Today I learned the interesting background about the yoga posture called Marichyasana – sometimes called Marichi’s Pose or the Sage’s Pose. Marichi means Ray of Light, either from the sun or the moon.
Marichyasana is a seated, twisting yoga posture that strengthens and stretches your vertebral column and it stretches your shoulders, releasing tension and stiffness in your back, your shoulders and your neck. Watch this video on how to do this posture.
According Hindu mythology, Brahma, the divine creator had seven sons or “Mansaputras” and Marichi was one of Brahma’s sons. Marichi’s own children include Kashypapa, who was known as the ‘Lord of Creatures and Marichi’s grandson was the sun god Surya, the giver of life who is the god to whom Surya Namaskara or Sun Salutation is dedicated and his great-grandson was Manu, the father of humanity. The Sanskrit root for the first three letters of Manu is ‘to think’ and this gave rise to the word man in the English language.
The following story describes what Mariachi was like:
“One day Marichi went to the forest to collect wood and flowers and returned to his home extremely tired. He called to his wife, Dharmavrata, and told her that she was to wash his feet for him. Just as Dharmavrata began to wash her husband’s feet, Brahma arrived. Dharmavrata did not know what she should do, should she continue to wash her husband’s feet, or turn her attention to Brahma, who was Marichi’s father. She chose the latter and suffered the wrath of her husband. Marichi became extremely angry and put a curse on his wife, turning her into a stone. Dharmavrata was naturally upset by this, believing that she was being punished unnecessarily. As a reaction to this, Dharmavrata began many years of meditation which were noticed by Lord Visnu who, impressed by her devotion, granted her a wish. All Dharmavrata wanted was to have Marichi’s curse lifted. Unfortunately, Marichi was such a powerful sage that this was impossible to do. Instead, Dharmavrata was transformed into a holy stone, which was desired by all gods.”
(from http://tirisulayoga.com/marichi/)