Chapter 38 - The Story of Andhaka

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Sanatkumāra said:

1. When the blood of the Rākṣasa no longer remained after being drunk, the face of Cāmuṇḍā became red and resplendent.

2-4. When Andhaka blazed, her terrible teeth and lips became dark and similar (to those of) the death at the end of the Kalpa. The eyes with blazing filaments (as it were) became quiescent. She shrieked and howled with loud gruff tone of terrible volume. She had a coronet made of the feathers of Garuḍa and her face shone awfully, with the sharp curved fangs of teeth bursting out like shoots. With an angry wry face she placed the tip of the skull therein. Caṇḍī embellished with fierce brawny arms drank his blood.

5. As she drank the blood, the king of the Daityas became emaciated. His eyes became excited and he became weak and wasted.

6. Thus Andhaka, the Dānava, lost all the virility in his body. By force he withdrew all his Māyā (power of creating illusions). He became excessively weak.

7. In his excess of fright, he eagerly desired protection of his life. On seeing no other go in the world, the Daitya eulogized Śaṅkara.

8. He kept his palms joined together in reverence. His body experienced excess of horripilation. He forsook his qualities of Rajas and Tamas and adopted Sāttvika (pious) feelings of inner fervour.

9-10. With his mind free from impurities, he eulogized Lord Śaṅkara of praiseworthy features, having the crescent-moon for his ornament on the head. Possessed of devotion with a permanent knowledge, he prayed to the Lord, the cause of all the worlds, the chief of all the gods.

Andhaka said [Andhaka’s Prayer:]

11. I seek refuge in that Śaṅkara who offers refuge at the time of annihilation (of the world) (or death) though he is the cause of the world—Śaṅkara who is the creator of the entire universe consisting of the mobile and immobile beings and who is the giver of pleasure and pain to what is created.

12. I seek refuge in that Śaṅkara, the bestower of succour, whose grandeur and dignity is highly divine and on whom meditate the Yogins who are devoid of delusion, darkness and Rajas Guṇa, from whom desires have receded, whose minds have single-pointed concentration due to devotion and whose intellects are unimpeded.

13. I seek refuge in that Śaṅkara, the bestower of protection, who always holds on his head the divine river, the pure disc of the moon with shining rays and half of whose body is resorted to by the Daughter of the King of mountains.

14. I seek refuge in that Śaṅkara, the bestower of refuge, whose lotus-like feet are served by Siddhas and Cāraṇas and who held on his head like a garland Gaṅgā who is impassable due to great waves and who dropped down from the sky sanctifying the three worlds.

15. I seek refuge in that Śaṅkara, the bestower of succour, who by pressing with his lotus-like foot steadied the peak of Kailāsa that was being shaken by the Ten-headed One (Rāvaṇa) who (himself) resembled the peak of Kailāsa.

16. I seek refuge in that Lord Śaṅkara, the bestower of succour, who, at the time of the sacrifice of Dakṣa shattered the eyes of Bhaga as well as the row of the teeth of Pūṣan and who paralysed and benumbed Indra who had taken up the thunderbolt in his hand.

17. I seek shelter in that Śaṅkara, the bestower of refuge, by whom the sons of Diti, the sons of Danu, Vidyādharas, Serpents, Gaṇas and excellent sages whose food consists of fruits and roots, have been blessed with all (kinds of) boons.

18. I seek refuge in that Śaṅkara, the bestower of succour, by resorting to whom people became enjoyers of happiness and even in Kṛta Yuga those who were attached to worldly pleasures, have been endowed with knowledge and known qualities.

19. I seek refuge in that Śaṅkara, the bestower of shelter, who saved (my) charioteer from the jaws of death, who had given boons a great many times to Brahmā, Indra, Viṣṇu and Maruts along with Ṣaṇmukha (Skanda).

20. The great soul (Lord Śaṅkara) who cannot be approached by others and who was propitiated by the penance of Dhūmravrata (‘imbibing smoke as an austerity’) bestowed Saṅjīvanī (the power to resuscitate the dead) to Bhṛgu (Śukra). I seek refuge in that Śaṅkara, the bestower of succour.

21. I seek refuge in that Śaṅkara, the bestower of succour, the Lord who for the sake of pastime created the seven worlds of meritorious names, worlds embellished with different kinds of rivers, birds and trees along with Brahmā.

22. I seek refuge in that Śaṅkara, the bestower of shelter, the Lord who with the tip of the nails of the lotus-like left hand, suddenly plucked the fifth head of Brahmā, the head with an awful hole resembling a lotus (blooming) in sunshine.

23. Those persons who are deluded and who do not know you, the most excellent preceptor (Patriarch) of all the Suras and the creator of this universe including the mobile and immobile beings, experience torture afterwards when their prosperity and false prestige disappears. They experience this even as I experience it.

24. A person of righteous acts who recites this prayer, a devotee of Śiva who listens to it always in the assembly of Brāhmaṇas and who always performs auspicious rites, goes to the world of Śiva permanently [without any break(?) ].

Sanatkumāra said:

25. Even as a hundred years elapsed while he was eulogizing thus, Lord Śaṅkara, the trident-bearing Lord, with a bull as his emblem, was pleased and he spoke thus:

26. “Son, welfare unto you. I am pleased with you. Now you have become free from impurities. I shall give you divine vision. Look at me without mental affliction.

27. O excellent Dānava, tell me whatever benefit has been desired mentally by you; I shall grant you.”

The Dānava said:

28. The position of Brahmā, Viṣṇu or Indra is characterized by coining and going (i.e. impermanence). All this is known to me. I do not desire it at all.

29. O Lord of Devas, if you are pleased, grant me Gāṇapatya—lordship of the Gaṇas. That is something especially pure and everlasting.

Mahādeva said:

30. You shall become the presiding officer of the Gaṇas, devoid of death, without old age and all kinds of miseries. You shall be bowed down to by the entire world.

31. You can assume any form you like. You shall be a great Yogin of excessive strength and vigour. You shall be endowed with Aṇimā (minuteness) and other spiritual powers. You shall be my favourite forever.

Sanatkumāra said:

32. Thereupon that glorious Andhaka obtained those rare boons and became an attendant of Mahādeva and vanished there itself.

33. When Andhaka departed, Brahmāṇī and other goddesses came to the place where the Lord was present, the Lord who bestowed the boons on Andhaka.

34. They prayed to Mahādeva. The delighted Maheśvara made Cāmuṇḍā, his confidante Śivā.

35. On seeing Śaṅkara stationed before them and eulogized by them, Brahmā and others became delighted and praised him by means of different kinds of hymns.

36. When those imbibers of blood became pacified by Śaṃbhu and they were pleased, he spoke these excellent words for the sake of their establishment:

37-38. “Since all of you, excessively powerful ones, were born in the Āvantya region, you will become well-known in the world as Āvantyamātaraḥ (‘Mothers of the Āvantya region’). Residing in Avantī steadily, richly endowed with pleasure and destroying all sins, you will be the bestowers of boons on the worlds.

39. If, with concentration and mental purity, anyone were to visit you on the new-moon day in the month of Śrāvaṇa devoutly, he shall have the worlds of great prosperity.

40. A person without a son will beget a son; a seeker of wealth shall get wealth. He shall have comely features and good fortune. He shall be an enjoyer of pleasures and expert in all the scriptures.

41. He shall go to the world of the ancestors by means of a vehicle to which swans are yoked. He will be honoured there. Protect ye all this city duly in every Kalpa.”

42. After saying thus, the Lord of Devas, went to Mountain Kailāsa. He was eulogized by the terrible attendants of Rudra and the chiefs of groups of immortal ones and Daityas.

43. He who faithfully reads and listens to the praise worthy of the Lord of the groups of Asuras and Suras shall go to Rudraloka, the storehouse of all happiness, the eternal resplendent world adored by the leaders of the groups of Suras and Danujas.