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Since about more than a month we all have been graced with the blissful darshan of the sacred shivlings around the world. But all this seems a little incomplete to me without the knowledge of the holy Shiv Puran. So how about we all start reading this sacred book together..And hopefully before I head to Kailash- we all will be blessed with the wonderful stories which are related to our creator. However, " The Shiva Purana has twenty-four thousand shlokas which are divided into six samhitas or sections." But I will not be posting any of the shlokas in these mails. I will be posting the most simplest version of the Shiv Puran with the blissful pictures of various temples as we go along- , so that it is easily understood by all of us and can also be shared with our children and grandchildren.May Lord Shiva bless us all in this journey of going one step closer to His Lotus feet . And last but not the least, My Humble Pranams to this Holy book along with all the Gods and Godesses ..
I have a kind request to all of you who read these mails that if you ever get lucky and are able to visit any of the sacred temples in reality- Plz do offer my Humble Pranams at these temples and thank the lord on my behalf for making us all feel his presence and His leelas around us..
Sai bhakt,
Deepa H
Now, Lets start reading this very sacred Shiv Puran by Saying
Om Shree Ganeshaya Namaha
Incase You have missed the previous mail /chapter of Shiv Puran - Here is the link
[Today we will continue with the sacred Shiv Puran about the story that why did Lord Vishnu fight a battle against Veerbhadra despite knowing about his invincibility ..But in order to understand that story --let me first tell u all abt the great Sage Dadhichi]
In the last mail we read that when Lord Shiva was informed by Nandi about Sati's death --,
he became very furious. He angrily pulled out a locks of hair and dashed it against the mountain, which got divided into two parts. From one part manifested the valiant Veerbharda and from the other part Mahakali. Veerbhadra and Mahakali were instructed by Shiva to destroy the yagya of Daksha and to kill all the people who were present during the time of Sati's death, including the deities and the sages. After getting the instructions from lord Shiva, Veerbhardra marched with a huge army which included the mighty Shivaganas like Dakini, Bhairav and Kapalish etc. Goddess Kali to joined him with her army which consisted of all her nine incarnations like Katyayani etc.A terrible battle was fought between the armies of Veerbhadra and the deities. The deities got defeated and fled away. They went to lord Vishnu and sought his help. Lord Vishnu decided to fight on the side of the deities. The battle recommenced for the second time. Lord Vishnu having a dual fight with Veerbhadra and the deities were fighting against his army. Suddenly everybody heard a heavenly voice which said that Veerbhadra was invincible. Hearing this, Lord Vishnu and Brahmaji went to their respective abodes. Daksha ran for his life and hid himself behind the attar where the yagya was being performed. But Veerbhadra pulled him out from there and severed his head. He then threw his head in the agni-kunda ]
Dadhichi, also known as Dadhyancha, is an important character in Hindu mythology. Dadhichi was the son of Atharvan, a rishi and his wife Chitti who was the son of Brahma He is revered amongst the greatest of sages and is portrayed as an example that no sacrifice is too great when the result is the good of the world. His bones are marked as symbol on the India's highest gallant award "parm veer chakra" as "Vajra".He was among one of the greatest among clan of bhrigus. He is credited with giving up his life in order to allow the Devas to use his bones to make weapons to defeat the Asura Vritra.Dadhichi is associated with many Hindu legends and is sometimes portrayed as having a horse's head.
Ashvashira - The One With The Horse's Head
Dadhichi is said to have been a master of a Vedic art known as Brahmavidya (Madhuvidya) that would enable mortals to attain immortality.Indra the King of the Devas felt his position was insecure with such power in the hands of a mortal man, especially one with as much power as Dadhichi possessed by virtue of being a rishi. Indra was also against the Ashwini twins learning Brahmavidya and swore that he would behead the one who taught them the art.However the Ashwini twins, wished to learn this art and devised a plan to protect Dadhichi from Indra's power. They learnt the art from Dadhichi after cutting off his head, preserving it and replacing it with one from a horse. Indra in his wrath beheaded the horse-headed sage and left. The Ashwini twins then put Dadhichi's head back and revived him with the Madhuvidya that he had taught them. This was how the sage came to be called Ashvashira - The One with the Horse's head.
Indra and Vritra - The Tale of the Vajrayudha
Indra the King of the devas was once driven out of devaloka by an asura named Vritra. The asura was the recipient of a boon whereby he could not be killed by any weapon that was known till the date of his receiving the boon and additionally that no weapon made of wood or metal could harm him. Indra, who had lost all hope of recovering his kingdom was said to have approached Shiva who could not help him. Indra along with Shiva and Brahma went to seek the aid of Vishnu. Vishnu revealed to Indra that only the weapon made from the bones of the sageDadhichi would defeat Vritra. Indra and the other devas therefore approached the sage, whom Indra had once beheaded, and asked him for his aid in defeating Vritra. Dadhichi acceded to the devas request but said that he wished that he had time to go on a pilgrimage to all the holy rivers before he gave up his life for them. Indra then brought together all the waters of the holy rivers to Naimisharanya, thereby allowing the sage to have his wish fulfilled without a further loss of time. Dadhichi is then said to have given up his life by the art of Yoga after which the Devas fashioned the Vajrayudha from his spine. This weapon was then used to defeat the asura, allowing Indra to reclaim his place as the King of devaloka.
Another legend of this story is...
During the time of war between Devatas and Rakshasas, the latter started robbing the weapons of the Devatas with their occult powers. This kind of occult tricks were strange and new to Devatas and so they could not face the situation. But they were certain that if they lost their weapons, nothing could save the Universe. After a lot of thinking they went to the sage Dadhichi and requested him to protect their weapons under his care and ran away to save themselves.
In good faith and love towards Devatas, Dadhichi kept the weapons with him, protecting them day in and day out, even neglecting his own austerities. Rakshasas could not venture to go near him but were waiting for an opportunity to rob the weapons.
Dadhichi waited for a long time for Devatas to return and collect their ammunitions. Finally, one day, with his divine powers, he put all the weapons in his sacred water pot and mixed them in the water and drank it. He was now free and could continue his regular penance undisturbed.
A short while after this, the Devatas returned and asked Dadhichi for their weapons.The Maharshi said "I waited for so long. I reckoned that you would never turn up. So I drank them away. They are all in my body as bones and flesh. To get them out now is very difficult."
However, Devatas went on pleading "Maharshi, we are now in a position to fight with Rakshasas. If we do not have our weapons, we will not be in a position to fight with them to save Dharma and the universe".
Dadhichi thought about it calmly and was convinced that Devatas deserved help.He said to Devatas "Alright, take your weapons back by killing me . They are presently in the form of my flesh and bones". Devatas refused to do so and said "We certainly do not want to commit the sin of killing a great Rishi like you. We can not afford to do this cruel thing".
But Determination to make a great sacrifice is one of the qualities of great saints like Dadhichi.
He then created a huge fire by his will power and entered into it and reduced himself to ashes, leaving behind only his bones. Much before Devatas realised what was happening, Lord Brahma suddenly appeared and converted each of the bones into various powerful weapons and gave them to the Devatas. Dadhihi's back bone was given as Vajrayudha to Indra with which he brought an end to the most powerful Rakshasas like Vruthasura.
Dadhichi not only protected the weapons of the Devatas, but also, enhanced their power by converting them into lethal weapons with the power of his penance. He also saw to it that Devatas did not commit the sin of killing the saint by reducing himself to ashes.
During my research, I came across this temple of Dadhichi’s sister Dadhimati known as Dadhimati Temple ..
My Humble Pranams to Sage Dadhichi and his sister Dadhimati at the sacred Dadhimati temple
Dadhich Brahmins are a subgroup of Brahmins who are the descendants of Rishi Dadhichi, who is said to have given his bones for making of the vajra, the mythological weapon created to kill the demon vritra/virtrasur. It was Dadhichi's father Atharvan who along with Angiras composed the Atharvaveda.
A temple of Dadhichi’s sister Dadhimati is found in the village.
Dadhimati Temple - Also known as Gothmanglod temple, 40 km away from Nagaur, the oldest temple of the district constructed during the Gupta Dynasty (4th Century), Kul Devi of Dadhich Brahmins.They are most ancient among Brahmins of the Marwad region and elsewhere.
Continuing with the sacred Shiv Puran about the story that why did Lord Vishnu fight a battle against Veerbhadra despite knowing about his invincibility ...]
[ in GIF format]
Narad, who was listening to the divine tales of Shiva with rapt attention, was very curious to know about the reasons why lord Vishnu attended a yagya where Shiva was not invited and why did he fight a battle against veerbhadra despite knowing about his invincibility.
Lord Brahma told him that all this happened due to the curse of Sage Dadhichi-
In the ancient times, there used to live a king named Kshuva, who was a great friend named Sage Dadhichi. Due to some reasons both of them developed animosity towards each other. Dadhichi considered himself superior because of being a Brahmin, on the other hand Kshuva considered himself superior on account of his wealth. The dispute took a worst turn and Dadhichi punched him on his head. As a result Kshuva felt down unconscious. When he regained his consciousness he attained sage Dadhichi with his weapon named Vajra, which injured Dadhichi.
Dadhichi sought the help of Shukracharya. Shukracharya healed his wounds by his mantras. He also taught Dadhichi the Mahamrityunjay Mantra. Dadhichi then did a tremendous penance to please lord Shiva. Lord Shiva appeared before him and blessed him with three boons, they were
1) His bones, would become as hard as lightning (Vajra),
2) He would not be killed
3) He would never be humiliated.
Armed with these three boons, Sage Dadhichi again went to fight Kshuva. He kicked him, in return Kshuva too attacked him with his weapon named Vajra, but it did not have any effect on Dadhichi as his bones had become as hard as lighting.
King Kshuva did a tremendous penance to please lord Vishnu. Vishnu revealed to him that Dadhichi had become immortal because of the blessings of lord Shiva, but assured him that he would certainly help him in defeating Dadhichi.Lord Vishnu then visited the hermitage of Sage Dadhichi, disguised as a brahmin. On being asked by Dadhichi about the purpose of his arrival, he said that he had come with a desire of a boon on his heart. Sage Dadhichi, by his yogic power came to know about the real identity of that 'Brahmin'. He told that he had been caught. Lord Vishnu was ashamed. Lord Vishnu then went back to Kshuva and instructed him to go to sage Dadhichi and act as if he had accepted his superiority. "Kshuva went to sage Dadhichi and did as he was instructed to do, but Dadhichi did not believe his words. Now lord Vishnu became angry and tried to kill him by his Sudarshan Chakra, but he was not successful, as the chakra, which was given to him by Lord Shiva himself, was not willing to harm a devotee of Shiva. "Lord Vishnu then tried to kill Dadhichi by shooting volley of arrows. The deities too attacked with their weapon. Sage Dadhichi threw a handful of Kusha grass, initiated with mantras towards them, which destroyed all the weapons of the deities." "In the meantime lord Brahma arrived on the scene accompanies by Kshuva. He told the deities that it was futile to fight with Dadhichi as he was invincible, due to the boon given by Lord Shiva," "Ultimately King Kshuva begged his forgiveness for his offence.
Dahichi forgave him but cursed Vishnu including all the deities that they would be burnt to ashes by the wrath of Rudra."
"This was the reason why all the deities and Lord Vishnu attended the yagya, organised by Daksha and got defeated by Veerbhadra."
The deities after being defeated by Veerdbharda went to Brahmaloka and narrated everything about the destruction of Daksha's yagya and also how his head was severed by Veerbharda. Brahmaji became very sad. To bring Daksha back to life and to accomplish the still unfinished yagya, he went to lord Vishnu to take his help. All the deities accompanied him. Lord Vishnu told them that it was wrong on the part of Daksha to have shown disrespect to Shiva. The deities were wrong to support him. Lord Vishnu then went to Kailash mountain, accompanied by Lord Brahma and all the other deities. All of them eulogized and worshipped Shiva. They also requested him to bring Daksha back to life.Lord Shiva became very pleased and agreed to make Daksha alive. All of them went to Kanakhal-the place where Daksha had organised the yagya ceremony. Veerbhadra too accompanied them. When they reached the site, Lord Shiva could not hold his laughter after seeing the destruction of the site. Anyway, he joined the head of a goat to the torso of Daksha's body and made him alive. He also compensated for all the losses which had been caused by the destruction. All the deities became very pleased and they eulogised Shiva. Once againbecoming pleased by the invocation and eulogy of the deities,
Lord Shiva preached Daksha in the following way-
"The person who has the right knowledge (gyani) is the supreme among all human beings. An action which is performed in one's ignorance and jealousy does not liberate a man from his world bondages. "
O Daksha then accomplished his yagya singing the praise of lord Shiva. Sati - the daughter of Daksha was reborn as Gauri- the daughter of Himalaya and Maina. By her tremendous penance she again had lord Shiva as her husband.
[Tomorrow will continue with the sacred Shiv Puran where Narada requests Lord Brahma to shed light on the birth of Maina ].
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