Five Gandharva Maidens
Chapters 128 and 129 of the Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa tell of five gandharva maidens, the daughters of the gandharva Sukhasaṅgīti. They also tell of the brahmachārī son of the brāhmaṇa Vedanidhi, who is also called Agnipa. At the Acchoda lake they laid a śāpa (curse) on one another, and all six became piśācas (imps).
The ṛshi Lomaśa came to them and told them to take the Māgha bath at Prayāga. They went, bathed, and were freed. The young man then married the five maidens with Lomaśa’s approval, and all went on to the city of Kubera.
The five gandharva maidens
The five gandharva maidens were the daughters of the gandharva Sukhasaṅgīti. When they were freed from their state as piśācas, their divine names came back to them.
- Pramodinī, who has the gandharva name Pramodinī
- Suśīlā, whose divine name is Suśīla
- Susvarā, whose divine name is Svaravedin
- Sutārā, whose divine name is Candrakānta
- Candrikā, whose divine name is Suprabha
They were divine beings of great beauty who lived in the divine realms that belong to gandharvas.
Vedanidhi’s son who kept brahmacarya
Vedanidhi was a brāhmaṇa. The text also calls him Agnipa. His son was of excellent conduct. He had finished his study of the Vedas and kept his brahmacarya (vow of celibacy) with perfect discipline, never breaking it. He was a young man of great puṇya (merit), ready to pass from the stage of brahmacarya to that of gṛhastha (householder).
The śāpa at Acchoda lake
The five gandharva maidens and Vedanidhi’s son met at the holy Acchoda lake, a divine lake known for its purity. Through their karma and their ties from earlier lives, a quarrel or improper conduct arose between them, and they laid a śāpa on one another.
By these śāpas all six, the five maidens and the young man, became piśācas at the same time. They lost their divine and human forms and fell into great suffering and degradation.
Lomaśa prescribes the Māgha bath
The great ṛshi Lomaśa is known for his long life and for travelling through the three worlds. He came to the place where the piśācas were suffering. He saw what had happened and knew the remedy. He told them to take the Māgha bath at Prayāga to be freed from the state of piśācas.
The Uttara Khaṇḍa declares that the Triveṇī Saṅgama at Prayāga is the most powerful tīrtha (holy place) for destroying all pāpa (sin), including the states that come from a śāpa. It is the meeting of the Gaṅgā, the Yamunā and the hidden Sarasvatī, and the bath is taken in the month of Māgha (January–February).
Vasishṭha’s longer teaching on Māgha
This account sits inside a larger teaching. At that time the ṛshi Vasishṭha was teaching King Dilīpa and the gathered company, including the maidens and the young man in their piśāca forms, about the greatness of Prayāga and the Māgha bath.
Vasishṭha gave examples of liberation through Māgha. One was King Citra of Drāviḍa, a fierce hater of Bhagavān Vishṇu. He spent twenty-one yugas in naraka (hell), and still found liberation through the Māgha bath at Prayāga. These accounts were told to prepare the group for the journey.
The journey to Prayāga and the freedom
Lomaśa urged them on, and Vedanidhi himself went with them. The whole group, the five maidens and Vedanidhi’s son, all in piśāca form, travelled to Prayāga. They bathed at the Triveṇī Saṅgama in the holy month of Māgha.
The moment they touched the waters of the Veṇī (Triveṇī), their state as piśācas came to an end. Each one got back the true form. The five maidens regained their shining gandharva bodies. Vedanidhi’s son got back his full human form.
The marriage and the journey to Kubera’s city
All six were now free from the śāpa. Lomaśa gave his decision. The young man had finished his brahmacarya vow. The five maidens were free from their state as piśācas and could be married. By Lomaśa’s word and with Vedanidhi’s blessing, the young man took the hands of all five gandharva maidens in marriage. The assembled ṛshis recited the Vedic rites at the wedding.
The young man, his five wives and Vedanidhi were all glad. They went together to the city of Kubera in the divine realms.
What the account shows
This account shows the main teaching of the Māgha-māhātmya part of the Uttara Khaṇḍa. The bath at Prayāga in Māgha is the remedy for the heaviest karmic bonds, including a birth as a piśāca after a śāpa. These beings were of divine origin and had fallen, and a single bath at the Triveṇī Saṅgama freed them at once. Their freedom also led straight to a divine rise. They did not go back to human life, but went up to the divine city of Kubera.
Sources
- Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 128
- Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 129