Kaliṅgarāja and Manoramā in the Varāha Purāṇa

Kaliṅgarāja was a prince of the royal family of Kaliṅga. In a past life he was a vulture (gṛdha) killed by mistake by Prince Soma-datta at the Gṛdhravata-tīrtha within the Saukaraka kshetra (holy ground). Manoramā was a princess of the royal family of Kāntī. In a past life she was a fox (nakka) killed by mistake by the same prince at the Soma-tīrtha in Saukaraka. The power of the holy kshetra gave them birth in royal families, and Bhagavān Vishṇu arranged their marriage. They lived together for seventy-seven years in deep love and had five sons. Manoramā kept a secret vrata (vow), because an arrow from her past life was still in her head. Then they went back to Saukaraka, the place where they had died as animals, told of their past lives, gave up the kingdom, and reached Śveta-dvīpa with all their followers.

The Varāha Mahā Purāṇa tells this in Chapter 137. The account shows how karma goes on from one birth to the next, and how holy Saukaraka is. Saukaraka is the kshetra of Bhagavān Varāha.

Their past lives

Both owe their human births to the freeing power of the Saukaraka kshetra. In the Tretā-yuga, Prince Soma-datta of Kāmpilya, a son of King Brahma-datta, went hunting in the forest on an amāvāsyā (new-moon day). He wanted meat for his father’s śrāddha (offerings to the ancestors). He searched for a long time but found no deer.

Near the Saukaraka kshetra he met a she-fox (nakka) on his right and struck her with an arrow. She was hurt and writhed in pain. The arrow stayed in her head as she died. She breathed her last on the bank of the Soma-tīrtha, within Saukaraka.

The prince then went to the Gṛdhravata-tīrtha, east of the Soma-tīrtha, to rest. He saw a large vulture (gṛdha) sitting on a branch above him. He shot it with one arrow, and the bird fell dead at the foot of the tree.

Both died at these holy places. Saukaraka is Bhagavān Vishṇu’s own kshetra, where Bhagavān Varāha himself lifted Bhūdevī out of the primordial waters. So the puṇya (merit) of the kshetra acted on them, and the merit of dying there raised both ātmās into royal human births.

Kaliṅgarāja, the Kaliṅga prince

Past life: a vulture (gṛdha) that died at the Gṛdhravata-tīrtha in Saukaraka, struck by Soma-datta’s arrow.
Rebirth: born as a prince in the Kaliṅga royal family. He was handsome, learned in all the śāstras, and skilled in ruling and statecraft.
Character: he was praised for wisdom and generosity. He was never tired and had no sorrow.
Married life: he lived seventy-seven years in deep love with Manoramā. They had five sons of fine character and radiance.
Giving up the kingdom: in old age he gave the kingdom to his eldest son, with detailed advice on ruling by dharma. Then he left for Saukaraka on pilgrimage.
Liberation: he died at Saukaraka after worshipping Bhagavān Vishṇu with devotion, and reached Śveta-dvīpa.

Manoramā, the Kāntī princess

Past life: a she-fox (nakka) that died at the Soma-tīrtha in Saukaraka when Soma-datta’s arrow struck her. The arrow stayed in her head as she died.
Rebirth: born as the beautiful princess of the Kāntī royal family. She had wide eyes, a spotless character with no flaw, and a graceful form. She was skilled in the sixty-four arts, and her voice was like a cuckoo’s.
The hidden arrow: the arrow that killed her as the fox stayed with her as a fine bodily trace. In her new life it showed itself as a headache each day, worse when she was at rest. This was the secret she kept through all her married life by means of her midday sleeping vrata.
Liberation: she died at Saukaraka after worshipping Bhagavān Vishṇu with devotion, and reached Śveta-dvīpa.

The marriage

Bhagavān Vishṇu arranged the union of these two. Their accidental deaths at Saukaraka had put them on the path to moksha (liberation). The royal families of Kāntī and Kaliṅga came together through goodwill and shared interests, and the two were married with the full ceremony. They were given gifts of wealth, gems, jewels and fine clothes, and the young couple went to live in the palace of Kaliṅga.

Their love grew steadily, like the floor of the ocean, the Purāṇa says. Neither could bear to be parted even for a moment. Manoramā felt as though she had died if her husband went out of her sight, and he felt the same if he could not see her. They lived happily and went to gardens, temples and pleasure-groves. They had five sons of fine character, each as bright as the sun. Their love deepened through the seventy-seven years of their life together.

Manoramā’s secret vrata

All through her married life Manoramā kept a strange vrata. Every day at midday she slept alone in a private room. She gave strict orders that nobody was to look at her while she slept: not her father-in-law, her mother-in-law, the courtiers, the servants or her husband. It lasted one muhūrta each day, and it was a rule she never bent. Kaliṅgarāja, the king of Kaliṅga, had honoured it without question through all their years.

She kept the true reason secret. The arrow with which Prince Soma-datta had struck her when she was a fox was still in her head. The vrata kept her secret and gave her some relief from the pain left by the arrow of her past life.

The day the vrata was broken

In the seventy-eighth year of his life, on a Vaiśākha Śukla Dvādaśī at midday, Kaliṅgarāja felt a strong wish to see Manoramā as she slept. Suspicion clouded his mind. He wondered whether the vrata was a deceit, and what dharmaśāstra allowed such a practice. After seventy-seven years, he went into her room.

He found Manoramā lying on the bed. She was not sleeping but in pain. Her face was twisted and she was weeping softly. She was murmuring:

“One day I must go to Saukaraka. Then I can say what is in my heart.”

Kaliṅgarāja went to her and held her. She showed him an arrow-shaft in her head, which could be seen under her hair. The arrow from her past life as a fox had never left her.

The truth told, and the kingdom given up

The vrata was broken and the secret was out. For the first time the couple spoke openly of what they truly knew. Manoramā told Kaliṅgarāja everything: her past life as a fox, the arrow, the purpose of the vrata, and her wish to go back to Saukaraka. He told her that he had been the vulture. They saw the whole course of it: the accidental deaths at the holy tīrthas of Saukaraka, then this life of great love arranged by Bhagavān Vishṇu himself, then this moment of knowing.

On Kārtika Śukla Ekādaśī, after six months at Saukaraka, they spoke to their eldest son and handed the Kaliṅga kingdom to him. They gave him full advice on ruling with dharma. They told him to protect his subjects, not to covet other men’s wives or wealth, to keep confidences, to honour his ministers, and to avoid the seven royal vices. They kept a fast of three nights. Then on Kārtika Dvādaśī they confirmed their past lives to each other before Bhagavān Varāha at the kshetra.

Reaching Śveta-dvīpa

Kaliṅgarāja, Manoramā and all their followers gave themselves to the pūjā of Bhagavān Vishṇu in the kshetra. These were the courtiers, the servants and everyone who had come with them on the pilgrimage to Saukaraka. In time they left this life there. By the grace of the kshetra and the ripening of their karma, all of them reached Śveta-dvīpa. They had the four-armed form of the attendants of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and they carried the śaṅkha (conch), cakra (discus), gadā (mace) and khaḍga (sword).

The women of the retinue also reached Śveta-dvīpa. They had every enjoyment, were honoured in the divine assembly, and shone with great bodily radiance.

What the account shows

The Varāha Mahā Purāṇa shows that even a wild fox and a vulture that eats dead flesh, dying by mistake at a holy kshetra, were raised through births to moksha. They asked for nothing and died by chance. Yet touching the holy ground of Saukaraka set them on the path to a human birth and then to moksha.
The karma of a past life stays in a subtle form. The arrow of the past life stayed in Manoramā’s head across births, and the link between the two from the past brought them together in marriage.
Their marriage was arranged by Bhagavān Vishṇu. Seventy-seven years of love wore away what was left of their animal lives and made them ready for moksha.
They came back to Saukaraka, where they had died as animals, and died there as devotees of Bhagavān Vishṇu. This completed the circle of their karma.
Their whole company, including the household servants who went with them on the pilgrimage to Saukaraka, also reached Śveta-dvīpa by the grace of the kshetra.

Sources

Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 137