Sharmishtha was the daughter of asura King Vrishaparva. The King had great regard for his guru Sukracharya, and so he asked his daughter to serve Sukracharya’s daughter Devayani.
One day, Devayani and Sharmishtha went to the forest to bathe. They left their clothes by the side of a pond. Indra mixed up their clothes and Sharmishtha unknowingly wore Devayani’s clothes.
This angered Devayani. “You are my servant. How dare you wear my clothes?” she asked. An angry Sharmishtha, said, “My father is the king. I am from a royal family. I am inferior to none. I am here only because my father asked me to serve you. Your father depends on my father for everything. He sings my father’s praise and takes what my father gives him. My father is the one who gives; your father is the one who takes. Who then is superior?”
The quarrel then got nastier and Sharmishtha pushed Devayani into an abandoned well and went away, said Kidambi Narayanan in a discourse. Devayani was rescued by King Yayati. When Sukracharya came to the forest looking for his daughter, Devayani wept and said that she would never come back to a country ruled by Sharmishtha’s father, for Sharmishtha had hurt her feelings and insulted her father. Thus, what began as a simple mix up of clothes became a fight of serious proportions.
Sharmishtha’s mistake could have been overlooked by Devayani. Instead, she abused Sharmishtha. The latter could have ignored Devayani’s words and, in course of time, they would have seen how silly it was to fight over something so trivial. But neither of them showed any restraint, and the result was a huge misunderstanding.
