The king of the
Chola country bought the cow and its calf and sent them to
graze on the Venkata Hill along with his herd of cattle. Discovering Lord
Vishnu
on the ant-hill, the cow provided its milk, and thus fed the Lord.
Meanwhile,
at the palace, the cow was not yielding any milk, for which the Chola Queen
chastised the cowherd severely.
To find out the
cause of lack of milk, the cowherd followed the cow, hid himself behind a bush
and discovered the cow emptying her udder over the ant-hill. Incensed over
the conduct of the cow, the cowherd aimed a blow with his axe on the head of
the cow. However, Lord Vishnu rose from the ant-hill to receive the blow and
save the cow. When the cowherd saw the Lord
bleed at the blow of his axe, he fell down and died of shock.
On the death of
the cowherd, the cow returned, bellowing in fright and with blood stains all
over her body, to the Chola King. To find out the cause of the cow's terror,
the King followed her to the scene of the incident.
The King
found the cowherd lying dead on the ground near the ant-hill. While he stood
wondering how it had happened, Lord Vishnu rose from the ant-hill and cursed
the King saying that he would become an Asura because of the fault of
his servant. The King pleaded innocence, and the Lord blessed him by saying
that the curse would end when the Lord was adorned with a kireetam presented
by Akasa Raja at the time of His marriage with Sri Padmavati.
Thereafter, Lord Vishnu or Srinivasa,
decided to stay in Varaha Kshetra, and requested Sri Varahaswami to grant Him
a site for His stay. His request being readily granted, Srinivasa ordained
that a pilgrimage to His shrine would not be complete unless it is preceded
by a bath in the Pushkarini and darshan of Sri Varahaswami, and that puja
and naivedyam should be offered to Sri Varahaswami first.
Yasoda brought
up Sri Krishna, the son of Devaki, in his early years. However, Yasoda was
not blessed to witness the marriage of Sri Krishna with Rukmini and she felt
very sad. Sri Krishna promised to fulfil her desire in her next birth as
Vakuladevi in his next avatara as Srinivasa.
Sometime
later, a King named Akasa Raja who belonged to the Lunar race was ruling over
Thondamandalam. He had a brother named Thondaman. Akasa Raja had no heirs,
and therefore, he wanted to perform a sacrifice. As part of the sacrifice, he
was ploughing the fields when his plough turned up a lotus in the ground. On
examining the lotus, the King found a female child in it.
Akasa Raja was happy to find the child.
He carried it to his palace and gave it to his Queen. At that time he heard
a voice from above which said, "Oh! King, tend to it as your child and
fortune will befall you." As the child was found in a lotus, the king
named her Padmavati.
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In course of
time, Princess Padmavati grew up into a beautiful maiden and was attended
to by a host of maids. One day, while she was spending her time in a garden
picking flowers with her maids, Sage Narada approached her. Assuring her
that he was her well-wisher, he asked her to show him her palm to read her
future. He foretold that she was destined to be the spouse of Lord Vishnu
himself.
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At this time,
Lord Srinivasa, who was hunting, chased a wild elephant in the forests
surrounding the hills. In the elephant's pursuit, the Lord was led into a
garden, where Princess Padmavati and her maids were picking flowers.The sight
of the elephant frightened the Princess and her maids..
But the
elephant immediately turned around, saluted the Lord and disappeared into
the forest. Lord Srinivasa, who was following on horse back, and saw the
frightened maidens, who accosted Him with queries.
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Lord Srinivasa gave
the maids details about his birth and parentage. He, in turn, enquired after
their princess, her birth and parentage.
When the maids informed Lord
Srinivasa that the princess was Padmavati, foster daughter of Akasa Raja, He
expressed his interest in her. However, He was repulsed with stones thrown at
Him by the maids. He returned to the hills in haste, leaving His horse
behind.
When Lord Srinivasa returned,
Vakuladevi brought him his usual dinner comprising various delicacies.
However, she found him lying on his bed, pining for his love. When she
enquired about the cause, the Lord informed her that unless he married
Princess Padmavati, he would never be well again.
Vakuladevi then asked Him to tell
her all about the Princess. The Lord then narrated the story of her
(Padmavati’s) previous birth and his promise to wed her.
In olden times, Lakshmi, in the
form of Vedavati, was staying in an ashram in the forests. At that
time, Ravana, the lord of Lanka tried to tempt her. In anger, Vedavati cursed
him saying that she would bring about his death.
To show how true her words were,
Vedavati walked into the fire, but Agni, the Fire God rescued her. He took
Vedavati to his house and entrusted her to his wife's care.
When Ravana was about to carry
away Sita from Panchavati, in the absence of Rama and Lakshmana, Agni
appeared and offered Vedavati to Ravana as the real Sita who was kept with
him by Rama to evade Ravana. Ravana was tricked into thinking that Vedavati
was the real Sita. Ravana took Vedavati to Lanka thinking she was the real
Sita, while Agni took Sita to his house and asked his wife Swahadevi to look
after her.
After the destruction of
Ravana, Vedavati entered the fire when rejected by Rama. Then, Agni, offered
the real Sita to Rama. Rama then questioned her as to who the other lady by
her side was. Sita informed Rama that the lady was Vedavati who endured
Ravana's torture for ten months in Lanka for her sake. Sita requested Rama to
accept Vedavati also as his spouse. But Rama declined her request saying that
he believed in having only one wife during his life time. However, He
promised to wed her in her next birth as Padmavati, born as the daughter of
Akasa Raja, when Rama himself would take the form of Srinivasa.
Meanwhile,
Akasa Raja and his queen Dharanidevi were anxious about the health of their
daughter, Padmavathi. They learnt about Padmavathi's love for Srinivasa of
Venkata Hill. Akasa Raja consulted Brihaspati about the propriety of the
marriage and was informed that the marriage was in the best interest of
both the parties.
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After the
departure of Vakuladevi, Srinivasa could not rest in peace. He doubted if she
would succeed in her mission. He, therefore, assumed the form of a lady
fortune-teller and entered the streets of the capital telling fortunes.
Padmavathi's maids saw her and invited her to the presence of their Queen.
The
maid-servants informed Queen Dharanidevi that the fortune-teller was
hesitating to enter the palace without the Queen's invitation. The Queen came
out herself and invited the fortune-teller into the palace.The fortune-
teller was taken to the presence of Princess Padmavati.
The
fortune-teller read the palm of the Princess and told the Queen about the
cause of Padmavati's indisposition. She advised the Queen to give Padmavati
in marriage to Lord Srinivasa. She also told the Queen that a lady would
approach her shortly on behalf of Lord Srinivasa, to formally request
Padmavati's hand in marriage.
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After the
departure of the fortune-teller, Vakuladevi arrived at the palace, and was
taken by the maidservants to the Queen. She informed the Queen that she had
come on behalf Lord Srinivasa to request the hand of Padmavati in marriage.
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Having
consulted Brihaspati and heard from his Queen about the prediction of the
fortune-teller and the arrival of the messenger from Srinivasa, Akasa Raja
decided to hand his daughter in marriage to Srinivasa. He asked the palace purohits
to fix a muhurtam for the marriage.
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Akasa Raja
informed his ministers and other officials of his plans. Immediately, a
letter was drafted requesting Srinivasa to come and marry the Princess.
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Akasa Raja
entrusted the delivery of the letter to Sukamahamunin. Suka went to the
Venkata Hill with Vakuladevi. He presented the patrika to Lord
Srinivasa, who was very happy. The Lord sent his garland for Padmavati
through Suka.
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Kubera lent money
to Lord Srinivasa to meet the expenses of the marriage. Lord Srinivasa, along
with his consorts and Lord Brahma and Lord Siva started the journey to the
residence of Akasa Raja with his vehicle Garuda.
At the palace
entrance, Lord Srinivasa was received by Akasa Raja with full honours and
taken in procession on a mounted elephant to the palace for the marriage.
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In the presence of
all the Devas, Lord Srinivasa wed Princess Padmavati, thus blessing Akasa
Raja.
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