Piṅgalā Episode

One night in Rāma-rājya at Ayodhyā, a courtesan named Piṅgalā slipped past sleeping guards into Bhagavān Rāma’s chamber and touched his feet. Bhagavān Rāma held firmly to his ekapatnī-vrata (the vow of one wife). He refused her and gave her a vara (a boon): in her next birth she would be Kubja, the hunchback woman of Mathurā, whom Bhagavān Kṛshṇa would free. When Rāma told Sītā what had happened, she was furious and demanded that he swear on the feet of his guru Vasishṭha. After he did, her anger turned to sorrow, and the next morning she pronounced a śāpa (a curse) on Piṅgalā.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells this in the Vilāsa Khaṇḍa.

Piṅgalā’s approach

One night Sītā lay sleeping on the divine bed. The veśyā (courtesan) Piṅgalā moved with great care. She took off her jangling anklets so that they would make no sound. She wore her finest clothes and ornaments. She went through the dark passages of the palace, trembling with fear of Sītā.

The guards at Rāma’s door had fallen asleep, and she passed them unseen. She entered the bedchamber and came to Rāma’s side. With her hands she took hold of his feet and pressed them. Rāma woke and looked at her. She went on pressing his feet and begged: “Rāma, kāma (desire) has seized me. Have mercy on me. Forgive this trespass.”

(Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vilāsa Khaṇḍa, Chapter 8)

Rāma’s refusal and vara

Rāma understood that she was swept away by kāma-moha (the blindness of desire). He spoke to her with kindness, not anger. He said: “Piṅgalā, you know that in this life I keep the ekapatnī-vrata as a vow. My word is never false. This wish of yours cannot be met in this janma (birth). But listen to what I can give you.”

He told her: “In Mathurā, when I am born as Kṛshṇa, I will kill my uncle Kaṃsa and stay in that city for a time. Then you will be there as Kubja, a woman with a crooked body (trivajrā). You will offer me sandal-paste in the street. At that very moment I will take you by the chin and lift you. Your body will be made beautiful, and you will be freed. Go now. Live in Kaṃsa’s palace in Mathurā, serve there, and wait for that time.”

When he had spoken, Rāma woke the careless guards and had them punished for letting Piṅgalā in.

(Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vilāsa Khaṇḍa, Chapter 8)

Sītā’s anger

Rāma then woke Sītā and told her everything that had happened. Sītā heard it and rose from the bed in fury. She said: “Why did you not wake me first? I know that your ekapatnī-vrata is false. You first took your pleasure with Piṅgalā, and now that you have finished, you wake me and tell me this. All the vows you proclaimed before Vyāsa, of one wife, of one arrow, of treating all women as your mother, were lies. I will not touch this bed that a veśyā has used. I will go at once to the Sarayū and drown myself. A woman whose husband is addicted to veśyās takes on pāpa (sin). A king who keeps a veśyā cannot hold his kingdom for long.”

She got up and walked quickly toward the Sarayū. Rāma ran after her and caught her by the arms. He held her gently and said: “Sītā, do not be angry. I will swear whatever you ask. Nothing of what you imagine took place. Tell me what oath you want, and I will take it.”

Sītā answered: “No oath that you take by yourself can calm me. Everything in this creation serves you: fire, water, the moon, the sun, the earth, Śesha and all weapons. None of them can be your witness in any real sense. The only thing that can calm me is for you to swear on the feet of your guru Vasishṭha. Call him here now.”

(Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vilāsa Khaṇḍa, Chapter 8)

Vasishṭha is called at midnight

At Sītā’s demand, Rāma sent a dāsī (a maid) to wake Lakshmaṇa. Lakshmaṇa got into a palanquin and went through the night to Vasishṭha’s house in the city. At the outer gate the guru’s guards were startled that Lakshmaṇa had come at such an hour. They took the news inside to Vasishṭha and Arundhatī. Both were alarmed by a visit at midnight and at once asked Lakshmaṇa what had happened.

Lakshmaṇa bowed low and said: “Guru-deva, I do not know the reason. Rāma remembers you. He asks you to come at once. A palanquin is ready at the gate.” Arundhatī urged her husband to go without delay. Vasishṭha and Arundhatī got into the palanquin together, and Lakshmaṇa followed behind in his own.

(Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vilāsa Khaṇḍa, Chapter 8)

Rāma’s oath on Vasishṭha’s feet

Rāma went to meet Vasishṭha and received him with the deepest respect. He gave Vasishṭha and Arundhatī the seats of honour and offered them gifts of clothes and ornaments. Then he told the whole episode: Piṅgalā’s coming, what passed, Sītā’s anger, and what Sītā had asked for. He said: “Guru-deva, nothing else will satisfy her. I know with full certainty that neither by mind, nor by speech, nor by deed did I touch or desire this veśyā. I say this truthfully now, and I swear it on your feet.”

Rāma then took both of Vasishṭha’s feet in his hands and placed them on his head. He bowed with his forehead to the ground before his guru. All who were present fell silent at the sight of the king of Ayodhyā prostrate before his guru in this act of surrender and truth.

Sītā saw Rāma bow his head at the feet of Vasishṭha, and she was overcome. Her anger melted at once into sorrow. She bowed down before Rāma and said: “Forgive my offence.” Then she turned to Arundhatī with full devotion. She gave her the finest ornaments and the most beautiful divine clothes, in thanks for the guru’s wife being there as witness.

Vasishṭha was pleased and moved. He went home with Arundhatī, and all were at peace.

(Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vilāsa Khaṇḍa, Chapter 8)

Sītā’s śāpa and her kindness

The next morning Sītā had Piṅgalā brought before her by her attendants. The veśyā was brought bound. Sītā had her beaten and spoke sharply to her. Then she pronounced the śāpa: “For the offence you have done to me and to dharma, be born in Mathurā as trivajrā (a woman with a triple deformity, a hunchback), crooked in looks and crooked in mind.”

Piṅgalā fell at Sītā’s feet and begged with joined hands. Sītā’s fierce compassion stirred, and she said: “Kṛshṇa will free you.” Rāma heard that Piṅgalā had been beaten and held. He ordered her released and sent away.

(Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vilāsa Khaṇḍa, Chapter 8)

Kubja in this account and in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa

The Vilāsa Khaṇḍa links the origin of Kubja to Piṅgalā’s entry into the chamber and Sītā’s śāpa. It presents Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s freeing of Kubja as the fulfilment of both Rāma’s vara and Sītā’s śāpa. The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa links Kubja to the earlier birth of Śūrpaṇakhā. Both texts speak of Kubja being freed by Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.

Sources

• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vilāsa Khaṇḍa, Chapter 8
• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa (for the account of Kubja and Śūrpaṇakhā)