Kuvalayāśva
Kuvalayāśva, also called Ṛtadhvaja, was the son of King Śatrujit. He is the hero of the account of Mādālasā and Kuvalayāśva in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa. He is named after the wonderful horse Kuvalaya, which the ṛshi Gālava brought to his father’s court.
On Kuvalaya he went down to Pātāla to destroy the asura Pātālaketu. He found and married Mādālasā, lost her through a trick, and in the end was joined to her again. He is the father of three nirguṇa yogīs and of Alarka, the well-known dharma-king and disciple of Dattātreya.
Identity and lineage
Ṛtadhvaja was the son of King Śatrujit. From his youth he was known for a rare mix of qualities: deep learning, courtly grace, kindness to all, courage in battle and warm friendship. These qualities drew the sons of the nāga king Aśvatara to his court every day, though they were of another kind of being. When Aśvatara learned how much his sons loved this human prince, he decided to do something great for their friend. (Mārkaṇḍeya Mahā Purāṇa)
Gālava’s horse and the mission to Pātāla
The brahmin ṛshi Gālava came to King Śatrujit and offered a wonderful horse named Kuvalaya. It was a divine animal that could cross all the worlds without tiring. It could fly through sky, water, earth and Pātāla with nothing to stop it.
An asura named Pātālaketu was troubling Gālava’s āśrama. He took the form of a huge boar and broke the ṛshi’s tapas (austerity). Ṛtadhvaja was sent to guard Gālava’s āśrama. He struck Pātālaketu with an arrow. The asura ran away and dug down into Pātāla. Ṛtadhvaja followed on the back of Kuvalaya. (Mārkaṇḍeya Mahā Purāṇa)
Finding Mādālasā
In Pātāla, Ṛtadhvaja found a bright golden city with no one in it. Deep inside its palaces he found Mādālasā, the daughter of the gandharva king Viśvāvasu, held prisoner by Pātālaketu. Her friend Kuṇḍalā told him her story, and the divine cow Surabhī helped him learn it. She had been taken from svarga (heaven).
With the gandharva Tumburu as the holy witness, Ṛtadhvaja married Mādālasā there in Pātāla. He destroyed the forces of Pātālaketu with the Tvāshṭrāstra. The two went home together on the back of Kuvalaya. (Mārkaṇḍeya Mahā Purāṇa)
The loss of Mādālasā
Some years after they came home, Tālaketu, the younger brother of Pātālaketu, came to take revenge. He dressed as a renunciant and tricked Ṛtadhvaja into guarding his false āśrama. Then he slipped away to the royal palace and told Mādālasā, falsely, that Ṛtadhvaja had been killed in the forest. The loyal Mādālasā could not bear to live without her husband. She performed satī and gave up her life. Ṛtadhvaja came back to find his palace in mourning and his wife gone. (Mārkaṇḍeya Mahā Purāṇa)
Reunion
The nāga king Aśvatara grieved for his friend. He made a long pilgrimage, worshipping Sarasvatī at Plakshāvataraṇa and Śiva at Kailāsa. He received a vara (boon) that Mādālasā would be born again from his middle hood.
The nāga princes then brought Ṛtadhvaja to Pātāla and joined him with the reborn Mādālasā. She kept full memory of her earlier birth, her yoga-jñāna (knowledge of yoga) and her kshānti (patience). They were married again and went home to the kingdom together. (Mārkaṇḍeya Mahā Purāṇa)
Later life
In time Mādālasā bore four sons. The first three were raised on her lullabies of ātma-jñāna (knowledge of the self), and they became nirguṇa yogīs and renunciants. The fourth was named Alarka by Mādālasā. At Ṛtadhvaja’s request he was raised on the teachings of the pravṛtti-mārga (the path of worldly duty). He became the well-known dharma-king who studied under Dattātreya.
When Mādālasā was ready to go to the forest with Ṛtadhvaja and enter the vānaprastha āśrama (the life of forest retirement), she gave Alarka a golden ring marked with words of wisdom before they left. (Mārkaṇḍeya Mahā Purāṇa)
Sources
- Mārkaṇḍeya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 22–33