Chapter 6 - The Importance of Pradoṣa

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

The sages said:

1-3.0 Sūta, the legend that has been narrated by you is great and wonderful. It shows the greatness of Śaṃbhu and is destructive of all sins. We wish to hear it once again, with more mental alertness and attention.

What power does Lord Śaṃbhu grant on being adored at Pradoṣa time by great souls. O virtuous one, speak this to us. Though oft heard by us, O Sūta, our desire goes on increasing.

Sūta said:

4. Well asked by you, O highly wise ones, you are well-known all over the world. Hence I shall narrate fully the great merit accruing from Śiva’s worship.

5. The dusk on the thirteenth lunar day is called Pradoṣa.^[1] The Great Lord and none else should be worshipped then by those who seek benefits.

6. Who is competent to describe the greatness of the worship at the time of Pradoṣa? It is at that time that: all the Devas stay near Giriśa (Śiva).

7. At the time of Pradoṣa, the Lord in his silver abode of Kailāsa, performs dances even as he is eulogized by the Devas revealing his good qualities.

8. Hence, Pūjā (worship), Japa, Homa, narration of his stories and eulogies of his good qualities should invariably be carried on by men desirous of the four benefits (viz. that of virtue, wealth, love and liberation).

9. It is the holy raft that shows the other bank (of the ocean of Saṃsāra) to those who get sunk in the ocean of worldly existence, to the men blinded by the darkness of penury and afraid of mundane existence (and worries).

10. To those who are distressed due to misery, grief and fear, to those who wish for the annihilation of all troubles, the worship of the Lord of Pārvatī at the time of Pradoṣa is the way to prosperity.

11. Even an evil-intentioned mean fellow, a man deficient in luck, or even a rogue becomes free from adversities by worshipping the Lord of Devas.

12-13. One who is being struck down by enemies, bitten by serpents, assailed by mountains, fallen into the great ocean, one who is struck with Kāla’s baton, attacked by many diseases simultaneously: none of these men becomes destroyed, if he worships Giriśa at the time of Pradoṣa.

14. By worshipping Śiva, one shakes off poverty, death, misery, and the weight of debts amounting to a huge mountain and is honoured with riches.

15. In this context I shall recount an ancient Itihāsa (legend) of great merit, on hearing which all men have their objects accomplished.

16. In the Vidarbha country, there was a king named Satyaratha. He was courageous, of truthful words and strict adherent of all religious rituals and observances. His habits were decent.

17. Ruling virtuously over the kingdom, O eminent sages, that highly intelligent king passed a long period of time very happily.

18. The kings of Śālva with Durmarṣaṇa as their leader were the powerful enemies of this king.

19. Once, rallying together a large groups of armies, these Śālvas reached the city of Vidarbha in their desire to conquer it and laid siege to it.

20. On seeing his own city thus besieged, the ruler of Vidarbha marched against them promptly to fight with a big army to aid him.

21. His battle with the Śālvas who were extremely arrogant due to their prowess, was like that of the serpent king in Pātāla against the proud Gandharvas.

22. Then the king of Vidarbha fought a terrible battle, but ultimately he was killed in the battlefield by the Śālvas who lost much of their own armies.

23. When that great warrior of heroic might was killed along with the ministers, the soldiers who survived the general massacre fled from the field excessively shattered.

24-25. The battle came to an end; the ministers of the enemies shouted joyously; there was a tumultuous sound of combatants in the city. At that time, the chaste wife of the ruler of Vidarbha, came out with very great difficulty, utterly shattered with grief.

26. She was pregnant. In the darkness of the night, the queen, in her excessive grief, proceeded towards the West.

27. Even after daybreak, the chaste lady went along the path very slowly. After traversing a long distance, she saw a lake free from impurities.

28. Distressed by the increasing heat of the day, the beautiful woman resorted to a lush and luxuriant shady tree on the banks of the lake.

29. As fate would have it, in that lonely spot, on the paved platform around a tree, the chaste lady gave birth to a son in an auspicious Muhūrta.

30. The queen was overwhelmed with thirst; she entered the lake; but the lady of tender limbs was seized by a crocodile.

31. The new-born child, rendered an orphan by the death of father and mother, cried piteously on the banks of the lake, feeble and distressed with hunger and thirst.

32. When that new-born child was crying thus, a Brāhmaṇa lady chanced to come there all of a sudden.

33. She had a one-year-old son with her. Widowed and penniless, she had to go a-begging door to door.

34. That Brāhmaṇa lady, Umā by name, having no kinsmen except her only son, having recourse to the path of beggary, saw the prince.

35. On seeing the prince who appeared like the solar disc fallen (from the sky) crying helplessly, the lady thought at length thus:

36-39. ‘A great miracle has been seen by me now. This infant has not yet got the umbilical cord cut. Where has its mother gone? Has he no father? Has it no other kinsmen? Alas! This pitiably helpless boy is lying on the bare ground.

Is this a Cāṇḍāla-born child? One born of a Śūdra? Of a Vaiśya? Is he the son of a Brāhmaṇa? Or of a king? How is this to be known about the child?

I would rather take up this infant and nourish it like my own bosom-born child. But I dare not touch him, because his parentage is not known.’

40-42. As the Brāhmaṇa lady was pondering thus, a certain mendicant, the veritable Lord Śiva himself, came there. The excellent mendicant told her: “O Brāhmaṇa lady, do not be upset. O lady of fair eyebrows, guard and nurse him without the least bit of hesitation. Ere long you will attain great welfare through this child.”

43-45. Having said this much, the sympathetic mendicant (of Kāruṇika sect?) went away hurriedly.

When the mendicant had gone, the Brāhmaṇa lady confidently took the child to her own house. Having full confidence in the words of the mendicant, that chaste lady brought up the prince too like her own son, with loving care. She settled down in her house in the beautiful village named Ekacakra.^[2]

46-49. She brought up her own son and the prince by means of the alms she procured. The Brāhmaṇa lady’s son and the prince were consecrated by Brāhmaṇas. They grew up duly honoured by others. At the proper time, they were invested with the sacred thread. The boys strictly observed all religious rites and conventions. Everyday they walked round for the purpose of alms along with their mother.

Once, in the course of her begging round along with the boys, the Brāhmaṇa lady happened to enter a temple. The temple was full of elderly sages. Seeing the boys the wise sage Śāṇḍilya said:

50-55. “Ha! Wonderful indeed is the might of fate! Ha! The power of Karma is irresitible. This boy is dependent on another boy’s mother and sustains himself by means of alms. Considering this excellent Brāhmaṇa lady as his mother, he has adopted a Brāhmaṇical way of life along with the Brāhmaṇa’s boy.”

On hearing these words of Sage Śāṇḍilya, that Brāhmaṇa lady bowed down (to him) in the assembly, and asked with unconcealed surprise: “O Brāhmaṇa, this boy was brought home by me at the instance of a mendicant. Though I am unable to trace down his antecedents till today, I am bringing him up like my own son. In which family is he born? Who is his mother? Who is his father? I wish to know everything from you, endowed with the eye of wisdom.”

56. On being asked thus by the Brāhmaṇa lady, the sage endowed with the vision of superhuman knowledge narrated to her the details of his birth and early life.

57. He narrated in detail that he was the son of the king of Vidarbha, and that the father was killed in battle and the mother was carried away by a crocodile.

58-60. That lady whose surprise and curiosity was kindled, again asked the sage, “How did the king die in battle, thereby forgoing all worldly enjoyments? O great sage, how did this boy come to face penury? How will he shake off his poverty and regain his kingdom?

It behoves you to instruct me the means of getting rid of poverty of this boy as well as of my son, who now maintain themselves by means of the alms received by begging.”

Śāṇḍilya said:

61. That king of Vidarbha,^[3] this boy’s father, was the excellent king ruling Pāṇḍya kingdom in his previous birth.

62. Conversant with all pious rituals, the king, ruling the entire earth, once worshipped Śaṃbhu at the time of Pradoṣa.

63-68. Even as he was devoutly worshipping the Lord of the three worlds, there was a tumultuous sound all over the city.

Suspecting that there was some revolt in his city on hearing the loud report, the king ceased to proceed with the adoration and came out of the palace.

In the meantime, his mighty minisṭer captured the vassal king who attacked him as an enemy, and approached the king. On seeing his enemy, the haughty vassal king brought near him by the minister, the king became angry and asked his head to be cut off. Further, the king had stopped the worship of Śiva in the middle, and without formally concluding his routine observances, took food at night. His son too, in the height of his arrogance, deluded that he was, did the very same mistake. Without worshipping Śiva at the time of Pradoṣa, he took food and went to sleep.

69. In his next birth that king became the ruler of Vidarbha. In view of this interruption in his adoration of Śiva, he was killed by his enemies even as he was having worldly enjoyment.

70. His son in the previous birth became again his son in the present birth. He had to face poverty because of the violation of the rules of procedure in the worship of Śiva.

71. In her previous births, his mother had fraudulently killed her co-wife. Due to that great sin, she was seized by a crocodile in the present birth.

72. These are the details of the acts of the persons concerned and have thus been conveyed to you. Men guilty of non-performance of the worship of Śiva attain poverty.

73. I am speaking the truth. I am speaking what is conducive to the welfare in the other world. I am speaking the essence of all the Upaniṣads. The turmoil of worldly existence is actually insignificant There, the significant essence is the service rendered by a creature to the lotus-like feet of the Lord.

74. Those who do not worship Giriśa at the time of Pradoṣa, those others who do not bow down to Śiva worshipped by others, those deluded ones who do not imbibe this story by means of their cupped ears become utterly poor in all their births.

75. Those who perform the worship of the lotus-like feet of Parameśvara at the time of Pradoṣa with fully concentrated mind, will have their wealth, stock of grain, wife, progeny, good luck and assets on the increase in this world itself.

76. After placing Gaurī, the mother of the three worlds, on a gemset golden pedestal in his abode on the Kailāsa mountain, the Trident-bearing Lord wishes to dance at the time of Pradoṣa. All the Devas then attend upon him (and eulogize).

77. The Goddess of Speech plays on the lute; the Lord of Devas, Indra, plays on the flute; the Lotus-born Brahmā is active on the cymbals; Goddess Lakṣmī looks into the musical procedure; Viṣṇu dexterously plays on the Mṛdaṅga drum; the Devas stand in attendance all round. Thus everyone serves the Lord of Mṛḍānī at the time of Pradoṣa.

78. When the time of Praḍoṣa arrives, Gandharvas, Yakṣas, birds, serpents, Siddhas, Śādhyas, Vīdyādharas, immortal ones, bevies of celestial damsels and others inhabiting all the three worlds including goblins, stay at the sides of Hara.

79. Hence, at the time of Pradoṣa, only Śiva should be worshipped and not the others (such as) Viṣṇu, Brahmā etc. If Maheśa is duly worshipped, all the lords of the celestial beings become pleased.

80. This your son in his previous birth was an excellent Brāhmaṇa, but he spent his life accepting monetary gifts and not by performing Yajñas and other excellent rites.

81. Hence, O beautiful Brāhmaṇa lady, he faced poverty. In order to remove that defect, let him seek refuge in Śaṅkara.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

VV 5-14 describe the importance of Pradoṣa-Vrata.

[2]:

Mod. Chakarnagar, 16 miles south-west of Itawah—De 59.

[3]:

The motif of rebirth is used to explain the disastrous results of omission of Śiva-worship.