Dharmapāla (Disciple of Jayadeva)

Dharmapāla · dharma-pāla, “the protector of dharma”

Dharmapāla is the king who became the disciple of Jayadeva. The Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa tells that thieves impelled by Kali had cut off Jayadeva’s hands and feet and thrown him into a pit, and that Padmāvatī, his wife, drew him out.

One day King Dharmapāla came there in the course of hunting. He saw the bhakta and asked who had done this. Jayadeva said, “Mahārāja, I have come to this state as the fruit of my own karma. No one has done any wickedness.” The king seated Jayadeva with his wife in a palanquin and brought him to his palace. He took dīkshā from him and had a dharmaśālā built for him.

At some time those same thieves, impelled by Kali, put on the dress of Vaishṇavas and came to the palace, saying that Bhagavān Vishṇu who abides in the stone accepted their food each day. By their māyā they showed the king the four-armed form of Bhagavān Vishṇu eating. Astonished, Dharmapāla called Jayadeva, saying that he had had darśana of Hari through them.

When Jayadeva came, the thieves spoke falsely against him, and the earth, grieved, split open and caught them. The compassionate Jayadeva wept to see them, and as he wept his severed hands and feet became whole. Greatly astonished, the king asked him about it, and Jayadeva told him all that had happened. Exceedingly glad, the king read the Gītagovinda composed by Jayadeva and attained moksha.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 9

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 9