tree. Tormented by thirst, she entered the water, where a powerful aquatic creature/crocodile seized her. The newborn prince was left completely alone, crying on the lakeside.

At that moment a poor Brahmin widow named Uma arrived with her own young son. She survived by begging from house to house. Seeing the abandoned infant, she wished to raise him but hesitated because she did not know his lineage.

A wandering ascetic then appeared. The Gita Press text describes him as seeming as though he were Shiva himself. He told Uma to abandon her doubts, protect the child and raise him, assuring her that great good would come from doing so.

Uma took the infant home and brought him up as her own son.

Years passed. One day Uma brought both boys to a temple where Sage Shandilya recognised the prince. He revealed that the child was the son of King Satyaratha of Vidarbha.

Uma asked why such a righteous king had met a violent death and why his son had been reduced to poverty.

Shandilya explained that in a previous birth Satyaratha had been a king of the Pandya country. During Pradosha one evening, he had begun worshipping Shiva but abandoned the worship when turmoil arose in his city. In anger he ordered an enemy to be killed and later ate without completing the interrupted observance. His son too had eaten without performing the Pradosha worship. The sage connected their present misfortunes with those actions.

Shandilya therefore instructed the two boys to worship Lord Shiva faithfully at every Pradosha. Uma said that her own son was named Shuchitrata, while she had named the prince Dharmagupta. Both began their regular Shiva worship.

After four months, Shuchitrata discovered a vessel filled with treasure near a river. Uma asked him to divide it with Dharmagupta, but the prince refused. He said that the treasure had come through Shuchitrata’s own merit and added that Lord Shankara would show him grace in his own time.

After a full year of worship, Dharmagupta met the Gandharva maiden Anshumati in a forest.

One day, Dharmagupta went into the forest with the young Brahmin Shuchitrata. After travelling some distance, they saw many Gandharva maidens playing in the woodland. Shuchitrata thought it proper to remain where he was, while Dharmagupta proceeded ahead alone. Among the Gandharva maidens was an exceptionally beautiful young woman who noticed the prince approaching. She sent her companions into a nearby part of the forest to gather flowers and remained there by herself.

The prince then asked the maiden who she was. She told him that her father was Dravika, a foremost leader among the Gandharvas, and that her own name was Anshumati. By then Anshumati had developed affection for Dharmagupta. She removed a pearl necklace from her neck, offered it to the prince and openly expressed the feelings in her heart.

Dharmagupta, however, did not abandon propriety. He told Anshumati that he was without a kingdom and without wealth, and reminded her that she remained under her father’s authority. It would therefore not be proper, he said, for her to make such a decision without her father’s consent. Anshumati accepted what he said and asked him to return to the same place on the morning of the day after next.

When the appointed time arrived, Dharmagupta returned to the forest with Shuchitrata. This time, however, the scene was different. Anshumati was not alone; her father, the Gandharva chief Dravika, was also present. He welcomed both young men with honour, seated them comfortably and then told Dharmagupta something that was to change the course of his life.

Gandharva chief Dravika revealed that he had been to Mount Kailasa, where Lord Shiva had personally instructed him to help Dharmagupta, because the prince had remained steadfast in the worship of Shiva in accordance with his guru’s command.

Dravika gave Anshumati in marriage to Dharmagupta and provided him with wealth, weapons, elephants, horses, chariots and a Gandharva army.

Dharmagupta returned to Vidarbha, defeated his enemies and regained his kingdom.

The Brahmin widow who had rescued and raised him remained his mother. Shuchitrata remained his brother, and Anshumati became his queen.

Thus the Pradosh Katha of the Skanda Purana is not merely a story of recovering wealth and kingship. It is a sacred narrative of steadfast devotion, patience, righteous conduct, the guru’s guidance and faith in Shiva even when the answer does not come immediately.

The text concludes by praising the hearing and reading of the Pradosha Mahatmya after Shiva worship on the day of the vow.

Om Namah Shivaya. Har Har Mahadev.

Source and Textual Note – Skanda Purana, Brahma Khanda–Brahmottara Khanda