Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.778

c8.778

Mahāviṣṇu knew that Pārvatī had been deceived by Jalandhara. So he decided to cheat Vṛndā, wife of Jalandhara. Mahāviṣṇu filled with amorous desires, avoiding Mahālakṣmī, covering his head with a yellow scarf and taking the figure of another person by his yogic powers stepped out of his abode taking Ananta for his company. He went to Durgākānana the abode of Vṛndā. They constructed an āśrama there and the wild animals like the lion, tiger, boar and monkey became their disciples taking human form. Then Viṣṇu created mental agony in Vṛndā to attract her to his āśrama. Vṛndā started getting hot and her maids fanned her continuously and anointed her with sandalwood paste. She thought of her husband in the battlefield and often fainted. She had a very bad dream. She saw her husband Jalandhara lying wounded on his head, ears and nose, with his body smeared with ashes and his eyes pecked by vultures. She saw Kālī, with her hair lying lose, her face reddened with blood, with a skull in her hand dancing before the body of her husband before starting to eat it. At this moment she was awakened by the music of the Māgadhas and loud chanting of family praises by Kimpuruṣas. She at once stopped the music and prayers and paid them off. Then she sent word for pandits to explain the dream she saw. The Pandits said "Devi, this appears to be a dream giving unimaginable fear. To calm the fear give as gifts to brahmins, diamonds, garments, cows and elephants." Then the brahmin pandits sprinkled on her, water made potent by mantras. There was no waning of the fever. Dismissing the pandits, queen Vṛndā went and sat alone upstairs. She felt the whole palace burning and by the craft employed by Viṣṇu she found living inside the palace unbearable.