Ratnāvalī and Ratneśvara

Ratneśvara is a svayambhū (self-born) Liṅga in Kāśī. Bhagavān Śiva told Devī Pārvatī the story behind it. It begins with a dancer named Kālāvatī, who kept the night of Śivarātri without knowing it. In her next life she was born as Ratnāvalī, a Gandharva princess, and she made a vow to visit Ratneśvara every day. This account is from Chapter 67 of the Kāśī Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa.

Himavān’s heap of jewels and the self-born Liṅga

Himavān, the king of mountains and father of Devī Pārvatī, once made a huge offering of jewels. He brought gems and precious stones from all the mountains of the world to a holy place north of the Kālabhairava shrine in Kāśī. From the middle of that heap a Liṅga appeared by itself. It shone like all those gems pressed into one.

Pārvatī asked Bhagavān Śiva about this wonderful Liṅga. To explain the puṇya (merit) that had brought it forth, Bhagavān Śiva told her the story of Kālāvatī.

Kālāvatī and the Śivarātri she did not know

Kālāvatī was a dancer, a woman of the stage, and she knew nothing about sacred vows. One night, on Śivarātri, she was wandering in a forest. She took shelter under a tree near a Śiva Liṅga. All night she kept a small flame for warmth and light. She was hungry and troubled, so she could not sleep. In this way she kept the Śivarātri vigil without meaning to. Leaves of the bilva tree above her fell on the Liṅga, as a natural offering. She did not eat or drink all that night.

Without any wish to do so, she had met the three needs of Śivarātri: jāgara (the night vigil), upavāsa (the fast) and pūjā (the offering, here the leaves).

Rebirth as Ratnāvalī

In her next birth the puṇya of that one Śivarātri, though she had kept it unknowing, bore great fruit. Kālāvatī was born again as Ratnāvalī, the daughter of the Gandharva king Vasubhūti, in a divine body of great beauty. The impressions of her past devotion stayed with her. She loved Bhagavān Śiva from the heart, and she made a firm vow to visit the Ratneśvara Liṅga in Kāśī every day without fail.

Subāhu’s attempt to carry her off and Ratnacūḍa’s rescue

One day Ratnāvalī was on her daily journey to Ratneśvara. The asura Subāhu saw her beauty and tried to carry her off with her companions. Her cries reached the Nāga king Ratnacūḍa. He hurried to defend her, defeated Subāhu in battle, and freed Ratnāvalī and her friends.

Their marriage was then settled through the portrait gallery of the painter Citralekhā. Ratnāvalī picked out the portrait of Ratnacūḍa and knew him as the man who was meant to be her husband.

The fruit of unknowing devotion

The Kāśī Khaṇḍa uses this account to show the grace of Bhagavān Śiva. Even worship done without intention, near his Liṅga, bears fruit. Kālāvatī gained a better birth, a Gandharva birth with beauty, devotion and a noble husband, from a single night of unknowing vigil. The Kāśī Khaṇḍa teaches that living in Kāśī and being near the Liṅgas of Bhagavān Śiva helps even those who have no such intention.

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 67