Akshamala proves no ordinary woman. Through her austerity and fidelity, she is said to stop the sun itself with her spiritual power.

Illustration/Devdutt Pattanaik

Arundhati is remembered today as the ideal wife, the tiny star beside Vasistha in the Saptarshi constellation, shown to every new bride as a model of fidelity. But beneath this polished image lies a far more unsettling story. Some traditions insist that before she became the revered Arundhati, she was Akshamala, a Chandala daughter.

In the Skanda Purana, a terrible famine breaks out. Hungry sages wander in search of food and arrive at the house of a Chandala who has wisely stored grain. In times of comfort, such sages would never accept food from a Chandala. Now, driven by hunger, they praise him. The Chandala agrees to feed them on one condition. The greatest among them must marry his daughter, Akshamala. The sages hesitate. After........

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