Pativratā Upākhyāna
The Pativratā Upākhyāna is a short account told by Vasishṭha inside the Rukmāṅgada narrative of the Nārada Mahā Purāṇa. A brāhmaṇa’s wife has kept the Ekādaśī vrata without a break. When Yamadharmarāja’s messengers come for her husband, she forbids them to take him, and her husband’s life is extended. Vasishṭha tells it to show King Rukmāṅgada that the Ekādaśī vrata must never be broken.
The couple
A righteous king ruled a kingdom, and in it lived a virtuous brāhmaṇa with his devoted wife. The couple kept all the dharmas. The wife was a model pativratā. She served her husband with single-minded devotion, fasted on Ekādaśī every fortnight, and honoured Bhagavān Vishṇu with bhakti.
The messengers of Yama
The husband’s prārabdha-karma (the karma already ripening) decided that his death had come. Yamadharmarāja sent his dūtas (messengers) to take the man’s jīva. The dūtas came to the brāhmaṇa’s house. They were dark and terrifying and carried pāśas (nooses), and they were about to bind the husband’s jīva.
The wife’s tapas let her see subtler things. She faced them and said: “Why have you come here? My husband’s death is not yet due. By the power of my unbroken Ekādaśī vratas and my service to Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa, I forbid you to take him.”
(Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarardha, Chapter 16)
The messengers turned back
The dūtas cannot come near the devotees of Vishṇu, and they hesitated. The woman went on: “The Ekādaśī puṇya (merit) I have gathered protects this house. Any being who dies in this home because of a woman’s pure Ekādaśī vrata does not go to your master’s realm. He goes to Vishṇu-loka.”
The dūtas drew back and reported to Yamadharmarāja. In the Rukmāṅgada narrative he had been seeing the great power of Ekādaśī devotion again and again. He accepted that he could not overrule the puṇya of a woman’s sincere Ekādaśī vrata. The husband’s life was extended.
(Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarardha, Chapter 16)
Why Vasishṭha tells it
Vasishṭha tells this account within the larger Rukmāṅgada narrative, to establish the greatness of Ekādaśī as a dharma. It also shows that the dūtas of Yamadharmarāja cannot bind a jīva that is protected by the puṇya of Ekādaśī. The account is told to Rukmāṅgada, and through him to the listener, so that the Ekādaśī vrata is never broken, whatever the pressure.
Sources
- Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarardha, Chapter 16