Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.492

c9.492

3) *The power of Ṛṣabha's Yāga.* Ṛṣabha became a devotee of Śiva by worshipping him. Once a Brāhmaṇa named Mandara had an illicit alliance with Piṅgalā, a prostitute. Both of them died together. Mandara was re-born as Bhadrāyu, the grandson of Nala and Piṅgalā as Sumati, the wife of King Vajrabāhu (Amśumān). Sumati became pregnant. Her co-wives who were jealous of her poisoned her. As a result of it, and the child born to her fell victims to diseases. Daśārṇa abandoned them in the forest. Sumati lived in the house of a Vaiśya with her child. While living there, the child died of disease. Ṛṣabha went to the grief-stricken Sumati and comforted her. (Śiva Purāṇa).