Aditi: Mother of the Ādityas and of Vāmana

Aditi is the mother of the ādityas, the twelve sons of light led by Indra. She is the wife of the great ṛṣi Kaśyapa Prajāpati. The daitya Bali Cakravartī conquered Svarga (the world of the devas) and drove her sons from their home. Aditi was filled with grief.

Her husband Kaśyapa taught her the Payovrata. By keeping this vow, she saw Bhagavān Śrī Hari (Viṣṇu) in person. He promised to be born as her son and to restore her children. She is therefore the mother of Vāmana, the fifth of the Daśāvatāra (the ten avatāras). The Bhāgavatam shows Aditi as a model pativratā (a devoted wife) and a mother whose śraddhā (faith) in Bhagavān Viṣṇu won the highest reward: Bhagavān Viṣṇu himself as her son.

Identity and lineage

Aditi is the daughter of Dakṣa Prajāpati. She is one of the thirteen daughters he gave in marriage to Kaśyapa. She is the mother of the twelve ādityas. They include Indra (Purandara), Viṣṇu (in his solar form) and Varuṇa. Together the ādityas govern the work of Svarga, and they are the divine rulers of the present Vaivasvata Manvantara.

Her co-wives were also daughters of Dakṣa. They gave birth to the other great lines: the daityas (born of Diti), the nāgas, the gandharvas and others. This is told in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 16.

Grief at her sons’ exile

Bali conquered all three worlds through the Viśvajit-yajña and took Amarāvatī, the city of the devas. Indra and the other ādityas went into hiding in disguise. Aditi’s āśrama became a place without joy, without feasting and without her sons. She sat in constant sorrow.

Kaśyapa came back from a long samādhi (deep meditation) and saw her tired face. He asked her kindly what troubled her. Aditi answered as a wife devoted to her husband. She told him how her sons had been driven out and how she could not help them. She asked him what she should do. This is in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 16.

The Payovrata

Kaśyapa told her: “Bhagavad-bhakti (devotion to Bhagavān Viṣṇu) is never wasted. There is no other upāya (means).”

He taught her the Payovrata. This is a vow of twelve days in the Phālguna śukla pakṣa (the bright half of the month). Kaśyapa himself had received it from Brahmā as the way to please Keśava. The full rule is as follows.

She lives on milk (payaḥ) alone for the twelve days.
Each day she honours the vigraha (form) of Śrī Hari, the fire, the guru, the sun and the water, with the twelve-letter mūlamantra (root mantra).
She offers milk for the abhiṣeka (ritual bath) of the form.
She offers fragrant flowers, dhūpa (incense) and dīpa (lamps), and does the pūjā.
She does 108 japa (repetitions of the mantra).
She makes a homa (fire offering) with rice cooked in milk (payāsa).
She feeds brāhmaṇas.
She keeps brahmacarya (self-control), sleeps on the ground and bathes three times a day.

The mantra is:

Oṃ namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya

This means “Oṃ, I bow to Bhagavān Vāsudeva.”

Kaśyapa ended with these words: “Whatever pleases Adhokṣaja, that alone is the true niyama (rule of life), the true tapas (austerity) and the true dāna (gift).” This is in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 16.

Bhagavān Viṣṇu appears

Aditi kept the Payovrata for twelve days with her whole mind fixed on one point. She held her mind on Vāsudeva as a driver holds the reins of wild horses. She controlled all her senses through the discipline of the body, which is like a chariot.

On the last day Bhagavān Śrī Hari appeared before her. He had four arms and held the śaṅkha (conch), the cakra (discus) and the gadā (mace). He wore yellow silk, and his radiance was beyond words. Aditi rose at once and bowed fully to the ground. She stood with folded hands. Tears ran from her eyes, and her body shook with the force of her bhakti. She could hardly speak.

In a trembling voice she offered a stotra (a hymn of praise). She called him Yajñapuruṣa, the Person of the yajña. She called him the one who makes pure through his kīrtana (praise in song) and his name. She called him the one who comes down whenever his devotees are in danger, and the cause of all the worlds, from whom even mokṣa (liberation) is gained. She ended by asking for his compassion for her sons. This is in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 17.

The promise and the secret

Bhagavān Śrī Hari knew Aditi’s whole wish, including the wish she had not spoken. She wished to see the wives of her enemies weep while her own sons enjoyed their wealth again. He said: “I cannot destroy these rākṣasas at once by open force. The Bhārgavas and dharma protect them. But I will find an upāya. Your vrata has pleased me greatly, and my worship never goes without fruit. I will enter the tejas (radiance) of Kaśyapa’s tapas and be born as your son to protect your sons.”

He told her to keep this as a deva-rahasya (a secret of the devas). It would bear fruit only if she kept it secret. Then he vanished.

Aditi had gained the highest vara (boon). Bhagavān Viṣṇu himself had agreed to enter the world through her womb. She served Kaśyapa with deep devotion. Through his clear samādhi, Kaśyapa saw that Bhagavān Viṣṇu had entered his tejas as an aṃśa (a part), and he placed that aṃśa in Aditi. Brahmā learned of the avatāra in the womb. He came and offered a stotra to the unborn Bhagavān Viṣṇu. This is in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 17.

The birth of Vāmana

Bhagavān Viṣṇu was born from Aditi as the four-armed Vāmana. The day was Bhādrapada śukla dvādaśī, at the Abhijit muhūrta (the noon hour), with the moon in Śravaṇa. Then he drew his cosmic form into the shape of a small brāhmaṇa boy before his parents’ eyes.

The Bhāgavatam says that the ṛṣis who were present at once did the jātakarma (the birth rite). At his upanayana (sacred thread ceremony), Aditi gave him his loincloth (kaupeena) and waistcloth. Vāmana then did what he came to do and gave Svarga back to Indra. The siddhas and devas who had gathered praised Aditi as dhanyā (blessed). They said: “As the devoted Lakṣmīdevī served Yajñeśvara, so this Aditi’s service and Payovrata brought Bhagavān Viṣṇu into the world.” This is in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 18.

Aditi as mother of Mahōtkaṭa

The Krīḍā Khaṇḍa of the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa shows Aditi in a similar role. She is the mother through whom a supreme being comes down to protect the world.

In this account, Devāntaka and Narāntaka, the sons of the asura Raudraketu, had conquered all three worlds and driven out the devas. The devas prayed to Gaṇeśa to come down. Gaṇeśa agreed to be born as Mahōtkaṭa, the avatāra of the Kṛtayuga. He chose Kaśyapa and Aditi as his parents.

Aditi performed tapas for a son. These were the same parents, Kaśyapa and Aditi, who had earlier been the parents of Vāmana, the descent of Bhagavān Viṣṇu against Bali. Now they became the parents of Mahōtkaṭa, the descent of Gaṇeśa against Devāntaka and Narāntaka. This is in the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 5–6.

Sources

Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapters 16–18
Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 5–6