Kaliṅga Bhadra and Yogalakshmī

The Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa tells of Queen Kaliṅga Bhadra of the kingdom of Vṛshasthala. She died of a snakebite in the middle of her vrata (vow). She was born again as a goat, but she remembered her past life. Ātri Maharshi found her and set her free. In her next birth, as Yogalakshmī, she finished the great Mahākārtikī vrata and reached moksha (liberation).

Queen Kaliṅga Bhadra’s vrata

Long ago the kingdom of Vṛshasthala in Madhyadeśa was ruled by King Dilīpa. His queen was Kaliṅga Bhadra. She was full of virtue, devoted to the pūjā of the devas, and always giving gifts (dāna) to brāhmaṇas.

She decided to keep the Kṛttikā vrata for half a year (ardha-saṃvatsara), covering six months of the Kārtika period. Every day she did pūjā, made offerings in the sacred fire (havana) and fed brāhmaṇas, all with great care.

One night, after she had finished the day’s observances, she was resting with her husband. A snake from somewhere in the palace struck and bit her. She died at once, and her vrata was left unfinished.

The second birth: a goat

In her next birth Kaliṅga Bhadra was born as a female goat (ādamekā). The force of her Kṛttikā vrata was so strong that she kept the memory of her past life (jāti-smṛti). Even in the body of an animal she went on with the vrata as well as she could. She stayed away from the herd, fasted on the right days, drank water from clean streams, and ate only ripe wild fruits.

One day the goat wandered into someone’s field. The owner caught her and tied her to a post at his house. In that captivity she could no longer keep her vrata properly.

Ātri Maharshi recognises her

The great ṛshi Ātri was passing that way. He also remembered his past births (jāti-smāra) and had great power to see the truth about others. He saw the goat tied to the post and looked into her with his yogic sight. At once he knew her. She was Kaliṅga Bhadra, the queen of Vṛshasthala, who had died in the middle of her vrata and taken birth as an animal.

Ātri was full of compassion. He had the goat freed. As soon as she was free she ran to gather ripe jujube leaves, drank pure cold water, and broke her Kṛttikā fast (pāraṇa) with what she could find. Ātri Maharshi then taught her the way of the knowledge of yoga (upadeśa in yoga-jñāna) and went on to his āśrama.

Guided in this way, the goat, now a yogeśvarī (a mistress of yoga), kept up her vrata with firm resolve. When the vrata was fully done, she gave up her life breath (prāṇa) by the power of yoga. This was a death she chose herself. She left that animal body.

The third birth: Yogalakshmī

In her next and last birth Kaliṅga Bhadra was born as the daughter of Ahalyā and Gautama Maharshi. Her name in this birth was Yogalakshmī. Gautama gave her in marriage to the ṛshi Śāṇḍilya.

In Śāṇḍilya’s house she shone like the greatest faithful wives (sādhvī): Sarasvatī, Svāhā, Śacī, Arundhatī and Gaurī. With full devotion she looked after brāhmaṇas, devas, pitṛs (ancestors) and guests (atithi).

One day Ātri Maharshi came to their house. The moment he saw Yogalakshmī, he knew her whole past. He asked her, “Mahābhāge Yogalakshmī, how many are the Kṛttikās?”

Something stirred in her memory. She answered, “Mahāyogī, the Kṛttikās are six.” With this answer the memory of all three lives came back to her: queen, goat and now brāhmaṇī.

Ātri Maharshi, in his great compassion, then taught her the whole Mahākārtikī vrata himself, with all its mantras and steps. She kept it with perfect attention and devotion. She finished the great vrata fully and without a break. She lived many years in happy married life and in dharma. At the end of her life she reached moksha.

The Mahākārtikī Yoga

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa explains to Yudhishṭhira that the Kārtika Paurṇimā vrata is called Mahākārtikī Yoga when the full moon day falls on a Monday or a Thursday in the Kṛttikā nakshatra (lunar star). It is a rare and very powerful meeting of times.

The account of Kaliṅga Bhadra and Yogalakshmī shows that the force of her vrata and her puṇya (merit) went with her through three births.

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, chapter 103