Menaka And Vishwamitra Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

Devas (gods)and asuras (demons)churned the milky sea
Using Mount Mandar as the stem on the giant
Turtle, the axil, with snake Vasuki
As the rope wrapping around the mount
To be rotated by pulling the giant rope
On either side by devas and asuras
With painstaking labour over years
To churn out nectar of immortality. 1

Menaka was a stunningly beautiful Apsara,
Who captured the hearts of all the Devas,
And all the Asuras and seduced sages.
Youthful and vibrant like other nymphs,
Menaka ranked high for her intelligence.
Having married a Ganharva, she served
In the court of Indra as an entertainer
By dancing to the music set by their males.2


Menaka, a beauty from feet to head,
To be ranked higher than other nymphs,
Rose from the sea along with the elixir.
Asuras snatched the cup but left it there
When they saw the vision of Menaka,
Her loveliness casting a spell on them.
Her seductive gaze riveting their eyes.
She got the cup from their clutch and vanished. 3

‘The sun was on her, bathing her tall frame
In a warm glow, making her body glisten.
Her delectably voluptuous body,
Her long slender neck over light shoulders,
Her creamy cleavage heaving up and down,
Her slim waist curving into flaring hips,
And her dimpled provocative navel
With thighs moving sinuously at her moves,
Made Menaka a destructive weapon.'4

She was a new arrival to Heaven,
And an unequal apsara proven
To the eye of Indra, who found in her
Intelligence, like beauty, in abundance.
Sage Viswamitra's prolonged penance
To acquire power was disturbing
To Indra's supremacy of three worlds. 5

King Kaushik renounced his luxurious life
In order to take revenge on sage Vasishth
And became the revered Rishi Vishwamitra,
When he created a man-made heaven.
He pursued his penance to challenge gods.
Indra feared him and bade Menaka
To go down and seduce Viswamitra
So that his pursuit of power is halted. 6

Kama was bidden to help her achieve;
With arrows covered with fragrant flowers
Of jasmine, the white lotus, the blue lotus,
The mango blossoms and that of Ashoka,
Kama left to undertake his enterprise.
‘I can feign love well.'Menaka was sure.
Sights, visual contacts, desires, courtships and sulks
Form love, which will last and die or abort.7

She knows it and she had come to seduce.
Menaka with Kama entered the forest,
Where Vishwamitra was in his penance,
And changed it into a beautiful garden.
Then Vayu blew by and lifted her garments.
With the breeze blowing, fragrance fast spreading,
And the pleasentness intoxicating,
Vishwamitra opened his eyes from his trance. 8

An exquisitely beautiful woman,
Almost naked, stood in front of the sage.
Vishwamitra could not take his eyes off her,
His mind still obtuse of finding her there,
Talking to him as if she had known him all her life.
Everything about her was exciting,
From her glossy hair to her small bare feet.
The sight of her intoxicated her.9

Gazing at her, the sage's blood was racing;
He had never seen such a stunning balm shell.
Must be she was a celestial nymph.
She introduced herself as Menaka,
Who had come from heaven to admire him.
To touch her, hold her and crush her to him,
His stored energy propelled his lust.
Everything around him went out of focus.10

‘Menaka was looking helplessly at him,
Her eyes shy, her furtive hands on her breasts
Uncovered and herself backing away.
Her move pulverised him into action.
He grabbed at her wrist and pulled her gently
Towards him, smelling her bare soft body.
He descended his lips on her waiting ones,
crushing hers, kissing and sucking her mouth.11

Menaka was prepared for his hard kiss,
But not prepared for what she felt underneath.
The touch of his hand was hot on her skin.
She recoiled in deep shock and intense pleasure.
A searing, hot rush of desire deluged her,
Making her cling to him, clawing her nails
Deep into his back. He pressed her against him,
His lips arresting hers, their tongues playing.12

He grabbed her hair dark like coal by one hand
And his other engaging her supple breasts.
The wet sand of the river was their bed.
He held her like an eagle did a bird,
His thighs pushing meanwhile her legs apart
To expose the hidden secret treasure
And his lips marauding on her smooth throat,
Massive breasts, spongy belly and the down. 13

God alone knew about who seduced who.
It must be he who seduced Menaka
Though it was she who was destined to do.
The credit must go to Kama's arrow
Sent from the bow made of the sugarcane,
Aided by Rati, the passion producer.
She was here to break his heart and his will.
She sucked his vitality from each love made.14

‘Get to learn the art of undressing, ' she laughed.
‘Removing clothes is like casting off your armour,
Leaving you defenceless and vulnerable
To assault. You are making love not war.
I'm not an opponent to be subdued;
I am your lover to be enjoyed, ' she whispered
Against the rising crescendo of his groans-
Such like many moments of erotism. 15

Months rolled that both were being together.
She discovered that she became pregnant.
He discovered that she duped him by love,
And that she broke his penance from command.
He was not aware that Kama hit her
With his arrows and she too fell in love.
He was at loss that he lost all virtue
He had gained through penance and ascetism 16

He cursed her that her tie with him was cut
And rejected the child born to her of him.
The girl born to the nymph got no visa
To go with the mother on her return.
Menaka left her new-born in the forest,
Where sage Kanva chanced to see the infant.
Naming her Shakuntala, he took her
To his ashram, and spared Vishwamitra.17

Menaka had got an independent
Existence due to sharp intelligence
Coupled with as much beauty in dealing
With any situation involving sex.
Menaka loved and Viswamitra loved.
Menaka parted and Viswamitra parted.
Love can be as intensive in making
As detaching in leaving, the pair showed18
06.11.2020

(Menaka's choice by Kavita Kane was based for some pages of intimate scene produced. The story is from the epic Mahabharata along with Sakuntal. The story dates back to before 2000 BC)