Ekaparṇā

Ekaparṇā · eka-parṇā, “she of one leaf”

Vaṭa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Vaṭa. Devala has other meanings too: see all meanings of Devala.

Ekaparṇā was one of the three daughters of Himavat, king of the mountains, and Menā Devī, and a sister of Umā. She took her name from her tapas (austerity): for a thousand years she ate only one banyan leaf. She became the wife of the son of Bhṛgu and bore a son, Devala. With her sisters she is one of the three tapo-mūrtis, forms of tapas, ever young, who bless the worlds.

Her birth

Brahmā tells the munis how Kaśyapa Maharshi counselled Himavat to beget virtuous children. Himavat performed incomparable tapas, and Brahmā appeared and granted him a vara: a daughter would be born to him, by whom he would gain shining fame; she would be his eldest, and two more daughters would follow. In Menā Devī, Himavat had the daughters Aparṇā, Ekapāṭalā and Ekaparṇā.

The tapas of the three sisters

Each sister did tapas for a thousand years, and each took her name from it. Aparṇā ate not even a leaf. Ekaparṇā ate one leaf of the banyan tree. Ekapāṭalā ate one leaf of the pāṭala tree and did not stand in the shade. When Menā, out of a mother’s love, cried “U mā”, “Oh, do not”, the eldest went on with her fierce tapas and became renowned as Umā.

This world of moving and unmoving beings is called trikumārīka, filled with these three daughters, who are śaktis. As long as the earth holds the account of their tapas, these three forms of tapas remain in the stage of yoga, ever young, loka-mātṛkās (mothers of the worlds) and brahmacāriṇīs, and by their tapas they always bless the worlds.

Her marriage and son

The eldest, Umā, by great yoga-power attained Maheśvara. Ekaparṇā became the wife of the son of Bhṛgu, and she bore a son, Devala. The third, Ekapāṭalā, married Jaigīshavya, the son of Alarka, and had two sons, Śaṅkha and Likhita.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 34

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 34