She would carry him on her back and travel from place to place.
One day some theives escapted from the king's men.While they were searching for the theives they mistook a sage by name Mandavya to be the theif and produced him before the king. The king thoughtlessly ordered him to be impaled and the king's men executed the royal order. But Mandavya did not die as a result of his greatpower of tapas, he remained hanging from the stake.
Sumanthi was passing that way with her husband on her back. She did not see the sage hanging on a stake and her husband's foot touched his body. That gave him severe pain. He was angry. He pronounced a curse on the man saying"May you fall dead at sunrise".
Sumanthi was a devoted wife, wasn't she? The sages curse might be justifiable, but how could she bear the loss of her husband? She was equally hurt she said,"Let the sun never rise" Her words came into effect. The sun never rose the next day. The whole world continued to be in darkness and life on earth was in total disorder.People lost all hopes of survival.
Devas in heaven always think of the welfare of the human beings. So are the great rishis. They knew that the curse of a devoted wife could softened only by another devoted wife. Therefore all the devas being led by Lord Brahma came to the ashram of Atri. They begged Anasuya to persuade Sumanthi to take back her curse so that the world would be saved. Anasuya requested Sumanthi to save the world. How could Sumanthi do it? If she did it her husband would die. Finally Anasuya had to resolve the tangle. She assured Sumanthi that she would save her husband from death. Sumanthi relented and Anasuya with her unmatched power of tapas saved Sumanthi's husband.The world was saved. Sage Atri was proud of his wife's divine power. Later when Sri Rama visited Atri's ashram, he narrated Anasuya's fame in great pride and with an emotional touch. He never felt jealous of his wife when she grew taller than himself in the eyes of gods. We have to remember sage Atri along with his great wife Anasuya and they are worthy of being workshipped. We have to remember them, first every day - 'Sapatrum prapoojayet'pronounces our tradional literature when it refers to this couple. Her unstinted devotion is for sage Atri, as a result, sage Atri's fame also became greater. These two always engaged themselves in tasks which maximisethe happiness of the people in the world. Their life is part of the history of our great tadition. Sometimes, we ordinary mortals fail to understand how these great sages withstood sufferings, solved their problems and the problems of other with extraordinary sense of detachment. All these have become part of our great history.
Great restraint
The power and greatness of Sage Atri's tapas was not ordinary. The faithfullness and devotion with which he meditated involved a high degree of restraint and severity. His ability to restrain his senses, the resolve with which he could control his hunger and thirst is beyond our power of estimation. He refused to relax the severity of his disciplined approach even during times of natural calamities such as droughts. He would take these in their stride and think that those were the tests god was giving him. Once Atri was engaged in severe tapas along with some of his followers to attain Brahmaloka. During those days a shudra woman by name Ganda and her husband Pashusakha were serving him faithfully. They were also observing very strict discipline. It was during these days that there occured a terrible famine. It did not rain for years. Crops all over the land got burnt as a result of excessive heat. There was no sign of rain. People began to die in thosands of starvation.Those living lost all hopes of survival. They could not get the basic minimum food for living. People began to eat whatever food they got. They began to kill even dogs and eat their flesh.
Sage Atri was an exception. Even when he received things, he should not touch, as gifts in a yagna he would not receive them. During those days, Shaibya, son of Emperor Shibi was ruling the land. He performed a yagna and offered his own son as dakshina. As the prince was not destined to live long he died. The king went to sage Atri and said,"O revered sage, I have decided to offer to you all that I have, - best villages,rice, wheat, precious stones,thosands of cows and their calves, bullock for ploughing the land, in short, everything I have. Please accept them."Sage Ari did not accept the king's Offer as he was not ready to sacrifise his principles. He said,"O generous king, I cannot accept what you offer. It appears sweet as honey, but it is more dangerous than the deadliest of poisons. We live righteosly and when we accept something from others as a free gift, it reduces the powerof our tapas to that extent. Therefore give those things to the needy. May God bless you." So saying he went into the forest to collect fruits and roots.
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