Story of Chyavana is one among the stories of rejuvenation which is contained in the Mahabharata. The story goes that Chyavana, a son of Bhrigu, used to practice severe austerity on the shore of a lake. In his severe practice of faith, he once stood motionless as a post for so long that a mound of earth formed over him, on which the ants crawled about, and he himself looked like an ant-hill. Once, King Saryati came around the neighbourhood of this lake with a number of his followers. His young daughter Sukanya, romping about in the forest with her playmates, came upon the ant-hill, in which only the two eyes of the ascetic were visible like glow-worms. Out of wantonness and curiosity the young girl poked about in the two shining things with a thorn and poked out the eyes of the ascetic.
Filled with anger, the saint cursed the army of Saryati. For a long time the king sought the cause of the misfortune, and when it transpired that the great ascetic had been offended, he went to him to obtain his forgiveness. Cyvana says that he will only be reconciled if the king gives him his daughter as his wife. So the young girl becomes the wife of the frail old man. One day the two Asvins see the young wife just as she is stepping out of her bath and try to persuade her to choose one of them as her husband instead of the ugly old man. She, however, declares that she wishes to remain faithful to her husband. Then the two physicians of the gods propose to her that they should make her husband young and she should then choose between them and the rejuvenated Chyavana. As Chyavana agrees to this, she gives her consent too. Thereupon the Asvins let the old ascetic step into the lake and they themselves also dive into the water, whereupon they all three come out quite alike and in the dazzling beauty of youth. Now Sukanya has to choose, and after mature consideration, she decides for her own husband Chyavana. The latter, in return for having been rejuvenated, promises to make the Asvins Soma-drinkers.
At a great sacrifice which he performs for Saryati, he presents the Asvins with the Soma. The king of the gods, Indra, however, will not concede that the Asvins, who wander about as physicians among mortals, can be worthy of the Soma. But Chyavana takes no notice of the objections of Indra, and continues to sacrifice to the Asvins. The enraged Indra is about to hurl the thunderbolt upon him. At that moment, however, the saint paralyses the arm of the god; and in order to humble him thoroughly, he creates, by virtue of his asceticism, a terrible monster, Mada, Intoxication. With his huge mouth (the one jaw touches the earth, while the other reaches up to the sky) he approaches Indra and threatens to swallow him. Trembling with fear, the prince of gods implores the saint to have mercy, and the latter, satisfied, lets Intoxication vanish again, dividing him among the intoxicating drink Sura, women, dice and the chase.
This is the story of Chyavana, one of the many Brahmanical myths and legends contained in the Mahabharata.
