Merchant and the Preta Chief

This is the account that goes with the Śrāvaṇa Dvādaśī vow, from the Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Purāṇa. Śrāvaṇa Dvādaśī is the twelfth tithi (lunar day) of the bright fortnight of Bhādrapada, when it falls together with the Śrāvaṇa nakshatra (lunar mansion). A merchant, cut off from his caravan, meets the chief of the pretas in a dreadful desert. The chief shows him kindness and sets him a task. Through that task the pretas are freed and the merchant takes up the vow.

The Maru desert

West of the country of Daśāraka lay the Maru country (now Rajasthan), fierce because of its many harsh creatures. Its sand was heated by the sun and its great serpents were everywhere. It had little shade, and the bodies of animals lay about. The trees that grew there, śamī, khadira, palāśa, karīra and pīlu, were thorny and frightening. There were no clouds and no water. Birds lay dead with their thirsty young ones between their wings. Men bound by their karma still lived there, their strength used up.

The lost merchant

A merchant, cut off from his caravan by bad luck, entered this terrible forest. Hunger, thirst and tiredness had clouded his mind. He did not know where a village was, where water was, or even where he himself stood.

In this state he saw a company of pretas (hungry spirits of the dead). They were large, wicked, fierce, thin and frightening to see. Among them one preta sat on another preta’s shoulders, surrounded by the company, still and very fierce. When this chief of the pretas saw the merchant, he got down from his mount and came to him. He greeted the merchant with respect and asked how he had come into this dreadful place.

The merchant told him that misfortune had parted him from his caravan and that he had entered the forest. Thirst and hunger pressed hard on him. His strength was failing and he saw no way to live.

The preta chief’s welcome

The preta chief told the merchant to wait under a śamī tree in blossom while he made ready a welcome. At midday the chief came with a lovely pitcher of cold water, curd and rice, all wonderfully cool and fresh. The merchant ate and at once felt fully satisfied, free of thirst and pain.

The chief then gave a share of the curd-rice and water to each of the many pretas, one by one, and all were satisfied. He himself ate what was left.

The preta chief’s own account

The merchant was amazed. Where had this food come from in such a desert? How had so many thin pretas been filled with so little? Why had the chief made his home here?

The preta chief told his own history. In his former life he had been a wicked merchant. He was greedy for wealth and gave no alms to anyone in the whole city. But he had a virtuous brāhmaṇa friend. Once, on the twelfth day of Bhādrapada, when the Śrāvaṇa nakshatra appeared, this friend took him to the river Tāpī, to bathe where it meets the Candrabhāgā. Men were fasting there for Śrāvaṇa Dvādaśī and giving pitchers of Candrabhāgā water to brāhmaṇas.

The merchant also gave to the chief brāhmaṇas an image of Bhagavān Vishṇu, curd and rice, a vessel with a ladle, an umbrella, sandals and a garment. He fasted, and on the river’s bank he gave one lovely pitcher of water.

That one gift of a pitcher of water on Śrāvaṇa Dvādaśī was the only good act of his whole former life. When he died, because of his lack of faith and his meanness, he became a preta in this terrible forest. But the pitcher of water he had given to Bhagavān Vishṇu came back to him every day at midday. The puṇya (merit) of a gift offered to Bhagavān Vishṇu never runs out. However often it is used, it is not used up.

The task and the freedom

The preta chief told the merchant that by welcoming a worthy guest he had earned enough puṇya to leave the preta state and reach the highest place, which is moksha. The other pretas, who had done many wrong acts, would stay in their suffering.

He gave the merchant a list of the names and family lines of his company. He told him to go to Gayāśirsha, the holy place at Gayā where śrāddhas (rites for the departed) are performed, and to offer śrāddha for each of them.

The merchant took the list and left. He found a treasure on the Himālaya, whose place the preta chief had told him, and took one-sixth of it. He went to Gayāśirsha and performed a śrāddha for each of them, saying each name and family line. Everyone for whom he performed the śrāddha came to him in a dream and said: “By your kindness I have been freed from the preta state.”

The merchant keeps the vow

From then on the merchant kept the Śrāvaṇa Dvādaśī vow himself every year, on the bright Dvādaśī of Bhādrapada when it fell with the Śrāvaṇa nakshatra. He bathed at the river meeting, fasted, did pūjā to Bhagavān Vishṇu and gave gifts to brāhmaṇas. He did this every year until his death.

At death he reached a high place that men find hard to gain. He plays in Vaikuṇṭha, served by Bhagavān Vishṇu’s own attendants.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 69