Medhāvin

Medhāvin, “the wise one”

Medhāvin was a brahmarshi (a ṛshi who knows Brahman) of great tapas (austerity). A long stay with the apsarā (celestial dancer) Mañjughoshā wore away his tapas. When he found out how much time had passed, he put a śāpa (a curse) on her. Later he taught her the Pāpamochanī Ekādaśī, and through it she was freed from the śāpa.

Their account is the origin narrative (māhātmya) of the Pāpamochanī Ekādaśī in the Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Purāṇa (Chapter 46).

The ṛshi and his tapas

Medhāvin was a brahmarshi who performed hard tapas in the forests. Through years of austerity he had gathered great store of tapas-puṇya (merit). This was the base of his spiritual power.

The meeting with Mañjughoshā

The apsarā Mañjughoshā was a celestial being of great beauty and musical gifts. Her name means “sweet voice” (mañju, sweet or beautiful, and ghoshā, sound or voice). She came to Medhāvin, and a long closeness began between them.

Held by the charm of her company, Medhāvin felt that only a day or two had passed. In truth, fifty-seven years and some more time went by. In all those years his tapas was completely stopped and the puṇya he had gathered was used up little by little.

The śāpa

When Medhāvin at last saw how much time had gone and how thoroughly his tapas had worn away, anger seized him. He cursed Mañjughoshā: for seven years she would be a piśācī, a goblin. The śāpa, spoken in anger and grief, fell on her. Mañjughoshā left, held fast by it.

Even in his anger, Medhāvin felt the weight of what he had done.

The teaching of the Pāpamochanī Ekādaśī

The Uttara Khaṇḍa says that Medhāvin knew how heavy the śāpa he had spoken was. He wanted to give Mañjughoshā a way out of the goblin state, so he taught her the Pāpamochanī Ekādaśī. This is the Ekādaśī of the kṛshṇapaksha (dark fortnight) of Caitra, and its name means “the one that removes pāpa (sin)”.

Mañjughoshā kept this Ekādaśī with fasting, devotion and a night vigil. By this she freed herself from the śāpa and regained her celestial form and standing.

Sources

• Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 46