Lakshmidevi and Vedavati are the same.
VEDAVATI AS PADMAVATI
Lakshmidevi was born as Vedavati to Brahmarshi Kushadhvaja. While Sage Kushadhvaja was chanting the Vedas, Lakshmidevi came out of His mouth in the form of a baby. Since She came out of His mouth during the recitation of the Vedas, She was known as Vedavati. Now, Vedavati did penance to please Bhagavan Vishnu and to marry Him. In between, Raavana came and touched Her by grabbing Her hair, due to which Vedavati jumped into the yogic fire and cursed Raavana that She would be coming as Her death soon.
In the next birth during Raamavatara, when Lord Rama, Sitadevi, and Lakshmana were in the Vanavasa, and Rama had gone hunting for the Mayamriga (Note that it wasn’t a golden deer), at that time Lakshmana, as per Sitadevi’s instructions, had gone to find Rama. At that time, Raavana in a Sage’s form approached Sitadevi, and Sitadevi called him inside the Parna Kuteera and made him sit in the hermitage. She introduced Herself, Rama, and Lakshmana to the Sage. But then, the sage turned into Raavana and grabbed Sitadevi by Her hair, lifted Her by Her legs, and put Her in the Pushpaka Vimaana and went away to Lanka.
But here, the Kurma Purana clearly says that it wasn’t the real Sita whom Raavana had kidnapped. Even the Bhavishyottara Purana Srinivasa Kalyana speaks the same. When Raavana came there, Sitadevi disappeared and asked Agni and Indra to come. She instructed Agnideva to create a ditto model of Her, which was realistic and looked exactly like Her. She then instructed Indradeva to enter the Sita Akruti for the movement. Indra entered the Sita Akruti, and this Sitakruti was present there at the Parna Kuteera. The real Sitadevi went to Kailasa, where She was worshipped by Lord Shiva and Umadevi. This is stated in the Kurma Purana.
Now, after Rama killed Raavana in Lanka, He asked Vibhishana to go and tell Sita to come after a hair bath, to which Vibhishana did the same and Sitadevi came there. Rama wasn’t happy on seeing Her. He said, “My dharma was to protect a woman’s honor, which I did. Now you are free, and can go anywhere you want.” Sita too taunted Rama and then entered the fire. This is not Agnipariksha but Agnipravesha. At that Agni Pravesha, the real Sitadevi came out and then the Sita Akriti got dissolved in the fire. This real Sitadevi came and stood by the left side of SriRama. Vedavati too came there.
Sitadevi prayed to SriRama, “O Govinda! Please accept Vedavati too as your wife. She was the one who was present in Lanka all these days, suffering the tortures and nuisance of the wicked demon-king Raavana.” At this Lord Rama said, ‘Devi, I am Ekapatnivratasta, which means in this avatara, I will only have one wife. But don’t worry, Her wish of marrying me would be fulfilled. In the 28th Kaliyuga, I would be appearing as Srinivasa, and She would be appearing as Padmavati. I would marry Her then. Saying thus, Vedavati bowed down to the Supreme Bhagavan and went to Satyaloka. There, She was worshipped by Lord Brahma Himself.
HOW DID THIS VEDAVATI AS PADMAVATI BECAME THE DAUGHTER OF KING AAKAASHARAAJA?
As per the Bhavishyottara Purana Srinivasa Kalyana, there was a Brahmin by the name Maadhava. He was a very pious Brahmin who was married to a pious wife, who was a Bhagavad Bhakta. Both were very nice to each other. Maadhava Brahmana was very well educated in the Vedas, Upanishadas, Shaastras, Puraanas, etc., and was a great scholar. Once, he asked his wife to go to the woods. He and his wife went to the woods, where Maadhava Brahmana saw a lady by the name Kuntala. She was a Chaandaala by birth. Maadhava Brahmana was attracted by her beauty and asked her wife to go home. He went and asked Kuntala if he could marry her. Kuntala explained, “No, you cannot marry me. You are a Brahmin. You have all the samskaaraas. You are well-versed in the Vedas and all. You have a sacred Yagyopaveeta (janeu). If you even touch me, your Brahmanatva will vanish.” But then he forced Kuntala.
Kuntala asked him to remove his shikha and the janeu. He did it. Kuntala now gave him Gomaamsa to eat, which he ate, and thus lost his Brahmanatva. He didn’t go to his home and stayed with Kuntala. After 11–12 years, Kuntala died. After this, Maadhava Brahmana realized his mistake, and with the weight of repentance, he roamed here and there. He heard news that the kings from North India had come to see the Sheshachala Parvata (now known as Tirupati). He followed them. They did Tarpana in the Kapila Tirtha and then climbed the Parvata. He too did Pitru Tarpana at Kapila Tirtha with Mruttika Pinda (Pinda balls made up of mud), and then, as he went to climb the Sheshachala Parvata, he vomited. That vomit was nothing but the sin that he got by touching Kuntala and eating Gomaamsa. He was now free from that sin.
Lord Brahma appeared in front of him and said, “Do one thing. Now, go to the Varaaha Swamy temple, and do darshana of Lord Varaha and accept the Prasaada. After that, you do praana tyaaga. In the next birth you would be born as Aakasharaaja, and Saakshaat Mahalakshmidevi will appear as your daughter, and Srimannarayana will be your son-in-law.” After saying this, Lord Brahma disappeared. As per Brahma’s instructions, Maadhava Brahmana did deha tyaaga and then was born as Aakaasharaaja. This Aakaasharaaja was Bhishmaka Maharaja in his earlier birth, in Dvaapara yuga. Due to the force of Rukmi, his eldest son, King Bhishmaka decided to marry Rukmini, who is Lakshmidevi, to Shishupaala. But then Krishna told Bhishmaka, before kidnapping Rukmini, that She was Lakshmidevi Herself.
Because King Bhishmaka decided to marry Rukmini to Shishupaala earlier before Krishna came, he had to suffer this much. Finally, Krishna kidnapped Rukmini as per Her own will and went to Dvaaraka and married Her.
LAKSHMIDEVI LEAVING VAIKUNTHAPURA
Once all the sages were doing a sacrifice near the banks of the River Ganga. Sage Naarada came there and asked, “For which devata are you doing this sacrifice?” to which the Sages didn’t have any answer. Sage Naarada asked Bhrigu Maharshi to go and test the Trinity, Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshwara as to who is supreme among them. As per that, Sage Bhrigu went to the Satyaloka where Lord Brahma was staying. He saw that Lord Brahma, with four of His heads, was chanting Veda mantras and was praising Bhagavan Vishnu. Sage Bhrigu felt He was ignored and hence cursed Brahma that he would not be worshipped on earth.
Next, Sage Bhrigu went to Kailasa, where Lord Shiva and Umadevi were sitting together in ekanta. Sage Bhrigu came there. Umadevi said to Lord Shiva that Sage Bhrigu had come. Lord Shiva was enraged at this because Sage Bhrigu disturbed their ekanta. Lord Shiva took his trishoola and ran after Sage Bhrigu to kill him. Sage Bhrigu stopped Lord Shiva and cursed Him that He would be worshipped in the form of a linga on the earth. This doesn’t mean that Sage Bhrigu is superior to Brahma and Shiva. Both Brahma and Shiva are far superior to Sage Bhrigu. They have the power to even dismiss the curse, but as per Srihari’s will, they accepted the curse.
Next, Sage Bhrigu came to Vaikuntha, where Lord Vishnu was along with Lakshmidevi. In anger, Sage Bhrigu kicked Bhagavan Vishnu’s chest. Bhagavan Vishnu woke up and then welcomed Sage Bhrigu and asked, “O revered sage! You might be hurt by kicking my chest, which is as hard as diamond. O Lakshmi, please bring warm water for washing the feet of this sage.” Bhagavan Vishnu made Sage Bhrigu sit on the throne, washed his feet with the warm water, and worshipped him. Sage Bhrigu on seeing Bhagavan Vishnu’s humility and Bhakta Vaatsalya, woke up and prostrated to Bhagavan Vishnu and came back to earth and declared that Bhagavan Vishnu was supreme and this sacrifice should be offered to Bhagavan Vishnu only. Since Sage Bhrigu had kicked Bhagavan Vishnu’s feet, he was born as Jaraa, the hunter.
Here, Lakshmidevi was highly offended as Sage Bhrigu kicked Bhagavan Vishnu’s chest, which was Her residence. Thus, Lakshmidevi had a quarrel with Bhagavan Vishnu and then left Vaikuntha and came to Kolhapura or Karaveerapura. One must note that it was a playful sport of Lakshminarayana, or we can say Pranaya Kalaha. Lakshminarayana cannot be separated at any time, by any means. The real reason why Lakshmidevi left Vaikuntha and came to Karaveerapura is that there was a demon by the name Kolhasura. That Kolhasura was providing nuisance to the sages. The sages had prayed to Srihari to eliminate the demon. Due to that, as per the wish of Bhagavan Vishnu, Lakshmidevi came to Karaveerapura and annihilated Kolhasura. That’s why She is known as Kolhasurabhayankari.
Bhagavan Vishnu came to Sheshachala Parvata as Srinivasa. Now, when the marriage of Srinivasa and Padmavati was arranged, Srinivasa said, “I won’t marry Padmavati without Lakshmidevi. I want Her.” All the devatas led by Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva had come. Srinivasa called Surya and asked him to go to Karaveerapura and bring Mahalakshmidevi. Srinivasa said, ‘Tell Lakshmi that I am ill and am suffering from weakness. I am so weak that I am not even able to walk or talk. She will come.”
Surya, as per Srihari’s will, came to Karaveerapura and told the same to Lakshmidevi. Lakshmidevi, acting as if She was genuinely like, Her husband was ill, sitting on Garuda, came to Sheshachala. She did all this as per the instructions of the Supreme Srihari. There She saw Srinivasa lying, with His head on Brahma’s thigh and His feet on Shiva’s thigh, acting as if suffering from weakness. As She approached Srinivasa, still acting in weakness said, ‘L-La-Lakshmi…”
Lakshmidevi laughed and said, ‘First of all, stop all this naataka and see, I have come. How can you, who cures the disease of the samsaara itself, the backbone of the devotees, suffer from weakness? Just tell me. O Govinda! My dear Lord! Please make my wish come true, which I had told you in Treta Yuga as Sita. Marry Padmavati and fulfill Her wish too.” She did Tailabhyanjana to Srinivasa. Srinivasa finally married Padmavati. Thus Bhagavan Srinivasa or Venkateshwara had two consorts, namely, Lakshmi and Padmavati. Lakshmi and Padmavati are both the same. Srinivasa has Sridevi (Lakshmi and Padmavati) and Bhudevi (Bhu roopi Mahalakshmi).
Thus, Padmavati Devi or Alamelu Mangadevi are Saakshat Mahalakshmi Herself incarnated to marry Bhagavan Srinivasa.
ब्रह्मरुद्रादिवन्द्यं त्वां भजे वेङ्कटनायकम् ।
निवारयस्वानिष्टानि साधयेष्टानि माधव ॥
कल्याणद्भुतगात्राय कामितार्थप्रदायिने ।
श्रीमद्वेङ्कटनाथाय श्रीनिवासाय ते नमः ॥
आनन्दतीर्थवरदे दानवारण्यपावके ।
ज्ञानदायिनि सर्वेशे श्रीनिवासेस्तु मे रतिः ॥
Jay SriRam!
ShriSrinivasa Abhinna ShriKrishnarpanamastu!