Mahījit

Mahījit was a righteous king of Māhishmatī at the beginning of the Dvāpara age (the third of the four ages). He ruled well, but he had no son, and this caused him deep grief. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells how his subjects found the cause in the ṛshi Lomaśa and how a vow of Ekādaśī, the eleventh day of the lunar fortnight, gave the king a son.

Who Mahījit was

Mahījit ruled the city of Māhishmatī at the beginning of the Dvāpara age. He was pious, devoted and just in his rule. He had harmed no living being knowingly, and he had done his duties faithfully. He had committed no great pāpa (sin) in his reign. Yet he had no sons, and this brought sorrow to him and to his court.

The search for a remedy

His subjects saw that a king without a son was a matter for the whole kingdom. They held an assembly and then went into the deep forest to look for a ṛshi who could name the cause and give a remedy.

They found Lomaśa. He was so ancient that one hair fell from his body with each passing kalpa (a cosmic age), and now he had very few left. This was the mark of his great age and his wisdom.

Lomaśa’s diagnosis

Lomaśa meditated and saw why the king had no son. In a former life, Mahījit had been a merchant. Once, while travelling at noon, he came to a pond to drink. A thirsty cow was drinking there. The merchant pushed her away and drank first, so the cow was denied water.

This one cruel act gave suffering to a thirsty creature while he satisfied his own thirst. Its result was that Mahījit had no children in his present birth.

The Putradā Ekādaśī and the birth of a son

Lomaśa taught the Putradā Ekādaśī. It is the Ekādaśī of the bright fortnight of Śrāvaṇa, the month when the Sun is in Leo. It is called Putradā because it grants sons.

The subjects went back to the city. They kept the vow of Putradā Ekādaśī on the king’s behalf and gave all its puṇya (merit) to Mahījit. The king bathed in the Mandākinī river, fasted and worshipped Bhagavān Vishṇu, and he received the merit his subjects had given.

After this the queen conceived and gave birth to a son.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 55