भद्रश्रवस्

{ bhadraśravas }

Puranic Encyclopaedia

BHADRAŚRAVAS   A king whom the Purāṇas extol as having ruled Saurāṣṭra in Dvāparayuga. At the forest of Naimiśa sage Sūta told the following story to explain how Lakṣmī (goddess of wealth) took her abode in the houses of men. Bhadraśravā (Bhadraśravas) who was ruling Saurāṣṭra had seven sons and a daughter of his wife Suraticandrikā. The daughter was named Śyāmabālā. Once truthful-Śyāmabālā was sitting under a green-wood tree with her playmates playing with diamonds and gold sand when the goddess of wealth disguised as an aged brahmin woman went to the gates of the palace and asked for permission to see the queen, Suraticandrikā. The sentries pressed for details about her and then she said this: “My name is Kamalā. My husband is a man named Bhuvanāśva and we live in Dvārakā. Your queen in her previous birth was a Vaiśya woman. One day she quarrelled with her husband and he beat her hard and then crying loudly she ran out of the house. I met her and when she told me her story I instructed her to observe a Puṇyavrata (Fasting to any particular deity). She did it willingly and as a result she acquired great wealth and happiness. One day the husband and wife died. Yama, the king of Death, then sent his orderlies to bring before him that couple who had always quarrelled with each other while living. Bound by ropes the ghastly servants of Yama were about to drag them to their land when the angelic servants of Viṣṇu with the insignia of ‘Śaṁkha- Cakra-Gadā’ on their lapels arrived there and those messengers of Lakṣmī headed by Svaprakāśa cut off the ropes and carrying them in a Rājahaṁsa chariot took them through noble paths to the land of Lakṣmī. They lived there happily for a period calculated at the rate of a thousand years for one week of Puṇyavrata observed. In the end to complete the goodness remaining they were born as King and queen on earth with plenty of wealth and happiness. But they have now forgotten about the Puṇyavrata and I have come here to remind them of it.” The gate-keeper immediately went to her mistress and told her all that happened. But the queen, Suraticandrikā got angry when she heard the story and ordered the old woman to be sent away from there with thrashes. The old woman ran away from the palace crying loudly and Śyāmabālā on hearing the cry went and enquired about the incident. On hearing the story from the woman Śyāmabālā got instructions regarding that Puṇyavrata from the old woman and started observing it. Within four weeks she got married and went to her husband's house. After Śyāmabālā's departure from the palace the wealth of the King began to wane and they became so poor that at the request of the queen the King Bhadraśravā went to his daughter to ask for help. The daughter gave his father a block of solid gold drapped in a paper. But on his return to the palace when he opened the bundle he found there a block of charcoal instead of gold. On seeing the mishap the king burst into a cry. Suraticandrikā then went to her daughter and was well received and attended to. During her stay there the Puṇyavrata day of the month came and the daughter tried her best to make her mother also observe the same. But the poverty-stricken queen broke the fast without her daughter's knowledge by eating what remained in the dishes of the children. But the next month Śyāmabālā compelled her mother to observe the fast strictly and so Suraticandrikā took the Vrata successfully. A few days after that Suraticandrikā returned home and to her amazement found everything in plenty there once more. [Chapter 11, Bhaga 2, Padma Purāṇa] .

प्राचीन चरित्रकोश

भद्रश्रवस् n.  एक ऋषि, जो भद्राश्वखंड में रहनेवाले धर्म ऋषि का पुत्र था । यह हयग्रीव की प्रतिमा की उपासना करता था [भा.५.१८.१] ।

A Sanskrit English Dictionary

भद्र—श्रवस्  m.  m. N. of a son of धर्म, [BhP.]

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भद्र श्रवस्