Kalahā
Kalahā was a preta (ghost) whom the brāhmaṇa Dharmadatta met at the Kṛshṇā-Veṇī confluence during his Kārtika vigil. In her last human life she had been a quarrelsome and abusive wife, Kalahā, of a brāhmaṇa named Bhikshu in Saurāshṭra. Her rude conduct and her suicide sent her through a series of lower births: cockroach, pig, cat, and then ghost. As a ghost she haunted the Kṛshṇā-Veṇī confluence, and she asked Dharmadatta for help. He gave her half of his Kārtika puṇya (merit) and sprinkled her with water of the Tulasī. She was freed and taken to Vaikuṇṭha. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 106–107, tells this.
Origin and name
The name Kalahā (कलहा, “quarrelsome one”) belonged to a woman of Saurāshṭra who was the wife of a brāhmaṇa named Bhikshu. She quarrelled all the time, was angry, and abused her husband. This broke pātivratya dharma (a wife’s duty of loyalty to her husband) and brought heavy results. Her name sums up the fault that ruled her life. This is told in the Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 106.
The fall through lower births
Her abusive conduct and her suicide began a long chain of lower births:
- Cockroach (kīṭa)
- Pig (sūkara)
- Cat (mārjāra)
- Ghost, or evil spirit (preta, piśāca)
Each birth was lower than the one before, as her puṇya from her human life was used up by her misconduct. As a ghost she could not take ordinary food. She lived on the subtle essence of the offerings made at the Kṛshṇā-Veṇī confluence. This is told in the Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 106.
Liberation
During the Kārtika vigil of Dharmadatta, Kalahā came before him in her sad ghost form. She told him her history and asked for mercy. Dharmadatta was moved by compassion. He gave her half of his gathered Kārtika puṇya and sprinkled her with water mixed with Tulasī. The Kārtika puṇya and the Tulasī water, both carriers of the presence of Bhagavān Vishṇu, at once dissolved her ghost body. She rose in a shining divine form. The attendants of Bhagavān Vishṇu came and took her to Vaikuṇṭha. This is told in the Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 106–107.
What her account teaches
The Purāṇa teaches that however low a being has fallen, the mercy of Bhagavān Vishṇu, working through holy practices such as Kārtika puṇya and Tulasī water, can reach and free that being. Her account is also an example of puṇya-dāna, the kind giving of gathered puṇya by a living devotee to a suffering being, as a great act of dharma.
Her account also warns against quarrelling and against a wife’s abuse of her husband. The chain of lower births she went through is traced directly to her constant quarrelling and her breaking of pātivratya.
Sources
- Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 106–107