Purūravas of Madra

Purūravas was the king of Madra. He was born with a well-formed body but an ugly face and form, the result of one fault in a past life. The Matsya Purāṇa (Chapters 114 to 119) tells how he went to the Himālaya, did tapas, held firm against every distraction, and received the grace of Bhagavān Janārdana (Bhagavān Vishṇu). The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa tells the same account with more detail.

The previous life

In an earlier kalpa a brāhmaṇa kept the Ekādaśī-Dvādaśī vrata faithfully. He fasted on Ekādaśī and did pūjā to Bhagavān Janārdana on Dvādaśī. But on the day of his upavāsa (fast) he took an abhyaṅga-snāna (an oil-bath). This was a small act, but it broke the rule of purity (śauca) of the vrata. So, even with the puṇya (merit) of the vrata, he was born in the next life as the king of the Madra kingdom. His body was well-formed in every way except for its ugly look, which was the fruit of that one fault. He was named Purūravas and ruled justly. This is Chapter 114.

The journey to the Himālaya

Purūravas could not bear his ugliness. He knew that it came from karma, and he decided to go to the Himālaya, do tapas, and win the grace of Bhagavān Janārdana, so that he would be free of the karma that was left. He set out to the north and came to the river Irāvatī, the holy Rāvī. Its banks were full of forests, birds, flowering trees and divine beauty. The purity and holiness of the river stirred his bhakti (devotion). He stopped to do pūjā and bathe before going on. This is Chapters 114 and 115.

The Himālaya

Going on to the north, Purūravas climbed the Himālaya. The account describes it at length: its great size and its rivers; its thick forests of Devadāru, Kadamba, Tamāla, Bhallu, Piyāla, Tinduka, Tinīśa and many other trees; its sweet-smelling herbs and divine lakes; and its animals, including elephants, lions and deer. Kinnaras, vidyādharas and other divine beings live in its upper parts. In its far inner parts lived great ṛshis, among them Atri in his āśrama. This is Chapters 116 and 117.

Atri’s āśrama and the divine lake

Deep in the Himālaya, in a sheltered valley, Purūravas found the āśrama of the ṛshi Atri. Near the āśrama was a wonderful divine lake. Its floor was of vaidūrya maṇi (lapis lazuli), and in its centre was a golden island (suvarṇa dvīpa). On the island stood a beautiful temple. Inside the temple was a mūrti of Bhagavān Vishṇu that Atri himself had set up for pūjā. Purūravas was deeply moved by bhakti at the sight and began to do pūjā to Bhagavān Vishṇu with devotion. This is Chapter 118.

The test of distraction

As Purūravas settled into his tapas beside the lake, gandharvas and apsarases came down to play in those divine waters and forests. The scene was very beautiful: divine music and singing, the joyful play of the apsarases in the lake, and their laughter and song filling the forest. Any ordinary person would have been pulled away from meditation. But Purūravas kept his ekāgratā (single-pointed focus) whole. What he saw and heard did not move him, and he stayed absorbed in the pūjā of Bhagavān Janārdana throughout.

The gandharvas saw how firm he was, were pleased, and came to him. They offered him any vara (a boon) he wished. Purūravas answered: “I seek only the anugraha (grace) of Janārdana. Let that be fulfilled.” The gandharvas said “tathāstu” (so be it) and left. This is Chapter 119.

The dream and Atri’s coming

Purūravas did tapas for one full month, the month of Māgha, with deep devotion and strict discipline. Near the end of the Phālguṇa Kṛshṇa Paksha, as his tapas came to its fullness, Bhagavān Janārdana spoke to him in a dream: “You have finished your tapas. Tomorrow you will meet the ṛshi Atri, and through that meeting you will be fulfilled.”

The next morning the ṛshi Atri himself appeared before Purūravas, confirmed the promise of Bhagavān Janārdana, and blessed him. By the grace of Atri and the anugraha of Bhagavān Janārdana, Purūravas was freed from all the karma that remained and reached moksha (liberation). This is Chapter 119.

In the Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa

The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa tells a parallel account in its Poorvārdha, Chapters 148 to 156. The core is the same as in the Matsya Purāṇa: the fault of the oil-bath while fasting on Dvādaśī in the past life, the ugly birth as Purūravas of Madra, his tapas at Atri’s āśrama in the Himālaya, and his freedom through divine grace. It adds these things that the Matsya Purāṇa account does not have.

The Rūpa-Satra Vrata. In this account Purūravas does not receive a general vara. Atri teaches him the Rūpa-Satra Vrata, a twelve-month vrata in which the devotee fasts through each nakshatra (star) and does pūjā to the matching limb of the body of Bhagavān Vishṇu. This vrata is the direct remedy for his karma from the past life. Its full procedure is in Chapter 155.

Return and the vrata. After he receives Atri’s teaching at the Himālayan āśrama, Purūravas goes back to his capital, Śākala, and keeps the Rūpa-Satra Vrata there, with Atri himself as his guru. When he finishes the vrata he bathes in the divine lake and comes out with a changed, shining form.

The link to the famous Purūravas. The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa says plainly that this king of Madra lived out the rest of his life in the Cākshusha manvantara. He was then born again, in the Vaivasvata manvantara, as Purūravas, the son of Budha, the famous king of the lunar line who was loved by the apsarā Urvaśī. So the Purūravas of Madra in the Matsya and Vishṇu Dharmottara accounts is the earlier birth of the Purūravas known from the Vishṇu Purāṇa, the Bhāgavata and the Mahābhārata.

Sources

• Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 114 to 119
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapters 148 to 156 (the Rūpa-Satra Vrata in Chapter 155)
• Vishṇu Purāṇa, Bhāgavata and Mahābhārata (named for the later Purūravas, son of Budha)