Bālavatī’s Sun Vow

Chapter 152 of the Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells two linked accounts. Both explain how the Bālāpendra tīrtha (holy place) on the river Śābhramatī got its name. The first is about Bālavatī, daughter of the ṛshi Kaṇva, who served Bhagavān Sūrya. The second is about an old buffalo who became a prince.

Bālavatī’s vow

Bālavatī, daughter of the great ṛshi Kaṇva, kept a tapas (austerity) for Bhagavān Sūrya for ten years on the bank of the Śābhramatī. All through this time she kept strict vows of celibacy and purity, and she did pūjā to the sun.

The test of the brāhmaṇa ṛshi

Bhagavān Sūrya came down to test her devotion. He appeared before her as a brāhmaṇa ṛshi. He gave her five badara (jujube) fruits and asked her to cook them for him.

Bālavatī tried to cook them, but the fire would not cook them. She tried all day, and the fruits stayed raw. She did not want to disappoint the brāhmaṇa, and she wanted to please her guest. So she put her own feet into the fire again and again through the day. She bore terrible pain to do her duty as a host and a devotee.

Sūrya shows himself

Bhagavān Sūrya saw her great endurance and self-giving. He was deeply moved by her purity and by her devotion, like that of a pativratā (a devoted wife). He showed his true blazing form before her.

He was greatly pleased. He declared that the tīrtha would be named Bālāpa after her, and he gave her a place in his own world, Sūryaloka.

The buffalo

The second account in this chapter is about an old buffalo. He was abandoned and wandered until he fell into the Śābhramatī and drowned. His bones were washed in the holy waters of the tīrtha.

By the purifying power of these waters, he was born in his next life as the son of the king of Kānyakubja. He remembered his earlier suffering. When he grew up, he went back to the Śābhramatī and set up the Mahīśeśvara liṅga at that place.

So the tīrtha took the further name Bālāpendra, or Mahiśatīrtha, to honour both Bālavatī and the buffalo who was set free.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 152