Dālbya Ṛshi
Dālbya
Dālbya was a ṛshi of great tapas (austerity) and deep knowledge. He is best known for teaching the Veśyā-vrata to the sixteen thousand wives of Kṛshṇa. After Kṛshṇa left the world, dacoits had carried these women away. Dālbya told them who they had been in earlier lives. They had been fire-born apsarās whom Nārada had cursed. He then taught them the vrata (vow) that would cleanse them. He promised that if they kept it faithfully, it would give them moksha (liberation) and in the end Vishṇuloka.
Character and stature
Dālbya is called a mahātapasvin, one of great tapas, and a ṛshi of excellent knowledge (suvidita). His kindness went especially to those who had fallen into a low state through their karma and not by their own choice. He did not turn away people whom society thought beyond the help of dharma. (Padma Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 23)
Teaching the wives of Kṛshṇa
The Mausala Parva ended, and Kṛshṇa went to svarga (heaven). His sixteen thousand wives were being escorted by Arjuna toward Kurukshetra. Dacoits overpowered them and carried them off by force. These women had been the queens of Dvārakā and the wives of Kṛshṇa himself. Now they were left in great want.
In this grief and low state they met Dālbya. They honoured him with whatever they could. With tears they told him of their plight and asked: “What dharma is there even for ones like us?” (Padma Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 23)
Their earlier lives
Dālbya answered them with deep kindness. He told them the whole story of their earlier lives. They had been fire-born apsarās living at Mānasarovara. In the pride of their beauty they had not given proper namaskāra (greeting with folded hands) to the brahmarshi Nārada. Nārada’s śāpa (a curse) had decided that they would be parted from Nārāyaṇa and live as veśyās. Dālbya explained that what had happened to them was the working out of karma, and not a lasting judgement on them.
He also told them how Indra had once taught a cleansing vrata in the same way to the wives of asuras and dānavas who had been taken captive in war. (Padma Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 23)
The Veśyā-vrata
Dālbya taught them the Veśyā-vrata. It is kept on a Sunday when the nakshatra is Hasta, Pushyamī or Punarvasu. The person bathes with all the healing herbs. Then she worships Bhagavān Vishṇu in his Manmatha-rūpa (the form called Manmatha) with gandha (perfume), mālya (garlands), dhūpa (incense), dīpa (lamps) and naivedya (food offering). She then honours a brāhmaṇa who keeps dharma, with devotion. She feeds him and gives him gold and paddy. At the end of thirteen months she gives a śayyā-dāna (the gift of a bed).
Kept with śraddhā (faith), this vrata destroys all the pāpa (sin) that has built up and leads in the end to Vishṇuloka. Dālbya said: “One who keeps this vrata with devotion will reach my sthāna (place).” This points to the high world that he himself would reach. (Padma Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 23)
Sources
- Padma Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 23