Kamalā

Kamalā

Kamalā is a name used for more than one being in the Purāṇas and Itihāsas. Each is listed below with where it is told; choose the one you are looking for.

Devatās

  • Lakshmī: the eternal consort of Bhagavān Vishṇu and the devī of wealth, beauty and all that is auspicious, called Kamalā at the right of Bhagavān Vāsudeva and in a corner of the pīṭha. Bhavishya Purāṇa, Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 2, Chapters 19–21; Bhāga 3, Chapter 1

People

The flower

  • kamala, the lotus: Bhagavān Sūrya says that one who offers him with bhakti karavīra, red sandal, the lotus and guggulu has given him the gift of life (Brahma Parva, Chapter 47). Worship with the lotus gives svarga and unbroken aiśvarya (Brahma Parva, Chapter 93), and lotuses are given to him in a pāraṇa (Brahma Parva, Chapter 97). One thousand āhutis of lotus flowers calm the utpātas born of Sūrya, but a lotus that springs up inside the house is a fault born of Ketu (Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 3, Chapter 20). Lotus seeds are gathered and sown in fit seasons and lands (Brahma Parva, Chapter 12). In the Uttara Parva it is the flower of a month in a vrata (Chapter 25), an approved flower of a vrata with the pūjā of Bhagavān Vishṇu (Chapter 84), the flower gathered in the account of King Pushpavāhana (Chapter 85), a prāśana of the Śiva Caturdaśī vrata (Chapters 96–97), an offering to King Bali (Chapter 140) and a flower for Bhagavān Vishṇu in the form of Candra (Chapter 206). The lakshaṇa lists use it as a likeness and a mark: on the hand of a queen (Brahma Parva, Chapter 5), in the fragrance and blood of a man (Brahma Parva, Chapter 25), and for the jaws and cheeks (Brahma Parva, Chapter 26). Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 5, 12, 25–26, 47, 93, 97; Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 3, Chapter 20; Uttara Parva, Chapters 25, 84–85, 96–97, 140, 206

Named in passing

  • Kamalā, a name of the Devī: a name at the pūjā and dāna of the Saubhāgyaśayana and the Tṛtīyā vratas, told on Pārvatī. Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 25–26