Kauṇḍinya, Husband of Śīlā

Kauṇḍinya

Kauṇḍinya Muni is the husband of Śīlā in the account of the Ananta Caturdaśī vrata, which Śrī Kṛshṇa tells King Yudhishṭhira. In anger he broke the Ananta doraka (cord) on his wife’s hand and lost everything. Longing for darśana, he kept the vrata in the forest and sought Bhagavān Ananta from tree to beast, until he appeared to him in grace. With Śīlā he was at last established in svarga as the nakshatra Punarvasu.

The marriage and the doraka

The brāhmaṇa Sumantu gave his daughter Śīlā in marriage to Kauṇḍinya Muni. Sumantu’s wife Karkaśā gave them only leftovers for the road and shut the door. Kauṇḍinya left slowly with Śīlā by bullock cart and reached the bank of a river at noon. There Śīlā kept the Ananta Caturdaśī vrata with the women she found there, and tied the doraka on her hand. Kauṇḍinya came there, and they went on home.

On reaching home the house filled with wealth, grain and cattle, and Śīlā shone with gems, pearls and gold like Sāvitrī herself.

Some time later Kauṇḍinya in anger broke the doraka on Śīlā’s hand. The text gives no reason for his anger. All their Lakshmī was lost. Thieves took the cattle, quarrels began, friends left, and poverty ruled the house, because Bhagavān Ananta had been dishonoured.

The search for Bhagavān Ananta

In sorrow Kauṇḍinya went into a dense forest. He kept the vrata of Bhagavān Ananta without food and in brahmacarya, did japa of his names, and went on to another empty forest, longing for darśana.

He saw a mango tree full of fruit and flowers and asked it, “Have you seen Bhagavān Ananta?” It did not know Ananta. He asked a grazing cow with her calf, and she did not know. He asked a bull sitting on the grass, and he had not seen him. He asked two lovely ponds, a donkey and an elephant, and all answered no. In utter despair he fell on the earth.

The darśana

In grace Bhagavān Ananta appeared to him as an old brāhmaṇa, and then gave him darśana of his divine four-armed Viśvarūpa. Full of joy, Kauṇḍinya prayed and asked forgiveness:

पापोऽहं पापकर्माहं पापात्मा पापसम्भवः ।
पाहि मां पुण्डरीकाक्ष सर्वपापहरो भव ।।
अद्य मे सफलं जन्म जीवितं च सुजीवितम्।

pāpo’haṃ pāpakarmāhaṃ pāpātmā pāpasambhavaḥ |
pāhi māṃ puṇḍarīkāksha sarvapāpaharo bhava ||
adya me saphalaṃ janma jīvitaṃ ca sujīvitam |

I am pāpa, my acts are pāpa, my self is pāpa, I am born of pāpa. Protect me, O lotus-eyed one, and be the remover of all pāpa. Today my birth has borne fruit, and my life is well lived.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 94

He asked who the beings he had met were, and Bhagavān Ananta told him:

  • The mango tree was a learned brāhmaṇa, proud of his learning, who gave no vidyā to disciples.
  • The cow was barren earth.
  • The bull was Dharma himself in form.
  • The two ponds were two brāhmaṇa sisters who quarrelled over dharma and adharma and gave no dāna. They still clash as waves.
  • The donkey was in a past birth a person of great anger.
  • The elephant was in a past birth a corrupter of dharma.

Bhagavān Ananta told him to go home and keep the vrata. He promised him the place of an excellent nakshatra, sons, grandsons, happiness in the world and at the end moksha, and withdrew.

Kauṇḍinya came home and kept the Ananta vrata with bhakti. With his wife Śīlā he gained the highest happiness, and at the end the two were established in svarga as the nakshatra Punarvasu.

Sources

  • Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 94