Hemamālin
Hemamālin was a yaksha who served Kubera. Every morning he brought fresh flowers from Lake Mānasa for Kubera’s pūjā of Bhagavān Śiva. Once he was late, and Kubera cursed him with leprosy. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells how the Yoginī Ekādaśī vow healed him.
Who he was and his service
Hemamālin was a yaksha, a semi-divine being in the retinue of Kubera. Kubera is the lord of wealth and the guardian of the northern quarter. Hemamālin’s duty was to gather flowers from Lake Mānasa each morning and bring them fresh to Kubera. Kubera used them in his daily pūjā of Bhagavān Śiva. This service was sacred, and it had to be done on time.
The delay and the curse
One day Hemamālin became lost in play with his wife Viśālākshī. He did not bring the flowers at the right time. Kubera waited, but no flowers came. When Kubera learned that Hemamālin had neglected his sacred duty for pleasure, he became angry at once, because the pūjā of Bhagavān Śiva had been insulted. He gave a śāpa (a curse) that Hemamālin would suffer all eighteen kinds of leprosy.
Wandering and guidance
Struck by leprosy, Hemamālin left Kubera’s realm and fell to the earth. He roamed in misery. Then the ṛshi Śāṇḍilya sent him to the Himālaya, to the ṛshi Mārkaṇḍeya. Mārkaṇḍeya was practising tapas (austerity) there, and he was known for his deep knowledge of vows (vrata) that destroy pāpa (sin).
The Yoginī Ekādaśī
Mārkaṇḍeya heard Hemamālin’s account and taught him the Yoginī Ekādaśī. This is the fast on the Ekādaśī (the eleventh day) of the dark fortnight of Āshāḍha. The narrative describes it as supremely holy. Keeping it equals the puṇya (merit) of feeding eighty-eight thousand brāhmaṇas. It destroys the pāpa gathered in earlier births, frees the one who keeps it from all disease, and frees his ancestors.
Hemamālin kept the Yoginī Ekādaśī vow exactly as Mārkaṇḍeya taught. By its power all eighteen kinds of leprosy left his body. He was fully healed and joined his wife Viśālākshī again.
Sources
- Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 52