Muktābharaṇa Saptamī
Muktābharaṇa Saptamī · muktā-ābharaṇa saptamī, “the Saptamī of the pearl ornament”
The Muktābharaṇa Saptamī is a vrata kept on the saptamī of the śukla paksha of Bhādrapada, with the pūjā of Bhagavān Śiva and Devī Pārvatī and a thread worn on the hand, so that one’s children may live. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa tells it to Yudhishṭhira in the Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa (Chapter 46), as Lomaśa Maharshi taught it to Devakī at Mathurā. Its heading in the text is the Kukkuṭa-Markaṭī vrata, and the index of the Bhavishyottara names it the Kṛkavāku-Plavaṅga Saptamī.
Lomaśa told Devakī of Queen Candramukhī of Ayodhyā and her friend Mānamānikā, who forgot and broke this vrata and were born a monkey and a hen. Born again as Queen Īśvarī and Bhūshaṇā, they were sorrowful and happy according to how they had kept it, until Bhūshaṇā gave her friend half of her puṇya. By this vrata, Śrī Kṛshṇa says, his own mother had a son like him.
The Saptamī Vratas page gives the short entry of the Nārada Purāṇa on this day, under the name Amuktābharaṇa.
Lomaśa Maharshi and Devakī
Lomaśa Maharshi came to Mathurā, and Devakī and Vasudeva received him with great śraddhā. He said to Devakī: “Kaṃsa has killed many of your sons, so you have become a mṛtavatsā, a mother whose children have died. In the same way a queen named Candramukhī was a mṛtavatsā and in sorrow. But she performed a vrata by whose power she became jīvatputrā, a mother of living sons. So you too will become so by the power of that vrata.”
The account of Candramukhī and Mānamānikā
Candramukhī was the chief queen of King Nahusha of Ayodhyā, and she loved Mānamānikā, the wife of the king’s purohita. On the bank of the Sarayū they saw the women of the city make a maṇḍala, draw in it an image of Śiva and Pārvatī and do pūjā. The women told them that they had put on the hand a thread of gold, would wear it as long as they lived, and would go on with this pūjā. The two friends resolved to keep the vrata too.
Through carelessness Candramukhī forgot the vrata and could not tie the thread, and after death she became a female monkey. The vrata of Mānamānikā was also broken, and she became a hen. Then Candramukhī became Īśvarī, chief queen of King Pṛthvīnātha of the Mālava country, and Mānamānikā became Bhūshaṇā, the wife of that king’s purohita.
Bhūshaṇā knew her former births and had eight excellent sons. Īśvarī, after a long time, had one son, always diseased, who died in his ninth year. Envy arose in her, and little by little she had all of Bhūshaṇā’s sons killed. By the grace of Bhagavān Śaṅkara they rose up alive again. Then Īśvarī asked her: “Friend, what puṇya have you done, by which your sons live again even when dead, and though you are without pearls and other ornaments you are always radiant?” Bhūshaṇā told her of the Muktābharaṇa Saptamī.
“On this day you and I took up the niyama of this vrata together,” she said. “Through carelessness you gave it up. That is why your son was lost. I kept it with bhakti, but my vrata was broken at the end, and so for one birth I had to be a hen. Friend, I give you half of the puṇya of the vrata I have kept.” By its power many long-lived sons were born to Īśvarī, she gained every happiness, and in the end she gained moksha.
The vidhi
- On the saptamī of the śukla paksha of Bhādrapada, bathe.
- Make a maṇḍala and do the pūjā of Śiva and Pārvatī in it.
- Wear on the hand the thread offered in self-dedication to Bhagavān Śiva, or make a ring of silver or gold and wear it on the finger.
- Fast on that day.
The udyāpana
Afterwards the udyāpana of the vrata is done. On that day do the pūjā of Śiva and Pārvatī in the maṇḍala, put the ring in a copper vessel and give it to a brāhmaṇa. Feed brāhmaṇas according to one’s means.
The phala
By keeping this vrata all things are obtained. Lomaśa Muni said: “Devakī, you too keep this vrata. By it your children will be established, and your son will be the master of the three lokas.” Saying this, he went to his āśrama.
Śrī Kṛshṇa said: “By the power of this vrata my mother had a son like me, my life was lengthened, and I was saved from the wicked such as Kaṃsa.” Any other woman who keeps this vrata will never suffer separation from her children, and at the end she will reach Śivaloka.
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 46, 208