Tārakāsura Vadha (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa)

Tāraka was an asura of great strength. The Gaṇeśa Purāṇa tells in the Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 83 to 89, how he won a vara (boon) from Brahmā, took the three worlds and was slain by Skanda, who is also called Kārttikeya. The Purāṇa tells this to show Gaṇeśa’s grace. It was his grace, working through Skanda’s tapas (austerity) and the Varada Gaṇapati vrata, that made the victory possible.

Tāraka’s vara and his rule

Tāraka did terrible tapas for two thousand divine years. Brahmā was moved by its force. He appeared before Tāraka and gave him a vara. Tāraka asked with cunning to be safe from death at the hands of all devas, daityas, yakshas, gandharvas, nāgas and rākshasas, and from their weapons. Brahmā gave him this wide protection, and left only the narrowest of exceptions.

Tāraka grew bold and took the three worlds. He sat on Indra’s throne in Amarāvatī. He drove Brahmā out of Brahmaloka. He forced Bhagavān Vishṇu to withdraw into the Kshīrasāgara in a deep yoga-nidrā (yogic sleep). He even invaded Kailāsa and drove Bhagavān Śiva into the shelter of a cave. The digpālas (guardians of the directions) were thrown out of their posts, and daityas were set in their places. Yajña, veda-pāṭha (recitation of the Veda) and the worship of all the devas stopped in all three worlds.

Tāraka proclaimed proudly: “I alone am to be worshipped! Anyone who worships another deva will be punished.” The devas hid in mountain caves. The ṛshis went to secret forest āśramas. All life by dharma stopped in fear. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 83)

The devas’ prayers

The devas hid in far-off caves of the Himālaya. They prayed with urgent devotion, first to Bhagavān Śiva and then to the Devī. They first praised Bhagavān Śiva as Ashṭamūrti, the one with eight forms, whose body holds earth, sky, water, fire, air, the yajamāna (the one who offers the yajña), the sun and the moon. They begged him to rise from his yogic state and save them. When Bhagavān Śiva did not answer, they turned to the great Jaganmātā (Mother of the World). They praised her as Ādi Śakti (the first power), the bhava-tāriṇī (the one who carries across the ocean of birth) and the destroyer of asuras.

The Devī answered and appeared in a beautiful form. She told the devas: “Śiva is the one who can settle this in the end. But he is in nirvikalpa samādhi and must be brought back to deha-bhāva (awareness of the body). For this you must go to Manmatha, the deva of desire.” (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 83)

The Kāmadahana: the burning of Manmatha

At the devas’ request, Manmatha, the deva of desire, took his bow of flowers and his five flower arrows and went to Bhagavān Śiva’s tapovana (forest of tapas). Near the place where Bhagavān Śiva sat in meditation he made a garden of delights for the senses. It had beautiful flowering trees, sweet blossoms, the sound of bees and the heady scent of spring. The scents reached Bhagavān Śiva and for a moment broke his samādhi. He had a brief experience of deha-bhāva.

Bhagavān Śiva saw that his stillness had been broken and looked around in anger. He saw Manmatha crouching in the garden with his bow drawn, ready to shoot. Before Manmatha could flee or the devas could step in, Bhagavān Śiva opened his third eye. The fire from it burned Manmatha to ash in one moment.

The devas cried out in dismay. Before they could plead further, Devī Pārvatī came forward in the form of a hill woman (bhillī) and made a humble prayer to Bhagavān Śiva. She told him why Manmatha had acted. It was for the good of the worlds, so that the great warrior who would destroy Tāraka could be born. Bhagavān Śiva was moved by her prayer and her beauty. He held back his anger and took her to Kailāsa. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 84)

The birth of Skanda

Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī, in her bhillī form, were joined on Kailāsa. Their union lasted sixty thousand years. The devas were still waiting in their caves. When they heard that the union was complete and that the divine child would be born, they gathered at the gates of Kailāsa but dared not break in. Then Bṛhaspati said that Agni should be sent, in the form of a brāhmaṇa begging for alms, to break the divine seclusion. Agni took the form of a wandering yati (ascetic) and cried at the door: “Bhikshāṃ dehi!” (Give alms!)

Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī heard the beggar. Though they were in a divine state, they answered the old duty of welcoming a guest. At that moment Bhagavān Śiva placed his divine tejas (seed) in the joined hands of Pārvatī as alms. Pārvatī could not bear its great heat and passed it to Agni, who stood there as the beggar. Agni, burning from the tejas of Bhagavān Śiva, could not bear it either, and in the end let it go into the holy waters of the Gaṅgā.

Six Kṛttikā women came to bathe in the Gaṅgā at that moment. They drank the water that held the divine power and became pregnant. Their husbands, the great ṛshis, saw by divine sight that they were with child. They could not understand how this had come about, and they threw the women out of their homes. The six Kṛttikās came to the river bank and gave birth among the reeds. The six births became one. Out of that union came a shining child with six faces (shaṇmukha) and twelve arms. His one cry shook the sky and the worlds. Stars fell from the sky, all fourteen worlds shook, and strong winds pulled trees from the ground. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 85–86)

The naming of Skanda

Nārada Maharshi, passing through the sky, saw the shining child on the river bank. He went straight to Kailāsa to tell Pārvatī. Pārvatī hurried to the Gaṅgā and took the child in her arms, and her milk flowed of itself in a mother’s love. Gaṅgā also claimed the child. Agni said he was his son. The Kṛttikās said he was theirs. All of them took their claims to Bhagavān Śiva.

Bhagavān Śiva set the child on his lap with love and had Brahmā and Bṛhaspati perform the nāmakaraṇa (naming ceremony). These names were given:

• Kārttikeya: born in the month of Kārttika
• Shāṇmātura: son of six mothers
• Śarajjanma: born among the reeds (śara-dvīpa)
• Shaḍānana or Shaṇmukha: the six-faced
• Tārakajit: the one who will conquer Tāraka
• Senāni: commander of the divine armies
• Skanda: the name that points to the three-fold skandana (spilling) of Bhagavān Śiva’s tejas before it reached the child

The devas were filled with joy and came to Kailāsa. They bathed the child in the holy waters of the divine rivers and set him up as Senādhyaksha, the supreme commander of the armies of the devas. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 86)

Skanda’s tapas to Gaṇeśa

Skanda had been made the commander of the devas. But he understood that the victory over Tāraka needed the grace of Gaṇeśa in particular. The devas could not win it with all their strength together. He went to Bhagavān Śiva and asked to be taught a supreme vrata that would give every siddhi (power) in battle and in life. Bhagavān Śiva taught him the Varada Gaṇapati Vrata, the monthly vrata from Śrāvaṇa śukla caturthi to Bhādrapada śukla caturthi. Then he himself gave Skanda the Gaṇeśa mantra.

Skanda went to a holy forest grove near the great tīrtha of Gṛshṇeśvara and kept the Varada Gaṇeśa vrata with hard tapas. He stood on one leg and said the Gaṇeśa mantra without stopping. Day by day he kept the whole order of the pūjā. When his sādhana (practice) was complete, Gaṇeśa appeared before him in a four-armed form. He held the paraśu (axe), the aṅkuśa (goad), the pāśa (noose) and the danta (tusk). He wore a bright crown and a serpent for his sacred thread. Skanda asked for three varas: lasting victory in all battles, firm bhakti (devotion), and Gaṇeśa’s divine peacock (mayūra) as his vāhana (mount). All three were granted. Gaṇeśa also said that from that day he would be worshipped at that kshetra (sacred place) as Lakshya Vināyaka, the Vināyaka who was the aim (lakshya) of Skanda’s meditation. On this occasion Skanda gained the name Mayūradhvaja, the one whose banner is the peacock. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 89)

Tāraka’s defeat

Skanda had Gaṇeśa’s grace and the divine peacock as his vāhana. He led the armies of the devas against Tāraka. The battle lasted one hundred thousand years. Tāraka, kept safe by his wide vara, could not be killed by any of the devas, by their weapons or by the great forces of the worlds that the devas sent against him. But Skanda, given power by Gaṇeśa’s grace, was able to break through all his defences and struck Tāraka down. The asura was slain. The three worlds were glad. Yajña, vedādhyayana (study of the Veda) and the worship of the devas were set up again in all the worlds. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 89)

Manmatha and Ratī’s prayer

Manmatha had been turned to ash by the third eye of Bhagavān Śiva. His wife Ratī wept without comfort and prayed to Bhagavān Śiva with great devotion. He was moved by her prayer and said: “Manmatha will from now on be called Manobhava, born in the mind. Whenever you think of him he will be with you, though he has no body. In a later age he will be born as Pradyumna, the son of Kṛshṇa, and you will be joined to him as his wife.”

Ratī took this comfort, but she begged further that Manmatha’s form be given back. Bhagavān Śiva told Manmatha to worship Gaṇeśa with the Ekāksharī mantra. Manmatha did a hundred years of tapas with Ratī at his side in a holy grove, later known as Janasthāna, saying the Ekāksharī mantra. Gaṇeśa appeared in a splendid ten-armed form and granted all Manmatha’s prayers. Manmatha would take a body in the age of the Kṛshṇa avatāra. All would honour him. All the things that draw the heart, such as flowers, moonlight, sandalwood and the sound of bees and water, would serve as his weapons. Gaṇeśa would always be near him. At that holy place Manmatha set up the image of Gaṇeśa called Mahotkaṭa and built a golden shrine. The place became the famed tīrtha of Janasthāna. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 88–89)

Sources

• Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 83–89
• Chapter 83: Tāraka’s vara and rule; the prayers of the devas
• Chapter 84: the burning of Manmatha
• Chapters 85–86: the birth and naming of Skanda
• Chapter 89: Skanda’s tapas to Gaṇeśa and the defeat of Tāraka
• Chapters 88–89: Manmatha and Ratī