28 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 9, Ch. 18

who has died untimely. This art, called mrta-sanjivani, was especially
used during wartime. When there was a war, soldiers would certainly die
untimely, but if a soldier’s body was intact, he could be brought to life
again by this art of mrta-safjivani. This art was known to Sukracarya
and many others, and Kaca, the son of Brhaspati, became Sukracarya’ s
student to learn it. Devayani desired to have Kaca as her husband, but
Kaca, out of regard for Sukracarya, looked upon the guru’s daughter as a
respectable superior and therefore refused to marry her. Devayani
angrily cursed Kaca by saying that although he had learned the art of
mrta-sanjivani from her father, it would be useless. When cursed in this
way, Kaca retaliated by cursing Devayadni never to have a husband who
was a brahmana. Because Devayani liked Yayati, who was a ksatriya, she
requested him to accept her as his bona fide wife. Although this would be
pratiloma-vivaha, a marriage between the daughter of a high family and
the son of a lower family, she explained that this arrangement was made
by providence.

TEXT 23
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yayatir anabhipretam
daivopahrtam dtmanah

manas tu tad-gatam buddhva
pratijagraha tad-vacah

yayatih—King Yayati; anabhipretam—not liked; daiva-upahrtam—
brought about by providential arrangements; dtmanah—his personal in-
terest; manah—mind; tu—however; tat-gatam—being attracted to her;
buddhvé—by such intelligence; pratijagraha—accepted; tat-vacah—the
words of Devayani.

TRANSLATION

Sukadeva Gosvami continued: Because such a marriage is not
sanctioned by regular scriptures, King Yayati did not like it, but
because it was arranged by providence and because he was at-
tracted by Devayani’s beauty, he accepted her request.
