Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c5.1397

c5.1397

2) Birth of Ekavīra. Once there was a King called Revanta who was an intimate friend of Indra. One day riding on Uccaiḥśravas, Indra’s horse, he went to Vaikuṇṭha. Fascinated by the arresting beauty of Revanta, Mahālakṣmī sat gaping for a while and did not hear what Viṣṇu talked to her. Viṣṇu was offended and lost his temper. Lakṣmī was looking with interest alternatively at Revanta and the horse when Viṣṇu cursed her to be born as a mare on earth. Horrified, shedding tears, Lakṣmī begged for relief. Viṣṇu decreed that she would return to Vaikuṇṭha after giving birth to a son who would be equal in glory to Viṣṇu himself. Mahālakṣmī came to Earth taking the shape of a mare and lived in a forest situated at a point where the rivers Kālindī and Tamasā meet and where once Sūryapatnī stayed and did penance. Meditating on Śiva she lived there for a thousand divine years and then one day Śiva and Pārvatī appeared before her and asked her what she wanted. She then said “Oh, Bhagavan, Mahāviṣṇu cursed me and made me into a mare. He has decreed that I would go back after bringing forth a son as glorious as Viṣṇu. From whom am I to bear a son like this?” Śiva promised to find a solution and going to Vaikuṇṭha sent Viṣṇu to earth in the form of a horse. Viṣṇu came to Lakṣmī and they lived together for some time and soon a son was born to Lakṣmī. Leaving the child in the forest both of them went back to Vaikuṇṭha. It is this child who later one became the famous King, Ekavīra. It was because he was born of a horse that he got the names, Hehaya and Haihaya. (Skandha 6, Devī Bhāgavata).