Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.2124

c9.2124

"I am the grand-daughter of the Asura king, Mahābali. I am the eldest of his one thousand grand-daughters. My name is 'Vidyutprabhā'. Viṣṇu has captured and imprisoned our grandfather, Mahābali. He has also killed our father in battle. After that he has expelled us all from our Capital city. To prevent us from entering it again, he has posted a lion as sentry at the palace gate. That lion is a Yakṣa who was cursed by Kubera. If any one defeats him, he would be liberated from his curse. By defeating that lion, you will get a divine sword. With that you can defeat anyone.” As soon as he heard this story, Śridatta rushed towards the lion. In the fight that followed, the lion was defeated and it was suddenly transformed into the old Yakṣa. Pleased with the hero who was instrumental in lifting his curse, he gave Śridatta a sword called “Mrgāṅkaka” and then disappeared. Vidyutprabhā entered the palace, accompanied by her sisters and Śridatta. She gave a ring to Śridatta which had the power to destroy the effects of poison. She fell in love with him. She asked him to take a bath in the tank close by after giving the sword to her, and undertook to kill any crocodile which might attack him. Śridatta, keeping the sword in his own hand, stepped into the water and sank into it. But he rose up in the river Gaṅgā into which he had jumped earlier. He reached the bank of the river and in search of his companions. On the way, he met with Niṣṭhūraka. In the course of their talk, Niṣṭhūraka informed Śridatta that, Vallabhaśakti passed away and Vikramaśakti was then ruling over the country. The new king had killed Kālanemi and was on the look-out for murdering Śridatta. Both of them resumed their journey and when they reached Ujjayinī, they met with the rest of their friends. On their way, a woman joined their party. She had lost her way while going to the land of Mālava. Śridatta and Niṣṭhūraka walked in the company of that woman and at last they arrived at a deserted city. They spent the night in that city. During the night when Śridatta happened to wake up, he saw to his horror, that the woman had killed his friend Niṣṭhūraka and was eating his flesh. Śridatta at once drew his sword and caught hold of her hair and was about to cut off her head when she was transformed into a Rākṣasa woman. She prayed to him not to kill her and told him her story. She had become a Rākṣasa woman by a curse. Long ago Viśvāmitra did tapas to obtain Kubera’s place. At that time Kubera sent her to break Viśvāmitra’s tapas. Since she failed in her attempts to attack him by her charms, she tried to subdue him by assuming the form of a terrible monster. The sage thereupon cursed her to become a Rākṣasa woman with that figure. He declared that the curse would be lifted when Śridatta grasped her hair. She added that she had been killing and eating the inhabitants of that city for a long time and that explained why the city had become deserted. Now that she was liberated from the curse, she asked Śridatta what boon he wished to have.