Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.324

c8.324

1) Curse of Mālyavān. Once Śiva was telling Pārvatī a story of the Gandharvas and Puṣpadanta heard it as he sat hiding in a place nearby. Pārvatī got angry and was about to curse when Mālyavān intervened and recommended for mercy. Pārvatī got angrier and cursed them both to be born on earth as men. They begged for relief and Pārvatī said : “In the deep depths of the forest of Vindhya mountains there lives a Yakṣa named Supratika who has been turned into a devil called Kāṇabhūti by a curse. Puṣpadanta should narrate the story he has now heard to Kāṇabhūti and he will then be released from the curse. Kāṇabhūti would narrate to Mālyavān what he has heard from Puṣpadanta and Kāṇabhūti would then be released from his curse. Mālyavān should then make public the story he has heard and then he will also be released from the curse”. Puṣpadanta was born as Vararuci in the city of Kauśāmbi and Mālyavān as Guṇādhya in the city of Supratiṣṭhita. (See under Guṇādhya).