Mohinī

Mohinī is the all-enchanting feminine form taken by Bhagavān Viṣṇu. In the Lalitopākhyāna of the Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, this form comes from Bhagavān Viṣṇu’s ārādhanā (devotion) of Lalitādevī through single-pointed meditation. She is called tade-karūpiṇī (the one who has the same form as Lalitā) and jagat-mohanī (the enchantress of the world).

In this form Bhagavān Viṣṇu shares the amṛta (the drink of immortality) with the devas and slays the asura Malakāsura. Śiva follows Mohinī, and from that meeting Mahāśāstṛ is born.

There is another Mohinī, a brahma-mānasa-putrikā (a daughter born from Brahmā’s mind), in the Rukmāṅgada narrative of the Nārada Mahā Purāṇa. She is a different figure from the Mohinī who is the form of Bhagavān Viṣṇu.

The Mohinī form in the Lalitopākhyāna

The Lalitopākhyāna places the Mohinī episode right after the Kṣīrārṇava-manthana, the churning of the milk-ocean. The daityas seized the golden amṛta-kalaśa (pot of amṛta) that came up with Dhanvantari. They refused to share it with the devas, and a terrible battle began. At that moment Bhagavān Viṣṇu was in meditation on Lalitādevī, in tade-kadhyāna-yoga (single-pointed absorption in her). He took her form and became Mohinī.

Mohinī appeared on the battlefield as:

• Adorned with all ornaments and dressed in the finest clothes
• Sarvālaṃkāra-bhūṣitā (adorned with every ornament)
• Jagat-mohanī, whose form enchanted the whole world
• One who held the golden amṛta-kalaśa in her lotus-like left hand

She went to both the deva and the daitya armies with a charming smile. She told them to stop fighting and let her share the amṛta equally, and she set them in two rows. The daityas, wholly enchanted, handed the kalaśa to her. Mohinī then gave the amṛta only to the devas, while she kept the daityas cleverly busy.

The slaying of Malakāsura

The daitya Malakāsura was not held by Mohinī’s charm and tried to take the amṛta by force. Mohinī, who is Bhagavān Viṣṇu in this form, slew him and kept the divine nectar safe for the devas.

Śiva’s pursuit and the birth of Mahāśāstṛ

The devas received the amṛta, and Brahmā left for Brahmaloka. Śiva stayed behind, drawn beyond control to Mohinī’s form. The Lalitopākhyāna treats this as the puruṣa-tattva (Śiva as pure consciousness) being drawn to the śakti-tattva (Mohinī as the divine feminine in form). Mohinī vanished into the forest and Śiva followed. From this divine meeting Mahāśāstṛ was born. He is the Hariharaputra, the son of both Hari and Hara.

Mohinī as the form of Lalitā

In the Lalitopākhyāna, Bhagavān Viṣṇu does not take a chance female form. Through close meditation (tade-kadhyāna) he takes the form of Lalitādevī herself. In this way the churning for the amṛta is joined directly to the account of Lalitādevī in the text.

Sources

• Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Lalitopākhyāna, Chapter 10