Indra and Citrasena

In Chapter 63 the Narasiṃha Purāṇa tells how Indra, king of the devas, took Citrasena, the wife of Kubera, and then killed a rākshasī in the tapovana (forest of tapas) of the ṛshi Tṛṇabindu. The ṛshi cursed Indra to become a woman. Brahmā said that only two lakh (two hundred thousand) repetitions of the Ashṭāksharī mantra could lift the curse. Indra did the japa with devotion, and Bhagavān Vishṇu himself took away the woman’s form.

Indra’s vairāgya and the sight of Citrasena

In svarga, Indra felt a sudden wave of vairāgya (turning away from pleasure) towards the joys of his rule over the devas. He thought: “The heart of kingship is enjoyment. But once it is enjoyed, nothing is left. Those who think on the highest freedom always meditate on moksha, not on bhoga (pleasure).”

Moved by this, he mounted his vimāna (celestial chariot) and went to Kailāsa to worship Bhagavān Śaṅkara. As he wandered on Kailāsa, he came to the shore of Mānasa Sarovara. There he saw Citrasena, the beloved wife of the yaksha king Kubera. She had come to do pādapūjā (worship of the feet) of Pārvatī Devī. Her beauty was beyond compare. She was golden-skinned, with wide eyes and a slender form seen through the lightest clothing, like a crescent moon seen through snow.

Only moments after his vairāgya, Indra was overcome by the arrows of Manmatha. He called Kāmadeva and ordered him to make Citrasena long for his company. Manmatha feared Bhagavān Śiva, who had burned his body, but he obeyed and shot his flower arrow (pushpabāṇa). Under Manmatha’s power, Citrasena left her worship and smiled at Indra. Indra came near and said he was the lord of svarga. She was also overcome by desire and embraced him. Indra took her in his vimāna to a cave in Mandara Parvata, hidden from all devas and asuras, and spent time there with her.

Kubera’s grief and Vibhīshaṇa’s help

The yaksha girls who had come with Citrasena to Mānasa saw her carried off and told Kubera. He was struck with grief and anger. He could not bear his wife’s absence. His minister Kaṇṭhakubja advised patience and proposed asking for help from Vibhīshaṇa, Kubera’s younger half-brother, then king of Laṅkā. The two brothers had drifted apart, but Vibhīshaṇa agreed to help. He sent the rākshasī Nāḍījaṅghā, who was skilled in illusion. In disguise she was to search the pleasure gardens of the lokapālas for Citrasena.

The second wrong: the death of Nāḍījaṅghā

Nāḍījaṅghā took an extremely beautiful form and entered Indra’s Nandana garden. Indra had by then come back from Mandara. He saw this radiant figure and was again seized by desire. He sent messengers to bring her to his antaḥpura (the women’s quarters). She refused unless Indra came to her himself. He did. To win her over, he agreed to let her see all his wives, including Citrasena, who was hidden in Mandara. As they flew together to show her Citrasena, they met Nārada in the sky. Nārada greeted Nāḍījaṅghā by name, and so, without meaning to, he showed Indra who she really was.

Indra saw that Vibhīshaṇa’s spy had tricked him, and he was furious. At the āśrama of Tṛṇabindu near Mandara, he seized Nāḍījaṅghā by the hair, meaning to kill her. The rākshasī cried out for protection. The ṛshi Tṛṇabindu came out of his āśrama and ordered Indra to let her go within his holy tapovana. In his rage Indra paid no heed to the ṛshi. He struck Nāḍījaṅghā with his vajra and killed her. Tṛṇabindu was greatly angered and cursed Indra at once: “You have defiled my tapovana by killing a woman here. Therefore you shall become a woman.”

Indra at once took a woman’s form (strīrūpa), and all his divine powers left him. In shame and grief, Indra, king of the devas, could no longer sit in his own sabhā (assembly).

Citrasena returned and Brahmā’s remedy

The devas gathered. They were troubled by Indra’s state, and first they quietly arranged for Citrasena to be sent back to Kubera. Śacīdevī secretly brought Citrasena from Mandara and returned her to Kubera’s house. Kubera’s messengers (dūtas) told him that his wife was back, and he went home.

The devas then went to Brahmaloka and appealed to Brahmā. Brahmā said that neither he nor Bhagavān Śaṅkara could remove the curse of a maharshi as great as Tṛṇabindu. The only remedy was the pūjā of Vishṇu, namely two lakh repetitions of the Ashṭāksharī mantra, done with a pure and steady mind and true devotion. Brahmā said: “Let Indra bathe and purify himself and say the Ashṭāksharī mantra Oṃ Namo Nārāyaṇāya two lakh (two hundred thousand) times. This alone will remove the woman’s form.”

Indra’s japa and his restoration

Indra did as the devas told him. He bathed, and with a still mind he did the full two lakh japa of the Ashṭāksharī mantra with bhakti (devotion) and śraddhā (faith). Bhagavān Vishṇu was delighted with this worship and appeared. He took away Indra’s woman’s form completely, and gave back his own divine male form and all his royal powers.

The teaching

Mārkaṇḍeya tells this episode right after praising the Ashṭāksharī mantra as open to all, the learned and the unlearned alike. He says it is enough for every purpose, with no other mantra, vrata or long ritual. The account of Indra shows that even the hardest curse, a woman’s form laid by a great ṛshi on the lord of the three worlds, gives way fully to true japa of the Ashṭāksharī. Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa himself removes every obstacle for those who take refuge in his Name.

Sources

• Narasiṃha Purāṇa, Chapter 63