Subhadrā » Ekānaṁśā

एकानंशा ekānaṁśā devī is a very ancient name of Subhadrā.

Śrī Vasudeva (father of Kṛṣṇa) was first married to Rohiṇī (first wife) before his marriage with Devakī, the sister of Kaṅsa. Although in the captivity of Kaṅsa, he would secretly visit Rohiṇī, and Balarama was born before the advent of the avatāra (only logical explanation if we are not looking for miracles, but then there were too many miracles to overlook).

Yogamāyā

Interestingly both wives Yashoda (Nanda’s wife) and Devakī (Vasudeva’s second wife) delivered two babies at the same time – Yashoda had a daughter and Devakī had her mighty aṣṭama putra Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Braving the storms and the flooded Yamuna, Vāsudeva carried his baby son across the Yamuna to the house of Nanda and brought the daughter back with him. Śrī Kṛṣṇa was adopted by the Nanda family as their foster son and grew up in the care of loving aunts like Radha.

The fate of Yashoda’s daughter was not the same. The evil Kaṅsa caught her by the baby feet and was going to fling her when she vanished into the air and reappeared in the sky as the eight-armed Durgā. She was none other than the mighty Yogamāyā-devī {another name of Subhadrā}, the younger sister of Lord Viṣṇu [SB 10.4.9]. Her voice thundered “O! foolish Kaṅsa it is useless to try and kill me. Your nemesis, the very lord of the worlds (Jagannāth), has already birthed. It is pointless to kill more children. [SB 10.4.10]”. She went away to the Vindhya mountains and resides there are Vindhyā-vāsinī Devī.

As Vindhyā-vāsinī She is also called काजल Kājala devi and identified as Kālī. She is also known as Yogamāyā, Mahāmāyā identified as ādi parā-śakti.

She is the Yoganidrā devī identical with the exact moment of new moon or amāvasyā. It is because of Her power that all creatures of this world enjoy the illusion of saṅsāra. And all Vedic pañcāṅga (calendars) are reckoned from Her as the start of the soli-lunar māsa (month).

The holy name Ekānaṁśā means ‘one who grants a wish instantly’. Seeing the pain of her devotee Devakī when Kaṅsa snatched the baby girl, she thundered a curse on Kaṅsa to die by hands of lord Jagannāth (Viṣṇu).

Harivaṁśa Purāṇa indicates She is a sister of Viṣṇu Āditya [jyotiṣa: Mīna rāśi, Pisces] due to which she is also known as Adi-Śakti Vimalā devī. Her temple is within the Jagannāth temple premises.

Viṣṇudharmottara purāṇa describes her as Gandhāri (Viṣṇu māyā) {not Dhritarāṣṭra wife}.  This Viṣṇu māyā Gandhari is with other seven śakti Dhṛti, Kirti, Puṣṭi, Sraddhā, Sarasvatī, Gāyatrī and Kālarātrī.

Vasudeva Putri

Subhadrā was born as the blue-eyed daughter of Vāsudeva. Literally, she had blue eyes» jyotiṣa: malefics Saturn and/or Mars in second house causing light color of eyes, were forced to become benefics. This was the reincarnation of goddess Ekānaṁśā.