Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c4.2339

c4.2339

4) Bhrgu cursed Mahāviṣṇu. Once a terrible war broke out between Devas and Asuras. In that war, not only were the Asuras defeated but many of them were also killed. Diti, the mother of the Asuras, with tears in her eyes, complained to Bhrgupati. Pulomā, Mother of Śukra, promised to find a remedy for this somehow. She at once went to the forest and started a tapas for the annihilation of the Devas. As the tapas gained force, the Devas were alarmed and they sought the protection of Mahāviṣṇu. Mahāviṣṇu used his Vajrāyudha (Vajra weapon) against Bhrgu's wife, Pulomā. Under the stroke of Vajra she fell down, a headless corpse. The enraged Maharṣi Bhrgu cursed Mahāviṣṇu to be born as a mortal in this world and to suffer the pangs of separation from his wife. When the curse was pronounced against Mahāviṣṇu, he directed his weapon Cakra against the Maharṣi. Bhrgu fled in panic and at last begged pardon and prayed for shelter to Mahāviṣṇu in the ocean of milk. Viṣṇu withdrew his Cakra. Bhrgu himself restored Pulomā to life. To fulfil the condition of Bhrgu's curse, Viṣṇu agreed to incarnate in the world as Śrī Rāma, the son of Daśaratha and to experience the pain of separation from his wife. (Uttara Rāmāyaṇa).