Dūrvā Māhātmya

The Dūrvā Māhātmya is the greatness of dūrvā grass in the pūjā of Gaṇeśa. It is a group of four accounts in the Upāsanā Khaṇḍa of the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa. They teach that dūrvā offered to Gaṇeśa, even one blade and even by accident, is worth more than all the wealth of the three worlds.

The four accounts are the three beings who cursed one another, the weighing of the three worlds, the humbling of King Janaka, and Anala-āsura and the twenty-one blades of dūrvā.

The three who cursed one another

Three beings named Sumuḷabha (also spelled Sumulabha), Madhusūdana and Samudra had fallen into enmity in a past age. They cursed one another, and each was bound to a low or painful form of life. Their śāpa (curses) tied them together across many lives. None of them could undo this by his own effort.

On Bhādrapada śukla caturthi, the great day of Gaṇeśa, each of the three, going about his own life, passed through a garden where dūrvā grew. Without any thought of pūjā, each of them came into contact with dūrvā grass near an image of Gaṇeśa. In the source, one account is that they brushed against dūrvā that had been placed near the image. The other is that they gathered some blades and set them down near the image. The offering was not meant. Still, it was dūrvā, and it was offered on Gaṇeśa Caturthi.

Gaṇeśa accepts the smallest act of love with great grace. He took even this accidental offering as a full act of bhakti (devotion). By the puṇya (merit) of that one offering, all three were freed from their curses at the same moment. Their bonds of karma dissolved, and all three reached moksha.

This account teaches that dūrvā has such power that even unplanned contact with it, in the pūjā of Gaṇeśa, brings the full freeing power of devotion offered on purpose. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 62–63)

Kauṇḍinya and Āśrayā: the weighing of the three worlds

The ṛshi Kauṇḍinya once asked his wife Āśrayā about true devotion to Gaṇeśa and about the puṇya of different offerings. Āśrayā knew the upāsanā of Gaṇeśa well. She asked him a question in return. Which is heavier: all the wealth of the three worlds, or one blade of dūrvā offered to Gaṇeśa with a pure heart?

Kauṇḍinya reasoned in the usual way. He said that the wealth of svarga (heaven), the antariksha (the space between) and the earth must outweigh one blade of grass. This wealth is all the gold, gems, cattle, grain and holy objects. Āśrayā then told him what the Purāṇa says. When this question was settled by a divine proof, a pair of scales was set up before the devas. All the wealth of the three worlds was put on one pan. On the other pan was put one blade of dūrvā, offered to Gaṇeśa with full bhakti and with the speaking of his name.

The pan with the dūrvā went down. The pan with all the wealth of the three worlds went up into the air. The dūrvā outweighed everything. This proof shows an eternal rule: the worth of dūrvā in the pūjā of Gaṇeśa cannot be measured in any worldly coin. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 64)

The humbling of Janaka

King Janaka of Videha was known in the three worlds for his jñāna (knowledge) and his open-handed welcome of guests. At some time a quiet pride had entered his heart. He was proud of his name as the greatest giver and the wisest of kings. Gaṇeśa decided to test and correct this pride, in the way of his divine play.

Gaṇeśa took the form of a wandering brāhmaṇa. He was hungry, tired from the road and plain to look at. He came to Janaka’s palace and asked for food. Janaka received him with all honour, and the royal kitchen began to serve. The brāhmaṇa ate and kept eating. The kitchen made more food, and he went on eating without a pause and without being full. The royal stores of grain and ghee were brought, and he ate all of them. Cattle were slaughtered, and he ate. All the wealth in the storehouses of Videha was put to use. Still the guest was hungry.

Janaka’s shame and alarm grew. Then word came from outside the city. An old couple, too poor to own anything, had been gathering dūrvā by the roadside all morning. They wished to give something for the king’s welcome. So they sent a small bundle of fresh dūrvā, to be offered first to the image of Gaṇeśa in the palace shrine and then used to welcome the guest.

The bundle of dūrvā from the poor couple was placed before the brāhmaṇa. He touched it and smiled. At that moment his hunger was fully satisfied. He belched with contentment and lay down in peaceful rest. Janaka stood amazed.

The brāhmaṇa then showed his true form. He was Gaṇeśa, four-armed and shining, smiling at the stunned king. His message was clear. No amount of worldly wealth, however generously given out of pride, can match a small offering of dūrvā placed before him with true and humble love. Janaka’s pride melted away in that vision. In its place came true humility and a new devotion. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 65–66)

Anala-āsura and the twenty-one blades of dūrvā

The account of Anala-āsura is the most far-reaching of the dūrvā accounts. It tells how an asura of fire was born and destroyed, and how a lasting rule of Gaṇeśa’s pūjā began.

The birth of Anala-āsura

Anala-āsura was born from the retas (seed) of Yama, the deva of death, at a time of great turmoil in the worlds. He took the form of pure fire. He was a terror to every being in all three worlds. Devas, daityas and humans alike ran from him. No weapon could put out a being born of the fire of death itself. The devas could not face him. They gathered before Brahmā and begged for help. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 67)

Bāla Gaṇeśa swallows the asura

Brahmā told them all to take refuge in Gaṇeśa. Gaṇeśa then came in his form as Bāla Gaṇapati, the child form. With the easy play of a divine child, Bāla Gaṇeśa simply opened his mouth and swallowed Anala-āsura whole.

The asura was destroyed, but his nature as pure fire stayed on inside Gaṇeśa’s body and made a terrible heat within. Bāla Gaṇeśa is the master of all creation, yet he took on this suffering of his own will, for the sake of the three worlds. The heat grew so strong that his divine body began to give off flames that could be seen. The devas and ṛshis watched in distress. They did not know how to ease the suffering of Bhagavān Gaṇeśa. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 67)

The cooling by dūrvā

Eight thousand eight hundred ṛshis gathered. They knew that dūrvā cools and purifies. Each one offered twenty-one blades of dūrvā to Bāla Gaṇeśa. As each offering touched him, the fire inside him cooled. Little by little, through the offering of all these ṛshis together, the fire of Anala-āsura was fully put out within Gaṇeśa’s divine form. His suffering was eased, and he smiled again in his child form.

From this event came the lasting tradition. Twenty-one blades of dūrvā are offered to Gaṇeśa in every pūjā, most of all on Bhādrapada śukla caturthi. It is not only a custom. It keeps alive the memory of how dūrvā alone could cool the fire that nothing else could put out. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 67)

The names given to Bāla Gaṇeśa

After this, the devas and ṛshis praised Bāla Gaṇeśa with four names that recall this act of protection.

• Phālacandra: he on whose brow the moon rests
• Padmahasta: he who holds the lotus in his hand
• Vyālabaddha: he who is bound with serpents
• Kālānalaprāśamana: he who calmed the fire of time and death

At the place where this happened, an image of Gaṇeśa was set up as Vijayanagara-Vighnahara. The place became a great tīrtha. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 67)

What the four accounts show

1. Even accidental contact with dūrvā on Caturthi frees a being from the bonds of karma that have gathered over lives.
2. One blade offered with pure bhakti outweighs all the wealth of the three worlds.
3. Dūrvā given with humble love satisfies Gaṇeśa when the greatest royal feast cannot.
4. Dūrvā offered by the gathered ṛshis is the one thing that could cool the fire within Bhagavān Gaṇeśa himself.

The traditional offering is twenty-one blades of dūrvā, with the name of Gaṇeśa spoken for each blade as it is placed.

Sources

• Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 62–67
• Chapters 62–63: the three who cursed one another
• Chapter 64: Kauṇḍinya and Āśrayā, the weighing of the three worlds
• Chapters 65–66: the humbling of Janaka
• Chapter 67: Anala-āsura, Bāla Gaṇeśa, the twenty-one blades of dūrvā and the four names