Chyavana

Chyavana In Hindu legend, a sage, opponent of Indra, restored to youth by the twin gods, the Aswins.

The Rig-Veda, the ancient collection of hymns to the gods, tells how Chyavana was restored to his youth, “making him acceptable to his wife, and the husband of maidens,” by the twin gods, the Aswins. This miracle made Chyavana devoted to the Aswins and, according to the Hindu epic poem The Mahabharata, he asked Indra to allow them to drink the magic Soma juice. Indra objected, however, and Chyavana began a sacrifice that found acceptance before the gods. In a rage Indra rushed at Chyavana with a mountain in one hand and a thunderbolt in the other, but Chyavana stopped the god by sprinkling him with water. He then “created a fearful openmouthed monster called Mada, having teeth and grinders of portentous length, and jaws one of which enclosed the earth, the other the sky; and the gods, including Indra, are said to have been at the root of his tongue like fishes in the mouth of a sea monster.”

In this predicament “Indra granted the demand of Chyavana, who was thus the cause of the Aswins becoming drinkers of the Soma.”

SOURCE:

Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition – Written by Anthony S. Mercatante & James R. Dow
Copyright © 2009 by Anthony S. Mercatante