Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.1574

c9.1574

Guṇavatī, who was weak and lean because of old age and fever once walked slowly to the river Ganges to bathe. When she got into the river she shivered because of cold. Then an aerial chariot came down from the sky. The messengers of Viṣṇu took her in the chariot, to Vaikuṇṭha. The celestial maids fanned her with the whisk of yak. After this Mahāviṣṇu incarnated as Śrī Kṛṣṇa to destroy the wicked. Those who were the dependants of Viṣṇu in Vaikuṇṭha took birth in Dvārakā. Devaśarmā the father of Guṇavatī took birth as Satrājit. Candraśarmā became Akrūra. Guṇavatī became Satyabhāmā. Because of the goodness earned by the fast of Kṛttikā, she had become a beloved one of Viṣṇu. Because she made a grove of holy basil (tulasi) at the gate of Viṣṇu in the previous birth the Kalpaka tree came to her garden in this birth. Because she lighted lamps in Kārttika month Mahālakṣmī lives permanently in her house. Because she did fast and vow in Kārttika imagining Viṣṇu as her husband, she became the wife of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in this birth. (Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 91).