Brahmā’s Mahāyajña at Pushkara

At the start of the kṛta yuga, Brahmā performed a very great mahāyajña (great fire ritual) at the tīrtha of Pushkara. It lasted one thousand divine years. All the devas, ṛshis and dānavas took part, and so did every being in creation.

The yajña brought several great events. Brahmā took the gopikā Gāyatrī as his wife. Śiva came as a bhikshu (a beggar) and left his skull behind. Sāvitrī came late and pronounced five śāpas (curses). Gāyatrī Devī then gave varas (boons) to all who had been cursed.

Background and setting

Brahmā had finished creating the cosmic order. He had made the seven dvīpas (islands, the divisions of the world), the varṇas, the dynasties and all beings, and he had set the ṛshis in their proper roles. Then he began a mahāyajña at the tīrtha of Pushkara. Its stated purpose was the welfare of the devas and of human beings, and the growth of the manifest creation.

Brahmā chose Pushkara because it is his own abode. There the great lotus (pushkara) fell from the lotus of Vishṇu’s navel and gave rise to Brahmā himself. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa calls Pushkara the most sacred of all tīrthas and the only place fit for such a yajña. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 16)

Preparations and the assembly

Brahmā chose his ṛtvijs (priests) with great care.

  • Hotā: Bhṛgu
  • Adhvaryu: Pulastya
  • Udgātā: Marīchi
  • Brahmā (the priest who oversees the rite): Nārada
  • Sabhyas (members of the assembly): Sanatkumāra and the others

Brahmā invited all beings: devas, daityas, dānavas, yakshas, nāgas, gandharvas, apsarasas, ṛshis, the Manus, the mountains, the rivers and the seven seas.

Vishṇu sat on Brahmā’s right and Rudra Pināki on his left. Indra was made dvārādhyaksha (guardian of the gate). Varuṇa supplied rasa (the juices and waters), Kubera gave out wealth, Vāyu brought fragrances, and Sūrya gave light. Bhagavān Vishṇu himself took overall charge as sarvādhikārī (the one in command of all).

Sāvitrī, Brahmā’s wife according to dharma, was called to take her seat beside him. She was busy with arrangements at home and insisted on waiting until all the devīs could come with her. Bṛhaspati carried word of how urgent it was, but Sāvitrī did not come. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 16)

The finding of Gāyatrī

The auspicious muhūrta (the right hour) was slipping away. Brahmā told Indra to find another kanyā (young woman). He said he did not wish to trouble himself about her varṇa or her family, and that when the yajña was over he would set her aside.

Indra went over the whole earth and found every woman married, except one. She was a beautiful gopikā (a cowherd girl) selling milk and curd at the roadside. Her beauty was exceptional, like a second Lakshmī.

Indra took her by the hand and brought her to the yajña-vāṭa (the yajña ground). She protested and cried out that he should ask her father’s permission, but Indra brought her anyway. When the gopikā saw Brahmā, love overcame her at once, and she knew the union was meant to be.

Bhagavān Vishṇu gave her the name Gāyatrī. He said: “Let this mahānubhāvurālu be known as Gāyatrī.” Brahmā then married her by gāndharva vivāha (a marriage by mutual consent). Bṛhaspati led her, dressed in the dīkshā garments (the dress of consecration for the rite), to the patnyīśāla (the place for the wife of the yajamāna).

The gopas, Gāyatrī’s family, came in distress. Vishṇu comforted them. He promised to be born among their line in a later age. Gāyatrī herself sent word to her family not to grieve. The mahāyajña then went on and lasted a thousand divine years. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chs. 16–17)

Śiva comes as a bhikshu: the skulls

During the yajña, Śiva came to the yajña-vāṭa. He is Kapardī, the one with matted hair. He came in the form of a bhikshu and carried a large kapāla (skull). Five skulls hung on his body. They stood for Brahmā’s five heads, one of which Śiva had cut off earlier.

The ṛtvijs and sabhyas saw him from far off and were filled with disgust. The brāhmaṇas scolded him and told him to go.

Śiva said: “O brāhmaṇas, in this great Brahma-yajña no one has been turned away, except me.”

The brāhmaṇas told him to take his food and leave. Śiva agreed, but he left his kapāla in the sadas (the assembly hall of the yajña). A sabhya picked it up and threw it out, and another skull appeared in its place. That one was thrown away, and another appeared. The skulls kept multiplying until the whole sadas was full of them. The yajña could not go on. All the brāhmaṇas fled in terror to the forest of Pushkara.

There they chanted the Śatarudrīya (the hymn to Rudra) and offered praises. Śiva was pleased and spoke. He gave each brāhmaṇa a vara. Those who honour him with steady bhakti will never lack the Veda, wealth or children. Those who honour Vishṇu, Sūrya and Brahmā with a pure mind will meet no evil. He also granted the brāhmaṇas’ request that they be forgiven for their abuse of him.

Brahmā then gave Śiva the brahmasthāna, the place of highest reverence, in the Vedas. The skulls vanished and the yajña began again. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 17)

Sāvitrī arrives: the five śāpas

At last Sāvitrī arrived with all the devīs, carrying many offerings. She saw Gāyatrī Devī seated beside Brahmā in the patnyīśāla, and she was furious.

She faced Brahmā in the open sadas and spoke of her grievance. He had left her and shamed her. He had put this woman in her sacred place without her śrī-pāda-dhūli (the dust of her feet, which makes a yajña pure). Before all the assembled devas she pronounced five great śāpas.

  1. Brahmā will receive no regular pūjā, except one yearly pūjā in the month of Kārtika.
  2. Indra will be taken by his enemies and suffer deep shame.
  3. Vishṇu will be born in the mortal world and suffer the loss of his wife.
  4. Agni will devour everything (sarvabhaksha) and will be flooded with Rudra’s retas (seed).
  5. The brāhmaṇas will be beggars, far from the Veda, and fallen from their vows (vrata-bhrashṭa).

After this, Sāvitrī also pronounced a śāpa on Lakshmī for her fickleness. She pronounced one on Śacī (Indrāṇī) for letting Indra bring the gopikā. Then she went away to Jyeshṭha Pushkara. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 17)

Gāyatrī’s varas and her own words

When Sāvitrī had gone, Gāyatrī Devī spoke to the assembly. She answered each śāpa with a vara.

  • Indra would be freed by Brahmā himself.
  • Vishṇu would win, and as Rāma he would bring moksha.
  • Rudra’s liṅga-pūjā would give the highest fruits.
  • The brāhmaṇas would be honoured wherever they were found.

She gave varas to Lakshmī and Śacī as well.

Then she declared who she is: “I am established in the ashṭākshara (the eight syllables). I fill the whole universe. I am the mother of all the Vedas. Three recitations of the Gāyatrī mantra remove brahmahatyā (the pāpa of killing a brāhmaṇa). One hundred recitations remove the pāpa of ten lifetimes. Six thousand remove all pāpa. The japa of my mantra cancels even Sāvitrī’s śāpa.”

Rudra then composed the Rudra-kṛta Gāyatrī Stuti, a hymn of reverence. The yajña was finished in full, and all who took part received their due shares. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Ch. 17)

Sources

  • Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 16 (background, preparations, the finding of Gāyatrī)
  • Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 17 (Śiva as bhikshu, Sāvitrī’s five śāpas, Gāyatrī’s varas)