Ghaṭodara

Ghaṭodara was a rākshasa and the husband of Sūrpākshī. He is blind. He appears briefly in the Niśākara upākhyāna (a side story) in Chapter 64 of the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa. He saw at once the danger in stealing a child from the house of Kośakāra and told his wife to give the infant back. His advice was wise but came too late. Their own child stayed bound by the mantras of Kośakāra and grew up in the brāhmaṇa household as Dīvākara.

The warning

Sūrpākshī came back to Śālodara mountain with the stolen brāhmaṇa infant. Ghaṭodara, who is described as blind (grūḍḍi), asked her what she had brought.

She told him she had taken a child from the doorstep of Kośakāra and left her own child in its place. He warned her sharply. Kośakāra was a great jñāni (knower of the truth), and his anger would bring a śāpa (a curse) on them. He ordered her to take the brāhmaṇa child back at once and look for another infant elsewhere.

The result

Sūrpākshī obeyed and went back. But Kośakāra had already bound the rākshasa infant with his mantras. She could neither take back her own child nor keep the brāhmaṇa child. Ghaṭodara’s advice was sound, but it came too late.

Their son was raised in Kośakāra’s household and was named Dīvākara. He took the role that Niśākara could not fill. He studied the Vedas and kept up the family line of the household.

Sources

• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 64