Story of Śaśikalā

Daughter of Subāhu, King of Kāśī. She was married by a prince Sudarśana who had been driven out of his kingdom by Yudhājit.

As she became a young woman Śaśikalā heard about Sudarśana, who lived in the forest with his mother and fell in love with him. One night Devī appeared in dream to her and told her that marriage with Sudarśana would take place, and at those words of Devī she awoke from sleep and began laughing. Though her mother asked Śaśikalā about the reason for her laughing thus, she answered not, but continued laughing. One day while she was picnicking in the Campaka forest, an old brahmin came there and described to her about the great personality and beauty of Sudarśana, who then was staying with his mother at Bharadvājāśrama. Śaśikalā’s heart yearned to be with Sudarśana.

Sudarśana, after the death of his father Dhruvasandhi, lived with his mother Manoramā and her father. But, Yudhājit killed Manoramā’s mother also. It was after this that Sudarśana and his mother took refuge in the āśrama of Bharadvājamuni. One of those days, Niṣāda, King of Śṛṅgiverapura and a friend of Sudarśana’s father (Dhruvasandhi) came to Bharadvājāśrama and presented a chariot, which possessed mysterious powers, to Sudarśana. The munis were pleased at this and imparted to Sudarśana the Kāmarājamantra, which gave one who practised it all that one desired, and after the above incident Sudarśana began slowly to come out of the āśrama. He went about the forests in the chariot presented by Niṣāda, and he was astonished to find many an armed soldier surround him wherever he went. This happened because of the mysterious powers of the chariot.

It was at this time that King Subāhu decided to conduct the Svayaṃvara of his daughter Śaśikalā. Kings from all lands came. Śaśikalā told her mother in secret about her desire to marry Sudarśana, and the mother in turn told about this to the father. But, he was not for it. Then Śaśikalā sent a messenger secretly to Sudar ana to request him to be present at the Svayaṃvara, and Sudarśana and his mother started for the palace of the King of Kāśī and when they reached it, kings like Yudhājit had already come there. A rumour was spread that Subāhu, insultingly ignoring all the crowned heads, was going to marry his daughter to Sudarśana, a mere beggar. The assembled Kings, therefore, got themselves ready to pick a row with Subāhu, but, he pacified them with the assurance that the Svayaṃvara of Śaśikalā would formally be conducted and her husband could then be selected by herself. That night Śaśikalā’s parents tried their best to divert her heart away from Sudarśana, to no purpose and the same night she was duly married to him. By the next morning news about the marriage became public and all the Kings, who had come for the Svayaṃvara decided in conference to kill Sudarśana on his way back home with his wife, and abduct Śaśikalā. Accordingly on the fourth day after the wedding when Sudarśana and Śaśikalā were returning to Ayodhyā escorted by the army allotted to them by Subāhu, King Yudhājit and his followers attacked them from their hiding place. In the battle that ensued Devī appeared and helped Sudarśana, who defeated the enemies. People of Ayodhyā received with enthusiasm the victorious Sudarśana and he was crowned their King. In later years he became famous as emperor Sudarśana.