Andhaka Yuddha in the Śiva Purāṇa

The Andhaka war is told in the Yuddha Khaṇḍa of the Rudra Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa, Chapters 42–49. It begins with Andhaka’s birth on Mount Mandara. It goes on through his tapas and his varas (boons), his desire for Pārvatī, the great battle at the cave on Kailāsa, and the swallowing of the devas by Vighasa. It then tells of Śukrācārya in Bhagavān Śiva’s stomach, and of Andhaka held on Śiva’s triśūla (trident). It ends with Andhaka made a gaṇādhyaksha, a chief of Śiva’s gaṇas. The account is given in answer to a question from Nārada to Brahmā.

Andhaka’s birth

The place was Mount Mandara. Pārvatī was there with Bhagavān Śiva. In loving play she stepped behind him and covered his three eyes with her hands all at once. The moment all three eyes were covered, including the third eye of cosmic fire, the whole universe went dark for the length of a cosmic moment. Sweat and heat gathered on Śiva’s third eye under Pārvatī’s palm, and a being was formed from it. He was made of Śiva’s own tejas (radiance), but he was born blind, for the eyes that made him were covered and could not light him. He was Andhaka. The name andhaka means “one who makes blind” and “one born in blindness”.

Bhagavān Śiva felt pity for this being made of his own energy. He gave Andhaka to the great asura Hiraṇyāksha, who was doing tapas then and had asked for a son. So Andhaka grew up in the home of the daityas and did not know where he truly came from. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 42.)

Hiraṇyakaśipu and Narasiṃha

The same chapter also tells the Hiraṇyakaśipu episode as a frame. Hiraṇyāksha’s brother Hiraṇyakaśipu did great tapas to win a vara from Brahmā. He asked for it in careful detail, as a long list of things that could not kill him. He could not be killed by man or by animal, not inside and not outside, not by day and not by night, not by any weapon made of wood, metal or stone, not on earth and not in the sky, and not by anything alive or lifeless. Brahmā gave him the vara.

But Bhagavān Vishṇu took the Narasiṃha avatāra, half man and half lion, so neither man nor animal. He killed Hiraṇyakaśipu at twilight, which is neither day nor night. He killed him in a doorway, neither inside nor outside. He killed him on his knee, which is neither earth nor sky. And he killed him with his claws, which are no weapon. Then Prahlāda was crowned king. Later Hiraṇyāksha himself was killed by Bhagavān Vishṇu in the Varāha avatāra. After that, Andhaka, Hiraṇyāksha’s adopted son, became king of pātāla. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 43.)

Andhaka’s tapas and varas

Andhaka ruled pātāla well. But the other daityas, who were his brothers, began to insult him and treat him with disrespect because he was blind. He could not bear this, and he decided to do very hard tapas to show his worth. In the first year he stood on one leg and cut pieces from his own flesh and offered them into the sacred fire. For ten thousand years he kept up austerities that grew ever harder.

Brahmā was pleased and gave him two varas. First, he would have divine sight (divya-dṛshṭi) and would no longer be blind. Second, his brothers, who had treated him with disrespect, would become his servants. But Brahmā also set one condition, and it would in the end lead to his death: “If you ever desire a woman whom you should worship as a mother, that desire for her will be the cause of your death.”

With these varas Andhaka won the three worlds. One day his ministers went to Kailāsa on a scouting trip and saw Pārvatī there with Bhagavān Śiva. She was bright and beautiful, Devī Pārvatī herself. The ministers came back and described her beauty to Andhaka in words that set his desire burning. They did not tell him who she was. Andhaka did not know that she was Śiva’s own wife, and he did not know her divine nature either. He sent his ministers back to demand her. Śiva’s guards were insulted. Bhagavān Śiva himself answered with calm amusement. He said only that if Andhaka was worthy, he was welcome to come and try to take her. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 44.)

The battle at the cave on Kailāsa

Andhaka marched on Kailāsa with his huge army of daityas. Vīraka, Śiva’s guard, stood at the mouth of the cave where Pārvatī was sheltering. The fight at the cave mouth went on for five hundred and five days. All the divine śaktis took guardian forms around Pārvatī. Brāhmī, Gaurī, Nārāyaṇī, Indrāśakti, Agniśakti, Yamaśakti and many others stood guard as devīs.

Among Andhaka’s asuras was one named Vighasa, a being of terrible power. Vighasa simply opened his mouth and swallowed all the devas who came to defend. Brahmā, Vishṇu, Indra, Sūrya, Candra and Nandī were all swallowed. The defenders of the three worlds vanished into Vighasa’s body. But Vīraka, the faithful guard, was brought back by Bhagavān Śiva’s grace. Pārvatī stayed safe. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 45.)

The great war: Vighasa gives back the devas and Śukra is swallowed

Bhagavān Śiva himself entered the battle. He spoke a powerful mantra that forced Vighasa to bring up all the devas he had swallowed. Brahmā, Vishṇu, Indra, Sūrya, Candra and Nandī all came out unharmed. Śukrācārya, the guru of the asuras, did what his office asked. He used the Mṛtasañjīvanī Vidyā at once to bring the fallen asuras back to life. The battle dragged on.

Nandī then stepped in. He took hold of Śukrācārya and brought him to Bhagavān Śiva. Śiva, in a moment of cosmic decision, simply swallowed Śukra whole.

The battle grew fiercer. Andhaka’s blood was falling on the battlefield, and from each drop a new Andhaka rose. He made copies of himself from his own blood, and an army of Andhakas appeared. The field became wild as the Andhakas grew in number with every wound.

Then Bhagavān Śiva took a bold step. From his ear he called up a fierce female form of Vishṇu. She came out of Śiva’s own being, terrible in power. She spread over the battlefield and drank all the asura blood as it fell, so that no more could be made. When no blood reached the ground, no new Andhakas could rise.

The asuras were killed one by one until Andhaka alone was left, still fighting. Bhagavān Śiva then pierced Andhaka with his triśūla and held him up in the air. He did not kill him. He held him there and purified him by fire. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapters 46–47.)

Śukra in Śiva’s stomach

The swallowed Śukrācārya wandered inside Bhagavān Śiva’s stomach for a whole hundred years. There he saw all seven upper worlds and all seven lower worlds (pātāla and its layers). The whole map of the universe could be seen inside Śiva’s body. This agrees with the teaching of the Purāṇas that the universe lies within Śiva’s form. After a hundred years of this wonderful pilgrimage, Śukra looked for a way out. He found the liṅga-mārga, the passage linked with Śiva’s liṅga, and came out through it. He was born into the world again, as though from Śiva himself.

This exit gave Śukra a new name and standing. Because he came out through the liṅga-mārga, he was like one born from Śiva’s body. Pārvatī saw him come out, took pity on him and adopted him as her own son. She gave him the rank of gaṇādhyaksha, equal to Vighneśvara (Gaṇeśa). Bhagavān Śiva himself gave the reason for the name Śukra (śukra means bright, and also semen). He said: “You came out through the liṅga just as śukra comes out. You are Śukra.” Śukra then offered a stotra (hymn of praise) to Śiva before he left. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 48.)

Andhaka’s liberation and the 108 names

Andhaka hung on Bhagavān Śiva’s triśūla. He could not die, because of the great puṇya (merit) of his tapas, yet he was held and made pure. In that helpless state a deep change came over him. He meditated on Śiva, and he recited and meditated on 108 names of the Mṛtyuñjaya form of Śiva. This 108-name meditation on the death-conquering Śiva is called the Mṛtyuñjaya-dhyāna. It became a great stava (hymn of praise) that made him completely pure. By this meditation, done while he was pierced on Śiva’s own weapon, all Andhaka’s pāpa (sin) and his asura habits were burned away.

Bhagavān Śiva came down. He took Andhaka off the triśūla, bathed him in amṛta, and gave him the post of gaṇādhyaksha, one of the great chiefs of Śiva’s gaṇas. Andhaka was now fully pure and changed. He asked for forgiveness from the heart. He told how his confusion had led him to desire Pārvatī, whom he should have known as the mother of the universe. He called her Mātṛ, the Mother of all, and begged her pardon.

Pārvatī blessed him warmly. She told him that his earlier ignorance was not wholly his fault, for his birth itself had come from a cosmic need, and his whole story had been arranged by Bhagavān Śiva’s own will. She gave him her blessing and confirmed his rank as gaṇādhyaksha.

In this raised state Andhaka remembered his past birth. The account teaches that true devotion and surrender lead to moksha (liberation) by Śiva’s grace, even in the middle of great pāpa and even after it. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 49.)

Sources

Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapters 42–49