Chapter 169 - The Abduction of Kāmamohinī

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:

1-4. Thereafter, one should go to a great meritorious Tīrtha destructive of sins. It was there that Sage Māṇḍavya became a Siddha. So also did Sage Nārāyaṇa.

Formerly service was rendered to Māṇḍavya who was impaled on a spike by Nārāyaṇa. By taking the holy bath there, O great king, one is rid of the coat of sin.

Yudhiṣṭhira said:

O sage, what has been mentioned by you is a mysterious story in all the worlds. That penance was performed by one impaled on stake has neither been seen nor heard.

Mention all this to me in the company of the sages. Describe the greatness of this Māṇḍavya Tīrtha with eagerness.

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:

5-15. Listen, O king, to what happened on the earth in Tretāyuga. There was a highly intelligent king comparable to the Guardians of the world. King Devapanna was a person who had performed Yajñas and was always engaged in making gifts. He was conversant with all holy rites and fully conscious of what was performed (by all). Like a father protecting his bosom-born children, he assiduously protected his subjects.

Dātyāyanī was the beloved wife of that king. She was always amiable to him. With the sounds of her necklaces and anklets, she made the atmosphere resonant with jingling sound (Jhaṅkāra). O king, their mutual love increased day by day. The king ruled the earth full of wealth and equipped with vehicles and filled with elephants, horses and chariots. He possessed all good qualities but had no issues. The king was thus in a state where the perpetuation of the family had stopped.

He was overcome with a great misery. He became distressed in the absence of his own progeny. He performed holy ablution and Homa everyday, O descendant of Bharata, and continued this for twelve years.

He strictly adhered to the restrictions of holy vows and fasts along with his wives and propitiated Goddess Cāmuṇḍā, the destroyer of Muṇḍa, by means of many holy prayers and devout rites of adoration and meditation:

“O Goddess Vārāhī, O Cāmuṇḍā, O three-eyed goddess, be victorious, be victorious! O Brāhmī, O Raudrī, O Kaumārī, O Kātyāyanī, I make obeisance to you! O fierce Bhairavī, O Raudrī of great Yogic powers, proceeding through the sky! In the entire range of the three worlds consisting of mobile and immobile beings there is nothing without you.”

Being pleased by the eulogy offered by the king the goddess spoke those words: “Choose a boon as you please, whatever may be in your mind. I have been devoutly propitiated by you. I am pleased and shall grant you the boon.”

Devapanna said:

16-22. O goddess of Devas, if you are pleased, if I deserve a boon, do kindly redeem me who has become distressed for want of a male child. Cause the protection, continuation of my family. Save my dynasty.

Indeed houses of men without children resemble a cremation ground. His Pitṛs do not partake of food along with the deities and sages. Though I perform Śrāddha everyday, my ancestors appear to me in my dream as afflicted with hunger.

On hearing these words of the king, the goddess began to meditate. The three worlds consisting of mobile and immobile beings were perceived by her with her divine eyes. With the face beaming with pleasure the goddess thus spoke to the king:

“In the entire range of the three worlds, consisting of mobile and immobile beings, O king, there is no child of thine. Perform a Yajña with the Yajñapuruṣa (Lord Viṣṇu) in view. Otherwise there is no hope of a child unto you. The entire range of the three worlds has been perceived by me with my divine eyes.”

After saying thus, the goddess went away and the king returned to his abode.

23-31. He performed the Yajña dedicated to the Yajñapuruṣa and thereupon a daughter was born. She was radiant, beautiful and charming unto all the people.

Such a lovely maiden could be found neither in Devaloka nor in Gandharvaloka. Out of delight she was named Kāmapramodinī by her father.

In due course of time she grew up and stunned the world with her beauty, sportive gait like that of a swan, excellent eyebrows and the downward stoop due to the weight of breasts.

She was dazzling in her earrings and other ornaments. She used to wear red garlands and garments with divine unguent. She used to be guarded duly by her female companions.

The necklace nestled in the middle of her breasts like a garland (series) of lightning streaks. She had curly hairs resembling black bees. She smiled sweetly and her lips sparkled like a Bimba fruit.

With her eyes extending upto her ears, she appeared to drink in the lovers. She seemed to attract Manmatha through the fragrance of the betel leaves mixed with camphor.

Her neck was like a conch-shell. Her slender waist was ravishing. The nails of her toes were copper-coloured. The navel was deep and the front part of her buttocks was excellent. Her thighs resembled plantain stems.

She was wholly splendid with excellent rows of teeth.

She increased the delight of her parents, friends and others by her sports. On a certain day she went (to a temple) for the adoration of the goddess, taking with her flowers and incense and other things such as sandal-paste, agallochum, betel leaves, incense, bunches of flowers etc. She was accompanied by groups of her friends.

32-37. All of them took off their garments and ornaments. Placing them on the bank of the lake they went deep into it in the middle of the lake and began their lively water sports.

On seeing her sporting about along with her friends in the clear water, a demon named Śaṃbara came there in the form of a hawk. Kāmapramodinī who was in the middle of the waters was caught hold of by him. The wicked-minded one leaped up into the sky seizing the ornaments too.

O descendant of Bharata, while he was on the aerial path along with the lovely maiden, the earrings and other ornaments fell into the waters of Narmadā where the great sage Māṇḍavya was absorbed in meditation, O great Lord, in the great region of Nārāyaṇa with full control of sense-organs.

His younger brother who attended upon him had become very lean due to his penance and Japa. He meditated upon Lord Janārdana.