Narratives from the Padma Purāṇa

The brāhmaṇa Devadāsa and his wife Uttamā bathed at the Badarikāśrama tīrtha in Indraprastha and were taken to Vaikuṇṭha.

The wicked brāhmaṇa Dhaneśvara of Avantī got Kārtika puṇya without meaning to, and Kumbhīpāka turned cool for him. He became the Yaksha Dhana.

Gokarna frees his wicked brother Dhundhukāri from the state of a preta by holding a seven-day recitation of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

Viśvāmitra offers his own life for a brāhmaṇa boy chosen for King Dīnanātha's Naramedha yajña, and the king still receives a son.

Five gandharva maidens and the brahmachārī son of Vedanidhi become piśācas through mutual śāpa and are freed by the Māgha bath at Prayāga.

Eighteen accounts from the Padma Mahā Purāṇa, one for each chapter of the Bhagavadgītā, show how hearing or reciting a chapter frees a being.

Kṛshṇa tells Satyabhāmā how, as the brāhmaṇa's daughter Guṇavatī, she kept the Kārtika vow and the Ekādaśī and won her place as his dearest wife.

The truthful king Hariścandra loses everything, then keeps the Ajā Ekādaśī taught by the ṛshi Gautama and is raised up again.

Two sons of the giving merchant Hemakuṇḍala die and face Yama, one sent to Raurava and one to svarga, until the younger gives his puṇya to the elder.

The yaksha Hemamālin, cursed by Kubera with leprosy, is healed by keeping the Yoginī Ekādaśī taught by the ṛshi Mārkaṇḍeya.

When the brāhmaṇa Heramba dies at Śivakāñchī in Indraprastha, the attendants of Śiva and Vishṇu both claim him, and Bhagavān Vishṇu takes him to both worlds.

In the Padma Purāṇa, Hiraṇyakaśipu gets his vara from Śiva, fails to kill his son Prahlāda, and is slain by Bhagavān Nṛsiṃha, who comes out of a pillar.

A brāhmaṇa who never did one religious act worshipped the Śiva Liṅga for his last days at Jābāli's āśrama and was taken to Bhagavān Śiva.

Nārada brings King Indrasena a message from his father in Yama's realm. Indrasena keeps the Indirā Ekādaśī vow and his father rises to Vishṇu's abode.

The asura Jalandhara is born from the fire of Bhagavān Śiva's anger, conquers the three worlds, makes war on Bhagavān Śiva and is killed by the Sudarśana cakra.

King Janaka of Mithilā refuses to enter Vaikuṇṭha until Dharmarāja frees every being suffering in naraka.

The Padma Purāṇa follows Jaya and Vijaya through three asura births, each ended by Bhagavān Vishṇu, until they return to Vaikuṇṭha.

In the Padma Purāṇa, Jaya and Vijaya are sons of Kardama and Devahūtī who fall through a quarrel and are freed by Vishṇu's cakra at Harikshetra.

Jayaśarman, cast out by his father, keeps the Kāmalā Ekādaśī fast and Lakshmī herself appears to bless his family.

A cruel Śūdra, born as a snake after naraka, throws grain and cowries before Vishṇu's image on Āśvina Pūrṇimā and is taken to Vaikuṇṭha.

The brāhmaṇa Dharmadatta gives half his Kārtika puṇya to the preta Kalahā at the Kṛshṇā-Veṇī meeting of rivers and she is taken to Vaikuṇṭha.

Kālipriyā, a woman who murdered her husband, takes up the Kārtika worship of Rādhā and Kṛshṇa once and is taken to Goloka by the messengers of Bhagavān Vishṇu.

A Bhilla named Karkaṭa kills his wife Jarā, and both die at the Gokarṇa tīrtha in Indraprastha, where Jarā becomes a companion of Pārvatī.

At the Kāśī tīrtha in Indraprastha, a crow, a serpent and a tree were freed together. In earlier births they were a hunter, a brāhmaṇa and a woman.

King Citra of Drāviḍa hated Bhagavān Vishṇu, suffered in naraka and became a wandering spirit, and was freed by a Māgha bath at Prayāga.

Bhagavān Vishṇu is born as Kṛshṇa to Devakī to end Kaṃsa, and King Chitrasena reaches Vaikuṇṭha by keeping the Janmāshṭamī vow by chance.

The Padma Purāṇa tells Kṛshṇa's life from the founding of Dvāravatī to his ascent to Vaikuṇṭha: his marriages, wars, the Yādava end and his return.

A śāpa at Brahmā's yajña on the Sahya peak turns the devas into rivers: Vishṇu becomes the Kṛshṇā, Śiva the Veṇī, and Brahmā the Sahya-Gaṅgā.

Kubera does tapas for a hundred years where the Kāverī meets the Narmadā, and Maheśvara gives him the vara of being nāyaka of the yakshas.

Lava seizes Rāma's Aśvamedha horse and beats Śatrughna's army; Kuśa joins him, and Rāma then learns that the two boys are his own sons.

A śrāddha at Madhuvana, also called Viśrānti Tīrtha, frees six generations of ancestors and a woman who had become an alligator.

Līlāvatī, a woman who had done great pāpa, joins the Rādhāshṭamī vow by chance and reaches Goloka; Brahmā also tells Nārada how Rādhā was born.

King Mahijit of Māhishmatī has no son. The ṛshi Lomaśa names the cause and tells the people to keep the Putradā Ekādaśī and give its puṇya to the king.

A gandharva couple under a śāpa become a piśāca and piśācī, and are freed when they pass the night of Jayā Ekādaśī fasting and awake by a pīpal tree.

Māṇḍavya Muni is impaled on a stake for a theft he did not commit, learns the cause from Dharma Deva, gives him a śāpa, and Dharma is born as Vidura.

King Māndhātā ends a three-year drought in his kingdom by keeping Padmā Ekādaśī with all his people, on the advice of Aṅgiras.

A lost merchant meets the chief of the pretas in the Maru desert, performs śrāddhas for them at Gayāśirsha, and keeps Śrāvaṇa Dvādaśī for the rest of his life.

Mohinī, a veśyā of Māhishmatī, drinks Prayāga water as she dies, is reborn as Queen Hemāṅgī, and reaches Vaikuṇṭha with her husband Vīravarman.

Śobhana fasts on Rāmā Ekādaśī in King Mucukunda's house, dies, and wins a divine city that his wife Candrabhāgā makes lasting by her own Ekādaśī merit.

A barber murders the brāhmaṇa Mukunda for his gold. A dog drops Mukunda's bones into the Kosala tīrtha in Indraprastha and Mukunda reaches Vaikuṇṭha.

A pious vaiśya and a fierce hunter both worship the Dhavaleśvara liṅga, and Bhagavān Śiva takes both as his gatekeepers at Kailāsa.

Bhīmasena cannot fast because of the fire Vṛka in his belly. Vyāsa gives him the waterless Nirjalā Ekādaśī, which carries the fruit of all the Ekādaśīs.

Bhagavān Nṛsiṃha tells Prahlāda how he came to abide at Maulisthāna for Harita and Līlāvatī, and teaches the Nṛsiṃha Caturdaśī vow.

Bhagavān Vishṇu sleeps in a cave. A maiden born from his body kills the asura Mura, and Vishṇu names her Ekādaśī and grants her a vara.

Five gandharva maidens and a brahmacārī pronounce śāpas on each other at Acchoda and become piśācas. Lomaśa frees them through a bath in the Revā.

The Padma Purāṇa tells how Paraśurāma avenged his father Jamadagni, cleared the earth of kshatriyas twenty-one times, and then went to Badarikāśrama.

Pauṇḍraka of Kāśī copied Kṛshṇa's form and died by Sudarśana; his son Daṇḍapāṇi sent a Kṛtyā, and Sudarśana burned Vārāṇasī.

A pigeon devoted to Bhagavān Vishṇu gave his own body to a hungry hawk who came as a guest, reached Vaikuṇṭha, and the place became Kāpota Tīrtha.

The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa tells of Pippala and Sukarma, then of King Yayāti, his earthly Vaikuṇṭha, Aśrubindumati, Pūru's youth, and Yadu's line.

Mārkaṇḍeya comforts the grieving Yudhishṭhira at Hastināpura after the war and teaches him the greatness of Prayāga, its guardians, and its merit.

Puṇḍarīka, a devotee of Bhagavān Vishṇu, hosted him for a month; his brother Bhārata died at Pushkara and was freed; Puṇḍarīka merged into Vishṇu there.

The young brāhmaṇa Puṇḍarīka gave up everything, served Bhagavān Vishṇu at Sālagrāma, and was taken to Vaikuṇṭha on Garuḍa.

After Rāvaṇa's fall, Bhagavān Rāma flies home on the Pushpaka, meets Bharata at Nandigrāma, enters Ayodhyā and is crowned king.

The Padma Purāṇa tells the whole life of Bhagavān Rāma, from Svāyambhuva Manu's vara to Rāma's departure to Vaikuṇṭha with his three brothers.

Before crossing the ocean to Laṅkā, Bhagavān Rāma kept Vijayā Ekādaśī with his army, as the ṛshi Bakadālbhya told him, and won the war.

A rat ate ghee from a lamp in a Vishṇu temple, made the flame burn higher by chance, and was taken to Vaikuṇṭha by Bhagavān Vishṇu's messengers.

The childless king Ṛtambhara worshipped a cow on Jābāli's advice and was given a son, Satyavān, whom Śatrughna meets at Tejahpura.

How the devas became trees through Pārvatī's curse, and why the Aśvattha, Vaṭa and Palāśa are the three most sacred trees.

The Brahma Khaṇḍa's account of the churning of the Milky Ocean, from Durvāsa's curse on Indra to the nectar and Rāhu.

Śaṅkha steals the Vedas, Bhagavān Vishṇu wakes, takes the fish form and kills him, and Prayāga is blessed as the Tīrtharāja.

The merchant Śarabha gets a son at the Nigamodbodhaka tīrtha in Indraprastha, and the rākshasa Vikaṭa is freed there.

King Śrīdhara has no son. Vyāsa names the cause in a past life and the gifts that bring a son within a year.

A brāhmaṇa who lived in pāpa is reborn as a dog, dies against Dadhīca's wall of bhasma, and becomes an attendant of Vīrabhadra.

Rāma puts his fame first and has Lakshmaṇa leave Sītā in the forest, where Vālmīki shelters her and her twin sons Kuśa and Lava are born.

The brāhmaṇa Śoṇa and his faithful wife Kalā: her death at the hands of Mārīca, her arrival in Kailāsa through the name Hara, and Śoṇa's journey there.

At a śrāddha for Queen Kauśalyā in Bhāradvāja's āśrama, an old deformed brāhmaṇa turns out to be Bhagavān Vishṇu, and Akatha teaches on worship materials.

The brāhmaṇa Sudarśana, who ate on Ekādaśī, passes through naraka and animal births, then reaches Vaikuṇṭha by one accidental drink of Vishṇu's pādodaka.

At Ahichchhatra, Śatrughna's Aśvamedha horse leads him to the temple of Kāmākshā Devī, where King Sumada tells of her promise that he would see Rāma's face.

The brāhmaṇa Ugrajanman hears a bull and a bitch speak, knows them as his parents, and frees them with the Ṛshipañcamī vow taught by Vasishṭha.

Hemaprabhā, a quarrelsome wife, fasts by chance on Pārśvaparivartana Ekādaśī and is taken to the abode of Bhagavān Vishṇu by his messengers.

Bhagavān Vishṇu takes the form of the boar Varāha, kills the asura Hiraṇyāksha in the ocean and lifts the earth on his tusks.

Vasu, a brāhmaṇa of Kerala, becomes a preta on the Vindhya mountain and is freed by a few drops of Prayāga water from a kind pilgrim.

King Vidāruṇa, who spoke against Bhagavān Vishṇu, is cured of leprosy by drinking from the Vetravatī river and becomes a devotee.

King Vidhruta, a robber for a thousand years, says "Prahara" at his death. The name Hara within it brings Jvālāvaktra, who takes him to Śiva.

Brāhmaṇa Vimala gets a second son by bathing in the Dvārakā tīrtha at Indraprastha, and its water frees a group of rākshasīs.

Vīrabhadra puts out a flame that burned the devas, tears open a serpent, kills Pañcamedhra and another asura, and restores all with bhasma.

Rukmāṅgada seizes Rāma's Aśvamedha horse at Devapura, a great battle follows, and King Viramāṇi gives in when Bhagavān Rāma comes.

Vīravikrama keeps a promise made with his right hand, and Bhagavān Vishṇu takes him and his family to Vaikuṇṭha.

Indra's śāpa made Agni and Vāyu be born from a water pot of Mitra and Varuṇa as the ṛshis Agastya and Vasishṭha.

A drop of Śiva's anger-sweat at Daksha's yajña becomes Aṅgāraka, the planet Mars, and Śukrācārya tells Virocana the Aṅgāraka-caturthī vrata.

Kaśyapa teaches Diti an allegory of the ātman who wanders in a forest, is born and forgets, and then finds its way back through Vairāgya, Viveka and Dhyāna.

Brahmā performs a great yajña at Pushkara for a thousand divine years: Gāyatrī becomes his wife, Śiva comes as a bhikshu, and Sāvitrī arrives late and pronounces five śāpas.

At Brahmā's yajña at Pushkara, Sāvitrī finds Gāyatrī in her place and pronounces śāpas, until Vishṇu, Pārvatī and Śaṅkara calm her and Brahmā gives out the lordship of the domains.

King Daṇḍa wrongs Arājā, the daughter of his guru Śukrācārya, and Śukra's śāpa turns his kingdom into the forest called Daṇḍakāraṇya.

Dattātreya and Durvāsa see Dharma in person after ten thousand years of tapas, and Durvāsa's three śāpas send Dharma into three human births.

After Indra slays Vṛtrāsura, the Kālakeya asuras hide in the ocean and kill ṛshis by night, until Agastya Maharshi drinks the ocean dry at the devas' request.

The Padma Purāṇa tells how Karṇa and Arjuna began as two beings, one born of Brahmā's sweat and one of Bhagavān Vishṇu's blood, who fought before their births.

The Padma Purāṇa says Kṛshṇa's 16,000 wives were fire-born apsarās whom Nārada cursed, and that Dālbya later taught them the Veśyā-vrata.

At Pushkara, Līlāvatī gave a mountain of salt with golden trees, and her goldsmith servant made the trees without wages; both rose to a higher life.

As Brahmā rose from Bhagavān Vishṇu's navel-lotus, the asuras Madhu and Kaiṭabha came from his ear-wax; he killed them, and the earth was formed from their meda.

The ṛshi Maṅkaṇaka danced with joy when vegetable sap flowed from his wound, until Rudra showed him bhasma flowing from his own thumb.

The Padma Purāṇa tells of Mārkaṇḍeya's birth and long life, and of Rāma's visit to Pushkara, where he did śrāddha for Daśaratha and honoured Bhagavān Śiva.

Diti did tapas for a son who would destroy Indra. Indra entered her womb and cut the child into forty-nine parts, and they became the Maruts.

Brahmā made cool water fall for the tired nāgas who came to his yajña at Pushkara. The pool became Nāgakuṇḍa, and he set up Nāgapañchamī.

A cow named Nandā kept her word to a tiger at the risk of her life. Her satya broke the tiger's curse, and the Prāchī Sarasvatī was named Nandā-nadī.

At the Mahāpralaya Bhagavān Vishṇu alone remains. Mārkaṇḍeya sees the whole world in him and meets the child Nārāyaṇa, and Brahmā rises from the lotus.

The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa says the daitya Gobhila took Ugrasena's form and wronged Padmāvatī. Kaṃsa was born of this and had the nature of an asura.

A kind brāhmaṇa named Vṛtha spoke with five pretas at Pushkara, taught them dharma, and the power of the tīrtha set all five free.

Pṛthu is born from the arm of the dead king Vena, chases Bhū-devī in the form of a cow, and milks the Earth to feed all beings.

Sāvitrī Devī finds Gāyatrī beside Brahmā at the Pushkara yajña and gives śāpas. Gāyatrī Devī answers each one with a vara.

A brāhmaṇa boy dies in Rāma's kingdom. Rāma finds the śūdra Śambūka at tapas, cuts off his head, and the boy lives again.

Bhagavān Śiva brings Śivadūtī out of his jaṭā to fight the asura Ruru. Her laughter gives birth to the Mātṛkās, and Śiva fixes their worship.

The brāhmaṇa Śivaśarma of Dvārakā tests his five sons. The youngest, Somaśarma, is reborn as Prahlāda and later becomes Indra.

King Śveta of Vidarbha never gave food in dāna. In svarga he is tormented by hunger until Vasishṭha teaches him and Agastya frees him.

Maṅgalā gives all her puṇya of devoted service to her husband to the boar who was once Sudevā, and Sudevā is freed and rises to svarga.

Bhagavān Vishṇu gives Alakshmī, the elder sister of Lakshmī, to the ṛshi Uddālaka, who leaves her under an Aśvattha tree, where Vishṇu makes her home.

Sūkala, a vaiśya wife, stays true to her husband Kṛkala while Indra and Manmatha try to break her vow, and Dharmarāja teaches why a wife must share śrāddha.

At the Aśvamedha in Ayodhyā, Śambhu tells Bhagavān Rāma of a Rāmāyaṇa that took place in an earlier kalpa, ending with Vālin's praise of Rāma.

Suvrata, a child of devotion to Vishṇu, is born to Somaśarma and Sumanā at Revā and is taken with his parents to Vishṇuloka, then becomes Indra as Vasudatta.

After killing Rāvaṇa, Bhagavān Rāma performs an Aśvamedha yajña to remove the pāpa of brahmahatyā, and Śatrughna guards the horse through many battles.

The Padma Purāṇa tells how the devas, led by Indra and Bhagavān Vishṇu, faced the asura Tāraka and Maya's war-chariots, and how Varuṇa told Indra of Aurva.

A glutton of the Dvāpara Yuga drinks Tulasī root-water, is killed by the hunter Asimardhana, and is taken to Vaikuṇṭha by Vishṇu's messengers.

After the Laṅkā war, Rāma visits Laṅkā, breaks the Setu, sets up Rāmeśvara, and at Brahmā's word installs the Vāmana mūrti from Laṅkā at Mathurā.

Bālavatī, Kaṇva's daughter, serves Bhagavān Sūrya for ten years and is taken to Sūryaloka; a buffalo is also freed by the Śābhramatī.

Kaśyapa makes Vṛtra to avenge his son Bala, the Saptarshis make a peace, and Indra kills Vṛtra by trick and then carries the pāpa of brahmahatyā.

The Padma Purāṇa tells how Bhagavān Vishṇu was born as the dwarf Vāmana, took three steps, and gave Bali the realm of Pātāla; Gaṅgā flowed from his foot.

Nārada tells Yudhishṭhira how Bhagavān Śiva burned Bāṇa's flying city Tripura, spared Bāṇa, and set up the Jvāleśvara liṅga at Amarakaṇṭaka.

Lakshmī comes in disguise to Queen Suratacandrikā, who strikes her. Her daughter Śyāmābālā keeps the Thursday vow and is blessed.

Nārada finds Bhakti young and her sons Jñāna and Vairāgya old and lifeless. The Kumāras teach him the Bhāgavata Saptāha, which wakes them.

A Bhilla and a lion kill each other at Indraprastha on the Yamunā, and both are taken to Vaikuṇṭha by the attendants of Bhagavān Vishṇu.

Bhīma, a Śūdra of great pāpa, serves a brāhmaṇa to rob him, but the pādodaka (foot-water) frees him, and the attendants of Bhagavān Vishṇu take him to Vaikuṇṭha.

Bhṛgu does tapas for a thousand divine years on the Narmadā. Śiva tests him, he prays the Karuṇābhyudaya stotra, and the place becomes a krodha-sthāna.

At Manu's sacrifice on Mount Mandara, Bhṛgu is sent to test Brahmā, Vishṇu and Śiva, and declares Bhagavān Vishṇu alone fit for the worship of brāhmaṇas.

After Indra killed Vṛtra, Brahmā shared the Brahmahatyā in four parts among Agni, the trees and herbs, the Apsarās and the waters.

Candra took Tārā, the wife of Bṛhaspati, and a great war followed. Tārā's son Budha was born to Candra, and later Budha cursed a ṛshi's family line.

A harlot full of *pāpa* scattered tāmbūla powder on the wall of a Vishṇu temple by chance, and that one act took her to Vaikuṇṭha.

A hunter named Caṇḍa spent a night in a bilva tree above a Śivaliṅga without knowing it, and Śiva took him and his wife to Śiva's world.

The Padma Purāṇa's account of the churning of the Milky Ocean, from Durvāsa's curse on Indra to Lakshmī choosing Vishṇu.

King Cōḷa, proud of his yajña, and the poor devotee Vishṇudāsa both reached Vaikuṇṭha and became its doorkeepers, Suśīla and Puṇyaśīla.

Bhagavān Śiva cursed the cows of Goloka to go to the earth. They were freed by bathing in the Khaṇḍa pool on the Śābhramatī.

Dadhīci gave his bones for the Brahmaśiras weapon. His wife Suvarcā cursed the devas and gave birth to Pippalāda, an avatāra of Rudra, at an aśvattha tree.

The thief Daṇḍaka, who had done every pāpa, covered the uneven ground at a Vishṇu temple door with mud and was sent by Yama to Vaikuṇṭha.

The wicked Śūdra Daṇḍakara, cast out by his kin, kept the Vishṇupañcaka vow at the word of brāhmaṇas and reached the form and home of Vishṇu.