There was a king named Sudhumra. He was very religious , he had great faith scriptures and false words never came out of his mouth. One day the king rode a horse and went into the forest, he was accompanied by many ministers and soldiers. After going into the forest, he saw a very beautiful forest there. There were many fruit and flower trees in this forest, many birds used to live there. Seeing such a beautiful forest, the king and his ministers were very fascinated and they wished to go to this forest.
Once upon a time, many sages came to this forest to meet Lord Shiva. At that time Lord Shiva was doing hala-vilas with his beloved Parvati ji. On seeing the sages coming there, Parvati ji was ashamed and went away from there. Seeing that Lord Shiva is having fun with his wife, all the sages went to Vaikunth from there. Then Mahadevji said to Parvati ji why are you being ashamed. I make you happy right now. I curse this forest that any man who comes to this forest will become a woman immediately. Those who knew this thing never used to go to this Kamavan.
King Sudhumra was unaware of this and King Sudhumra went to this forest cursed by Lord Shiva. As soon as he went there he became a woman, not only that, his horse also turned into a mare. All the ministers also changed into women. Then the king got very worried, he started thinking that how should I go back to my kingdom, I do not know who cheated me like this. The King came out of that forest worrying about this and started wandering around. Due to being a woman, he could not go to his kingdom and he did not even know the way to be free from this curse.
King Sudhumra, who became a woman, got the name as ila. Moon’s son budha looked at her and got attracted to her and wanted to make ila his wife. Ila also thought this idea is good and accepted budha as a husband. from the womb of ila, moon’s son produced a son named Pururava.
King sudhumra who was in women form , After giving birth to a son remembering her life as king , went to her guru Vashishta and told him all her accounts. Then Vashistha worshiped Lord Shankar and asked for a boon to transform her to a male. Lord Shankar did not want to make his words false, therefore, gave this boon that, Ila will remain a man for one month and will have to remain a woman for one month. After getting a boon from Lord Shankar, Ila came to live in his kingdom, King Sudhumra, who became Ila, would come in front of the people for one month when he was male and handle his kingdom and whenever he remained a woman, he would stay in his palace for one month. People did not like such a king because they thought the king is incapable of fulfilling his duties.
When Pururava grew up, the king placed him on the throne and went into a forest. There he took initiation of the navakshara mantra of Goddess Shakti by Maharishi Narada and started chanting this mantra. Then the goddess was very pleased with him and appeared before him. The king saw that Devi is sitting on the lion. In her hands, she is holding Chakra, mace, arrow, Bhusundi, lotus etc. Then the king’s heart was very happy and he started praising the goddess. Goddess you have spread in the entire universe. With your energy, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are capable of doing their own work. You are the one who makes all the beings and when the time comes, you end it. No one can overcome your influence. You can make a man a woman and a woman a man. I believe that you are neither woman nor man, nor impotent. You are neither virtuous nor non virtuous. Whatever you are, best to my knowledge you are the Goddess who gives boons to the devotees who worship you with devotion, I bow to you.
In this way, the Sudhumra King became the refuge of the Goddess. Devi was very pleased with him and immediately sent him to her own world, after going there a man does not have to come to the world again, and he is freed from the cycle of birth and death forever.
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Categories: Devi Bhagwat Puran, Stories of Goddess Durga
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