Brāhmaṇa Who Became Vīrabhadra’s Attendant

In the Pātāla Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa (Chapter 106), the ṛshi Dadhīca tells of a brāhmaṇa who became an attendant of Vīrabhadra. The brāhmaṇa had lived with much pāpa, and was punished by Yama and reborn as a dog. The dog died lying against the wall of Dadhīca’s āśrama, in contact with bhasma (sacred ash). The messengers of Bhagavān Śiva then raised him at once. His faithful wife Avyayā was honoured by Yama himself.

A hundred years of pāpa

The brāhmaṇa spent a hundred years in adultery. In the same years he once did a true act of worship: he offered a thousand droṇa measures of flowers to Bhagavān Śiva. But he had also stolen ghee from the lamp of Bhagavān Śiva, and this wrong was counted against the flowers in Yama’s reckoning.

The judgment of Yama

After he died, the brāhmaṇa was brought before Yama. Yama gave him the punishment that fitted his many acts of pāpa, including the theft from the lamp of Bhagavān Śiva. The brāhmaṇa went through this punishment in the regions meant for such ātmās (souls).

Avyayā and her pativratā dharma

The brāhmaṇa’s chaste wife, Avyayā, was fully devoted to her husband in spite of his pāpa. When he died, she entered his funeral pyre. This is the highest act of pativratā-dharma (a wife’s dharma of devotion to her husband). The ṛshi Nārada was present and helped her in the rite.

Avyayā came to the assembly of Yama, not as a condemned ātmā but as one raised by the power of her dharma. Yama himself honoured her with respect.

Rebirth as a dog

When the brāhmaṇa had gone through his punishments, his ātmā was reborn as a dog, a low birth. The dog lived its life in the ordinary way.

Death against the wall of Dadhīca

The dog died lying against the compound wall of the āśrama of the great ṛshi Dadhīca. The wall held bhasma. At the moment of death the dog’s body touched this bhasma.

This one contact with sacred ash at the moment of death, with no intention, no pūjā and no recitation, was enough to overcome all his past record. The messengers of Bhagavān Śiva came and raised his ātmā at once.

Attendant of Vīrabhadra

The brāhmaṇa became a divine attendant of Vīrabhadra, the chief warrior-gaṇa of Bhagavān Śiva. He was given the name Śvanmukha, which means “dog-faced”.

Told by Dadhīca

The ṛshi Dadhīca himself tells this account. The wall of his āśrama was the means of the brāhmaṇa’s last liberation.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 106