Vyādhakarmā
Vyādhakarmā · vyādha-karmā, “he of the hunter’s deeds”
Vyādhakarmā is the account that Sūta tells the ṛshis in the Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa, on the māhātmya of the Ādi Carita of the Śrī Durgāsaptaśatī. The ṛshis ask by the recitation of which stotra the fruit of reciting the Vedas is gained and pāpas are destroyed. Vyādhakarmā, a rogue and a thief, was driven from home with his mother Kāminī. Hearing only a little of the Ādi Carita in a temple of the Devī, he turned to dharma. By japa his pāpas left him, and at Kāśī Devī Annapūrṇā gave him the knowledge of the Ṛgveda in a dream. He became the ācārya of King Vikramāditya‘s yajña and went at last to the Himālaya.
The brāhmaṇa of the Vindhya and Kāminī
In the kingdom of King Vikramāditya there lived a brāhmaṇa whose wife was named Kāminī. Once the brāhmaṇa had gone elsewhere to recite the Śrī Durgāsaptaśatī. His wife, whose acts matched her name, took to blameworthy acts in her husband’s absence. As a result a blameworthy son was born to her, known as Vyādhakarmā, “of the hunter’s deeds”. He too acted according to his name: a rogue, without Veda study.
The brāhmaṇa, seeing the pāpa conduct of his wife and son, drove them both from the house. Himself intent on dharma, he recited the Caṇḍīpāṭha daily on the Vindhyācala. By the grace of Devī Jagadambā he became in the end a jīvanmukta (one freed while living).
Vyādhakarmā hears the Ādi Carita
Kāminī and Vyādhakarmā went to a nishāda they knew from before and lived there. There too the two could not give up their blameworthy conduct, and they gathered wealth by those same bad acts. Vyādhakarmā took to theft.
Wandering thus, by chance one day he reached a temple of the Devī, where an excellent brāhmaṇa was reciting the Śrī Durgāsaptaśatī. By hearing merely a little of the recitation of the Ādi Carita (the Prathama Carita), his wicked mind became full of dharma. He became the śishya of that excellent vipra and gave him all his wealth.
Japa of the bīja-mantra
By the guru’s command he did japa of the Devī’s mantra. By the power of the bīja-mantra (seed mantra) the mass of pāpas left his body in the form of worms. Doing japa thus for three years he became an excellent dvija, free of pāpa. In this way, doing mantra-japa and the recitation of the Ādi Carita, twelve years passed.
Devī Annapūrṇā at Kāśī
Then that dvija came to Kāśī. He offered upacāras to Mahādevī Annapūrṇā, honoured by munis and devas, and praised her with a stuti of one verse. Its epithets, in order, are:
- Nityānandakarī, giver of constant joy
- Parābhayakarī, giver of supreme fearlessness
- Saundaryaratnākarī, ocean of the gems of beauty
- Nirdhūtākhilapāpapāvanakarī, who shakes off all pāpa and purifies
- Kāśīpurādhīśvarī, queen of the city of Kāśī
- Nānālokakarī, maker of many worlds
- Mahābhayaharī, remover of great fear
- Viśvambharī, bearer of the universe
- Sundarī, the beautiful
- Kṛpāvalambanakarī, who gives the support of her grace
The verse asks her, Mother Annapūrṇeśvarī, to give vidyā (sacred knowledge).
He did japa of this stuti one hundred and eight times, closed his eyes in dhyāna and slept there. In a dream Annapūrṇā Śivā stood before him, gave him the knowledge of the Ṛgveda and withdrew from sight.
The ācārya of Vikramāditya
Later that wise brāhmaṇa, having gained the highest vidyā, became the ācārya of King Vikramāditya‘s yajña. After the yajña he took up yoga and went to the Himālaya.
“O vipras,” says Sūta, “I have told you the māhātmya of the Devī’s sacred Ādi Carita, by whose power that Vyādhakarmā gained brāhmī-bhāva (the state of Brahman) and reached the highest siddhi (perfection).”
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 2, Chapter 33
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 2, Chapter 33