Bali Cakravartī

Bali Cakravartī was a king of the daityas (the asuras descended from Diti). He was the son of Virocana and the grandson of the great Vishṇu-devotee Prahlāda. He won the three worlds through tapas (austerity) and courage. Then he gave them to Bhagavān Vishṇu, who came as the dwarf brāhmaṇa Vāmana, and he gave without anger or regret. Bhagavān Vishṇu gave him rule over Pātāla (Sutala), and the Purāṇas say Bhagavān Vishṇu stands at his gate.

Many Purāṇas tell his account. Each is given below under its own name.

Lineage

Bali was the son of Virocana, the grandson of Prahlāda, and the great-grandson of Hiraṇyakaśipu. The Nārada Mahā Purāṇa gives the line plainly: Hiraṇyakaśipu, then Prahlāda, then Virocana, then Bali. It says Virocana was a devotee of brāhmaṇas. Bali was a being of great tejas (radiance) and parākrama (valour). He was the senānāyaka (army commander) of all the daityas and was loved by his people.

Prahlāda was the greatest bhakta (devotee) of Vishṇu among the asuras. The Agni Purāṇa says Bali received a rare nobility from this line.

The daitya lines continued from Bali’s hundred sons. The eldest was Bāṇāsura, known for his thousand arms and his devotion to Śiva. He had performed tapas and received from Mahādeva the vara (boon) of divine protection and of living always near him. Bāṇa’s daughter Ushā later became the wife of Aniruddha, the grandson of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. This episode, part of the Kṛshṇa-kathā (the account of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa), led to the great encounter between Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and Bhagavān Śiva. Among the asura lines that trace back to Prahlāda and Bali were also the four crore Nivātakavaca warriors, famed for their might in the three worlds. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 4 and 19)

The Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa tells how Bali came to the throne. After Andhakāsura was subdued, Virocana conquered the devas and ruled the three worlds for many ages through dharma. Virocana then received ātmajñāna (knowledge of the self) from Sanatkumāra. He gave the kingdom to Bali and withdrew into yoga-sādhana (the practice of yoga). Bali was also endowed with brahma-jñāna (knowledge of the Absolute) and was deeply devoted to dharma. Sanatkumāra said that such qualities are rare in any asura, as he had said of Bali’s father too. (Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 17)

Conquest of the three worlds

The Agni Purāṇa

By intense tapas and courage, Bali defeated the devas and drove Indra and the devas out of svarga (heaven). His purohita (house priest) was the great ācārya Śukrācārya. With him Bali performed the grand Viśvajit yajña, which gave him the power to conquer all existence.

The devas had lost their svarga. They had also lost lakshmī (prosperity), which comes from receiving their rightful share of the yajña. They took refuge with Bhagavān Vishṇu and asked him to restore the order of the worlds. Bhagavān Vishṇu promised to act. Aditi and Kaśyapa had already honoured him with deep devotion. Moved by this, he agreed to be born as their son in the form of the dwarf brāhmaṇa Vāmana. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 4)

The Kūrma Purāṇa

Bali extended his rule further. He conquered Indra in battle and drove the devas from the three worlds. Indra, defeated first by Virocana and later again by Bali, took refuge with Bhagavān Vishṇu. (Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 17)

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa

The eighth Skandha tells the conquest in detail. Indra had once defeated Bali and even taken his life. The Bhārgava brāhmaṇas brought Bali back to life through the power of their tapas. Bali was grateful and gave himself to their service.

The Bhārgavas performed the Viśvajit yajña for him. From it came a golden chariot, divine horses, a jewelled bow, quivers that never ran empty, and divine armour. Prahlāda gave him a garland. Śukrācārya gave him a conch.

Bali gathered a huge daitya army and laid siege to Amarāvatī, the city of Indra. Bṛhaspati told Indra and the devas to retreat and wait: “The Bhārgavas’ power fills your enemy. You cannot overcome him now. When he himself disrespects those Bhārgavas, his power will fail.” The devas scattered in disguise. Bali took Amarāvatī and performed a hundred Aśvamedha yajñas, spreading his fame through all three worlds. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skandha, Chapter 15)

The Nārada Mahā Purāṇa

The Nārada Mahā Purāṇa (Poorvardha, Chapter 70) tells Bali’s account as part of the origin of Gaṅgā. Sanaka Maharshi tells it to Nārada. It begins with Bali’s conquest of the three worlds and the tapas of Aditi that followed. It ends with the descent of Gaṅgā.

Bali had an army of enormous size: ten thousand crore lakh elephants, each with five hundred foot soldiers, and every kind of vāhana (vehicle). His minister-generals were Kumbhāṇḍa and Kūpakarṇa. His eldest son Bāṇāsura was equal to him in strength. With this army Bali laid siege to Amarāvatī.

A terrible war began between the devas and the daityas. The clash of weapons lit up the sky. The battle lasted eight thousand years. At last the daitya strength overwhelmed the devas. They fled svarga and wandered the earth in human disguise.

Bali, full of bhakti (devotion) to Śrī Mahāvishṇu, then ruled all three worlds in undivided prosperity. He performed Aśvamedha yajñas to honour Vishṇu. He took the place of Indra and of all the dikpālas (guardians of the directions). The devas were absent, so Bali received the havish (offerings) of every yajña that the brāhmaṇas performed. (Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapters 70–71)

The Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa

In the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa the devas were defeated in a great war. Bhagavān Vishṇu eventually withdrew so that the daityas could have their time. Bāṇa, Bali’s son with the thousand arms, was decisive in the fighting. Bali then took Amarāvatī. He sat on Indra’s throne and took on all the work of the dikpālas.

Under his dharmic rule the whole world became full of the qualities of the Kṛta Yuga. Kali fled in terror to the world of Brahmā. He complained that Bali had destroyed his domain.

Bali called his grandfather Prahlāda up from Pātāla. When Prahlāda came, Bali came down from the throne and bowed to the ground. He offered Prahlāda the three worlds: “Pitāmaha! By your grace I have won this kingdom. Accept it and let me serve you.” Prahlāda had long ago given up kingship. He declined with affection: “I have already enjoyed every kind of rāja-bhoga (royal pleasure) in an earlier age. I now live in yoga. This kingdom is yours. Take it back.” He placed his right hand on Bali’s hand and seated him again on Indra’s throne.

Bali and Śukrācārya then asked Prahlāda for rājadharma upadeśa (teaching on the duties of a king). Prahlāda taught:

• Gain artha (wealth) only by means that dharma allows.
• Act so as to earn fame in every direction.
• See that the learned, the aged, the brāhmaṇas and the meritorious live without want in your realm.
• Keep the conditions for varṇāśrama (the order of the classes and stages of life).
• See that brāhmaṇas perform yajñas and tapas freely.
• Encourage kshatriyas to be learned and generous rulers.
• Support vaiśyas in honest trade and farming.
• Have all four varṇas follow their own svadharma (own duty), for dharmahāni (loss of dharma) is rājyahāni (loss of the kingdom).

Then the divine Lakshmī took the form of Jayaśrī, the rājasika (passionate) form of the devī. She left Indra and came to Bali of her own will. His courage in war and his dharmic rule drew her. She told him of the four forms of the devī, white, red, golden and dark, matching the four varṇas, and of the four great nidhis (treasures). (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 47–49)

The Harivaṃśa, Bhavishya Parva

The Bhavishya Parva of the Harivaṃśa gives many chapters to Bali’s account. It begins with Bali’s coronation as king of the daityas (Chapter 48). The assembled daityas accepted him as the new Indra, master of all three worlds, and the great campaign against the devas began.

Chapters 48–65 describe the campaigns in which Bali’s forces drove the devas from all three worlds. They tell of champion battles, where single heroes from each side met in combat while the two armies watched. Anuhlāda, Bali’s uncle, fought Kubera. Vipracitti fought Varuṇa. Other daitya champions fought the remaining lokapālas (guardians of the worlds). When the daityas proved overwhelming, Agni was moved to compose a Sanskrit stotra praising the divine śakti (power). The Bhavishya Parva keeps this stotra.

Bali was a king of great courage and dharma. Even in conquest he fought with honour, protected the weak, and kept a king’s dignity toward his defeated enemies. All three worlds came under his rule.

When Bali was the undisputed master of the three worlds, his grandfather Prahlāda came to his court. Prahlāda had himself received the grace of Bhagavān Vishṇu and knew it from his own experience. He counselled Bali with great love and directness. He reminded Bali that the śakti of Bhagavān Vishṇu lay behind the very forces Bali had been defeating, and that supreme rule belonged to Bhagavān Vishṇu alone. (Harivaṃśa, Bhavishya Parva, Chapters 48–73)

Prahlāda’s omen in the Kūrma Purāṇa

Hṛshīkeśa Vishṇu entered the womb of the devamātā (mother of the devas) Aditi. He was born as the son of Kaśyapa Prajāpati, as the vara (boon) Aditi had asked of Vishṇu himself. Great utpātas (bad omens) broke out in Bali’s city. Alarmed, Bali went to his grandfather Prahlāda and asked what the signs meant.

Prahlāda thought deeply and made inner namaskāras (bows) to Vishṇu. He explained that Vāsudeva himself was about to take an aṃśāvatāra (partial avatāra) through Aditi. Vāsudeva is the one from whom all beings arise and into whom all return. Prahlāda advised Bali to surrender to Govinda-Nārāyaṇa, who alone gives moksha (liberation) of the form of eternal bliss. Bali followed this advice. He surrendered to Vishṇu and went on ruling the world with dharma. (Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 17)

Aditi’s tapas in the Nārada Purāṇa

Aditi, mother of the devas, watched the pain of her sons. She decided to perform tapas on the Himālaya and meditate on Hari, so that Indra might regain his rule. For a thousand divine years her tapas grew more severe. She sat, then stood, then stood on one foot, then on her toes. She ate only fruit, then dry leaves, then only water, then only air, then nothing at all.

Bali sent daityas disguised as devas to turn her back. They used long arguments about a mother’s duty not to harm her body. She stayed unmoved and steady in her samādhi (deep meditation). The disguised rākshasas then threatened her and set fire to the forest around her. A hundred yojanas (a unit of distance) of woodland burned. The Sudarśana Cakra of Śrī Mahāvishṇu destroyed all of them. The fire they had started burned the forest, but it could not touch Aditi, because the cakra of Bhagavān Vishṇu guarded her. She had been meditating on Vishṇu without a break for thousands of years.

Her tapas led to the birth of Vāmana, and to the events that follow from Chapter 71 onward. (Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapters 70–71)

Prahlāda’s śāpa in the Saro Māhātmya

The Saro Māhātmya is the third section of the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa. It also confirms the line Hiraṇyakaśipu, Prahlāda, Virocana, Bali. It says that after Bali’s conquest Lakshmī herself left Indra and came to Bali.

In this account, Prahlāda meditated and saw Vāmana in Aditi’s womb. He then pronounced a śāpa (a curse) on Bali. He did it not in anger, but because he saw clearly that Bali’s days in svarga were coming to an end. Bali accepted the śāpa graciously and was sorry for his faults. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 2–10)

The arrival of Vāmana

The Kūrma Purāṇa

Some time later, Vāmana came to Bali’s grand yajña. He wore a kṛshṇājina (black deerskin) and carried a pālāśa (palāśa-wood) staff. He wore the yajñopavīta (sacred thread). His jaṭās (matted locks) shone, and he chanted the Vedamantras. Thousands of brahmarshis had gathered there, and huge dakshiṇās (gifts to the priests) were being given.

Bharadvāja Muni urged him on. Bhagavān Vishṇu, in his form as Vāmana, came to the rākshasa king as a brāhmaṇa asking for bhikshā (alms). He asked for three paces of land, measured by his own feet.

Bali washed Vāmana’s feet with śraddhā (faith). He performed ācamana (the sipping of water for purity) and took up a golden kalaśa (water pot). “I shall give you the three-pace expanse you have asked for,” he said. He wished that Vishṇu, who is without end, should be pleased. He poured the water of dāna into Bhagavān Vāmana’s hands. (Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 17)

The Agni Purāṇa

Bhagavān Vāmana came as a radiant young brāhmaṇa boy to Bali’s great yajña. He stood at the gate and recited the Veda. Bali saw him. He knew the boy’s rare radiance and virtue, and decided to give him whatever he asked.

Śukrācārya warned Bali that this petitioner was Vishṇu himself, and that giving to him would mean the loss of everything. Bali was not moved. He said: “It is a far greater honour to give to Vishṇu than to anyone else. What greater fortune could come to me?” He poured the water of dāna into the brāhmaṇa’s cupped hands and made his pledge. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 4)

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa

At the yajña at Bhṛgukaccha, Vāmana asked for three paces and Bali agreed. Śukrācārya spoke out plainly: “This is Vishṇu himself. If you give, you lose all your three worlds.”

Bali answered with clear thought and a lofty spirit. He said he was Prahlāda’s grandson. In his line no king had ever taken back a gift made to a brāhmaṇa. If Vishṇu himself was asking, what greater honour could come? He said: “The loss of all my wealth is better than the stain of having broken a pledge. Dadhīci gave his bones. My father Vīrocana gave his āyus (life). I do not fear naraka (hell) as much as I fear the disgrace of false speech.”

Śukrācārya gave him a śāpa (a curse) of losing his prosperity. Bali accepted that too. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skandha, Chapter 19)

The Harivaṃśa, Bhavishya Parva

The Vāmana account in the Bhavishya Parva (Chapters 66–73) begins with the devas wandering in exile, with their domains gone. Kaśyapa Maharshi was moved by their plight and by the prayer of Aditi. He composed a Sanskrit stotra to Paramātmā, one of the richest in thought in the Bhavishya Parva. In it he asked Parameśvara to be born as their son and set the worlds in order. Bhagavān Vishṇu accepted this prayer and came down as Vāmana.

Bṛhaspati, the teacher of the devas, led Vāmana to Bali’s yajña. Bali was in the middle of a great yajña, and a brāhmaṇa who came to one performing a yajña could not be refused. The tiny brāhmaṇa boy Vāmana came and asked for three paces of land. Śukrācārya warned Bali, but Bali poured the water of dāna and gave his word. Trivikrama’s immeasurable form then covered all three worlds in two steps. The third step was placed on Bali’s head and pressed him down into Pātāla.

Nārada Maharshi saw what had truly happened. It was not Bali’s shame but his liberation. He composed a Sanskrit stotra praising Bali’s unmatched dāna and the grace Bhagavān Vishṇu gave in return. He called Bali’s act of giving everything the highest form of śaraṇāgati (taking refuge). He also foretold that Bali would be made Indra in the Sāvarṇi Manvantara. (Harivaṃśa, Bhavishya Parva, Chapters 48–73)

The Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa

After Prahlāda finished his teaching, he left on his famous tīrtha yātrā (journey to holy places). Bali came to Kurukshetra to perform an Aśvamedha yajña. Śukrācārya invited the Bhārgava brāhmaṇas to lead it. The horse of the yajña was guarded by Tārakāksha, a daitya hero. The coming of Vāmana, Bharadvāja’s upanayana (sacred thread ceremony) for the divine boy, and the Trivikrama episode follow in the same chapter. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 62)

In the Saro Māhātmya, Śukrācārya’s warning before the three paces is longer. It says that Bali would lose not only his kingdom but also his place in the cosmos. Bali refused with full clarity: “One who denies Bhagavān Vishṇu himself has already lost everything worth keeping.” (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 2–10)

Trivikrama and the three steps

The Kūrma Purāṇa

The moment the dāna was accepted, Ādideva Hari measured the whole earth with one stride. With the second he measured the antariksha (the space between earth and svarga) and all of svarga. Then his cosmic foot pierced the outer brahmāṇḍa (the egg of the universe). There the stream of Gaṅgā began from the touch of Vishṇu’s foot, the foot that Brahmā and all the lokapālas honoured. Brahmā himself came and praised Nārāyaṇa. No place was left for the third step. (Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 17)

The Agni Purāṇa

When the water of dāna was poured, the dwarf Vāmana grew into the cosmic form of Trivikrama and filled all the worlds. With one step he measured the earth. With the second he measured all of svarga and the worlds above. For the third step there was no space left anywhere except Bali’s own head. Bali, with calm that did not break, offered his own head for the third step. He was pressed down into Pātāla under the foot of Vishṇu. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 4)

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa

Bhagavān Vāmana’s Trivikrama form covered all three worlds in two steps. Garuḍa then bound Bali with the serpent ropes of Varuṇa. Bali had lost his kingdom, was humbled in public, and his crown was dimmed. He stood without a tremor.

Bhagavān Vāmana asked for the third step and warned of naraka for an unkept pledge. Bali answered: “Place your third foot on my head and make your pledge complete. I do not fear naraka, poverty, bonds or any punishment as much as the stain of a false word. You have in truth granted me grace, by stripping me of the prosperity that blinds the mind. I see my own faults more clearly in defeat than I ever could in triumph.”

He thought of Prahlāda’s example. His grandfather, surrounded by enemies of Vishṇu and tortured by his own father, still took refuge at the feet of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Bali said: “Daiva has brought me to you. That is grace.”

At that moment Prahlāda arrived, shining in green silk, overcome with joy and tears. He could not offer arghya (water of welcome) because Bali was bound. He only bowed his head. Then he said to Bhagavān Vishṇu: “What you did by removing Bali’s prosperity was the greatest kindness. Wealth clouds even the wise. This Bali gave you the three worlds without sadness. How could such a one deserve punishment?” (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skandha, Chapters 21–22)

The Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa

After Bali was bound and Trivikrama had measured the three worlds, Bali’s son Bāṇa spoke to Bhagavān Vishṇu directly. He said: “You created these three worlds. Bali gave them back to you. What was ever his to give? Your creation, your dāna. Where is the reason in binding him?” Bhagavān Vishṇu accepted the point. He explained his action in terms of the order of the worlds. Bali had pledged three paces, and the pledge was now fulfilled. Bali would live in the Sāvarṇi Manvantara as Indra. Bāṇa was calmed.

Bali was sent to Sutala with Vindhyāvalī. Bāṇa later built the Śoṇita fortress on earth and became its king. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 65)

Surrender in the Kūrma Purāṇa

Bali saw the mahāpurusha (the great Person) filling all existence. He did not answer with anger or regret. He bowed to Nārāyaṇa with his head on the ground, and poured the water of dāna a second time, giving himself completely. He said: “To you, Trivikrama, of endless tejas and great parākrama, I surrender myself.”

The Kūrma Purāṇa shows Bali as a mahātmā who knew the divinity of Vishṇu fully and gave his whole being. He is shown as a brahma-jñānī (knower of the Absolute), full of the spirit of dharma. He is a great example of what surrendered bhakti looks like, even at a time of seeming loss. (Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 17)

Sutala, Pātāla and the gift of Bhagavān Vishṇu

The Kūrma Purāṇa

Bhagavān Vāmana accepted Bali’s gift of the three worlds and gave the rule of all three lokas to Indra. He then said to Bali: “O best of rākshasas, go down now to the root of Pātāla. There you will enjoy pleasures that even devas cannot reach, and live forever in sukha (happiness). Practise bhakti-yoga and meditate on me always. At the end of the kalpa (the long cosmic age) you will enter me again.”

Bali went into Pātāla. Prahlāda’s presence gave him strength, his bhakti to Vishṇu sustained him, and he kept up his devotion in that realm below. A later passage of the Kūrma Purāṇa says that King Bali lives even now in svarga-vāsī Pātāla (Sutala). (Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapters 17, 44)

The Agni Purāṇa

Bhagavān Vishṇu was deeply moved by Bali’s unmatched generosity and his refusal to deceive or withdraw his pledge. He gave Bali two eternal varas (boons). The first was rule over Pātāla as his own safe kingdom. The second was that Vishṇu himself would be Bali’s dvārapāla (doorkeeper) and stand guard at the gate of his palace for all time.

The three worlds were returned to the devas and placed under Indra. Indra and all the devas praised Vishṇu for his grace. The Agni Purāṇa says that Bali’s puṇya (merit) was not reduced by his defeat. His act of full surrender turned a loss in war into a lasting spiritual victory. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 4)

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa

Bhagavān Vishṇu told Brahmā why he had acted: “I strip those I love most of their wealth first, so that the intoxication of prosperity does not bind them. Bali has conquered the māyā (illusion) that most cannot. He was cursed by his guru, bound by his enemies and left by his kinsmen. Yet he was not deluded for a single moment.”

Then he spoke to Bali directly: “Go to Sutala, a realm built by Viśvakarmā that even the devas long for. There, no bodily illness, no mental pain, no tiredness and no shame will come to those who live with you, under my protection. I myself will stand at your gate as your dvārapāla. You will see me there each day. The sight of me will dissolve the karma that comes from ignorance. In the Sāvarṇi Manvantara, the eighth age, you will be Indra of the three worlds.” (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skandha, Chapter 22)

Bali’s voice was full of devotion and his eyes were full of tears. He bowed to Bhagavān Vishṇu, to Brahmā and to Rudra. He entered Sutala with his rākshasa retinue and with Prahlāda. The Bhāgavatam records Prahlāda’s wonder: “Brahmā, Lakshmī and Rudra, none of them gained what you have given this daitya. That Bhagavān Vishṇu himself stands at Bali’s gate is a grace no one has ever received.” (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skandha, Chapter 22)

The Saro Māhātmya

The daitya general Cikshura attacked Trivikrama, trying in vain to protect Bali. He was subdued. The promise that Bali will become Indra in the Sāvarṇi Manvantara (the eighth cosmic age) is confirmed. The chapters close with the greatness of the Vishṇupadī tīrtha at Kurukshetra, the place where the foot of Trivikrama touched the earth. Bathing there removes all pāpa (sin) and leads to Vishṇuloka. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 2–10)

Life in Sutala

In Sutala, Bali built a splendid crystal city with courtyards set with jewels. He lived there with Vindhyāvalī and enjoyed many kinds of pleasure, both divine and human.

One day the Sudarśana Cakra came down into Sutala with a roar like the churning of the ocean. The rākshasa city was filled with terror. Bali drew his sword in alarm. Vindhyāvalī calmed him, took the arghya vessel, and went with him to receive the cakra. Bali joined his palms and offered the Sudarśana Stotra. In it he praised the cakra as made of Brahmā at the hub, Śiva at the rim, the devas at the spokes, and the five elements as its speed. He begged it to burn up his collected pāpa. The Sudarśana accepted his pūjā, drew out the tejas of all the daityas, and left at the dakshiṇa-vishuvat (the southern solstice). (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 67)

Deeply moved, Bali remembered his grandfather Prahlāda, who at once appeared in Sutala. Prahlāda gave Bali a long upadeśa on Vishṇu-bhakti. He spoke of the path of nishkāma (selfless) devotion, the qualities of a true bhakta, and the highest place of Vishṇu’s grace. After this, Bali built a temple to Vishṇu in Sutala. Vindhyāvalī lit the ārati lamps with great devotion. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 68)

Rāvaṇa in Pātāla

The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa (Chapter 238) tells that Rāvaṇa, during his conquest of the three worlds, came to Pātāla and met Bali Cakravartī.

Rāvaṇa saw a grand palace in Kubera’s part of Pātāla. It had pearl curtains, coral pillars and pillars set with beryl, and it shone with indranīla and padmarāga gems. It was more splendid than the svarga of Indra. At its outer gate stood a man of coal-black complexion. He carried all the auspicious marks and divine ornaments. He held an iron staff and blazed with a power like fire. This was the first gate.

Rāvaṇa went in and challenged the gatekeeper to fight. The gatekeeper told him that the master of the house was Bali, the daitya king bound by Vishṇu, and that Rāvaṇa was not worthy to fight him. Rāvaṇa went in anyway and found Bali inside. He said: “I have heard you were bound by Vishṇu. I am able to free you from that bond.”

Bali smiled gently. He said: “Here are my divine earrings, most precious and beyond price. Bring one of them to me from where it lies.” Rāvaṇa used all his strength of twenty arms, but the earring did not move by a hair. He stood sweating and amazed. Bali set him on his own thigh and said:

“These earrings belonged to my great-grandfather Hiraṇyakaśipu. He wore them proudly on his ears. And the same being, Vishṇu, who adorned them, laid Hiraṇyakaśipu on his own thigh and tore him apart with his nails. You wish to defeat that being? The black Purusha you saw at my gate stands there for ever. Many proud daitya chiefs, full of power, tried him and were subdued. It is by that same being that I too was bound. Time is not something that can be escaped. No one in the three worlds can truly describe this Purusha. He is the maker and the destroyer of all, the inner ruler of all that moves and does not move, the witness of all karma, tapas and yajña. All wealth, all strength and all wisdom come through ārādhanā (devoted worship) of him alone.”

Rāvaṇa left in silence. On his way out he looked for the black Purusha at the gate, but he was gone. Rāvaṇa came back to the surface of the earth. In the whole world he could find no enemy worthy of him. (Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 238)

Bali in the Mahābhārata

Bhīshma on daiva and purushakāra

Bhīshma was teaching Yudhishṭhira about daiva (fate) and purushakāra (human effort). He spoke of the same binding in a few words: “Bali Cakravartī, son of Virocana, was bound by the dharma-pāśa (rope of dharma) of the devatās and sent to Pātāla.” Bhīshma said this was done through the own prayatna (effort) of Śrī Mahāvishṇu, and not by daiva acting by itself. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 6)

Flowers, incense and lamps

The Anuśāsana Parva keeps an episode from the time of Bali’s rule over the three worlds, before the Vāmana episode. His guru Śukrācārya came to him. Bali honoured him with arghya, pādya (water for the feet) and dakshiṇā. Then Bali asked what merit lies in offering flowers, incense (dhūpa) and lamps (dīpa) to the devas.

Śukrācārya gave a full answer:

• Tapas and dharma gave rise to the vines and herbs.
• Flowers are of different kinds for different beings. White, thornless and sweet-smelling flowers suit the devas. Water flowers such as lotuses suit the yakshas, gandharvas and nāgas. Red, thorny and sharp-smelling flowers suit enemies and are used in the Atharvan abhicāra (rites against enemies). Dark, sharp-smelling and thorny flowers suit the bhūtas. Sweet and beautiful flowers suit human beings.
• There are three kinds of incense: niryāsa (resin), sāra (heartwood) and kṛtrima (made). Each has its proper receivers.
• The gift of a lamp is the gift of tejas itself. Ghee is the best fuel, and animal fat is forbidden.

This teaching passed from Śukrācārya to Bali. It also passed from Svāyambhuva Manu to Suvarṇa, from Suvarṇa to Nārada, and from Nārada to Bhīshma. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 98)

What Bali Cakravartī stands for

The Kūrma Purāṇa shows Bali as one of the great examples of how a person born in an asura line can become a mahātmā through dharma, brahma-jñāna and surrender to Bhagavān Vishṇu. It shows that true dāna, given freely even when warned against it, is never without its reward. It shows that full surrender to Trivikrama Nārāyaṇa is the path to the highest state.

Sources

• Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 4, 19
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 8th Skandha, Chapters 15–23
• Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapters 70–71
• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 47–49, 62, 65–68
• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 2–10
• Harivaṃśa, Bhavishya Parva, Chapters 48–73
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 238
• Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapters 17, 44
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapters 6, 98