Chapter 84 - Uttareśvara (uttara-īśvara-liṅga) [2]

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Note: ‘Uttareśvara’ is not a repetition of Ch. 44 of the same name. This Chapter is a mixture of prose and poetry. This Chapter should have been titled ‘Dardureśvara Māhātmya’, but as it is installed in the north, it is named Uttareśvara. The story is simple. King Parīkṣit of Ayodhyā lost his way while hunting. He saw a beautiful girl near a pond. The girl consented to marry him on condition that she should not be shown water. Once he showed her a beautiful tank full of frogs. The stipulation being violated, she jumped into the tank and disappeared. The king ordered the massacre of all frogs. So the king of frogs requested him to stop killing. The girl married to the king was his daughter and had gone to Nāgaloka. She would come when remembered. She was called and offered to the king. The frog-king told that formerly he was a king, called Āyuḥ [Āyus], cursed by Gālava to be a frog. Gālava told him to visit a Liṅga at the northern side of Mahākālavana and that he would be released after offering his daughter to a solar king. He went to see that Liṅga and went to heaven. The Devas decided to call it Uttareśvara. Hence it is so named. The pieces of prose sentences and verses show that the original writer left a rough draft before composing verses. The final redactor copied that draft and presented practically a prose Chapter.

1-12. O Pārvatī, listen to the greatness of Uttareśvara, which is destructive of sins in their entirety and which dispels births, deaths, old age and ailments.

There was a king in Ayodhyā named Parīkṣit. He was highly intelligent and was born of a very distinguished family. He went for hunting. He followed a deer and the deer ran far away. In the long weary path, he was exhausted and overwhelmed with hunger and thirst. In a certain part of the forest, he saw a blue forest and entered it. in the southern part of the forest region, he saw a lake which he entered along with his horse. Having strewn lotus stalks in front of the horse, he got down to the lake and laid himself for rest. He heard someone singing as he lay there. On hearing the songs he began to think: ‘I do not see human habitation or approach here. Whose may the voice be?’ He looked around, he saw a girl of exquisite beauty gathering flowers. The king approached her and asked, “Oh! You are a girl of great beauty, very nice to look at and you are gathering flowers. To whom do you belong?”

13-27. The king added: “I seek you (for marriage).” The girl said: “I can be attained by you only under certain stipulated conditions. Not otherwise.” The king asked her: “What are your conditions?” The girl said: “Water should not be shown to me.” The king said: “Certainly so,” and remained in close association with her. When they continued to stay there, his army too came there and stood round the king who was seated along with her. The king who was duly honoured, went back to his own city in a palanquin along with her. He held secret amorous dalliance with her and never looked into any other matter. The chief minister asked the ladies who were attending upon the king within the palace: “What is the purpose here?” The women said: “We find something unusual. Water is never resorted to here.” The minister made the place devoid of water. The trees were mere wood with plenty of fruits and flowers in autumn season. Thereafter he said to the king: “This forest is devoid of water. May you be pleased to sport about here.” At his suggestion the king entered the forest along with her. Accompanied by his wife, he sported about in that beautiful forest. After entering along with his beloved, the king saw a tank full of crystal-clear water. He saw the tank full of frogs and stood on its banks along with that fair lady. Then the king said to that fair lady, “The water in the tank is very calm.” On hearing his words, she sank under the water in the tank and did not come up. The king searched for her but could not see her.

28-39. On seeing the tank full of frogs, the king commanded his servants: “Let all the frogs be exterminated. If anyone wants to come to me for any favour, let him come with frogs as presents.” Accordingly, when the slaughter of frogs went on in every direction, a big frog came there and knowing him to be furious, the frog said to him thus: “Be pleased. It does not behove you to kill the innocent frogs. There is a relevant verse: ‘Oh Acyuta (‘Unswerving One’)! Do not kill the frogs. Control your anger. The Great Dharma becomes reduced even as the people watch and know.’” As the big frog said thus, the king admitted himself as one grief-stricken at the séparation from the beloved one and said: “She could not have been killed by one without a motive. These wicked frogs have killed my wife. In every respect these frogs should be killed. O learned one, it does not behove you to prevent me.” On hearing the words of the king, he became grief-stricken and pained mentally. He said: “O king, be pleased. I am the king named Āyuḥ. The girl you came across is my daughter. That girl has gone to the world of serpents where the king of serpents is Nāgacūḍa. If she is remembered, she will come back.” The king said to him: “Let her be remembered, brought and be given to me.” Thereupon he remembered her, gave her to the king and said: “Gālava, the great sage with limbs emaciated through penance, was laughed at by me. But he remained powerfully patient. He was rendered furious through Dardurabālya (pranks of a small frog). Therefore, I was cursed: ‘You disrespected me and laughed at me through Dardurabālya. Hence you will become a Dardura (frog).’

40-50. On being pacified, the Brāhmaṇa said: ‘My curse cannot become futile and untrue. Hence in your next birth you will become a frog-king. After giving your daughter to a king born of the Ikṣvāku race and possessing all good qualities you will go to Mahākālavana. After visiting the Liṅga in the northern part of that holy spot, you will attain salvation. Your daughter will go to Pātāla but on being remembered she will come.’ Hail unto you! I shall carry out my own tasks.” After saying this Dardura went to Mahākālavana. He visited the Liṅga in the northern part. As a result of visiting, he got into an aerial chariot which was studded with rubies and attended by Siddhas and Gandharvas. Then he went to Śakraloka. Noticing its greatness, Bṛhaspati, the preceptor of Devas, spoke these words: “How great is the Liṅga! What a great super-human power of the Liṅga! Indeed the accursed Dardura has come to Vāsavaloka (Indra’s world). King Āyuḥ who had become a Dardura is liberated.” On hearing these words of the preceptor of the Devas, O Pārvatī, all those Devas became delighted in their minds. With great attention and care, they assigned a name to the deity. “King Dardura has been rid of the birth as a frog, by visiting that Liṅga; hence the deity will become well-known as Uttareśvara Deva. He will be destroyer of sin and curse.” After saying this, all the Devas adored Uttareśvara. O goddess, the Gaṇa who had been employed by me for the sake of the protection of the holy spot is the bestower of worldly pleasures and salvation. He is the destroyer of great sins. Dardura too was unassailable. He also attained god-hood.

51-60. After going to the northern direction, if a devotee visits Uttareśvara, he becomes endowed with all prosperity and goes to the higher Loka. He will be comely, always self-controlled, endowed with good features and sons, devoid of ailments and meritorious in habits in the course of seven births. By visiting Uttareśvara one will get the prosperity of Kubera, Śakra, Yama and Varuṇa and even more. O lady of great renown, those who visit the deity named Uttareśvara on the fourteenth lunar day in the dark half, become blessed in Kali Yuga. Of what avail are Dānas, penances and Yajñas with a lot of monetary gifts? Merely by visiting (the deity), one gets kingdom, heaven and salvation in due order. By visiting the deity Uttareśvara, a sin committed ever since the birth whether very small or very big perishes entirely.

Thus eighty-four deities in Mahākālavana about whom you asked, have been recounted to you. O goddess, those men who perform the pilgrimage of these shrines, whether clockwise or anti-clockwise, with great devotion, will attain the great region. A man who devoutly adores the Liṅga there redeems a hundred members of his maternal and paternal family. Thus, O goddess, the sin-destroying power of eighty-four Liṅgas has been recounted to you. What further do you wish to hear?

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