Chapter 14 - Bhadrāyus Gets Śiva’s Favour

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Sūta said:

1. After ascending the throne, the heroic king Bhadrāyus once entered a beautiful forest along with his wife.

2-5. During the charming spring season, he sported with his wife in that forest where Aśoka trees had put forth full-blown flowers and fresh tender sprouts; where in hedges jasmine flowers had blossomed and bees were humming and hovering; where lovers indulged in great festivities as the fragrance of fresh Kesara (saffron) flowers (as if) captured them; where Aśoka and Tamāla trees had thickly grown in clusters together with buds recently sprouted; where there were many pavilions of spring creepers stooping down due to the weight of flowers; that was rendered beautiful by mango trees with lustrous sprouts and flowers; where male cuckoos continued to coo, fluttering about in the Punnāga groves.

6. Not far (from him), the excellent king saw a Brāhmaṇa couple shouting and running about, chased by a tiger.

7-8. “O great king, save us, save us, O king, O ocean of mercy. This tiger is rushing with great speed to devour us. O king, protect us, lest this tiger huge like a mountain, terrifying all living beings, should gobble us.”

9. On hearing this lamentation, the king took up his bow, but the tiger intercepted them and seized that woman.

10-12. The woman was shouting, “Oh my lord, Oḥ my beloved lord! Alas! Śaṃbhu, the lord of the universe!” Even as she was lamenting thus, the terrible tiger seized her. With sharp arrows the king hit the tiger, but it did not flinch with pain like a big mountain with showers of rain. Unafflicted by the king’s missiles, that mighty tiger grasped the woman forcibly and fled away.

13-21. On seeing his wife carried away by the tiger the Brāhmaṇa became excessively grief-stricken. He lamented. “Oh my beloved girl! Oh my chaste wife! How could you go to the other world leaving me alone? How can I have any desire to live after abandoning the wife more beloved than the vital breaths? Oh king, where are your great missiles? Where is your oft-praised great bow? Where is your strength supposed to be more than that of twelve thousand elephants? Of what use is your conch? Your sword? Of what avail is your erudition in Mantras and miraculous weapons? Of what avail is your effort? Of what avail is your superior power and influence?

All those things, whatever else you possessed, have become futile because you were incapable of preventing the wild animal of the forest. The greatest duty of a Kṣatriya is that of protecting (others) from injury. Hence your hereditary duty having perished, what can be the use of your continuing to live? Kings of duty-consciousness carry out the protection of the distressed who seek refuge in them, by offering their riches and even vital breaths. Those devoid of the same are comparable to the dead ones.

Mendicancy is better than householdership in the case of rich men, if they are not inclined to make gifts to others. Death is better than life to those incapable of protecting the distressed. A king should better swallow poison or enter fire, if he becomes incapable of protecting miserable, helpless persons who seek refuge in him.”

22. On hearing his lamentation and blunt rebuke of his prowess, the king thought thus himself feeling sorry for the whole event.

23-26. ‘Alas! My manliness has been lost today, because the fate is against me. My reputation is gone. I have incurred sin of great magnitude. Unlucky and worried I am with my action demanded by the occasion having gone away. Indeed my riches, kingdom and longevity will dwindle. The riches, enjoyments, progeny, wives and assets of unmanly ones appear and disappear in a moment due to fate. So, even risking my dear life, I shall make this grief-stricken Brāhmaṇa who is deprived of his wife, rid of his grief.’

27. Coming to this decision mentally, the excellent king Bhadrāyus fell down at his feet and spoke consolingly:

28-29. “Take pity on me, O Brāhmaṇa, on a base Kṣatriya deprived of his energy and prowess. O highly intelligent one, leave off your grief. I shall give you the object of your desire. This kingdom, this queen and this body of mine—all these are for you. Tell me what you desire.

The Brāhmaṇa said:

30-31. Of what use is a mirror unto one who is blind? Of what use is a house unto one who sustains himself by begging? Of what use is a book unto one who is a fool? Of what use is money unto one who has no wife? My wife has gone away. I have not enjoyed sensual pleasures sufficiently. Hence give me this crowned queen of yours for my pleasure.

The king said:

32-34. O Brāhmaṇa, is this a virtuous act on your part? Is this the command of the elders? Having sex with other men’s wives is unheavenly (leading to hell) and ignominous.

There are the donors of wealth, kingdom, horses and elephants. Somewhere the donor of one’s own body can be found, but never the donor of one’s own wife.

The sin incurred by one through the enjoyment of other men’s wives cannot be washed off even by hundreds of expiatory rites.

The Brāhmaṇa said:

35-36a. I can destroy by means of my power of penance even the terrible sin of a Brāhmaṇa’s slaughter and imbibing liquor. Why not then that of defiling other men’s wives? Hence give me this wife of yours; otherwise you are sure to go to hell due to your inability to protect persons distressed due to fear.

36b-37. The king became afraid at these words of the Brāhmaṇa. He then thought thus, ‘Being unable to protect is greater sin. Far better than that is the gift of the wife. Hence I shall make a gift of my wife to the excellent Brāhmaṇa and become freed from sins. Immediately I shall jump into the fire, so that my reputation may stay long.’

38-40. Having resolved thus he kindled a great fire. Inviting the Brāhmaṇa, he made a gift of his wife to him along with water offerings. He took his bath and became physically pure. After bowing down to all the gods, he went round the fire twice and meditated on Śiva with great concentration. As this devotee whose mind was devoutly attached to his feet was about to fall into the fire, Śiva, the Lord of the universe, manifested himself before him.

41-43. The king saw in front of him, Lord Śiva seated on his bull, the lord who had three eyes and five faces; he held the Pināka bow and had the moon’s digit for an ornament on the head. The tawny matted hairs were hanging loose. He was standing in the middle, dazzling with the splendour of ten million suns. He was as pure and white as a lotus stalk. He had hide of elephant as his garment. His head was washed by the waves of Gaṅgā. He shone with serpent kings for these ornaments: necklaces, bracelets, rings, crown, armlets and ear-rings. He showed in his hands a trident, skull-headed baton, axe, shield, deer, gestures of freedom from fear and granting of the boon and the Pināka bow. The Blue-throated Lord appeared before him.

44. Soon divine showers of flowers fell from the sky. Divine musical instruments were sounded. Devas sang and danced.

45. Nārada and other sages as well as Sanaka and other celestial sages came there; so also did Indra and other Guardians of the Quarters as well as the pure Brāhmaṇa-sages.

46. Seated in their midst along with Umā, Mahādeva showered the essence of his compassion on the king who remained bowing down with devotion.

47. The king began to eulogize with palms joined in reverence; his mind became (as if) expanded due to the delight of seeing him. Tears of joy drenched his limbs. Hairs stood on end and the words were choked in his throat (with emotion). Thus he eulogized:

The king said:

48. I bow down to the immutable lord who has no lord above him; I bow down to the chief and great one with unmanifest good qualities, to him who has no other cause but is the cause of all causes. I salute the great Śiva, the quiescent one, the embodiment of knowledge and bliss.

49. You are the witness unto the universe, the creator of this world. Your splendour is rooted therein and you abide in the heart. Hence persons knowing the proper procedure seek you by means of diverse Yogic practices involving restraint of the mind and its activities.

50. You are one to those who conceive you as one and single; you are multiformed to ṃose who think of you that way. Your region shrinks from the path of the mind since it is beyond the ken of sense-organs; it is the witness and it shows the flurries of rising and setting.

51. How can my words solely depending on Guṇas and merged in Prakṛti, be adequate to eulogize you who are difficult to be attained by speech and intellect, as you are the embodiment of the supreme soul free from delusion?

52. Still those words may support my devotion. Afflicted with the excessively terrible forest-fire of worldly existence, I always resort to thy lotus-like feet capable of destroying the distress of those who bow down. I bow down for the purpose of quelling the fear of repeated births.

53. Obeisance to you, to the lord of Devas. Bow to Śaṃbhu, the great lord. Obeisance to the lord in the form of the Trinity, the cause of creation, sustenance and dissolution.

54. Obeisance to the primordial form of the universe, to the first witness unto the universe. Hail to the principle of the nature of pure existence, to the one who is knowledge and bliss through and through!

55. Obeisance to the lord immanent in all the individual bodies for his abode. Obeisance to the power of soul distinct from the body. Obeisance to you, incapable and the apparently capable of huge size.

56. Obeisance to you free from illusory existence; to the permanent one, to the internal soul, embodiment of truth and knowledge, to the pure one, to the distant one, to the one devoid of Karmas in their entirety.

57. Hail to the lord to be known (only) through the Vedāntas, to one abiding at root (source) of the Vedas; obeisance to one whose activities are in secluded spots (i.e. incomprehensible); obeisance to the lord from whom the Guṇas recede.

58. Obeisance to the lord of benevolent prowess; to the lord bestowing benevolent fruits and benefits; obeisance to the infinite one, to the great one, to the quiescent one in the form of Śiva.

59. Obeisance to Aghora, to the terrible one, to the destroyer of terrible clusters of sins. Obeisance to the great Bharga, the destroyer of the seeds of worldly existence. Obeisance to the one who has destroyed delusion, to the one who has all the Guṇas of the Ātman fully manifest.

60. Save me, O lord of the worlds. Protect me, O Śaṅkara, the eternal one. Save me, O Rudra, O Virūpākṣa. Save me, O Mṛtyuñjaya (‘the vanquisher of Death’), O immutable one.

61. O Śaṃbhu having the moon for your crest-jewel, O lord of Gaurī of quiescent form, with the Sun, the Moon and fire constituting the three eyes! O Gaṅgādhara, O destroyer of the demon Andhaka, O lord of meritorious fame, O lord of goblins, O mountain-dweller, perpetual obeisance to you!

Sūta said:

62. On being eulogized thus by the king, Lord Maheśvara in the company of Pārvatī became pleased. The storehouse of mercy then said:

Īśvara said:

63-66. O king, I am satisfied with your devotion and the meritorious eulogy. With the mind not straying elisewhere, you have always worshipped me. It was īo test your devotion that I assumed the form of the Brāhmaṇa and came near you. The woman apparently seized by the tiger is this goddess, the daughter of the Lord of Mountains (Himālaya). The tiger is only a creation of Māyā and hence it could not be wounded by your arrows. Desirous of seeing the depth of your courage, I requested for your wife. I am delighted with the devotion of this Kīrtimālinī as well as that of yours. O bestower of honour, I shall gladly grant you any boon. Seek even if it is inaccessible.

The king said:

67. This itself is a great boon that you, the greatest lord, have come within the range of my vision despite the fact that I have been surrounded by the distress of worldly existence.

68-69. You are the leader among the bestowers of boons, O lord. I do not want any other boon except this: Make all these—this queen and I, my mother and father, the Vaiśya Padmākara and his son Sunaya—your perpetual attendants.

Sūta said:

70. Thereafter Queen Kīrtimālinī of great fortune bowed down devoutly and propitiated Giriśa. She requested for this excellent boon.

The queen said:

71. I request that my father Candrāṅgada and my mother Sīmantinī, O great lord, always reside near you.

72. The lord of Gaurī, fond of his devotees, said, “Let it be so.” After gladly granting them the boon as they desired, he vanished in a moment.

73. The king too, after getting the favour of the Trident-bearing Lord along with the Suras enjoyed all covetable worldly pleasures in the company of Kīrtimālīnī.

74. After ruling the kingdom for ten thousand years without any hindrance to the increase of his prowess, he entrusted the kingdom to his sons and attained the greatest region of Śaṃbhu.

75. The eminent king Candrāṅgada and the queen Sīmantinī devoutly worshipped Giriśa and went to the region of Śaṃbhu.

76. This narration of the good qualities of Śaṃbhu is holy and destructive of sins. It is a great secret and highly wonderful. He who narrates this to learned men and reads himself with mental and physical purity shall get all the requisites for enjoyment and in the end he will go to Śiva.