Guṇavatī

Guṇavatī was a brāhmaṇa woman of the city of Māyāpurī, who lived at the end of the Kṛta age. She was the only daughter of the brāhmaṇa Devaśarman, who was of the Atri gotra (family line) and a pūjā-devotee of the Sun. She was the wife of Candraśarman, her father’s own disciple. A rākṣasa killed her father and her husband in the Himālaya forest, and she was left alone. She sold the household things to pay for their funeral rites and lived on alone in the city, calm, pure and devoted to Bhagavān Viṣṇu. From her birth to the day of her death she kept two vows, the Ekādaśī vow and the Kārtika vow. In old age she was taken to Vaikuṇṭha by the attendants of Bhagavān Viṣṇu. Through the puṇya of the Kārtika vow, she was reborn as Satyabhāmā, the most beloved of the sixteen thousand wives of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa.

Three texts tell her story. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa and the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa give nearly the same account. The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa adds a meeting with Bhagavān Rāma.

Family and identity

Guṇavatī was born in the house of Devaśarman, a brāhmaṇa of the Atri gotra in Māyāpurī, at the end of the Kṛta age. Her father was kind to guests and kept the sacred fire. He was a devoted worshipper of the Sun. The text says he “was actually like another Sun” in his daily offering to the Sun. He had no son, so he gave his daughter in marriage to his own disciple, Candraśarman. He treated the young man as a son, and Candraśarman in turn saw Devaśarman as his father.

The loss

Devaśarman and Candraśarman once went together into the forest at the foot of the Himālaya to gather kuśa grass and sacred fuel. They met a rākṣasa of Death-like form. They were afraid and could not flee, and both were killed. The attendants of Bhagavān Viṣṇu were present in that holy Himālayan region. They took both men to Vaikuṇṭha, because of the power of the holy place and their own religious lives, their lifelong pūjā to the Sun. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa explains: “As the rain water goes to the ocean, the followers of Śiva, the Sun, Gaṇeśa, Viṣṇu, and the worshippers of Śakti all come to me only.”

Grief and resolve

The news reached Guṇavatī that her father and her husband had both been killed. She was overcome with grief. She cried out in pain, fell to the ground and was lost in sorrow. After a long time she came to herself. She sold all the household things and did all the rites after death that would help the two in the next world.

She then lived on in that city, alone, with no protector or provider. She was calm, truthful and pure, with her senses held in check, and deeply devoted to Bhagavān Viṣṇu. She kept herself alive by her own means.

The two vows

From birth until the day she died, Guṇavatī kept two vows in the proper way.

1. The Ekādaśī vow: fasting on the eleventh tithi (lunar day) of each fortnight.
2. The Kārtika vow: keeping the special rules of the month of Kārtika, when the Sun is in Libra. These are bathing at dawn each day, offering the svastika to Bhagavān Viṣṇu, offering lamps, sweeping the house, doing pūjā to Bhagavān Viṣṇu, keeping vigil and going to the Tulasī grove.

Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says of these two: “This couple of vows is very dear to me. It properly brings about pleasures and mokṣa (liberation), and sons and wealth.” Each year Guṇavatī spent in the service of the followers of Bhagavān Viṣṇu, with her mind fixed on him.

The ascent

In old age, thin and burning with fever, Guṇavatī slowly made her way to the Gaṅgā to bathe. As she entered the water, shivering with cold, she saw a vimāna (an aerial car) come down from the sky. It was attended by beings who had the form of Bhagavān Viṣṇu, carrying conches, discs and maces and marked with eagle banners. She entered the vimāna, and celestial nymphs fanned her. The attendants of Bhagavān Viṣṇu took her to Vaikuṇṭha. Like the flame of a blazing fire, she came near to Bhagavān Viṣṇu through the puṇya of the Kārtika vow.

Rebirth as Satyabhāmā

Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa told Satyabhāmā that she is Guṇavatī born again.

• Guṇavatī was reborn as Satyabhāmā, the daughter of Satrājit.
• Candraśarman, her husband, was reborn as Akrūra.
• Devaśarman, her father, was reborn as Satrājit, her father in this birth.

Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa also named the results of Guṇavatī’s acts.

• The Pārijāta tree stands in Satyabhāmā’s courtyard because Guṇavatī once made a Tulasī grove at the door of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa.
• Lakṣmī is steady in her house because she made lights in Kārtika.
• She became the wife of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa because she offered all her vows to Bhagavān Viṣṇu in the form of her husband.
• She will never be parted from Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. He says, “Due to that vow only which you formerly observed in Kārtika, from birth till death, you will never be separated from me.”

The Skanda Purāṇa account

The Skanda Mahā Purāṇa tells the story in Chapter 13 of the Kārtika Māsa Māhātmya, in the Vaiṣṇava Khaṇḍa. Śrī Kṛṣṇa tells it to Satyabhāmā when she asks about her own earlier birth. The account is nearly the same as that of the Padma Purāṇa.

In the Skanda account, Nārada visits, and Satyabhāmā is full of joy. She asks Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa about her earlier birth and why she became his beloved. Śrī Kṛṣṇa answers that in Māyāpurī, at the end of the Kṛta age, there was an excellent brāhmaṇa named Devaśarman, of the Atri gotra and a master of the Vedas. His daughter was Guṇavatī. He had no son, so he gave her in marriage to his own disciple Chandra. Once both went to the forest for kuśa grass and fuel and were killed by a rākṣasa of Death-like form. Both went to the world of Bhagavān Viṣṇu through their own puṇya. When Guṇavatī heard of their deaths, she cried out in deep grief. She sold all the household vessels, did their funeral rites as well as she could, and lived on in the city like one already dead.

All through her life until her death she kept two vratas (vows), the Ekādaśī vow and the Kārtika vow. When she was sick with fever in old age, she slowly made her way to the Gaṅgā. As she entered the water, shivering with cold, an aerial car came down from the sky. She entered it and was taken to Vaikuṇṭha. She came into the presence of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa through the puṇya of the Kārtika vow.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa says to Satyabhāmā, “You are that Guṇavatī. Your father Devaśarman is now Satrājit. Chandra is now Akrūra.” Because she made a Tulasī grove at the doorway of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, the Pārijāta tree stands in her courtyard. Because she gave lamp offerings in Kārtika, Lakṣmī is steady in her house. Because she offered all her vratas to Bhagavān Viṣṇu in the form of her husband, she became the wife of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, and she will never be parted from him.

After this, Satyabhāmā asks why Kārtika is the most sacred of months. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa then tells the account of the asura Śaṅkha and the origin of Prabodhinī Ekādaśī.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa account: meeting Bhagavān Rāma

The Vilāsa Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa has a version of the story that adds an episode not found in the Padma or Skanda Purāṇas. Here Guṇavatī is the daughter of Devāśarmā, of the Ātreya gotra. She heard from a reader of the Purāṇa that a bath in the month of Caitra at Rāma-tīrtha in Ayodhyā is the highest means to kaivalya (final freedom). She travelled to Ayodhyā.

She came to the sandy bank of the Sarayū, where Bhagavān Rāma and Sītā were resting in a hut of cloth and leaves. Bhagavān Rāma sat on a jewelled couch, playing dice with Sītā. Lakṣmaṇa, Bharata, Śatrughna and their wives were there, and beautiful attendants waved chowries. Guṇavatī entered with respect, holding a pūjā vessel, and bowed. Bhagavān Rāma was pleased with her pure devotion and asked, “Tell me your wish.” She replied, “Rāma, you have thousands of servant women here. I ask only to be counted as one of them. Accept me as your servant.”

Bhagavān Rāma smiled and said, “O woman of pure vows, you are a brāhmaṇī. Listen to what I tell you. In the Dvāpara Yuga, in Dvārakā, I will be born again as Kṛṣṇa. Your father Devāśarmā will then be born as Satrājit. Candru, your husband, will be born as Akrūra, one of my dearest friends. And you will be born as Satyabhāmā, my beloved wife. You will serve me then in all the ways you wish.” She bowed again and again and went to Haridvāra. She spent the rest of her life there in devotion. In a fever she entered the Gaṅgā and rose to be reborn as Satyabhāmā.

In this version the vara is a direct promise made face to face by Bhagavān Rāma. It names Devāśarmā and Candru as the future Satrājit and Akrūra. The high point of Guṇavatī’s life is set at Ayodhyā.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 88–89
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaiṣṇava Khaṇḍa, Kārtika Māsa Māhātmya, Chapter 13
• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vilāsa Kāṇḍa, Chapter 7