Nīlakaṇṭha
Nīlakaṇṭha means “the blue-throated one”. It is the name of Bhagavān Śiva after he drank the terrible Kālakūṭa poison and held it in his throat. The Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, in its Poorva Bhāga, tells how this happened. Brahmā named him Nīlakaṇṭha at the moment his throat turned dark. Bhagavān Śiva himself tells the account to Pārvatī on Kailāsa.
How the account was handed down
The account comes through a chain of speakers. At Naimishāraṇya there lived the Vālakhilya ṛshis, eighty-eight thousand in number. They were ūrdhvaretas (those who hold their life-force upward) and they lived on air and water. They heard Vāyu greet the rising sun with the word “Nīlakaṇṭha”. They wondered what the name meant. They went to Vāyu and asked why the throat of Īśvara, the husband of Ambikā, had become blue. Vāyu then told them what had been told to him.
Vāyu said that the great ṛshi Vasishṭha, a mānasa-putra (mind-born son) of Brahmā and devoted to dharma, had once asked this same question of Kārttikeya. Kārttikeya, also called Mahāsena, rides a peacock. He killed Mahishāsura and gave grief to the mothers of many asuras. He smiled and told Vasishṭha what he himself had overheard while sitting on Pārvatī’s lap on the shining peak of Kailāsa.
Pārvatī’s question on Kailāsa
Kailāsa was a most beautiful peak. It was decorated with many minerals and crystal stairs. Divine trees grew there, wrapped in creepers. Divine swans and cakravāka birds sang there, and siddhas and gandharvas came often. The music of vīṇās, flutes and mṛdaṅgas echoed through the caves. Bhagavān Śiva sat there at ease, after his victory over Manmatha.
Around him crowded his bhūta-gaṇas in endless forms. Some had the heads of lions, tigers, elephants, horses, cats or foxes. Some had one eye, some had many eyes, and some had none. Some had limbs like serpents, and some had many arms. Some blazed like fire, some smoked, some shone, and some sat in meditation.
Pārvatī, the daughter of Girirāja, sat beside her husband. She looked at his throat and felt a gentle curiosity. She said: “O Bhagavān Śiva, master of past, present and future! O Mahādeva, who destroyed the body of Manmatha! What is this dark colour on your shining throat? It looks like a gathered rain-cloud. O Īśvara, why is there a blue mark on your white throat? Tell me everything, for my curiosity is great.”
The Kālakūṭa rises
Parameśvara heard his beloved’s question and began to tell her. In the age of the samudra-manthana (the churning of the ocean), the devas and asuras churned the ocean because they wanted amṛta (the nectar of life). The first thing to rise was not nectar. It was the terrible poison Kālakūṭa. It blazed with a fire like that of pralaya (the end of the world). It was dark as a rain-cloud and swift as death. Its light equalled a thousand suns, and it could burn all three worlds.
The devas and asuras were so afraid that even the fair and shining body of Bhagavān Vishṇu turned dark (kṛshṇa) in the glow of that poison.
All the devas, daityas and dānavas, with the ṛshis, ran to Brahmā. They stood before the Lokapitāmaha (grandfather of the worlds), their faces pale, and begged: “O Pitāmaha! The ocean is being churned and a fearful poison has risen. It blazes like the fire of pralaya. It has taken the tejas (radiance) of all the devas. None of us can bear the force of this Kālakūṭa. Not you, not Vishṇu, not even the greatest of the devas. No one can, except Śiva alone.”
Brahmā’s stotra to Śiva
Brahmā heard the plea of the frightened worlds. He sat in deep dhyāna (meditation) on the all-pervading divine light, Parameśvara, and composed a stotra. Śiva later said that this praise was sung by Brahmā himself and so was very powerful. It calls Śiva by name after name.
Obeisance to you, O Virūpāksha! Obeisance to you who have divine vision! Obeisance to you who hold the fish (mīna) in your hand! Obeisance to you, O Vajrahasta! Obeisance to the ruler of the three worlds, the master of all bhūtas, the destroyer of the enemies of the devas, you whose eyes are Candra, Sūrya and Agni! Obeisance to you who are Brahmā, Rudra and Vishṇu! Obeisance to the Sāṃkhya-jñānī, to the yogin, to him who is the whole of the bhūtas!
Obeisance to the destroyer of Manmatha’s form! Obeisance to Kālaprishtha! Obeisance to Suretasa! Obeisance to Rudra, Devadeva, Ugra, Kapardī, Karālā, Śiva, Śaṃkara, Hara, Kapālī, Virūpa, Varada! Obeisance to the destroyer of Tripura, to him who destroyed Daksha’s yajña, to the master of the devamātṛs, to the eternal, the pure, the liberated, the strong, the sole hero of the three worlds!
Obeisance to Candra, Varuṇa, Agruvyakta, Ugra, Vipra! Obeisance to him of many eyes, to the rajas principle, to the sattva principle, to the one born of the unmanifest! Obeisance to the eternal, to the non-eternal, to the eternal and non-eternal together!
Obeisance to the manifest, the unmanifest, and the manifest-unmanifest! Obeisance to the conceivable, the inconceivable, and the conceivable-inconceivable! Obeisance to the destroyer of the world’s grief, to the beloved of Nārāyaṇa, to the beloved of Umā, to Śarva! Obeisance to him who is himself the paksha (fortnight), māsa (month), ardhamāsa (half-month), ṛtu (season) and saṃvatsara (year)! Obeisance to Bahurūpa, to him with matted hair, to the staff-bearer, to the chariot-warrior! Obeisance to the Brahma, Yajus and Sāma Vedas in living form! Obeisance to Purusha, to Īśvara!
When the stotra was finished, Brahmā bowed to the ground with his whole body (sāshṭāṅga namaskāra). He prayed: “O Rudra, you stay unmanifest even while we pray to you. Your matted hair is scattered by the waters of Gaṅgā. You are subtler than even yoga concentration can see. O Mahādeva, show yourself and save the worlds!”
Śiva drinks the Kālakūṭa
Śiva woke at Brahmā’s prayer and spoke: “O master of the worlds, O Brahmā, what has brought you here? The three worlds are under your care. By your grace, the groups of devas hold rule of three kinds: ādhyātmika, ādhibhautika and ādhidaivika. Who has troubled your wealth? What danger has come?”
Brahmā answered: “O Bhagavān Śiva, you are master of all three times! While the devas and asuras were churning the ocean, a terrible poison rose. It is Kālakūṭa, O Śiva. It blazes like the fire of pralaya and is dark and dreadful like a storm cloud. We are all terrified. O Mahādeva, we cannot bear the force of that poison. You alone can. You alone can swallow it. Please drink it for the good of all beings.”
Śiva said: “So be it.” He drank the Kālakūṭa, which had terrified devas and asuras alike. The poison stayed in his throat, and he did not let it enter his body. His throat turned dark. It was dark as a black lotus, dark as the coils of Takshaka, and dark as a rain-cloud resting on a mountain.
Brahmā looked at the blue-throated Mahādeva with wonder and deep respect. He said: “O Mahādeva, O Suvrata! By this darkness born of the poison, your throat now shines with glory!” At that moment, looking at the one who had swallowed the Kālakūṭa, Brahmā named him Nīlakaṇṭha. His throat had been white as a conch. Now it was the colour of a dark lotus, and of a rain-cloud resting on a mountain peak.
The praise of all beings
The devas, daityas, uragas, yakshas, gandharvas, bhūtas, piśācas and rākshasas saw this great act. Śiva held the terrible Kālakūṭa in his throat, and his body showed the mark of it. They came together in wonder and bowed with joined palms. They said:
O Īśa! How immeasurable is your strength! How wonderful are your vīrya and parākrama! O Devadeva, O Manmatha-dehavināśana, how extraordinary is your lordship! You are Vishṇu; you are the four-faced Brahmā; you are Mṛtyu; you are Varada; you are Sūrya; you are Candra. This moving and unmoving world, all of it, you alone are its form. You are Vahni, you are Pavana, you are Pṛthivī, you are Jala!
The devas took their shares of the amṛta. They bowed their heads, rose in their vimānas (flying chariots), and went toward Meru. In this way the great secret of the blue throat of Nīlakaṇṭha was made known.
The fruit of hearing this account
Śiva told Pārvatī: “This account, told by Brahmā himself, is closely guarded, supremely holy and supremely auspicious. Any creature, moving or unmoving, that is touched by even a trace of the poison will be freed of it the moment this account is heard. It destroys what is terrible and inauspicious. It drives away bad dreams. The one who meditates on it gains favour among women, favour in the royal court, victory in debates and victory in battle. That person gains success on journeys, honour in royal assemblies, and wealth and good fortune at home.
“A brāhmaṇa who hears it becomes learned in the Vedas. A kshatriya gains land. A vaiśya gains profit. A śūdra gains happiness. The sick are freed from illness, and the bound are released. A pregnant woman gives birth to a son. An unmarried girl finds a worthy husband.
“One who hears even a quarter of a verse, or half a verse, or only the meaning of a verse, reaches Rudraloka. There was no stotra greater than this before, and there will be none in the future. In any house where this stavamukhya (chief of hymns) lives, neither yakshas, piśācas, bhūtas nor any obstructors can do harm.”
Sources
- Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Poorva Bhāga