Citra of Drāviḍa
King Citra ruled in the Drāviḍa region. He hated Bhagavān Vishṇu, and the Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells how he was freed from the result of that hatred.
After death he became an evil spirit and wandered in the Plaksha forest. There the ṛshi Devadyuti met him. Devadyuti told him to bathe at Prayāga in the month of Māgha. Citra did so, and he rose in a bright divine form to Indraloka (the world of Indra).
Enmity toward Vishṇu
Citra’s main fault was Vaishṇava-dvesha, hatred of Bhagavān Vishṇu and his devotees. The Padma Purāṇa names this as the cause of his ruin. The pāpa it produced was so great that it needed twenty-one yugas in naraka (hell) to be used up.
His state after death
Citra did not go straight to naraka. He became an evil spirit (piśāca or preta). He wandered in misery and could not reach even his punishment. He haunted the Plaksha forest, where the ṛshi Devadyuti had his āśrama (hermitage).
He was helpless. He could do no act of puṇya (merit). He could not receive ordinary food or water. He could go neither up nor down.
Meeting with Devadyuti
Help came from outside. The ṛshi Devadyuti met Citra’s spirit in the Plaksha forest. He did not shrink from it. He asked with kindness about its state. Devadyuti learned Citra’s history and understood how great his pāpa was. Then he showed him a way forward.
The remedy and the story of Vasu
Devadyuti told Citra to take the Māgha bath at Prayāga. To support this, he told the account of Vasu, a Keralite brāhmaṇa who had become a spirit. Vasu was freed when a pilgrim gave him water brought from Prayāga.
The reasoning was plain. If only water from Prayāga could free a spirit burdened with pāpa, then a real bath at the Triveṇī Saṅgama (the meeting of the rivers) in the holy month of Māgha would surely free Citra, however great his pāpa. The twenty-one yugas of naraka would be wiped away by the most purifying tīrtha in Bhārata.
Freedom at Prayāga
Citra’s spirit followed Devadyuti’s words. It went to Prayāga and bathed at the Triveṇī Saṅgama in the month of Māgha. The result was at once complete. The pāpa of twenty-one yugas of naraka dissolved in the holy waters. Citra rose in a shining divine form, free of the ghost body and free of his burden of pāpa. He went up to Indraloka.
The Padma Purāṇa shows in this way the power of Prayāga. Even the one with the worst pāpa can be saved by the Māgha bath.
Citra in the Māgha chapters
In the chapters on the glory of Māgha (Māgha māhātmya), Citra stands for the worst kind of wrongdoer. He was a king whose hatred of Bhagavān Vishṇu was his very mark. His freedom through the Māgha bath shows that no one is too low to be saved by this pilgrimage.
Sources
- Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 128–129