Ekapāṭalā
Ekapāṭalā · eka-pāṭalā, “she of one pāṭala leaf”
Śaṅkha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śaṅkha. Alarka has other meanings too: see all meanings of Alarka.
Ekapāṭalā 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 leaf of the pāṭala tree and never stood in the shade. She married Jaigīshavya, the son of Alarka, and had two sons not born from a womb, Śaṅkha and Likhita. 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 banyan leaf. 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 sons
The eldest, Umā, by great yoga-power attained Maheśvara. Ekaparṇā became the wife of the son of Bhṛgu and bore Devala. The third of the three, Ekapāṭalā, married Jaigīshavya, the son of Alarka, and had two ayonija sons, not born from a womb: Śaṅkha and Likhita.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 34
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 34