Puñjikasthalī

Puñjikasthalī · puñjika-sthalī

Vaiśākha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Vaiśākha.

Puñjikasthalī is one of the apsarās, the divine women of svarga. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa tells that she was among the apsarās whom Indra sent with Manmatha to break the tapas of Mārkaṇḍeya Maharshi on the northern side of the Himavat. Playing with a ball before the maharshi, she was part of Manmatha’s assault, but the maharshi’s mind did not waver, and the servants of Indra, scorched by the tejas of his tapas, turned back. The Bhāgavata also names her among the seven beings who, each month in turn, serve Bhagavān Sūrya: she is the apsarā of the month of Vaiśākha.

Before Mārkaṇḍeya Maharshi

Sūta tells Śaunaka that in this seventh, Vaivasvata manvantara, Indra came to know of the tapas of Mārkaṇḍeya and feared for his own position. To put an obstacle in that tapas he sent the gandharvas, the apsarās, Manmatha, Vasanta, the Malaya breeze, and Lobha (greed) and Garva (pride), the offspring of rajo-guṇa. They went to the maharshi’s āśrama on the northern side of the Himavat, where the river Pushpabhadrā flows and the rock called Citrā stands. At the evening sandhyā, as the moon rose, Vasanta appeared there, and Manmatha, leader of the host of apsarās, came with an arrow set on his bow, followed by crowds of gandharvas. The maharshi sat with his eyes closed after his homa, like Agni in bodily form. Before him the apsarās danced and the gandharvas sang to mṛdaṅgas, vīṇās and drums, and Manmatha set on his bow the astra of five faces: Śoshaṇa, Mohana, Sandīpana, Tāpana and Unmādana.

The apsarā Puñjikasthalī was playing with balls. As she leapt here and there after the ball, the garland slipped from her hair, her girdle broke, and the wind carried away her fine garment. At that very moment Manmatha loosed his arrow and thought he had conquered the maharshi. But all of it was in vain. Scorched by the tejas of Mārkaṇḍeya’s tapas, they turned back at once, like children who go to play with what they think is a rope and find it is a snake. No anger arose in the maharshi at the harm they had tried to do him. Manmatha returned to Indra with his army, his face without lustre, and Indra, hearing of the greatness of Mārkaṇḍeya, was greatly astonished.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 12, Chapter 8

With Sūrya in the month of Vaiśākha

Sūta tells Śaunaka that Bhagavān Sūrya, in the form of time, moves through the twelve months with a gaṇa of seven in each month: an Āditya, a maharshi, an apsarā, a rākshasa, a nāga, a yaksha and a gandharva. In Vaiśākha the Sūrya is Aryamā, with Pulaha Maharshi, the apsarā Puñjikasthalī, the gandharva Nārada and the sarpa Kacchanīra; these conduct the month of Vaiśākha. While the gandharvas sing Sūrya’s glory, the apsarās dance before him. These are the vibhūtis (glories) of Bhagavān Vishṇu in the form of Sūrya, and the pāpas of those who remember them every day at the sandhyās go away.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 12, Chapter 11

Sources

• Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 12, Chapters 8, 11