Uttama and Bahulā

This is the narrative of King Uttama and his queen Bahulā, from the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapters 66 to 70. It is the background to the third manvantara (the age ruled by one Manu). Uttama loved Bahulā truly, but she stayed cold toward him. When she refused wine from his hand in front of the whole court, he sent her into exile in anger. Then he met a rākshasa who ate virtue, a wise ṛshi (seer), the nāga king Kapotaka and his daughter Nandā. Through them, and through the power of the Mitravinda Yajña, Bahulā was brought back to Uttama. Their love was made whole again.

Uttama’s love and Bahulā’s coldness

Uttama was the grandson of Svāyambhuva Manu and the son of Uttānapāda. He was a just king, and his love for his queen Bahulā was steady and deep. He showed his love in every way a loving husband could, with honour in public, with tenderness in private, and with gifts and care in daily life. Yet Bahulā stayed unmoved. She was always cold toward him, and her heart seemed shut whatever he did. Uttama could find no cause. He had given no offence and could see no wrong to mend. He loved her, and she stayed distant.

The public refusal

The crisis came before the full court. Uttama offered wine to Bahulā with his own hand, as a sign of closeness and honour, in front of his ministers and courtiers. Bahulā refused. In front of the whole assembly, before everyone who served the king, she turned away the cup that her own husband held out to her. The shame of that moment was complete. Hurt in his dignity and pride before his court, Uttama gave way to anger. He declared her banished and sent Bahulā into exile in the forest.

The rākshasa who ate virtue

Uttama went into the forest and met a brāhmaṇa whose wife had been carried off. Wishing to help, he followed the trail into the forest and came upon a fearsome rākshasa of an unusual kind. This being did not eat flesh or blood as other rākshasas do. He fed on the dharma-guṇas, the virtuous qualities and stored puṇya (merit), of righteous people. He told Uttama his story. The brāhmaṇa had kept driving him back with rākshoghna mantras (mantras that destroy rākshasas), so that he could not come near. To pay him back, the rākshasa had seized the brāhmaṇa’s wife.

Through this meeting a wise ṛshi gave Uttama counsel. The teaching was plain: a husband must never abandon his wife. Whatever the cause and whatever the hurt, the dharma of the householder does not allow a man to send away his queen. The teaching fell on Uttama’s conscience at the very moment when he had done exactly that.

Bahulā in Rasātala

Uttama then learned where Bahulā was. The nāga king Kapotaka had taken her to Rasātala, the underworld realm of the nāgas. But there was more to the account. Kapotaka’s own daughter Nandā was the one who had hidden Bahulā in Rasātala. Her reason was fear for herself. If Bahulā lived openly in Kapotaka’s realm, Bahulā might become a co-wife in that household and lower Nandā’s own place. So Nandā had hidden Bahulā from her father.

When Kapotaka learned what his daughter had done, his anger was sharp. He gave Nandā a śāpa (a curse) of silence. She had come between another woman and her husband, and she was made mute. Bahulā stayed in Rasātala and could not return by herself.

The brāhmaṇa agreed to help bring Bahulā back.

The Mitravinda Yajña

The brāhmaṇa performed the Mitravinda Yajña for Uttama. This is a yajña (a fire ritual) of the highest power. He did not perform it once but seven times in a row, and each time added to the power of the rite. The Mitravinda Yajña works on the hidden bonds between husband and wife, and on the closed rooms of the heart, with a gentle and steady force.

As the rites were performed, something changed in Bahulā. The coldness she had shown toward Uttama since the start of their marriage began to melt. The distance that no one could explain began to dissolve. A deep love, which had never been open to her before, rose in her. The yajña did what Uttama’s years of devotion alone had not done.

Reunion and restoration

Bahulā was brought up from Rasātala. She came to Uttama with an open heart and with her love present. The meeting was a full restoration. It was not only a mending of their outward ties but a true return of affection. Uttama honoured the brāhmaṇa richly and rewarded him, for his help had made all this possible. Uttama and Bahulā then lived together in the happiness of dharma, and the long estrangement was gone and the bond between them whole.

Through the puṇya of his suffering, his following of the ṛshi’s teaching, his patient work to win Bahulā back, and his tapas (austerity), Uttama was raised to the post of Manu. He became the third Manu of the present cycle. The age he rules is the Uttama Manvantara.

Sources

• Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapters 66–70