Bhilla and the Lion at Indraprastha

Chapter 200 of the Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells how a Bhilla (a forest-dweller) and a lion killed each other at Indraprastha. Indraprastha is a holy place on the bank of the Yamunā, where all the sacred tīrthas are present in small form. Both the Bhilla and the lion were made pure at once and were taken to the world of Bhagavān Vishṇu in vimānas (flying chariots) from Vaikuṇṭha.

Indraprastha

This episode is told inside a larger account. Vishṇuśarman was a brāhmaṇa, born as Indra again, as the ṛshis had foretold to Indra at the sacrifice at Khaṇḍavana. His father was Śivaśarman. The two had come together to the holy place called Indraprastha on the Yamunā.

Vishṇuśarman described Indraprastha to his father in detail. All the great tīrthas of the land are present inside this holy place: Prayāga, Kāśī, Śivakañcī, Gokarṇa, Dvārakā, Kośala, Madhuvana, Badarīkāśrama, Haridvāra, Pushkara and many others. Each one takes up its own measured part of the land. Those who die at Indraprastha, within the area marked by the meeting points of the rivers, receive four-armed divine forms and are not born again.

The Bhilla

A Bhilla came running towards the holy place in great fear. He was dark, short, with tawny hair and eyes like a cat’s, and he carried a lance. A lion followed close behind him. He was of a harmful nature. He killed people on the road and robbed merchants.

The fight

Śivaśarman and Vishṇuśarman were at the Nigamodbodhaka tīrtha when the Bhilla ran past. They quickly climbed a tree nearby and cried: “O Kṛshṇa, free us from this death before our time!”

The Bhilla also tried to climb the tree. The lion seized him from below and threw him to the ground. Pinned under the lion, the Bhilla drove his lance into the lion’s belly, and the lion’s insides spilled out. The lion crushed the Bhilla’s head with its paw and killed him at once. The lion and the Bhilla died together.

The vimānas from Vaikuṇṭha

While their lives were still leaving them, the Bhilla and the lion both gave up their bodies and took their own pure forms. Two vimānas came from Vaikuṇṭha. Each had divine attendants who held conches, discs, maces and lotuses, and who wore yellow clothes. The attendants told the Bhilla and the lion that they would be taken to the place of Bhagavān Vishṇu.

The wonder of the Bhilla and the lion

The Bhilla and the lion were both amazed. They told the attendants that they had done no good deeds. They had eaten flesh, killed animals and lived among families of wrongdoers. They could not understand why the attendants of Bhagavān Vishṇu had come for them.

The attendants answered:

“You have died at this holy place, which Bṛhaspati made long ago. Pāpas (sins) like the murder of a brāhmaṇa roar until this holy place of Bṛhaspati is seen. As darkness ends when the sun rises, so pāpas end on seeing Nigamodbodhaka. Those men who give up their bodies at Indraprastha, even killers, become equal to Vishṇu, by a vara (boon) that Vishṇu himself gave to Indra.”

Then both were taken to Vaikuṇṭha.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 200