Kāmagamana Vimāna

The Kāmagamana Vimāna is the “vehicle that travels at will”. It is a celestial vimāna (flying vehicle) that goes wherever its rider wishes. Nārada speaks of it in the Āśramavāsika Parva of the Mahābhārata. He says Dhṛtarāshṭra will use it after his death.

By then, Dhṛtarāshṭra’s faults will have been burnt away by tapas (austerity). He will live in Kubera’s realm, adorned with divine ornaments. From there he will roam freely among the lokas of the devas, gandharvas and rākshasas.

Nārada’s prophecy

Nārada told how he once went unexpectedly to Indra’s mansion. There he overheard Indra speaking with Pāṇḍu Mahārāja about Dhṛtarāshṭra, who was then doing severe tapas in the forest.

Indra said that Dhṛtarāshṭra had three more years to live. After that, he would go with Gāndhārī to Kubera’s mansion, where he would be honoured. Then, adorned with divine ornaments, this ṛshi-putra (“son of the ṛshi”, that is, the son of Vyāsa) would be free of his faults. He would roam at will (yathecchamu) in the realms of the devas, gandharvas and rākshasas, using the Kāmagamana Vimāna.

The Pushpaka Vimāna

The Rāmāyaṇa tradition tells of the Pushpaka Vimāna. Viśvakarmā made it for Brahmā. It was given to Kubera, and Rāvaṇa later seized it.

The Āśramavāsika Parva does not name the Kāmagamana Vimāna as the Pushpaka. It describes the Kāmagamana Vimāna simply as a vimāna that lets its rider move without limit, at will (kāma-gamana), among the divine and semi-divine lokas. Many divine vehicles in the Purāṇas and the Itihāsas share this quality.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 20