Chapter 36 - Dialogue between Kṣupa and Dadhīca

Nandin said:

1-3. Lord Viṣṇu was pleased with his (Dadhīca’s) worship. Accompanied by Śrī and Bhūmi (his consorts), holding the conch, the discus, the iron club and lotus in his hands, wearing crown, bedecked in all ornaments, clad in yellow robes, surrounded by Devas and asuras, the Garuḍa-bannered glorious lord Viṣṇu granted him divine vision. Seeing him by his divine vision, Kṣupa bowed to the Garuḍa-bannered deity and eulogised him with pleasing words.

4-8. You are the primordial deity with no origin. You are Prakṛti, you are Puruṣa, the protector of the world. You are Viṣṇu the lord of the universe. You are Brahmā, with the universe for your body. You are the first principle. O Viṣṇu, you alone are the greatest luminary. You are the supreme soul, O lord of Śrī, you are the greatest abode. O lord of the earth, Rudra enveloped by tamas originated from your fury. Brahmā, the creator of the universe enveloped by rajas was born of your grace. The lord enveloped by sattva, was born of your grace. O Viṣṇu, O Rudra, you are identical with the universe.

9. The principles of intellect, ego, the subtle elements and the sense-organs O lord, omniformed, are all presided over by you alone.

10. O great lord, O lord of the universe, O Brahmā, O preceptor of the universe, be pleased, O lord of the chiefs of Devas, be pleased.

11. O Lord of the universe, be pleased. I seek refuge in you, worthy of being sought refuge in. O omniscient lord of long arms.

12. O liberator of mankind, O highly blessed one! O lord of great strength! O best of souls! O unopposed! O great Viṣṇu! perpetual obeisance be to you.

13-14. O Viṣṇu your divine invisible seat in the midst of the ocean is the thousand-hooded Śeṣa enveloped in tamas. O lord of Devas, O deity of holy rites, beneath this seat, virtue, knowledge, prosperity and detachment form the four feet.

15-18. The seven nether worlds are your feet; the earth constitutes your loins; the seven oceans^[1] are your clothes; the four quarters are your great arms. O lord, the heaven is your head; the sky is your umbilicus; the wind is your nose; the sun and the moon are your eyes, Puṣkara and others constitute your tresses. The stars, constellations and firmament are the ornaments round your neck. How shall I eulogise you the lord of Devas? You are worthy of worship. Whatever was done, heard and glorified faithfully as divine, whatever was sacrificed by me O Lord! you shall bear all. Obeisance be to you.

Nandin said:

19-21. This hymn of Viṣṇu is destructive of all sins. He who reads or listens to this hymn uttered by Kṣupa, he who narrates this to the brahmins with devotion, goes to the world of Viṣṇu. After worshipping thus and eulogising the invincible lord who is eulogised by the lord of Devas and others and after bowing to him with bent head, Kṣupa spoke in submission.

The King said:

22. O lord, long before, a certain Brahmin, known as Dadhīca became a friend of mine. He is the knower of Dharma and a humble soul.

23-25. He is engaged in worshipping Śiva always. He cannot be killed by anyone at all times. O lord of Devas, he struck me on the head with his left foot, in the open assembly with great contempt. O Viṣṇu, O Viśva, O lord of the Universe, arrogantly he said: “I am not afraid of any body anywhere”. O lord of universe, I wish to defeat that brahmin Dadhīca. O Viṣṇu, please, help me to my welfare.

Nandin said:

26. Viṣṇu understood that Dadhīca was indestructible. Viṣṇu then remembered the incomparable prowess of Śiva.

27. After remembering thus, Viṣṇu said to Kṣupa, born of the sneeze of Brahmā—“O leading king, after attaining lord Śiva, brahmins have nothing to fear.

28. Particularly O king, the devotees of Rudra are free from fear always. If this be true in every respect in regard to base men what then in the case of Dadhīca?

29. Hence, O blessed one, O king, you have no hope of victory. Of course I shall give a slight pain to the brahmin inviting a curse on me along with Devas.

30. O leading king, at Dakṣa’s sacrifice due to Dadhīca’s curse I and other Devas will be destroyed but revived again.

31. Hence, O king, coming into contact with the leading brahmin I shall endeavour for your victory over Dadhīca.

Nandin said:

32. On hearing these words Kṣupa said to Viṣṇu—“So be it” The lord too went to the hermitage of the brahmin Dadhīca.

33. The lord, favourably disposed to his devotees, assumed the form of a brahmin. The preceptor of the universe congratulated the brahmin sage Dadhīca and said:—

The lord said:

34. “O Dadhīca, O brahminical sage, O unchanging one engaged in the worship of Śiva, I desire to choose a boon from you. You should grant the same”.

35. On being requested by Viṣṇu, the lord of Devas, Dadhīca said:—“All that you desire has been understood. I am not afraid of you.

36-37. O Viṣṇu, you have come to me in the guise of a brahmin. By the grace of Rudra, I can understand everything the past, future and present. O Viṣṇu, O lord of Devas, O deity of good rites, leave off this guise of a brahmin. O destroyer of Madhu, O lord of Devas you have been propitiated by Kṣupa.

38. O lord Viṣṇu, I know you are favourably disposed towards your devotees. O lord Viṣṇu, your favouritism to your devotees is but proper.

39. O lord, O lotus-eyed, bestower of boons, it behoves you to say frankly if you are afraid of me engaged that I am in the worship of Śiva.

40. O Viṣṇu, I do not speak in vain. I am not afraid. In this world I am not afraid of Devas, Daityas or brahmins.

Nandin said:

41. On hearing the words of Dadhīca Viṣṇu in a moment cast off his guise of a brahmin. He assumed his own form and said smilingly.

The Lord said:

42. O Dadhīca of good holy rites! You have no fear anywhere since you are engaged in the worship of Śiva. Indeed you are omniscient.

43. O leading brahmin, at my behest you should say at least once “I am afraid”. Obeisance to you. Please say to Kṣupa in the open assembly that you are afraid.

44. Even after hearing the appeasing words of Viṣṇu, the great sage did not say that he was afraid.

45. It was due to the prowess of the Pināka-bearing Śiva, the lord of Devas, the benefactor and omniscient lord that the great sage did not say he was afraid.

46. Then the infuriated lord Viṣṇu desired to burn the sage and so raised his discus.

47. By the power of Dadhīca even in the presence of Kṣupa, the discus Sudarśana became blunted.

48. On seeing the discus with blunted tip, Dadhīca said to the Discus-bearing lord, who is the cause of manifesting distinction between the existent and non-existent.

49. O lord Viṣṇu, formerly, the terrible discus, Sudarśana was assiduously got by you from Śiva.

50. That discus can never kill me. You now try with the missile of Brahmā or other similar weapons.

Nandin said.

51. On hearing his words and on seeing his own weapon powerless, lord Viṣṇu discharged all missiles from all directions towards him.

52. The powerful Devas thereafter rendered help to Viṣṇu who was engaged in fighting against a single brahmin,

53. Then Dadhīca who had adamantine bones and who had perfect all-round self control took up a handful of kuśa grass. Remembering Śiva he discharged it against Devas.

54. It became a divine trident as lustrous as fire of dissolution. Like fire at the close of a yuga it felt inclined to burn all Devas.

55. O sage, all those weapons which were discharged by Indra, and other Devas bowed to the trident.

56-57. O excellent brahmin, Devas whose strength was dissipated fled from the scene. Then lord Viṣṇu, created out of his body millions and millions of divine attendants resembling himself The excellent sage burnt all of them immediately.

58-60. Thereafter, Viṣṇu became Universe-formed in order to instil awe in Dadhīca. The excellent brahmin saw several groups of Devas distinctly, as also crores of Rudras, crores of Gaṇas, crores of Cosmic Eggs in the body of Viṣṇu. On seeing all these therein, the son of Cyavana was surprised.

61. The great sage sprinkled the universe-formed Viṣṇu with water. He spoke to Viṣṇu, the unborn lord of the universe, identical with the universe.

62. O mighty-armed one, eschew this deception. O Visṇu, there are thousands of skills (or tricks) with me also which are difficult to comprehend, and which come handy by mere thinking.^[2]

63. O uncensured one, you can see within me the entire universe along with yourself, Brahmā and Rudra. I shall give you divine vision.

64. After saying this, the sage showed everything in his own body. He spoke again to lord Viṣṇu, the source of origin of all Devas.

65. “Of what use is this deception? O lord, of what avail is the power of magic? O Viṣṇu, what purpose is served by the intrinsic power of objects or by the power of meditation?

66-67. Hence, eschewing this deception you should fight against me strenuously.”

On hearing these words and on seeing his miraculous power Devas ran away once again. The lotus-born preceptor of the universe Brahmā restrained lord Viṣṇu who had become inactive.

68. On hearing the words of Brahmā, lord Viṣṇu who was defeated bowed to the sage and went away.

69. Kṣupa was extremely afflicted and dejected. He honoured and adored Dadhīca the leading sage and prayed thus:

70. O Lord and friend Dadhīca, what has been committed by me due to ignorance may be excused. What can be affected by Viṣṇu or Devas in your case since you are a devotee of Rudra?

7L O great Lord, be pleased. O brahmin, the most excellent among men of devotion, devotion of this type is difficult of access to wicked persons, to base Kṣatriyas like me.

72. On hearing the words of the king the brahmin Dadhīca, the most excellent of those who perform penances blessed the king. The leading sage then cursed Devas.

73-74. May you including Indra and lord Viṣṇu and all great sages be destroyed by the fire of fury of Rudra in the holy sacrifice of the patriarch Dakṣa.

After cursing thus and glancing at Kṣupa the brahmin said again.

75. O leading king, brahmins should be worshipped by Devas, kings and by the different groups of people. O leading king, the brahmins alone are strong and powerful.

76. After saying this the brahmin of great lustre entered his own hut.

After saluting Dadhīca the king too went to his own abode.^[3]

77. The place of this event is known as the holy centre. Sthāṇvīśvara.^[4] After reaching Sthāṇvīśvara one shall attain identity with Śiva.

78. O great sage, the dispute between Kṣupa and Dadhīca has been briefly recounted to you, as also the power of Śiva and his protege Dadhīca.

79. He who reads this divine dispute between Kṣupa and Dadhīca will conquer premature death. After Death he will go to the region of Brahmā.

80. He who enters the battlefield after repeating this story need not be afraid of death. He will always come out victorious.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

saptasāgara [sapta sāgarāḥ]. The purāṇas mention seven oceans, viz., of salt, sugarcane, wine, ghee, curd, milk and water which surround Jambu, Plakṣa, Śālmali, Kuśa, Krauñca, Śāka and Puṣkara continents respectively.

[2]:

Vijñāna [vijñānam]—māyā.

[3]:

kṣaya [kṣayam]—gṛha [gṛham] Śivatoṣiṇī. abode.

[4]:

Sthāneśvara or Sthāṇvīśvara is mentioned by Bāṇabhaṭṭa in his historical prose kāvya Harṣacarita written in the first half of the seventh century A.D. The earliest notice of this place by a foreigner is found in the record of the Chinese pilgrim Hieun Thsang, the contemporary of Harṣavardhana, the king of Sthāneśvara and Kannauj.—The city is identified with the modem town Thanesar, near Kurukṣetra, Haryana State. It derives its name from an ancient temple dedicated to lord Śiva.