Kaligandaki

In ancient times there was an exceedingly beautiful woman named Kali. Compelled by adverse circumstances, she was forced to live as a courtesan, yet her mind and conduct remained spotless. Every guest who came to her house she served and honoured with a guileless heart as though he were her own husband.

Once the divine sage Narada praised such chastity and devotion of Kali in the royal court of Dwarka. But Balarama doubted it, saying that a courtesan could never be a faithful wife, and to test the truth he went to Kali's house disguised as an old, feeble and leprous Brahmin.

Kali treated the old Brahmin as her own husband and served and nursed him faithfully through the night. But in the last watch of the night the old man's breath of life departed.

Taking him to be her own husband, Kali mourned and resolved to join him on the funeral pyre and die as a sati. The pyre was prepared at the cremation ground, and Kali sat upon it holding the dead body in her lap.

Seeing such marvellous sacrifice and steadfast chastity, Balarama revealed his true form and said with pleasure: "O Kali, even living in the body of a courtesan, you have upheld the very dharma of a sati. You shall flow upon this earth as a greatly meritorious river, in whose womb shall rest the sacred shaligram stones of Lord Vishnu."

By Balarama's boon, Kali became a holy river and became immortal throughout the world by the name of 'Kaligandaki'.