Although I knew Chyawanprash since my childhood, it was interesting for me to know it’s legend. I came to know about it when I was watching an old telugu movie ‘Sati Sukanya’. The legend goes this way …

   Aswini Kumars (the two celestial doctors) come down to earth to prove their worth in medicine after a quarrel with Lord Indra. Narada Maharshi suggests the two doctors to go to an elderly sage by name Chyawan, if they want any further help (something like customer care). Meanwhile on Earth, sage Chyawan had been pursuing a tough penance since ages. It was a really tough penance and an ant hill had already grown over him (as per the movie)!

   Enters the Heroine…Sukanya, is the daughter of a local king. She along with her friends comes to forest on a weekend. She sees something shining and blinking from an ant hill and pierces it with two twigs. Oh God! They happened to be the two eyes of sage Chyawan. With this act the sage Chyawan goes blind. The king comes running after knowing this and pleads sage Chyawan not to curse his child, for she had done this act unknowingly. He also offers his daughter to sage Chyawan as wife so that she could help him for the rest of his life. Sage Chyawan agrees and they both marry. Aswini Kumars come to sage Chyawan. They see him in an old and helpless situation and decide to cure him off his blindness and old age and get him back his youthful life. They then prepare this Ayurvedic herbal jam which could energize and rejuvenate the old sage. The sage consumes this medicine and gets back ‘surakshit tan aur teez dimaag’. From then on we have this medicine as an elixir of life…Chyawanprash!