Sandhyāvalī

Sandhyāvalī was the first and chief wife of King Rukmāṅgada of Śrāvastī. She was the mother of Prince Dharmāṅgada. She was a woman of great virtue and steady dharmic wisdom, and she held firmly to bhakti (devotion) to Bhagavān Viṣṇu. At the end, Bhagavān Śrī Hari took her to Vaikuṇṭha with her husband and her son.

Character

Sandhyāvalī kept pātivratya, the dharma of a faithful wife. She kept her dharma and her dignity in very hard times. Mohinī came into the royal house as Rukmāṅgada’s second wife. Her aim was to break the king’s vow. Sandhyāvalī did not run away and did not grow weak. She went on with her own observances and stayed the king’s support. She kept the Ekādaśī vrata (fast on the eleventh day of the lunar fortnight) as strictly as her husband did.

Meeting Kāṣṭhīlā

Sandhyāvalī met Kāṣṭhīlā during the days of Mohinī’s stay in the royal house. She went to the bank of the Gaṅgā to meditate. There she found Kāṣṭhīlā, a woman of spiritual understanding who was in a fallen state. Sandhyāvalī did not pass her by. She stopped, spoke to her with kindness, and asked how she could be set free.

Kāṣṭhīlā taught the Māgha-māhātmya, the greatness of bathing in the month of Māgha. This teaching deepened Sandhyāvalī’s own understanding and practice.

At the final test

Mohinī called on the king’s oath and demanded the death of Dharmāṅgada. Sandhyāvalī was present. Rukmāṅgada raised his sword over their son. She did not faint and did not flee. She stood and watched the great test. The Purāṇa shows that she too was ready to die if Dharmāṅgada was killed.

She too was taken to Vaikuṇṭha in her own body when Bhagavān Śrī Hari appeared.

Sources

• Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarardha, Chapters 9, 25, 27–32, 34