Piṅgalā of Ayodhyā

Piṅgalā was a veśyā (courtesan) of Ayodhyā. She appears in the Vilāsa Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Chapter 8. Seized by kāma (desire) for Bhagavān Rāma, she crept past the sleeping guards one night and entered his private room while Sītā slept. She took hold of his feet and begged for mercy.

Bhagavān Rāma refused her fully, because he kept his ekapatnī-vrata (the vow of one wife). He gave her a vara (a boon): she would be born as Kubja, the hunchback woman of Mathurā, and Bhagavān Kṛshṇa would free her. When Rāma told Sītā what had happened, Sītā became furious. This led to the midnight calling of Vasishṭha and to Rāma’s oath that he was innocent. The next morning Sītā had Piṅgalā beaten and put a śāpa (a curse) on her, to be born as trivajrā, a woman with a triple deformity, in Mathurā. Then Sītā added that Kṛshṇa would free her.

This Piṅgalā of Ayodhyā is a different person from the Piṅgalā of Videha in the Bhāgavata Mahāpurāṇa, who became one of the twenty-four gurus of Dattātreya.

The midnight approach

One night in the time of Rāma’s rule, Sītā lay asleep on the divine bed. Piṅgalā moved through the palace with great care. She took off her jingling anklets so that she would make no sound. She wore her finest clothes and ornaments. She went through the dark passages, shaking with fear of Sītā, yet driven on by kāma. The guards at Rāma’s door had fallen asleep, and she passed them unseen. She entered the room and reached Rāma’s side. She took his feet in both hands and pressed them. Rāma woke. She went on pressing his feet and begged: “Rāma, I have been seized by kāma. Have mercy on me. Forgive this trespass.”

Rāma’s refusal and the vara

Rāma saw that she was lost in kāma-moha (the confusion of desire). He spoke to her with kindness, not anger. He reminded her of his firm vow of one wife: “Piṅgalā, you know that in this life I hold this vow as a vow. My word is never false. This desire of yours cannot be fulfilled in this janma (birth).”

Then he told her: “In Mathurā, when I am born as Kṛshṇa, I will kill my uncle Kaṃsa and stay in that city for a time. At that time you will be there as Kubja, a woman of crooked body (trivajrā). You will offer me sandal-paste in the street. At that very moment I will take you by the chin and lift you. Your body will be made beautiful and you will be freed. Go now. Live in Kaṃsa’s palace in Mathurā, serve there, and wait for that time.”

After he spoke, Rāma woke the careless guards and had them punished for letting Piṅgalā in.

Sītā’s anger and the midnight oath

Rāma woke Sītā and told her all that had happened. Sītā rose from the bed in anger. She did not believe him. She said that he had “first enjoyed himself with Piṅgalā” and then made up the story of the vow. She said she would not touch a bed that a veśyā had used. She said she would go at once to the Sarayū river and drown herself. She also said that “a king who keeps a veśyā cannot hold his kingdom for long.”

Rāma ran after her and caught her by the arms. He held her gently and said he would swear whatever she asked. Sītā answered: “I cannot be calmed by any oath you take alone. Everything in this creation serves you: fire, water, the moon, the sun, the earth, Śesha and all weapons. So none of them can really be your witness. Only one thing can calm me. Swear on the feet of your guru Vasishṭha. Call him here now.”

Lakshmaṇa was sent at midnight to bring Vasishṭha and Arundhatī. Rāma received them with deep respect and told them the whole matter. Then he said: “Nothing of what you imagine happened. I swear this truthfully now, and I swear it on your feet.” He took both feet of Vasishṭha in his hands, placed them on his own head, and bowed with his forehead to the ground before his guru.

Sītā saw Rāma bow his head at the feet of Vasishṭha, and she was overcome. Her anger turned at once into regret. She bowed before Rāma and asked his forgiveness.

Sītā’s śāpa

The next morning Sītā had Piṅgalā brought before her, bound. She had her beaten and spoke sharply to her. Then she gave the śāpa: “For the wrong you have done against me and against dharma, be born as trivajrā (a woman with a triple deformity, a hunchback) in Mathurā, with a crooked look and a crooked mind.”

Piṅgalā fell at Sītā’s feet and begged with joined hands. Sītā’s compassion stirred, and she added: “Kṛshṇa will free you.” Then Rāma heard that Piṅgalā had been beaten and bound. He ordered her to be set free and sent away.

The Vilāsa Khaṇḍa joins the origin of Kubja to Piṅgalā’s trespass and Sītā’s śāpa. The bent body is Sītā’s punishment. The freeing by Kṛshṇa is the result of both Rāma’s vara, given to Piṅgalā before Sītā woke, and the words Sītā added to her śāpa. When Kṛshṇa takes Kubja by the chin in Mathurā and makes her whole, he keeps a promise made in Rāma’s room in Ayodhyā in the Tretā Yuga.

The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa joins Kubja to an earlier birth as Śūrpaṇakhā. In that text too, Kubja is freed by Kṛshṇa in Mathurā.

Sources

  • Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vilāsa Khaṇḍa, Chapter 8
  • Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, on Kubja’s earlier birth as Śūrpaṇakhā
  • Bhāgavata Mahāpurāṇa, on Piṅgalā of Videha, one of the twenty-four gurus of Dattātreya