Padmāvatī, Wife of Ugrasena

Padmāvatī was the queen of King Ugrasena and the daughter of King Satyaketu. The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa describes her as a woman of good conduct. The daitya (a kind of asura) Goḥbila took the form of her husband and deceived her. From this deception Kaṃsa was born.

Who she was

Padmāvatī was the daughter of King Satyaketu. The name Satyaketu means “whose banner is truth”. She was the wife of King Ugrasena. The Purāṇa describes her as a woman of good character, dharmic in her home life and without guile. She was deceived. She took no part in any wrong. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 44, speaks of her in this way.

The deception by Goḥbila

Goḥbila was a powerful daitya. The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa names him as Kālanemi born again. He could take any form through daitya māyā (power of illusion). He took the exact form of Ugrasena and came to Padmāvatī as her husband. She could not tell the false husband from the true one by any sign, so she received him as her husband. Goḥbila then violated her.

After this, Goḥbila showed his true nature. He told her that he was a daitya and not her husband. Padmāvatī was struck down with grief. She had been wronged by a being of great power, through a careful deception, and she could have done nothing to prevent it. The Purāṇa shows her plainly as a victim of adharma (wrong conduct). (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 47–48)

The attempt to end the pregnancy

Padmāvatī found that she was with child from this violation. She tried by many means to end the pregnancy. Every attempt failed. The Purāṇa says the child was the son of a daitya with great power from tapas (austerity), and no method could remove him. Padmāvatī had to carry the child until his birth. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 48–49)

The birth of Kaṃsa

The child who was born was Kaṃsa. In outward appearance he was the son of Ugrasena. He grew up in the royal household as the rightful heir. In his nature he carried the asura-nature of his true father, Goḥbila, who was Kālanemi.

The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa gives this as the reason for Kaṃsa’s character. His father Ugrasena was a righteous king, yet Kaṃsa showed the marks of an adharmic being from the start. The cause was not in Ugrasena’s household. It lay in Goḥbila’s violation of Padmāvatī. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 49)

The line of Kālanemi

Goḥbila was Kālanemi born again. Kālanemi was a great asura whom Bhagavān Vishṇu had killed in an earlier age. The line is therefore Kālanemi, then Goḥbila, then Kaṃsa. As Kaṃsa, the asura was at last slain by Vāsudeva, who is Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.

The Purāṇa teaches that asuras may be born in any way and may hide their nature, yet they all meet the same end. They reach moksha (liberation) by fighting Bhagavān Vishṇu in his form as Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 49–50)

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 44–50