दशवर्षाण्यनावृष्ट्या दग्धे लोके निरन्तरम्।
यया मूलफले सृष्टे जाह्नवी च प्रवर्तिता॥
उग्रेण तपसा युक्ता नियमैश्चाप्यलंकृता।
दशवर्षसहस्राणि यया तप्तं महत्तपः॥
अनसूया व्रतैः स्नाता प्रत्यूहाश्च निवर्तिताः।
देवकार्यनिमित्तं च यया संत्वरमाणया।
दशरात्रं कृता रात्रिः सेयं मातेव तेऽनघ।।
daśa-varṣāṇy anāvṛṣṭyā dagdhe loke nirantaram
yayā mūla-phale sṛṣṭe jāhnavī ca pravartitā
ugreṇa tapasā yuktā niyamaiś cāpy alaṅkṛtā
daśa-varṣa-sahasrāṇi yayā taptaṁ mahat tapaḥ
anasūyā vrataiḥ snātā pratyūhāś ca nivartitāḥ
deva-kārya-nimittaṁ ca yayā santvaramāṇayā
daśa-rātraṁ kṛtā rātriḥ seyaṁ māteva te’nagha
daśa-varṣāṇi = for ten years; anāvṛṣṭyā = in drought; dagdhe loke = when the world was burning; nirantaram = continuously; yayā = she; mūla-phale = roots and fruits; sṛṣṭe = created; jāhnavī ca pravartitā = and caused Gaṅgā to flow; ugreṇa = in terrible; tapasā = penances; yuktā = who engages; niyamaiḥ = by voluntary restrictions; ca api = and; alaṅkṛtā = who is decorated; daśa-varṣa-sahasrāṇi = for ten thousand years; yayā = she; taptam = performed; mahat = great; tapaḥ = austerities; anasūyā = Anasūyā; vrataiḥ = in vows such as the difficult Cāndrāyaṇa vow; snātā = she became immersed herself; pratyūhāḥ = she removed; ca = and; nivartitāḥ = the obstacles to the performance of her austerities; deva-kārya-nimittam ca = upon the request of the devas; yayā = she; santvaramāṇayā = urgent; daśa-rātram = ten nights; kṛtā = converted; rātriḥ = into one night; sā iyam = this; mātā = mother; iva = is as worshippable as; te = Your; anagha = sinless Rāma.
Sinless Rāma, this Anasūyā who engages in terrible penances and who is decorated by voluntary restrictions is as worshippable as Your mother. When the world was burning in drought for ten years, she continuously created roots and fruits and caused Gaṅgā to flow. She performed great austerities for ten thousand years. She became immersed herself in vows such as the difficult Cāndrāyaṇa vow and removed the obstacles to the performance of her austerities.1 Upon the urgent request of the devas, she converted ten nights into one night!
1 According to Apte’s Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Cāndrāyaṇa refers to “a religious observance or expiatory penance regulated by the moon’s age (the period of its waxing and waning)” and states that in it the daily quantity of food, which consists of fifteen mouthfuls at the full moon, is diminished by one mouthful every day during the dark fortnight till it is reduced to zero at the new moon, and is increased in like manner during the bright fortnight. This is mentioned in Manu-smṛti 11.217.
GLOSS. The following history is described in the Purāṇas.
Anasūyā had a lady friend who was sworn in chastity to her husband. That lady’s husband once saw a prostitute and desired her association. The lady then took her husband on her soldiers and set out to the residence of the prostitute.
At that time Māṇḍavya Ṛṣi was placed on a lance by the king’s guards when they thought him to be a thief. When the chaste lady’s husband touched Māṇḍavya Ṛṣi on the road, the sage became extremely pained and cursed him to die on sunrise after ten days. The chaste lady then said, “My husband is supposed to die only after the sun rises. Let the sun not rise at all.” By her prowess the sun did not rise, and sacrifices and so on did not happen.
The devas went to Brahmā and prayed to him [to solve this problem]. He directed them, “Pray to the friend of that chaste lady, Anasūyā. She will do your work.” When they prayed to Anasūyā, she asked them to grant her a boon that ten nights would become one night, and that after the death of the husband of that chaste lady, they would give him his life. The devas granted her that boon.