35. Incarnation of a Bhikṣu

In the Śiva Purāṇa, there is an account of Śiva’s Bhikṣu Incarnation. According to this legend, in Vidarbha, a city, there was a king named Satyaratha. He was a great devotee of Śiva. Once there was a battle between Satyaratha and the Śālva king. A large amount of warriors of king Satyaratha were killed by Śālva. Having seen this, the pregnant wife of Satyaratha fled from the city and started to invoke Śiva. In a propitious moment she gave birth to a son on the bank of a lake. Then the queen felt very thirsty and went to the bank for drinking water. But she was swallowed by a crocodile. The new born baby wept in hunger and thirst. At that time, a widow beggar was passing through that place and saw the infant. Actually, it was lord Śiva who had taken the form of a beggar and reached that place and he removed her doubt about the birth of the child.^[1] Sureśvara incarnation An interesting story about this incarnation of Śiva is portrayed in the Śiva Purāṇa thus—Upamanyu, a son of Vyāghrapāda, was very poor. He lived with his mother in the home of his maternal uncle. One day a little milk was given to him to drink in his maternal uncle’s home. He wished for more milk to drink and asked his mother to give it to him. Listening to his desire, his mother told him that without the grace of lord Śiva they can never get milk. Then Upamanyu started to perform penance for achieving the grace of Śiva. Śiva appeared before him in the form of Indra to test his devotion and told that he was satisfied with his devotion and desired to give him a boon. Then Upamanyu asked with his folded hands that he desired to have boon from Śiva who is eternal, multitude, separate from the existent and non-existent, beyond attributes and the cause of all causes. Then Upamanyu became angry and got ready to kill Indra as well as end his life. Delighted at his prayer, Śiva, assuming the form of Sureśvara with crescent moon on his forehead, appeared before him and gave him ten boons.^[2]