Jābālā (wife of Maudgalya)
Jābālā
Jābālā was the wife of the ṛshi Maudgalya, son of Mudgala, and the mother of good sons. A pativratā who held her husband as her highest goal, she cooked whatever greens, roots and fruits he brought home, fed the guests, her husband and her sons, and ate last. After long years of hardship she asked her husband to put a question to Bhagavān Vishṇu, and through that question her family gained every blessing and, in the end, moksha. She is not Jabālā, the mother of Satyakāma.
Her household
Brahmā tells Nārada the glory of Vishṇutīrtha on the Gautamī. Maudgalya bathed in the Gaṅgā every morning and, on its bank, invoked Bhagavān Vishṇu in his heart with kuśa grass, clay and śamī flowers, as his guru had taught him. Bhagavān Vishṇu, the consort of Lakshmī, came to him on Garuḍa, holding the conch, the cakra and the gadā, and told him wonderful kathās (sacred accounts) every day. Maudgalya brought home what he had earned and gave it to his wife, and every night, when all had eaten, he told the family the kathās he had heard.
Jābālā cooked well whatever he brought and served the guests, her husband and her sons before she ate. She too kept the sacred rites with self-control.
Her question
A long time passed in hardship. Then Jābālā spoke to her husband in private: “O wise one, when Bhagavān Vishṇu comes to you, ask him, the ruler of the universe: if Vishṇu, honoured by the devas, comes to us, why should misery befall us? The moment he is remembered, old age, birth, death and sickness vanish. What then when he is seen!”
Maudgalya agreed, and with joined palms he asked Bhagavān Vishṇu. Bhagavān Vishṇu taught him that every being reaps the fruit of its own karma, that worldly enjoyment comes through dāna, and that what is given while remembering him returns as an imperishable blessing. Maudgalya had nothing to give but himself, so at Bhagavān Vishṇu’s word Garuḍa brought an ear of corn, and Maudgalya offered its grains to Bhagavān Vishṇu. Bhagavān Vishṇu then told Viśvakarmā that every wish would be fulfilled in the family of this ṛshi to the seventh generation, with cows, gold, grain, clothes and ornaments.
By the power of Vishṇu and of the Gaṅgā, Maudgalya’s āśrama was filled with riches. With his wife, his sons, grandsons and kinsmen, Maudgalya enjoyed the world and attained moksha together with his pitṛs. The tīrtha is known as Maudgalyatīrtha and Vaishṇavatīrtha, besides Vishṇutīrtha.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 66
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 66