Kaliṅga King (Padma Purāṇa)
Kaliṅgarāja, simply known as King of Kalinga, Sanskrit: कलिङ्गराज, Telugu: కళింగరాజు, Hindi: कलिंगराज.
This is a king of the Kaliṅga country whose story the Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells in the Uttara Khaṇḍa. The king is not named. He did great adharma (wrong) in his time as king, and he was reborn as a buffalo (mahisha) at Badarikāśrama. A young man named Devadāsa met this buffalo. Because of the power of that very holy place, where Nara-Nārāyaṇa do tapas (austerity) for ever, the soul of the king was freed.
Background
Kaliṅga was an important ancient kingdom, in the region of present-day Odisha and northern Andhra Pradesh. The king in this account is unnamed. He did adharma so heavy in his reign that it brought him an animal birth. The Padma Purāṇa shows that kings, for all their power and wealth, can fall into lower births through pride, injustice or failing to keep dharma.
Reborn as a buffalo at Badarikāśrama
The Kaliṅga king was reborn as a buffalo (mahisha) in the Himālaya, at Badarikāśrama. This is the home of the twin ṛshis Nara and Nārāyaṇa, where Bhagavān Vishṇu does unbroken tapas in his eternal form. The buffalo lived in this very holy place. This matters, because the power of Badarikāśrama works on every being who lives within its cleansing influence.
Meeting with Devadāsa
The devotee Devadāsa met this buffalo at Badarikāśrama. In this account Devadāsa appears together with a woman named Uttamā. The holiness of the place, together with this meeting with Devadāsa, loosed the buffalo from the bond of his karma. The soul of the Kaliṅga king was set free from the animal birth and reached a better state.
What the account shows
The Uttara Khaṇḍa teaches again and again that holy places, above all those marked by the presence of Bhagavān Vishṇu himself, give an unconditional freeing grace that reaches even animal births. The tīrthas of Indraprastha freed human beings from pāpa (sin). In the same way, the holy place of Badarikāśrama, where Bhagavān Vishṇu himself does tapas, could lift a former king out of a buffalo’s birth.
Sources
- Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 216