Vindhyāvalī

Vindhyāvalī was the wife and queen of Bali Cakravartī, the great daitya king who gave the three worlds to Bhagavān Vāmana. The Skanda Mahā Purāṇa (Kedāra Khaṇḍa), the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa and the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa each name her. Each gives her a different part in the story.

The offer of her head in the Kedāra Khaṇḍa

In the Kedāra Khaṇḍa’s account of the Vāmana story, Bhagavān Viṣṇu as Trivikrama covered the whole earth with one step and all of svarga (heaven) with the second. No space was left for the third step Bali had promised. Before Bali could answer, Vindhyāvalī came forward and offered her own head. She said: “Place the third step here. If my husband has promised what the earth cannot fulfil, let it be fulfilled from his wife’s head.”

She made the same offer as her husband and made it first. She did not only accept her husband’s gift. She wished to share it, and even to spare him by taking the step herself. In the Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Bali makes the same offer straight after her. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 19)

The gift at the yajña in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa

Bali was about to make his gift of three paces of land to Vāmana. At that moment Vindhyāvalī came into the yajña-śālā (the hall of the yajña). She wore a garland of jasmine buds and carried a golden kalaśa (water vessel) filled with water for washing Vāmana’s feet. This was the vessel used for the water-offering that seals a dāna (gift). Bali, full of joy, washed Vāmana’s feet with that water himself and poured it out. This sealed the gift of the three worlds to Bhagavān Vāmana beyond recall. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 19)

Her words when Bali was bound

Garuḍa had bound Bali in Varuṇa’s ropes. Vāmana said that Bali had not fulfilled his gift. Vindhyāvalī saw her husband without his kingdom and with his crown dimmed. She came at once before Vāmana, joined her palms, bowed her head in namaskāra and said:

“O Īśvara! You yourself made these three worlds for your own līlā (play). Yet some foolish people, drunk on their own power, think they are the masters of what you made. They proudly call themselves the kartā (doer) of what is really your play. It is your māyāśakti (power of illusion) that creates this confusion in them. You make, keep and dissolve this jagat (world), and the jagat is your own rūpa (form). What could anyone offer you that did not already come from you? This Bali has given you the three worlds. Yet the three worlds were always yours. Nothing he has given was ever truly his.”

(Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 22)

Her journey to Sutala

Bhagavān Vāmana released Bali and gave him rule over Sutala. He declared that he himself would stand at the gate of Sutala as Bali’s dvārapāla (gatekeeper). Bali accepted with deep devotion and entered Sutala. Vindhyāvalī went with him into that high realm. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapter 22)

The account in the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa

At the Aśvamedha

The Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa names Vindhyāvalī as Bali’s chief queen throughout his life. Bali performed the Aśvamedha at Kurukṣetra, the great yajña that came before the meeting with Vāmana. Vindhyāvalī took part as his yajñapatnī (the queen whose dīkṣā, consecration, is needed for the performance of the soma yajña). (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 62)

Receiving the Sudarśana in Sutala

Bali and Vindhyāvalī settled in Sutala and built their crystal city. One day the Sudarśana cakra came down into Sutala with a sound like the churning of the ocean. The daitya palace was filled with fear, and Bali drew his sword at once. Vindhyāvalī answered calmly and told him to put his sword away. She said: “This sound is from the Sudarśana of Vāmana Deva, the cakra that destroys daityas. It deserves our worship, not our opposition.” She took up the arghya vessel (the vessel for the water-offering to a guest) and went with Bali to receive the cakra with devotion. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 67)

Lighting the lamps in Sutala

Bali built a temple to Viṣṇu in Sutala. Vindhyāvalī lit the ārati lamps with her own hands. The text records this act of dīpārādhana (worship with lamps) as a sign of her devotion. At the yajña she brought the vessel. When the Sudarśana came she brought the arghya. At the temple she brought the flame. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 68)

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 19
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skanda, Chapters 19–22
• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 62, 67, 68