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Bala - Vaasantika

Bala - Vaasantika

Vaasantika of Ahobilam.

Mahalakshmi Thayar was born as Vaasantika, to a valorous chieftain belonging to the Chenchu tribe of the Nallamala forests in present day Andhra Pradesh. She is hence more popularly known as Chenchu Lakshmi.

Her story and marriage to Lord Narasimha are detailed in the Sanskrit-and-Prakrit play ‘Vasantika Parinayam’, composed in the 16th century by Sri Satakopa Yatindra Mahadesikan, the 7th pontiff (Srimad Azhagiya Singar) of the Ahobila Mutt.

According to a folk story passed down by oral tradition amongst the Chenchus, after Lord Narasimha killed Hiranyakashipu, he was raging uncontrollably through the surrounding forests and no one could calm him. The devas turned to who else but Mother Mahalakshmi for her divine, cooling grace. The ever-compassionate mother enacted a leela, where she was born into the Chenchu tribe and grew up as a beautiful young woman. When Narasimha caught the first glimpse of her, his fury immediately vanished.

This story is retold in the form of the classical play ‘Vasantika Parinayam’. In this portrayal, Vasantika is depicted as a young tribal huntress, carrying a bow and arrows, wearing peacock feathers in her hair. As the Chenchus are gatherers, she also carries a basket for foraging nuts, seeds, wild fruits, tubers and edible roots.

The play is replete with vivid imagery of the arrival of spring and all the signs of love blossoming between Vasantika and Narasimha.

Upon their marriage, Narasimha becomes the brother-in-law of the Chenchu tribe, a tradition that continues to this day in Ahobilam.

While there is no detailed description of her as a child, there are vague references that inspired me to imagine a scene from Vasantika’s childhood. When a lovesick Narasimha wanders through the forest with a friend, he sees the signs of the spring season. He remarks, “I see the splendor of the forest which she too has seen and enjoyed. I hear the notes of the cuckoo which she must have heard also a perhaps she has rested under this same tree whose shade I am enjoying.”

He fondly describes her as Anandamoolika, “the herb of joy,” a term I find especially endearing! Depicted in the scene are symbols of spring – kuravaka, asoka, tilaka, mango, their foliage and flowers. Birds and bees. And one symbolic fruit – Narasima himself as “the fruit of her penance”, as Sri Brahma puts it, when he arrives to officiate their marriage.

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