372 Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

maidservant whose name was Mayavati. This woman had formerly been
the wife of Cupid, and had been called Rati. When the fish was presented
to the demon Sambara, it was taken charge of by his cook, who was to
make it into a palatable fish preparation. Demons and the raksasas are
accustomed to eat meat, fish and similar non-vegetarian foods. Similarly,
other demons, like Ravana, Kamsa and Hiranyakagipu, although born of
brahmana and ksatriya fathers, used to take meat and flesh without
discrimination. This practice is still prevalent in India, and those who are
meat and fish eaters are generally called demons and raksasas.

When the cook was cutting the fish, he found a nice baby within the
belly of the fish, and he immediately presented him to the charge of
Mayavati, who was an assistant in the kitchen affairs. This woman was
surprised to see how such a nice baby could remain within the belly of a
fish, and the situation perplexed her. The great sage Narada then appeared
and explained to her about the birth of Pradyumna, how the baby had
been taken away by Sambara and later on thrown into the sea, and so on.
In this way the whole story was disclosed to Mayavati, who had formerly
been Rati, the wife of Cupid. Mayavati knew that she had previously been
the wife of Cupid; after her husband was burnt into ashes by the wrath of
Lord Siva, she was always expecting him to come back again in the material
form. This woman was engaged for cooking rice and dahl in the kitchen,
but when she got this nice baby and understood that he was Cupid, her
own husband, she naturally took charge of him and with great affection
began to bathe him. Miraculously, the baby very swiftly grew up, and
within a very short period he became a very beautiful young man. His eyes
were just like the petals of lotus flowers, his arms were very long, down to
the knees, and any woman who happened to see him became captivated by
his bodily beauty.

Mayavati could understand that her former husband, Cupid, born as
Pradyumna, had grown into such a nice young man, and she also gradually
became captivated and lusty. She was smiling before him with a feminine
attractiveness, expressing her desire for sexual unity. He therefore inquired
from her, ““How is it possible that first of all you were affectionate like a
mother, and now you are expressing the symptoms of a lusty woman?
What is the reason for such a change?” On hearing this statement from
Pradyumna, the woman, Rati, replied, ‘““My dear sir, you are the son of
Lord Krsna. Before you were ten days old, you were stolen by the
Sambara demon and later on thrown into the water and swallowed up by a
fish. In this way you have come under my care, but actually, in your
former life as Cupid, I was your wife; therefore, my manifestation of
