Kaṅkālinī
Kaṅkālinī · kaṅkāla-inī, “she of the skeleton”
Kaṅkālinī is a rākshasī of the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa, ruthless in her features and able to take any form she wished. She carried off the young brāhmaṇa Āsandiva from Antarvedī, between the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā, and wandered the whole earth with him in enchanting forms. On the southern bank of the Godāvarī she took the form of an old woman and made him call her his mother. When he bathed in the Gautamī and called on Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa slew her with the Sudarśana. The place is Vipratīrtha, also called Nārāyaṇatīrtha.
The carrying off of Āsandiva
Brahmā tells Nārada that a brāhmaṇa of Antarvedī who had mastered the Vedas had several sons, and the youngest, Āsandiva, was quiet, highly intelligent and full of good qualities. While his father was arranging his marriage, Āsandiva went to sleep at night without remembering Vishṇu, without purity and concentration of mind, and with his head to the north. So the rākshasī seized him and quickly took him to a town on the southern bank of the Gautamī, north of Śrīgiri, a town of many brāhmaṇas and an abode of dharma, where the king was Bṛhatkīrti. She took enchanting forms every day and wandered over the earth with him.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 97
The old woman on the Godāvarī
Once she took the form of an old woman and came with him to the southern bank of the Godāvarī. “Here is the Gaṅgā,” she said. “Meditate on the sandhyā with the leading brāhmaṇas. Brāhmaṇas who do not perform the sandhyā at the proper time are counted by the great ṛshis among the lowest of men. Tell them I am your mother, or you will come to ruin now. If you do as I say, I will take you back to your own home and people.” He asked who she was, and she said: “I am famous throughout the world by the name Kaṅkālinī.” He agreed to say and do whatever pleased her.
She went everywhere as an old woman, still fascinating in her limbs and wearing divine ornaments, saying, “He is my son, a man of good qualities.” People took her to be his mother, and a brāhmaṇa gave Āsandiva his daughter in marriage. Āsandiva was in misery, fearing that the rākshasī would swallow him and his good wife.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 97
Slain by the Sudarśana
While the old woman was away, Āsandiva‘s wife drew the truth from him and said that no fear can come to the devotees of Vishṇu who live on the banks of the Gautamī. She told him to bathe there and praise Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa. He bathed in the Gaṅgā, was freed of all pāpas, and praised Nārāyaṇa as the ātmā of the universe, Mukunda and Narasiṃha, the friend of those without protectors. Hearing him, Nārāyaṇa, who dispels the sorrow of the universe, slew the rākshasī with his radiant thousand-spoked discus Sudarśana, granted Āsandiva every vara he desired, and took him back to his father. From then on the tīrtha is called Vipratīrtha or Nārāyaṇatīrtha.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 97
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 97