Devadyuti

Devadyuti was a brāhmaṇa and ṛshi who lived in the Plaksha forest. He was a firm devotee of Bhagavān Vishṇu. He kept the Vaiśākha Ekādaśī observance and recited the Yogasāra hymn.

He is the central person in the Māgha māhātmya (praise of the greatness of the Māgha month) of Chapters 128–129 of the Uttara Khaṇḍa. In the forest he met the evil spirit of Citra, a pāpa-laden king of the Drāviḍa country. He understood the spirit’s state. He told the account of Vasu, a brāhmaṇa of Kerala, as a lesson that fitted the case. Then he advised the Māgha bath at Prayāga as the cure for the many pāpa (sins) that held King Citra’s spirit.

Who he was and where he lived

Devadyuti means “he whose radiance is divine”. He had made his home in the Plaksha forest as a devotee and practitioner. Two practices are named for him. One is the Vaiśākha Ekādaśī observance. The other is the recitation of the Yogasāra hymn to Bhagavān Vishṇu. So his devotion rested on both a fixed day of observance and the recitation of a text. (Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 128)

Meeting the spirit of King Citra

King Citra of the Drāviḍas had been a fierce enemy of Bhagavān Vishṇu all his life. When he died, his many pāpa made him an evil spirit, a piśāca or preta. Twenty-one yugas in naraka (hell) were waiting for him.

This spirit met Devadyuti in the Plaksha forest. Devadyuti did not run away from it or turn it away. He asked about its state and its past, with the compassion of a true Vaishṇava devotee. (Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 128)

The account of Vasu of Kerala

Devadyuti told King Citra’s spirit about Vasu, a brāhmaṇa of Kerala. He told it to teach the spirit and to give it hope. Vasu had also suffered as an evil spirit, near the meeting of the Kṛshṇā and the Veṇī rivers.

The two cases matched. Vasu too had done pāpa, and Vasu too had fallen into a low state after death. A kind pilgrim had given Vasu Prayāga water, and Vasu was freed. Devadyuti used this account as proof that a Prayāga pilgrimage can free even the spirit most weighed down by pāpa. (Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 128–129)

The advice: the Māgha bath at Prayāga

Devadyuti told King Citra’s spirit to bathe at Prayāga in the holy month of Māgha. Prayāga is the Triveṇī Saṅgama, the meeting of the Gaṅgā, the Yamunā and the Sarasvatī. The Purāṇa describes this bath as the strongest rite of cleansing for removing built-up pāpa.

His reasoning matches the wider Māgha māhātmya. No pāpa is so great that the Prayāga Māgha bath cannot dissolve it. Kings who hated Bhagavān Vishṇu all their lives have been freed by one such bath. (Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 129)

The Yogasāra hymn and Vaiśākha Ekādaśī

Devadyuti’s two named practices show what kind of man he was.

• Vaiśākha Ekādaśī. This is the Ekādaśī, the eleventh day, of the bright fortnight of Vaiśākha. It is one of the most sacred fasting days in the Vaishṇava calendar. Keeping it purifies the devotee, and it is very dear to Bhagavān Vishṇu.
• The Yogasāra hymn. The name means “essence of yoga”. Reciting it was Devadyuti’s main daily practice. (Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 128)

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 128–129