Suvrata Upākhyāna in the Padma Purāṇa

The Suvrata Upākhyāna runs through chapters 11 to 22 of the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa. It tells the life of Suvrata, a great devotee of Vishṇu, born to the brāhmaṇa couple Somaśarma and Sumanā at the holy tīrtha of Revā, which is the Narmadā. Suvrata’s birth comes from an accidental Ekādaśī fast in Somaśarma’s earlier life and from the direct grace of Bhagavān Vishṇu. From infancy Suvrata shows only bhakti (devotion) to Vishṇu. As a young man he does tapas at Vaidūrya Parvata, sees Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, learns of his past life as Dharmāṅgada, and is taken in his own body with his parents to Vishṇuloka. He then becomes Vasudatta, the new Indra. The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa gives this as its chief example of the power of devotion to Vishṇu.

Somaśarma’s trouble and his wife’s teaching

Somaśarma was a brāhmaṇa living near the Revā tīrtha, the source of the Narmadā at Amarakaṇṭaka, at the Vāmana tīrtha also called Revā. He had no children, no wealth and no work. He was a brāhmaṇa in deep poverty. His wife Sumanā was a woman of great wisdom and firm dharma.

Somaśarma sank in despair and asked her what their suffering meant. Sumanā gave a deep teaching on dharma and karma (action and its result), which became the base of the whole Suvrata narrative. She explained ṛṇasambandha, the bond of karmic debt that brings sons to a father’s house. Some sons come to repay a debt, some come to collect one, and only the rarest come from pure love (prema-sambandha). She taught the ten aṅgas (parts) of dharma: brahmacarya, satya, dāna, kshamā, śauca, ahiṃsā, śānti, asteya, dama and śuśrūshā. She said that karma is the author of their present state and that dharma is its only cure. The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa tells this in chapters 11–12.

Durvāsa’s three śāpas on Dharma

Inside Sumanā’s teaching is an account of Dharma himself. The great ṛshi Durvāsa Maharshi was once travelling, and Dharma, in person, gave him offence by mistake. In his anger Durvāsa laid three śāpas (curses) on Dharma.

You shall be born on earth as Dharmarāja, that is, Yudhishṭhira, a king who rules in a time of great suffering.
You shall be born as Vidura, a mahājñānī (a very wise man) who, by his birth, stays a counsellor and never a king.
You shall be born as a caṇḍāla, a man of the lowest birth, who carries wisdom in a form the world will not know.

The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa tells this in chapters 14–15.

Somaśarma’s past life and the chance Ekādaśī

Guided by Sumanā’s teaching, Somaśarma went to Vasishṭha Maharshi to ask why he had been born poor and without children. Vasishṭha saw his past life through jñāna-dṛshṭi (the eye of knowledge) and told him.

In an earlier birth Somaśarma was a greedy śūdra who knew nothing of dharma. One day he happened to stay with a devotee of Vishṇu. Not by his own choice or knowledge, but because of the company he was in, he spent that day fasting. It was Ekādaśī. He did not know what Ekādaśī was. He fasted only because the person he was with fasted. Yet this one chance fast, in the company of a devotee of Vishṇu, gathered puṇya of great power, though it came by chance. Through that puṇya he was born as a brāhmaṇa, Somaśarma. The rest of the dosha (fault) from his old greed and neglect of dharma showed itself in this life as poverty and no children. Vasishṭha said that if he now did tapas and lived fully in dharma, Bhagavān Vishṇu would bless him directly. The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa tells this in chapter 18.

Tapas at Revā and the vara

Somaśarma was deeply moved by Vasishṭha’s words. He began strong tapas at the Revā tīrtha, the holy region of Amarakaṇṭaka where the Narmadā rises, a place of great tīrtha-śakti (holy power). Sumanā stood beside him in the same practice, firm throughout, and the tapas was of great strength.

Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared before the couple and offered them a vara. They asked for a son equal to Indra, one who would carry the highest virtues, devotion and the glow of dharma. Bhagavān Vishṇu granted the vara. The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa tells this in chapters 19–20.

Suvrata’s birth

Suvrata was born to Somaśarma and Sumanā with wonderful signs. The devas showered flowers, the gandharvas sang, the apsarasas danced, and divine scents filled the air. At the moment of his birth Somaśarma’s wealth came back: money, food and cattle poured into the house, as though a dam had broken and let abundance flow. The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa tells this in chapter 20.

Suvrata’s childhood

Even as a child Suvrata did not behave like other children. He did not play ordinary games. His play was Vishṇu-dhyāna (meditation on Vishṇu). He set out small images of Vishṇu and did mānasa-pūjā (worship in the mind) all the time. The games of other children did not draw him. Only Bhagavān Vishṇu filled his mind. His parents saw that this child, whose birth Bhagavān Vishṇu himself had given, seemed already to carry the fullness of earlier bhakti. The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa tells this in chapter 21.

Tapas at Vaidūrya Parvata and Kṛshṇa’s darśana

As Suvrata grew, his inner fire could not be held in household life. He told his parents he wished to do tapas and looked for a quiet place at Vaidūrya Parvata, the Beryl Mountain, where Siddheśvara is present. There he did very strong tapas, with fasting, silence and complete absorption in Vishṇu-dhyāna.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa appeared before him. Suvrata fell flat before him and offered a stotra (a hymn of praise) full of devotion. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa then told him his past life. In his earlier birth Suvrata was Dharmāṅgada, the son of Rukmāṅgada, king of Vidiśā. Dharmāṅgada was a prince of great devotion and love for his father. When his father undertook a great tapas, a crisis came in which the completion of the tapas needed his son’s own gift of his life. Dharmāṅgada did not hesitate. He cut off his own head willingly, so that his father’s tapas could be completed. This act of highest giving won him a direct rise to Vishṇuloka after death. By the will of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa he was then born again as Suvrata, born to Somaśarma and Sumanā as the fruit of their own tapas. The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa tells this in chapter 22.

Ascent to Vishṇuloka and the new Indra

After the darśana, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa did not merely bless Suvrata and send him back. He took Suvrata and his parents, Somaśarma and Sumanā, in their own bodies to Vishṇuloka. All three rose together in their physical forms. The family that had lived in poverty at Revā tīrtha was made pure by tapas, by bhakti and by the grace of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. They reached the highest abode in their own lifetimes.

Suvrata then became Vasudatta, the new Indra of svarga. As Vasudatta, also named Suvrata, he holds the high office of Indra. The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa tells this in chapter 22.

Sources

Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, chapters 11–22
Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, chapters 11–12 (Sumanā’s teaching)
Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, chapters 14–15 (Durvāsa’s three śāpas on Dharma)
Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, chapter 18 (Somaśarma’s past life)
Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, chapters 19–20 (the tapas and the vara)
Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, chapters 20–22 (Suvrata’s birth, childhood, tapas and ascent)