Śrīkuṇḍala

Śrīkuṇḍala was the elder son of the merchant Hemakuṇḍala of the city of Nishadha. He wasted his father’s wealth and became a thief. A tiger killed him. Before Yama he was sentenced to Raurava naraka (hell) because of his adharma and the lack of puṇya (merit) in his account. His younger brother Vikuṇḍala had been sent to svarga (heaven) by puṇya stored from past lives. Vikuṇḍala freely gave that puṇya to him, and Śrīkuṇḍala was freed from naraka. Then both brothers rose together to svarga.

His life and fate

Śrīkuṇḍala and his younger brother Vikuṇḍala did not keep to the high standard of dharma of their father Hemakuṇḍala. After their father died, they slowly wasted the wealth he had gathered, giving themselves up to the pleasures of the senses. They left all their religious duties and in the end became thieves.

A tiger killed Śrīkuṇḍala. When he stood before Yama, his account of karma (action and its result) showed only adharma and no puṇya to set against it. So he was sent to Raurava, one of the great narakas.

Freed by Vikuṇḍala’s gift of puṇya

The deva-dūtas (messengers of the devas) who came for Vikuṇḍala took him to svarga, while Śrīkuṇḍala was taken to naraka. The deva-dūtas told Vikuṇḍala why he had won svarga.

• He had bathed in the Kāverī in the month of Māgha, through his friendship with the brāhmaṇa Sumitra.
• Further back, in a past life, he had served four sanyāsins (renunciants): Nirmohana, Jitakāma, Dhyānakośa and Guṇādhika.

When Vikuṇḍala heard this, his first thought was of his brother suffering in Raurava. He asked whether the puṇya of that service to the sanyāsins could be given to Śrīkuṇḍala.

The deva-dūtas answered that puṇya-dāna, the free giving of stored puṇya to another person, was indeed possible when it is done with a true saṅkalpa (a solemn resolve). Vikuṇḍala made the saṅkalpa and gave the puṇya of his service to the sanyāsins to his elder brother. Śrīkuṇḍala was freed from Raurava naraka at once, and both brothers rose together to svarga.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Svarga Khaṇḍa, Chapters 30–31