ALAMBUṢĀ . A celestial woman born to Kaśyapa by
his wife Pradhā.
1)
Genealogy. Begins from Viṣṇu in the following
order: Brahmā-Kaśyapa-Alambuṣā.
2)
How she enticed the hermit Dadhīca. In days of yore
there was an ascetic named Dadhīca. He began doing
tapas on the bank of the river Sarasvatī. Indra was in
consternation. Indra sent this celestial maid Alambuṣā
to entice the hermit. When the ascetic got down to the
river, Alambuṣā approached him with enticing actions
and expressions. When the hermit saw her he became
passionate and he had seminal flow. The sperm fell
into the river. The river became pregnant and delivered
a child in due course. He was called Sārasvata.
Alambuṣā brought the child before Dadhīca, who blessed
the child and said that there would be a drought in the
country continuously for twelve years and that at that
juncture Sārasvata would recite passages from the
Scripture to the Brahmins who had forgotten them. The
much pleased Sarasvatī and Sārasvata went back.
At that time Indra lost his Vajrāyudha (weapon of
thunderbolt) somewhere. The Asuras (enemies of
Gods) made an onslaught on the gods and their realm.
Indra knew that with a weapon made by the bone of
Dadhīca the Asuras could be destroyed. Indra asked the
Gods to bring the bone. They came down to the earth
and requested Dadhīca to give them a bone. Dadhīca
giving his bone died and attained heaven. With his
bones Indra made a good deal of weapons such as the
Vajrāyudha, wheel weapons, maces and sticks and with
them Indra slew all the Daityas (Asuras).
After this there was a great famine in the country. As
there was no rain, crops failed and lands became dry and
the Brahmins left the country. Sārasvata alone remained
with his mother. After twelve years the famine and
starvation came to an end. By then the Brahmins had
forgotten the hymns and mantras of the Vedas. They
approached the boy Sārasvata and renewed their me-
mory. (Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, Chapter 51).
3)
Punarjanma (Rebirth). Long ago Indra went to
Brahmā. There was one Vasu called Vidhūma also with
Indra. When these two were standing near Brahmā,
Alambuṣā also came there to pay homage to Brahmā.
The garments she had on were displaced by wind.
Vidhūma saw the dazzling beauty of her body and was
overpowered by libido. Alambuṣā who understood
this, was filled with passion for him. Brahmā who saw
the changes in them looked at Indra with displeasure.
Indra knowing the mind of Brahmā cursed them: “Both
of you who have lost meekness shall become human be-
ings and then your desire will be fulfilled”. Owing to
the curse Vidhūma was born as Sahasrānīka, the illus-
trious King of Candra vaṃśa (Lunar dynasty) and
Alambuṣā took birth as Mṛgāvatī, the daughter of King
Kṛtavarmā and his wife Kalāvatī. (Kathāsaritsāgara,
Kathāmukhalambaka, Taraṅga 1).
4)
The curse of Tilottamā. Sahasrānīka the incarnation
of Vidhūma and Mṛgāvatī the incarnation of Alambuṣā
fell in love with each other on the earth also. Before
the wedding took place Devendra once invited Sahasrā-
nīka to heaven. He lived there for a time as the guest
of the Gods. After having defeated the Asuras it was
time for him to return. Indra sent Tilottamā to keep
company. The charioteer was driving. Sahasrānīka
immersed in the thought of Mṛgāvatī was sitting silent.
Tilottamā said something which the King did not hear.
Tilottamā cursed him that he would be separated for
fourteen years from the object about which he was
thinking. He was not even aware of the curse.
5)
The period of separation. The King returned to
Kauśāmbi his capital city. Without much delay the
wedding ceremony also was conducted. She became
pregnant. One day she told her lover-husband that she
had a desire to dip in a blood pond. The King made a
pond and filled it with a solution of Lākṣā (wax, when
dissolved in water, the water will look like blood) and
such other substances. Mṛgāvatī was dipping and splash-
ing in it when an eagle taking her to be a piece of flesh
took her away. At the loss of his wife Sahasrānīka lost
his senses and fell down unconscious. Immediately
Mātali, Indra's charioteer, came down from the realm of
Gods and brought the King back to consciousness, and
then informing him of the curse of Tilottamā he returned.
Without paying any heed to the consolatory words of
his ministers or other inmates of the palace the King
went on lamenting and moaning, “ha, my love Mṛgā-
vatī! Where are you now?” and waited for the end of
the period of the curse, execrating Tilottamā. Casting
Mṛgāvatī on the Mountain of the Rising Sun the great
bird flew away. The horror-stricken queen, thinking of
her present condition cried aloud. A very large mountain
snake began to draw near to swallow her. A divine
person saved her from that situation and vanished. The
unprotected Mṛgāvatī decided to commit suicide. It
was a forest which abounded in lions, tigers, bears and
such other ferocious animals. But none of them came
near her; over and above the exertion of carrying, she
had to bear the difficulties of her forlorn condition, and
she grew weary and worn and became unconscious.
Then a hermit boy came there and questioned her who
was now lean and ill-dressed, about her condition and
consoling her guided her to the hermitage of the great
hermit Jamadagni. When she saw the hermit who was
as radiant as the Sun, she bowed low before him. “My
daughter! Don't fear. You will get a heroic son here who
will continue your family. You will be reunited to your
husband.” Said the great and noble hermit, who could
foresee the future. Somewhat pacified Mṛgāvatī lived
in that hermitage waiting for reunion with her husband.
After some days she gave birth to a son who had all the
symptoms of greatness. At the birth of the child Mṛgā-
vatī heard an unknown voice saying, “This boy would
become the great and renowned King Udayana. His son
would get the leadership of the Vidyādharas (the musi-
cians of the Gods)”. At this the queen was immensely
pleased. The boy Udayana grew up in the hermitage,
an incarnation of all good qualities. The hermit to whom
the past, the present and the future were not obscure,
performed the necessary rites and rituals becoming a
Kṣatriya boy (Ruling caste) and taught him everything
including the Dhanurveda (the Science of Archery).
As a token of her intense love for the son, she put a bangle
with the name of Sahasrānīka inscribed on the arm of
Udayana. One day when Udayana was tramping the
forest, he saw a snake-charmer catching a snake. Seeing
the beauty of the snake he asked the snake-charmer to let
the snake free. But the snake-charmer replied, “Oh
Prince, this is my daily bread. I earn my livelihood by
exhibiting snakes. My previous snake was dead and it
was with the help of a good deal of herbs and spells and
incantations that I caught this one”.
When he heard this Udayana felt pity for him and gave
the bangle to the snake-charmer and let the snake free.
When the snake-charmer had gone with the bangle,
the snake beaming with joy said to Udayana: “I am
Vasunemi, the elder brother of Vāsuki. I am grateful to
you for giving me freedom. I give you this lute producing
exquisite notes of music, betels and some tricks to pre-
pare never fading garlands and paste to make marks on
the forehead. Receive them as my presents”. Udayana
accepted the presents with gladness and returned more
luminous than before to the hermitage of Jamadagni.
The snake-charmer took the bangle, given by Udayana
to the bazar for sale. The police caught him and took
him before the King, because they saw the name of the
King inscribed on the bangle. The King asked him how
he got the bangle and the snake-charmer told the King
the story from the catching of the snake till he got the
bangle. “This is the bangle that I put on the arm of my
wife. The boy who gave this bangle to this snake-charmer
must be my son.” The King was thinking with sadness,
when the King heard a voice from above say, “O King!
the period of the curse is over. Your wife and son are
in the Mountain of the Rising Sun”. At these words the
King felt extreme joy. Somehow or other he spent the
rest of the day. Early the next morning the King follow-
ed by his army, went to the Mountain of the Rising Sun
to bring back his wife and son. They took the snake-
charmer to show them the way.
In due course the King and his train reached the holy
hermitage of the eminent hermit Jamadagni. The place
was always vibrant with sounds of the repeating and reci-
tation of the Holy scriptures and covered with smoke
mingled with the fragrance of burning herbs and other
oblations burned in the sacrificial fire. The various wild
animals which are born enemies of each other got on
amicably there. The hermit who was an incarnation of
the higher aspirations greeted the King who was the
protector of the ascetics, with the hospitality becoming
his status. The King who saw Mṛgāvatī with their son
was overcome with gladness. Their reunion caused a
shower of Ambrosia (Amṛta). The King stood before
the hermit with folded arms and bowed head for per-
mission to depart. To the King the hermit Jamadagni
said: “Oh, King, you are welcome to this hermitage.
To those such as you who are of the ‘Rajoguṇapradhāna’
caste (Ruling race) the peaceful atmosphere of our
hermitage may not be appealing to the heart. But a holy
hermitage is more respectable than the palace of an
Emperor. There is no place for unhappiness here. You
might have known that the reason for your separation
is a curse. When you were returning from heaven with
Tilottamā, you were so much engrossed in the thought of
Mṛgāvatī that you did not pay any heed to the conver-
sation of Tilottamā. She was displeased with your be-
haviour and cursed you. In future, if ever you happen to
get into a position which will cause you mental trouble
you can be assured of the presence of this Jamadagni.”
The King said, “I am extremely grateful to your Emi-
nence for this great boon. I am fully aware of the fact
that the presence of the holy hermits who have under
their control the eightfold prosperities, is always a
harbinger of peace and prosperity. I am very sorry to
say that the exigency of my presence at the capital due to
the pressure of work in connection with the ruling of the
country compels me to cut short my visit to this holy
hermitage. I shall be looking forward with pleasure to
occasions which will enable me to pay visits to this Holy
abode.”
Much pleased at the speech of the King the hermit said
to Mṛgāvatī: “My daughter! Not only myself, but all
the inmates of this hermitage are highly pleased at
having got you in our midst for so long. We are sorry to
part from you. Now look! the animals of the hermitage
are standing round you and shedding tears. Still we are
consoled at your reunion with your husband. Naturally
you are of a very good character and your life in this
hermitage has given you a nice training and so there is no
need for any more advice from me at this time.”
Saying this he drew Udayana to his side, kissed him on
his head and said to the King again: “This son is a deco-
ration to your dynasty. This handsome boy has been
taught everything becoming a royal prince. Let him be a
costly gem to you”.
Thus blessing the boy the hermit led him to the King.
The joy at her reunion with husband, her shyness at
being near him, her sorrow at having to depart from the
hermitage and the surging feeling in her mind—all
these made her dumb and so being unable to say any-
thing she expressed her love and regard for the hermit
whom she loved as her father, by some motions of her
body and took leave of him with her son. The blessed
King and his train, looking at the men, beasts and birds
which accompanied them for a while, took leave of them
and proceeded to the capital city. On reaching there
the King anointed his son Udayana as King. Sahasrā-
nika then went to the Himālayas to practise ascesis with
his wife. (Kathāsaritsāgara, Kathāmukhalambaka,
Taraṅga 2).
(b)
Enticing Tṛnabindu. A story is seen in the Bhāga-
vata of how Alambuṣā enticed the King Tṛṇabindu. He
married Alambuṣā and a daughter named Iḍaviḍā
(Ilabilā) was born to them. This Ilabilā was married
to Viśravas, to whom a son named Kubera (the Lord of
wealth) was born By Alambuṣā Tṛṇabindu had three
sons called Viśāla, Śūnyabandhu and Dhūmraketu.
“Tam bhejelambuṣā devī
Bhajanīyaguṇālayaṃ
Varāpsarāyāste, putrāḥ
Kanyā ceḍabiḍābhavat
Tasyāmutpādayāmāsa
Viśravā dhanadaṃ sutaṃ
Prādāya vidyām paramā-
Mṛṣiryogeśvarāt pituḥ
Viśālaḥ śūnyabandhuśca
Dhūmraketuścatatsutāḥ
Viśālo vaṃśakṛdrājā
Vaiśālīṃ nirmame purīm”.
“He who is the seat of all laudable qualities (Tṛṇabindu)
was honoured by Alambuṣā (as husband). Iḍaviḍā
their daughter was given in marriage to Visravas and
to them was born Dhanada (Kubera). His father
who was a great hermit taught him everything required.
Three sons Viśāla, Śunyabandhu and Dhūmraketu,
were born to them. Viśāla who was the founder of the
Dynasty, built a city called Vaiśāli.” (Bhāgavatam,
Navama Skandham, Chapter 2, Stanzas 31-33).
Alambuṣā took part in the birthday celebration of
Arjuna.
[Footnote] *) Alambuṣā was the mother of the Celestial maid Kalāvatī. See the word Ṭhinṭhā Karāla.
(Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapter 65, Stanza 49) (See
Footnote)