Bakavāhana

Bakavāhana · baka-vāhana

Bakavāhana is a rākshasa in the account of King Dharmavallabha of Puṇyapura, which the Vaitāla tells Vikramāditya in the Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa. He came to the temple and touched the girl Madavatī. Blind with rage, the king cut off his head with his sword. Madavatī then told the king that she was the daughter of a vidyādhara. Her father had pronounced a śāpa that a rākshasa would seize her on kṛshṇa caturdaśī, and by the king’s grace she was freed from it that day.

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 2, Chapters 1–23