Vimardhana and Caturdaśī

Vimardhana was a king of the Kirātas, a people of hunters who live in the forests. In an earlier life he had been a dog. That dog happened to be near a place where a devotee was doing the pūjā of Bhagavān Śiva on Caturdaśī, the fourteenth lunar day, which is very dear to Bhagavān Śiva. The fruit of that day carried the dog to a human birth. Vimardhana later told his queen Kumuddvatī about his past lives. This account is from the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa.

Past life as a dog

In an earlier birth the one who would become Vimardhana was a dog. By the working of karma, this dog came to be near a place where a devotee was doing the pūjā of Bhagavān Śiva on Caturdaśī. The dog was only present at the pūjā on that holy tithi (lunar day), and this built up puṇya (merit) that his low birth could not erase.

When the dog died, the fruit of that Caturdaśī ripened, and he took birth as a human being.

Birth as Vimardhana

He was born as Vimardhana, a king of the Kirāta line. The Kirātas are a people of hunters, counted among the forest-dwelling peoples of this land. He rose to be king among his people.

Vimardhana had a queen named Kumuddvatī. She is the one to whom he told his past lives.

Vimardhana tells of his past lives

In a private talk with his queen Kumuddvatī, Vimardhana told her the chain of his past births. This included the birth as a dog and the Caturdaśī pūjā that changed it. His memory of his past births is called jāti-smara.

The Purāṇa shows through Vimardhana’s own voice that a dog born near the pūjā of Bhagavān Śiva on Caturdaśī received a human birth as a king.

What the account teaches

Caturdaśī gives its fruit whatever the standing of the one near it. A dog cannot make a saṅkalpa (a vow of intent) or say a mantra, yet it received the fruit of being near the pūjā on Caturdaśī.

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 4