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-sanjivani. 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
Xe AA
TaTfATA hse SAITAMA: |
Wa Ted sea sae Asa? MRI
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.
