Puranic encyclopaedia

by Vettam Mani | 1975 | 609,556 words | ISBN-10: 0842608222

This page describes the Story of Daksha included the Puranic encyclopaedia by Vettam Mani that was translated into English in 1975. The Puranas have for centuries profoundly influenced Indian life and Culture and are defined by their characteristic features (panca-lakshana, literally, ‘the five characteristics of a Purana’).

Story of Dakṣa

Two Dakṣas.

In most of the Purāṇas references about two Dakṣas occur. In some purāṇas both are referred to as one and the same person, whereas in some others both are considered as separate persons, so much so the stories concerning both are interlocked and entangled very often. The fact is that there was only one Dakṣa, whose life was of two stages. The first Dakṣa was killed at the sacrifice of Dakṣa, at which point, ends the first stage, or the first Dakṣa. The second stage was the rebirth of the same Dakṣa. A short biography of Dakṣa including both stages is given below:—

Brahmā created by his mind, the seven great hermits, Marīci, Aṅgiras, Atri, Pulastya, Vasiṣṭha, Pulaha and Kratu. So these seven hermits are called the Mānasaputras (sons born from mind) of Brahmā. After this, from the anger of Brahmā, Rudra was born, and from his lap Nārada, from his right thumb Dakṣa, from his mind the Sanakas and from his left thumb a daughter named Vīraṇī were born.

"vīraṇī nāma tasyā stu asiknītyāpi sattamā"

From this passage which occurs in Kālikā Purāṇa it may be assumed that 'Asiknī' was another name of Vīraṇī. Dakṣa did penance in the mountain of Vindhya for a long time. It is mentioned in Bhāgavata, Skandha 8, that Mahāviṣṇu appeared before Dakṣa and gave him Asiknī as his wife.

Several sons were born to Dakṣa by his wife Asiknī. The last one was a daughter named Satī who became the wife of Śiva. At this time Dakṣa performed a sacrifice. As he was not invited to that sacrifice, Śiva sent Vīrabhadra and Bhadrakālī and killed Dakṣa. Though the devas put the head of a goat in place of the lost head and brought Dakṣa to life again, no reference is made about the life of Dakṣa after the sacrifice. Thus the first stage of the life of Dakṣa ends. (Devī Bhāgavata, Skandha 7).

After this, once the Pracetases (the ten sons of Barhis) were engaged in penance and the earth was not properly cultivated in consequence of which big trees grew up and the whole of the earth was changed into a big forest. The sky was covered with tree tops. It was difficult even for the wind to pass through them and thus the forest thrived for ten thousand years. The pracetases got out of the sea after penance and entered the shore. When they saw the big forest they got angry and the ten of them discharged fire and wind from their faces. The wind up-rooted the trees and the fire dried them. Thus almost the whole of the trees were consumed. Then Candra, the King of the medicinal herbs came there and told the Pracetases "Oh, Kings, hold your anger. I will make the trees conclude a treaty with you. The beautiful Māriṣā who was born to the trees is my foster-daughter. I give her to you as your wife. From half the portion of your minds and half the portion of my mind the great and wise prajāpati Dakṣa is going to take birth in her womb".

The Pracetases controlled their anger and accepted Māriṣā as their wife, at the words of Somadeva (Candra) and as the son of the ten pracetases the Prajāpati Dakṣa was born. With this the second stage of the life of Dakṣa begins. The important occurrences in the two stages of the life of Dakṣa are given below in their order.

Dakṣa’s creation of the prajas or subjects.

Once Brahmā called Dakṣa and ordered him to create prajās or subjects. Accordingly Dakṣa created the gods, the hermits, the Gandharvas (Demi-gods), the Asuras, the serpents etc. Seeing that the subjects he created were not proliferating as required he thought of creating subjects by coition of male and female; and he begot by his wife Asiknī five thousand sons, and they were called Haryaśvas. They in their turn were about to create subjects when Nārada appeared before them and said "Oh, Haryaśvas, you are mere children and ignorant of the secrets of this world. How do you intend to create subjects? You fools, since you have the power to go up and down and lengthwise and breadthwise, why don't you try to find out the extremities of the earth?" Hearing the words of Nārada, they all ran in different directions and have not returned since. Thus Dakṣa lost the Haryaśvas. Dakṣa again begot thousand sons by Asiknī and they were called Śabalāśvas. Seeing that they also were about to create subjects Nārada scattered them also, by some tricks. The Śabalāśvas who had gone to see the end of the earth have not yet returned.

Dakṣa got angry with Nārada and cursed him thus: "You also, like my children shall wander from place to place all over the earth". From that dry onwards Nārada became a wanderer, without a fixed dwelling place. The wise Prajāpati Dakṣa again begot sixty damsels by Asiknī. Ten of the girls were given to Dharmadeva, thirteen of them to Kaśyapa, twentyseven of them to Soma, and four of them to Ariṣṭanemi. Of the rest two were given to Bāhuputra, two to Aṅgiras and two to the wise Kṛśāśva. The names of the wives of each are given below:—

Kaśyapa.

Aditi, Diti, Danu, Ariṣṭā, Surasā, Khasā, Surabhi, Vinatā, Tāmrā, Krodhavaśā, Irā, Kadrū, Muni.

Dharmadeva.

Arundhatī, Vasu, Yamī, Laṃbā, Bhānu, Marutvatī, Saṅkalpā, Muhūrtā, Sādhyā, Viśvā.

Soma.

Aśvayuk, Bharaṇi, Kṛttikā, Rohiṇī, Mrgaśiras, Tārakam (Ardrā), Punarvasu, Puṣyam, Āśleṣam, Janakam, Phālgunī, Uttaraphālgunam, Hastam, Citrā, Svātī, Viśākham, Anurādhā, Jyeṣṭhā, Mūlam, Purvāṣāḍham, Uttarāṣāḍham, Śroṇa, Śraviṣṭhā, Pracetas, Purvaproṣṭhapadam, Uttaraproṣṭhapadam, Revatī.

The names of the wives given to Aṅgiras, Ariṣṭanemi, Bāhuputra and Kṛśāśva are not mentioned.

Besides these damsels, twentyfour daughters were born to Dakṣa of his wife Prasūti who was the sister of Uttānapāda. Dharmadeva married thirteen of them also, named Śraddhā, Lakṣmī, Dhṛti, Tuṣṭi, Medhā, Puṣṭi, Kriyā, Buddhi, Lajjā, Vapus, Śānti, Siddhi, Kīrti. Of the rest, Khyāti was given to Bhṛgu, Satī to Śiva, Saṃbhūti to Marīci, Smṛti to Aṅgiras, Prīti to Pulastya, Kṣamā to Pulaha, Santati to Kratu, Anasūyā to Atri, Ūrjā to Vasiṣṭha, Svāhā to Agnideva and Svadhā to the Manes. (Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Aṃśa 1, Chapter 15).

Sacrifice of Dakṣa.

Once Dakṣa performed a sacrifice called Bṛhaspatisavana. To this sacrifice he did not invite his daughter Satī or her husband Śiva. Dakṣa did not invite them because of three reasons according to the Purāṇas.

(1) Once Durvāsas, the son of Atri, went to Jambūnada and meditated with the mantra or spell of 'Māyābīja' and worshipped Jagadambikā (mother of the world) the goddess there. The goddess was much pleased and gave him as a token of her pleasure the garland of flowers she wore from which nectar was oozing. Durvāsas wore it on his head and went to the palace of Dakṣa, the Prajāpati. When he saw such a wonderful garland which was not of this world, he wanted to have it and Durvāsas instantly gave it to Dakṣa. He placed it in a prominent place in his bedroom and enjoying the wonderful fragrance of it he conjugated with his wife, and polluted that pure garland by his lust. Śiva and his wife came to know of this and they scolded Dakṣa, who kept this bitterness in his heart and when the sacrifice was performed, he decided not to invite them. (Devī Bhāgavata, Skandha 7).

(2) Śiva was considered as a polluted man by Dakṣa as he had always been carrying with him the skull of Brahmā and so he thought it wrong on his part to admit his daughter and son-in-law to the sacrificial hall. The story of how Śiva came to have the skull, is given below.

In days of old when the whole world was under the single ocean (of the great flood) the sun, the moon, the fire, air everything was destroyed and darkness prevailed. All the vegetations were destroyed. All the emotions and non-emotions disappeared. The supreme Lord was sleeping for so many thousands of nights together. At the end of the night he assumed the attribute of 'Rajoguṇa' (activity) and got ready to create the universe. From the face of the Supreme Lord and creator of the universes came out Brahmā with five faces. In the same way, Śiva with three eyes and matted hair, and trident and rosary of beads (Elaeo carpus) and with attribute of 'Tamas' (darkness—destruction) also came out. Both Brahmā and Śiva were filled with egoism and both began to quarrel with each other. It was a contest as to who was greater. The contest ended in attack. Śiva plucked off the fifth head of Brahmā, when the same face, flushed with anger, scolded Śiva. The head fell into the hands of Śiva, who could not throw it down as it didn't come off from his hand. Brahmā cursed Śiva and made him polluted. Since Śiva became polluted, his wife Satī also was considered as polluted by Dakṣa. (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 2).

(3) Once the prajāpatis performed a sacrifice. Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva were present there. Dakṣa, who had been invited by the prajāpatis also was present. When Dakṣa entered the hall his son-in-law Śiva did not rise up. This arrogance of Śiva made Dakṣa angry. Dakṣa made up his mind to take vengeance on Śiva, and performed a sacrifice known as Bṛhaspatisavana. To that sacrifice he did not invite Śiva or Satī.

Hearing that her father was conducting a sacrifice Satī came uninvited. But Dakṣa did not even look at her. Satīdevi whose heart was broken at this treatment made a fire and jumped into it and died. Śiva became furious when he came to know of this. Being overwhelmed with sorrow and anger he beat his matted hair on the ground, from which two monsters, Vīrabhadra and Bhadrakālī, came out. They ran to Dakṣa’s sacrificial hall and destroyed everything they saw, killed everybody, caught hold of Dakṣa and cut off his head. Then they began to create havoc in the whole world. The hermits and sages began to take to flight. Men and animals shivered. Thus the three worlds began to tremble with fear. The gods approached Śiva with supplication to curb his anger. The gracious Śaṅkara was pleased to recall the monsters. After that everybody requested him to bring Dakṣa back to life. But the search made for the head of Dakṣa was futile. At last Brahmā took the head of a goat and joined it to the headless trunk of Dakṣa. Thus he was brought to life again.* (Devī Bhāgavata, Skandha 7).

Cursing Candra.

Candra had married twentyseven daughters of Dakṣa. But he showed particular attachment to Rohiṇī. The other twentysix wives could not bear this. They made a complaint to their father Dakṣa. Dakṣa called Candra and advised him to show equal attachment to all his wives and not to show any partiality to anyone. Candra did not gainsay his father-inlaw, but he did not make any change in his disposition. After a few days all the daughters except Rohiṇi went to the palace of Dakṣa and told him that they were going to stay with him. This time Dakṣa got angry and called Candra and cursed him to become a sick man (of consumption).

From that day onwards Candra became a patient affected with consumption. All the vegetations in the world began to weaken. It appeared that the world was about to be destroyed. So the gods approached Dakṣa and requested him to show some leniency towards Candra. Dakṣa accordingly called Candra and told him that he would be affected by consumption only for a fortnight and after that he would recover gradually. Candra went to Prabhāsa tīrtha and Sarasvatī tīrtha and dipped in water. He began to recover from that day. It is according to the curse of Daksa that Candra (Moon) waxes and wanes. (Mahābhārata Śalya Parva, Chapter 35).

Other information.

(1) Dakṣa has another name 'Kan'. "Dakṣa the Prajāpati is a son of ten fathers. He has two names. They are Dakṣa and Kan." (Mahābhārata Śānti Parva, Chapter 208, Stanza 7).

(2) When the emperor Pṛthu milked the earth, Dakṣa was crowned as the King of the subjects. (See under Pṛthu).

(3) It occurs in Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, Chapter 11, Stanza 18, that Dakṣa was a member of the assemibly of Brahmā.

(4) Dakṣa was one of those who visited Bhīṣma in his bed of arrows. (Mahābhārata Śānti Parva, Chapter 47).

(5) Mention is made in Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 166 that the devas, the manes, the gandharvas, the celestial maids, the Rākṣasas, animals and birds, fishes and all living creatures were born from the daughters of Dakṣa.

*). Though Dakṣa was brought to life again with the head of a goat there is no mention of him again in the Purāṇas. We hear of Dakṣa again as the son of Māriṣā.*. Though Dakṣa was brought to life again with the head of a goat there is no mention of him again in the Purāṇas. We hear of Dakṣa again as the son of Māriṣā.

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