King Citra and the Māgha Bath

Chapter 129 of the Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells of King Citra of Drāviḍa. He hated Bhagavān Vishṇu. After death he spent twenty-one yugas in naraka (hell) and then became a wandering evil spirit. In that form he came to the hermitage of the brāhmaṇa Devadyuti in the Plaksha forest. Devadyuti told him to bathe at Prayāga in the month of Māgha. He did so and was freed. This account is told inside the teaching of Vasishṭha to King Dilīpa on the month of Māgha.

King Citra of Drāviḍa

Citra was a king of the Drāviḍa country. He hated Bhagavān Vishṇu. He did not honour the devas or the holy practices. He opposed the devotees of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Through all his reign he lived against dharma. His hatred of Bhagavān Vishṇu was open opposition and not mere neglect.

Twenty-one yugas in naraka

When King Citra died, his many pāpas (sins), and above all his hatred of Bhagavān Vishṇu, sent him to the worlds of naraka. There he was tormented for twenty-one yugas. After these twenty-one yugas, the heavy karma of his wrong deeds had been used up. But some of his karma still remained.

Rebirth as an evil spirit

With a part of his karma still left, King Citra was reborn as an evil spirit (piśāca or preta). He wandered the earth without food, and hunger and thirst tormented him. In time he came to the Plaksha forest on the bank of the river Sarasvatī. This was the hermitage of the brāhmaṇa Devadyuti.

The meeting with Devadyuti

Devadyuti had made his home at the Plaksha tīrtha (holy place) on the Sarasvatī, a place of great holiness. He had done hard tapas (austerity) there. On a Vaiśākha Ekādaśī he had received the darśana (sight) of Bhagavān Vishṇu himself, and he had made and sung the Yogasāra hymn to him.

The evil spirit of King Citra came to his hermitage in a wretched state. His face was dry, his body thin, his hair matted and his eyes sunken. Devadyuti saw the state he was in and questioned him with kindness.

In his spirit form, King Citra told his history. He told of his royal life in Drāviḍa, his hatred of Bhagavān Vishṇu, his yugas in naraka and his present life as a ghost. He asked Devadyuti how he could be freed.

Devadyuti speaks of the water of Prayāga

Devadyuti answered by telling accounts that show the power of Prayāga water to free even the most fallen beings.

One was the account of Vasu, a brāhmaṇa from Kerala. He had never given a gift in his life. He became an evil spirit on the Vindhya mountain. A kind pilgrim gave him Prayāga water to drink, and that alone freed him.

Through such accounts Devadyuti showed that the waters of the Triveṇī Saṅgama at Prayāga, where the Gaṅgā, the Yamunā and the Sarasvatī meet, have a power to free that no other remedy has. Even a few drops of Prayāga water, given to a being in the lowest state, can break the chain of a fallen life.

The Māgha bath at Prayāga

Devadyuti then told King Citra what to do. He was to go to Prayāga and bathe there in the month of Māgha. Through the Uttara Khaṇḍa the Māgha bath at Prayāga is given as the great remedy for all pāpa.

Liberation and ascent to Indra’s svarga

Vasishṭha gave further guidance and encouragement. This account stands inside Vasishṭha’s teaching to King Dilīpa. King Citra went to Prayāga in his evil spirit form. He bathed at the Triveṇī Saṅgama in the month of Māgha.

At once his evil spirit body fell away. He rose in a divine form and praised Bhagavān Vishṇu with devotion. The gandharvas praised him, and divine women honoured him. He was taken in a divine vimāna (flying chariot) to the city of Indra in svarga (heaven).

The king had spent twenty-one yugas in naraka and more years as a wandering spirit. A single Māgha bath brought him to the svarga of Indra.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 129