Dharmadatta

Dharmadatta was a brāhmaṇa of the city of Karavīra in the Sahyādri (the Western Ghats). He was known for keeping the Kārtika vrata (vow) faithfully all his life. Each year he did the full observance of the month of Kārtika. During one Kārtika night-vigil at the meeting of the Kṛshṇā and Veṇī rivers, he met the rākshasī Kalahā in a pitiable state. Moved by compassion, he gave her half of his Kārtika puṇya (merit) and sprinkled her with Tulasī water. Kalahā was freed at once and taken to Vaikuṇṭha. Attendants of Bhagavān Vishṇu then told Dharmadatta that he would be reborn as King Daśaratha of the Solar dynasty, the father of Bhagavān Rāma.

Where he lived

Dharmadatta lived in Karavīra, a city identified with the region of present-day Kolhāpur in Maharashtra, in the Sahyādri. The Kṛshṇā–Veṇī confluence, one of the most sacred river meetings of the Deccan, lay near. It shaped his devotion. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, chapter 106)

The Kārtika observance

Each year in the month of Kārtika, the lunar month that falls in October and November, Dharmadatta did the following.

• He bathed at dawn in sacred waters.
• He worshipped Bhagavān Vishṇu.
• He lit lamps beside the Tulasī plant.
• He kept night-vigils (jāgaraṇa) at sacred confluences.

He kept this up all his life. It built a great store of Kārtika puṇya. Kārtika is the month in which Bhagavān Vishṇu dwells in the waters. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, chapter 106)

The meeting with Kalahā

During one Kārtika vigil at the Kṛshṇā–Veṇī confluence, Dharmadatta met the rākshasī Kalahā. She was a ghost who had fallen through a series of low births (cockroach, pig, cat and ghost). The cause was her quarrelsome nature and her suicide in an earlier human life. She asked for relief. Moved by her state, Dharmadatta gave her half of all his Kārtika puṇya, and he sprinkled her with Tulasī water. The result was instant. Her ghostly body fell away and she rose in a radiant form. Vishṇu’s attendants came in a divine vehicle and took her to Vaikuṇṭha. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, chapters 106–107)

The words about his rebirth as Daśaratha

After Kalahā was freed, Vishṇu’s attendants spoke to Dharmadatta about his own future. His lifelong store of Kārtika puṇya had been strong enough to free a being caught in low births. In his next life it would bear fruit. He would be born as King Daśaratha of the Solar dynasty, who would become the father of Bhagavān Rāma himself. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, chapter 107)

So the chain runs from his faithful Kārtika observance in Karavīra, to his birth as Daśaratha, to fatherhood of the supreme avatāra Bhagavān Rāma.

The Skanda Purāṇa account

The Skanda Mahā Purāṇa also places Dharmadatta in Karavīra, near the Sahya mountain. It calls him a lifelong devotee of Vishṇu who kept all the Vishṇu vratas with full devotion.

One night in Kārtika he set out before dawn for the Hari temple, for the Hari Jāgaraṇa, the night-vigil in honour of Bhagavān Vishṇu. He carried all his worship materials and holy water with Tulasī. On the way he met the terrible rākshasī Kalahā. In fear he threw the worship materials and the Tulasī water at her. This sprinkling, done while Vishṇu’s name was on his lips, freed her from the load of her gathered pāpa.

Then he listened to her account of her past life. Deep compassion rose in him, and he gave her half of all the puṇya of his lifetime of Kārtika vrata. He sprinkled her again with Tulasī water and recited the twelve-syllable mantra:

oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

It means: “Oṃ, salutations to Bhagavān Vāsudeva.”

Puṇyaśīla and Suśīla, the gatekeepers of Vaikuṇṭha, came down in a vehicle that flies through the air to receive Kalahā. They spoke to Dharmadatta directly: “You are omniscient and merciful to the distressed. Your merit has doubled by giving it away. All your accumulated pāpa of hundreds of births has perished.”

They then told him what lay ahead. At the end of this birth he would reach Vaikuṇṭha with both his wives and receive sārūpya (a form like Bhagavān Vishṇu’s). They also said: “You will be reborn as the king Daśaratha in the solar race. Your two wives will be born as your wives then also. And there, Vishṇu himself will come as your son for the Devas’ task.”

The vehicle rose, carrying Kalahā. Dharmadatta felt his faith grow stronger and went on keeping the Kārtika vrata regularly for the rest of his life. After death he reached Vaikuṇṭha, just as the gatekeepers had promised. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Kārtika Māsa Māhātmya, chapters 24–25)

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, chapters 106–107
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Kārtika Māsa Māhātmya, chapters 24–25