Puṃsavana Vrata

Puṃsavana Vrata, “the vow for the birth of a son”

The Puṃsavana Vrata is a vrata (sacred vow) kept for a full year. In the eighteenth chapter of the sixth Skandha (book) of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Kaśyapa Prajāpati teaches it to his wife Diti. She kept it in order to have a son who could kill Indra, king of the devas. The vrata is a detailed set of ritual and everyday disciplines. At heart it is a full practice of purity, devotion and pativratā-dharma (a wife’s devotion to her husband).

Its deeper lesson is that even a vrata begun for a selfish purpose brings good results when the sādhaka (the one who practises) sincerely honours Bhagavān Śrī Hari, and that the pūjā of Bhagavān Śrī Hari gives protection beyond every outside circumstance.

Śrī Śuka Maharshi tells the whole account to Parīkshit. Diti kept the vrata faultlessly for a little less than a year, until one evening, worn thin by it, she slept at sandhyā without washing. Indra, who had served her all that time while watching for a flaw, entered her womb and cut the embryo into forty-nine pieces with his vajra, but by the power of her ārādhana of Śrī Hari not one of them died: they became the Maruts, Indra’s brothers and companions. Then, at Parīkshit’s request, Śuka gives the vrata’s method for every woman who keeps it: it begins on Mārgaśīrsha śukla pratipadā, it is the daily pūjā of Śrī Hari together with Lakshmī Devī for a full year, with a mantra, the upacāras, twelve oblations and a stotra to Lakshmī-Nārāyaṇa, and it ends with a fast on Kārtika amāvāsyā and a homa of pāyasa. Its phalaśruti promises offspring, saubhāgya (auspicious married fortune), a husband’s long life, health and the endless satisfaction of the pitṛs. The text calls it the Vishṇu-vrata, the vrata by which Bhagavān Vishṇu is pleased.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapters 18–19

Background

Diti was full of grief because her sons Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyāksha had been killed through the action of Bhagavān Vishṇu. She resolved to have a son who would kill Indra. So she served her husband, the great ṛshi Kaśyapa, with rare devotion and won his love. Moved by her service, Kaśyapa offered her a vara (a boon). Diti asked for a son who would slay Indra and who could not die. Kaśyapa knew that her aim went against dharma, but he also knew he could not take back a promise freely given. So he gave her the Puṃsavana Vrata as the means, a vrata whose inner heart is the pūjā of Bhagavān Śrī Hari.

Parīkshit had asked Śuka how the Maruts, born of Diti, gave up the asura nature and were made equal to Indra, and what puṇya they had done. Śuka answered that Bhagavān Vishṇu stands behind Indra as his helper, and in that way slew Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyāksha. Diti, burning with grief and anger, brooded: “Indra, who killed his brothers, is cruel and hard-hearted. When will the day come when I have that pāpī killed and sleep in peace? This body, which others call ‘master’, will one day be called worms, dung or ash. Does one who harms beings for its sake know his purushārtha? Indra thinks this body eternal and acts without restraint. How can a son be born to me who will humble his pride?”

She served her husband with love and humility, mastering her senses and doing always what was dear to him; knowing his wishes, with great bhakti, sweet speech and the glances of a lovely smile, she won Kaśyapa’s mind. He was pleased and said: “O beautiful one, there is no fault in you. Ask for a vara. The smṛtis say that for a woman the husband is the great deity. Vāsudeva, the husband of Lakshmī, dwells as the ātmā in the hearts of all beings. People worship that Śrī Hari in mūrtis of many names and forms; women worship Śrī Hari in the form of the husband, and see in him Śrī Hari who dwells in all beings. You have worshipped me with such love and bhakti that I will fulfil your wish.”

Diti said: “Indra has had my two sons killed. I ask as a vara a son who will kill Indra, and my son must have no death.” Hearing this, Kaśyapa’s mind was shaken. “Alas,” he said, “today a great adharma has fallen upon me,” and he was in deep anguish. “Today māyā in the form of a woman has taken my mind under its control. It is I, unwise, who forgot the purushārtha; I, who have not conquered my senses, am the one to blame. Yet a promise once given must not be made void, and even Indra does not deserve to be killed.” Kaśyapa felt some anger; blaming himself all the while, he thought it through well and said: “O Kalyāṇī, if you keep the vrata I tell you exactly as it is for one year, a son will be born to you who, a friend of the devas, will kill Indra.” Diti agreed, and asked what niyamas (rules) she must keep, what she must not do, and by what acts the vrata would not be broken.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 18

The Rules of the Vrata

Kaśyapa listed these disciplines for the year-long vrata.

Non-violence and speech:

• Do not harm any creature
• Do not use harsh words, and do not speak untruth
• Do not speak with wicked or unrighteous people
• Do not become angry

Personal purity:

• Do not cut the nails or hair during the vrata
• Do not touch impure things
• Bathe only with water poured from a vessel; do not bathe by plunging into water
• Do not wear unwashed clothes, and never wear a garland again once it has been worn
• Do not go out without bathing and washing the face, hands and feet

Food and drink:

• Do not eat food left over by others, food spoiled by insects, food with meat in it, food gained by wrong means, or food that has had even slight contact with a woman during her monthly period
• Do not drink water from cupped hands

Behaviour and going out:

• Do not go out at sandhyā (twilight)
• Do not go out with the hair loose or without proper adornment
• Do not go out with the body not properly covered
• Do not talk too much

Sleep:

• Do not sleep without washing the feet
• Do not sleep with wet feet, and do not sleep while unclean
• Do not lie with the head towards the north or west
• Do not sleep naked or with others
• Do not sleep at the two sandhyās (dawn and dusk)

Pūjā:

• Every morning, before eating, honour the cows, those who know the Vedas, Bhagavatī Lakshmī and Bhagavān Śrī Hari
• Every day offer garlands, sandalwood paste, food and ornaments to suvāsinīs (married women whose husbands are living)
• Meditate all the time that the husband’s tejas (radiance) is living within the womb
• Serve and honour the husband in every way

Clothing:

• Always wear freshly washed cloth, and be adorned with auspicious marks such as the tilaka

“If you keep this vrata, which gives a son and is called Puṃsavana, for one year without a break,” Kaśyapa said, “a son who kills Indra will be born to you.” This is where the text first names the vrata Puṃsavana.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 18

How Diti Kept the Vrata

Diti kept the vrata with complete sincerity. Indra learned what she meant to do, and he began to serve her himself. Every day he came to her āśrama with forest flowers, fruits, roots, samidhs (sticks for the sacred fire), darbha grass, leaves and water, all the while secretly watching for any slip in her vrata that he could use. For a long time Diti’s vrata was faultless, and Indra found no opening.

Diti, of great power of resolve, had said “So be it” to her husband’s word and, bearing Kaśyapa‘s tejas in her womb, began the vrata at once. Indra, her sister’s son, brought her tender shoots and earth as well. Śuka compares him to a kirāta (hunter) who goes about in the guise of a deer to kill a deer: so Indra served Diti while watching for a flaw. When he found none, he fell into deep anxiety.

After a little less than a year of perfect practice, Diti was worn out by the long vrata. One day she fell asleep at the time of sandhyā without first washing her face, hands and feet, a clear breach of the rule. Indra saw his chance. By the power of yoga he entered Diti’s womb in his subtle body (sūkshma-śarīra). There he found the shining embryo and cut it into seven pieces with his vajra (thunderbolt). Each of the seven pieces cried out, and he said to them, “Mā ruda, mā ruda” (“Do not cry!”). Then he cut each of the seven pieces into seven more, making forty-nine in all, yet not a single piece died. The power of the pūjā of Bhagavān Śrī Hari had protected them completely inside the womb. These forty-nine became the Marudgaṇas, the Maruts.

The text says that she had eaten and, without washing her mouth, hands and feet, lay down at sandhyā, and that prārabdha (past karma bearing fruit) brought that delusion upon her. The embryo had a golden lustre. As they were cut, the pieces folded their hands and said: “O Indra, why do you wish to kill us? We are your younger brothers, the Maruts.” Indra said: “You are my brothers; do not fear.” They became his followers and gave him single-minded love.

Śuka reminds Parīkshit that by the grace of Śrīnivāsa the astra loosed by Aśvatthāmā, the son of Droṇa, did not kill him in the womb, and in the same way Diti’s embryo, though cut into many pieces by the vajra, did not die. One who worships Purushottama, the cause of the world, even once becomes one with him; Diti had worshipped Śrī Hari for a little less than a year. So the Maruts, with Indra, became fifty devas. Setting aside the thought “these are a stepmother’s children”, Indra gave them a share in the soma offered in yajñas.

Diti wakes. The faultless Diti Devī woke and saw her sons, shining like fires, together with Indra, and was very glad. “Child,” she said to Indra, “this vrata is very hard to keep. I kept it wishing for offspring that would bring fear to the sons of Aditi. I asked for one son; how have forty-nine come to be? Tell me the truth.” Indra answered: “Mother, I was fixed on self-interest, not on dharma. I learned your resolve, came and watched, and when I found the opening I split your womb. I cut the embryo into seven, and the seven into seven again, and still they did not die. Seeing that great wonder, I knew it was a fruit that came of your ārādhana of Purushottama. The śāstras say that those who worship Bhagavān Vishṇu without desire, not wishing even for moksha, are truly skilled in their purushārtha; to one who worships him he gives his very self. Who that has worshipped such a Deva would want the pleasures of the senses, which are found even in naraka? Mother, you are a mahātmā; forgive the wrong I did in ignorance.” Diti was pleased by Indra’s pure intent. He bowed to her with the Maruts, took her leave and returned to svarga. Śuka closes: “I have told you the whole auspicious account of the birth of the Maruts.”

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 18

The method of the vrata

Parīkshit asked Śuka for the details of the Puṃsavana, the vrata by which Bhagavān Vishṇu is pleased, and Śuka gave its method in full.

When and how to begin. A woman, with her husband’s permission, begins this vrata, which fulfils all desires, on Mārgaśīrsha śukla pratipadā, the first day of the bright half of Mārgaśīrsha. She hears the account of the birth of the Maruts and takes the permission of the knowers of the Veda. Every day she cleans her teeth, bathes, wears two white cloths, adorns herself and, before the morning meal, worships Śrī Hari together with Lakshmī Devī.

The prayers before the pūjā. To Śrī Hari: “O Bhagavān Śrī Hari, you are āptakāma, one whose every desire is fulfilled; you want nothing, in you all is complete, you are the master of great glories, and all the siddhis are in you. Many namaskāras to you. O Īśvara, compassion, wealth, radiance, greatness, power and every other guṇa serve you in fullness; that is why you are Bhagavān Śrī Hari, Jagannātha, master of the world.” To Lakshmī: “O Lakshmī, wife of Vishṇu, you are the great māyā-śakti; the very qualities of Purushottama are in you. O greatly fortunate one, mother of the worlds, be pleased with me. Namaskāra to you.”

The mantra and the upacāras. The mantra (the text gives its meaning only) is: “Om. Namaskāra to Bhagavān Purushottama, of great power and great glory, joined with the great vibhūti, Lakshmī. May I offer the pūjā materials.” With it, every day, with a concentrated mind, she offers to Vishṇu āvāhana (invocation), arghya, pādya, ācamana, snāna, cloths, the sacred thread, ornaments, gandha, flowers, dhūpa, dīpa, naivedya and the rest. With a mantra meaning “This is offered to Bhagavān Purushottama, husband of Lakshmī Devī, the great vibhūti”, she offers the havis left after the naivedya twelve times into the fire. All wishes are fulfilled through Lakshmī Devī and Vishṇu, the givers of varas, so one who wants every kind of wealth worships both of them daily with bhakti. Then she makes sāshṭāṅga namaskāra with a humble mind, does japa of the mantra ten times, and recites the stotra.

The stotra to Lakshmī-Nārāyaṇa. Śuka gives it in four parts:

1. “You two are the prabhus, the masters of the world, its cause, and beyond it. Lakshmī Devī is the subtle śakti that is the material cause of the world, the māyā-śakti that cannot be crossed.”
2. “You, Purushottama, are the supreme master (adhīśvara) of that māyā-śakti. You are the embodiment of all yajñas, and she is the act of yajña. You are the jīva who enjoys the fruit of all karmas, and she is worldly action, the kriyā-śakti.”
3. “Lakshmī Devī is the manifestation of sattva, rajas and tamas; you are the conscious purusha who makes them manifest and experiences them. You are the undivided consciousness present as all beings; Lakshmī has appeared as their bodies, senses and inner faculties. Lakshmī Bhagavatī is names and forms; you are the sat-cit-ātmā, the support and the light of those names and forms.”
4. “O Śrī Hari, your fame is pure. You and Lakshmī are the Parameśvaras who give varas to the three worlds. May my great wishes come true by your grace.”

The rest of the daily rite. Having praised Śrīnivāsa with Lakshmī, she removes the naivedya, offers ācamana and worships. She recites the stotra again, smells the havis left from the homa, worships Śrī Hari once more with the highest bhakti, and worships her husband as Purushottama himself. The husband, for his part, lovingly gives his wife what is dear to her and helps her in all her tasks, small and great. Whichever of the two keeps the vrata, the fruit comes to both; if the wife is not able, the husband keeps it with a concentrated mind. The one who keeps this Vishṇu-vrata lets nothing break it, and every day worships the knowers of the Veda, the suvāsinīs and Śrī Hari with garlands, gandha, food and ornaments. Having sent Śrī Hari back to his dhāma (abode) at the end of the pūjā, she first eats the prasāda of the naivedya, for the purity of the inner self and the fulfilment of all wishes.

The close of the year. A pativratā keeps this pūjā for the twelve months of a year that has no adhikamāsa (intercalary month), and then fasts on Kārtika amāvāsyā. Early the next morning the husband bathes, worships Śrī Hari as before, and offers twelve āhutis (oblations) of pāyasa with ghee by the sthālīpāka method. They receive with bowed heads the blessings of the satisfied knowers of the Veda and eat with their permission. The husband, in silence, with his relatives, before the ācārya, gives his wife the pāyasa left from the homa. By this prasāda come good offspring and saubhāgya.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 19

The phalaśruti

Śuka gives the fruit of the vrata:

• A man who keeps this Vishṇu-vrata by its rule gains the aim he desires in this world.
• A woman who keeps it gains saubhāgya, wealth, offspring, long life for her husband, fame and a home of her own.
• A maiden gains a husband with every good mark.
• A woman without offspring (the text adds “without a husband” as another reading) is freed of all faults and gains a puṇya-loka.
• A woman whose children have died gains children of long life and becomes prosperous.
• An unfortunate woman gains good fortune, and a young woman lacking beauty gains great beauty.
• A sick man is freed from his illness and gains a strong body with keen senses.
• A sādhaka may recite this account at abhyudaya rites (rites for prosperity) such as yajña and dāna; by its recitation the pitṛ-devatās gain endless satisfaction.
• When the homa is complete, the pitṛ-devatās, Śrī Hari, the enjoyer of the homa offerings, and Lakshmī Devī are pleased and grant all wishes.

Śuka closes: “O Parīkshit Mahārāja, I have told you the great and purifying account of the birth of the Maruts and of Diti‘s great vrata.”

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 19

What the Story Teaches

The story of the Puṃsavana Vrata carries several lessons:

1. The vrata must be kept completely: even a year of faultless practice can be spoiled by a single slip at a key moment, the sandhyā. The story shows strongly how important it is to keep ritual purity above all at sandhyā, the meeting point of day and night, when the subtle forces around us change.
2. Pūjā of Bhagavān Śrī Hari protects, whatever the stated aim of the vrata: Diti began the vrata with an aim against dharma, the killing of Indra. Yet the sincere pūjā of Bhagavān Śrī Hari inside the vrata was enough to protect the embryo from a direct blow of the vajra. This shows that the grace of Bhagavān Śrī Hari does not depend on one’s intention being perfect. It answers to the quality of one’s devotion.
3. A lapse in purity at sandhyā has serious results: sandhyā is a threshold, the time where the seen and unseen worlds meet. The rule of not sleeping or going out while impure at sandhyā is one of the deepest disciplines of Vedic daily life. Diti’s lapse at exactly this moment is no accident. It shows how prārabdha (the past karma now bearing fruit) creates the conditions for one’s own failures in dharma.
4. Indra admits the truth: after the forty-nine Marudgaṇas came out unharmed, Indra himself told Diti that those who honour Purushottama (Vishṇu, the supreme Person) with nishkāma-bhāva (without selfish desire) truly know what is good for them. His selfish act could not overcome the protection of Bhagavān Śrī Hari. He asked Diti’s forgiveness, and she kindly gave it.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapters 18–19