Padmāvatī, Queen of Mathurā
Padmāvatī was the beloved queen of Ugrasena, king of Mathurā. She was the daughter of King Satyaketu of Vidarbha. The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells her account in Chapters 47–51. It describes her as a second Lakṣmī in looks and virtue, a pativratā (a wife wholly devoted to her husband) of great quality. She was full of truth and dharma and had all the qualities of an ideal woman.
Her life was broken when she visited her parents’ home in Vidarbha. There the daitya Gobhila took the exact form of Ugrasena by māyā (illusion) and violated her. She was deceived by the perfect disguise and did not know it at first. When she learned the truth, she answered with grief and just anger. She faced Gobhila and was about to give him a śāpa (a curse) when he spoke first, with a speech on daitya-dharma. The child born from this was Kaṃsa.
Who she was
Padmāvatī is introduced as the daughter of Satyaketu, the powerful king of Vidarbha. She was padmākṣī (lotus-eyed), kamala-ānanā (lotus-faced) and satyadharma-parāyaṇā (devoted to truth and dharma). She was a second Lakṣmī in all womanly virtues, adorned by qualities of a steady character. Her beauty and virtue together set her apart among women.
She and Ugrasena loved each other deeply. The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa says that Ugrasena could not eat without her and could find no joy without her. He was wholly devoted to her. Padmāvatī gave the same love back as a pativratā. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells this in Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 48.
The deception in Vidarbha
Satyaketu asked that she come home for a visit, and Ugrasena gave his leave. Padmāvatī went to Vidarbha full of joy at meeting her family again. She moved freely in the forests and pleasure-gardens of her parents’ home. She swam, played with her companions, and enjoyed being back.
On one such outing, in a mountain forest by a beautiful lake, the daitya Gobhila was passing overhead in his vimāna (flying vehicle) while on service for Kubera. He saw her at play and was overcome. Through māyā Gobhila took Ugrasena’s exact form: his body, his walk, his voice, his clothes, everything. He came to Padmāvatī. She took him for her husband and believed that Ugrasena had come all the way to Vidarbha out of love for her. She welcomed him as was fitting. Only after the assault did she see that a mark she expected on her husband’s body was missing, and she faced the false husband. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells this in Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 49.
Her anger and Gobhila’s speech
When she learned of the deceit, Padmāvatī did not break down. She was angry and firm. She called Gobhila a pāpātmā (a sinful ātmā) and said that he had destroyed her dharma and her pātivratya by trickery. She threatened him with a śāpa. She said: “I will burn you now. My power of pātivratya is real. I will show it.”
Facing her śāpa, Gobhila spoke first. He named himself: Gobhila, a daitya and a servant of Kubera. He said he acted by daitya-dharma, which means taking the wealth and the women of others by force. He defended this by saying that Brahmā had made the daityas to bring to order those who break vidhi (the prescribed rules of conduct). He then spoke about the dharma of the agnihotrin (one who keeps the daily fire offering), the bhṛtya (servant), the pativratā and the satputra (good son), all of them supports of a righteous society.
The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa does not record whether Padmāvatī in the end gave the śāpa. It records that a child was later born from this union. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells this in Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 49–51.
The birth of Kaṃsa
Padmāvatī returned to Ugrasena after her stay in Vidarbha. The child born was Kaṃsa. He had the nature of a daitya, asura-tejas (the fierce power of an asura), and the qualities of Gobhila’s line and not of Ugrasena’s. Kaṃsa was not Ugrasena’s son by birth. He was the son of a daitya and carried the full weight of daitya-dharma and daitya-karma. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells this in Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 51.
Sources
- Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 47–51