Bāṇāsura, Ushā and Aniruddha in the Śiva Purāṇa

The Yuddha Khaṇḍa of the Rudra Saṃhitā in the Śiva Purāṇa tells of Bāṇāsura, his daughter Ushā, and Kṛshṇa’s grandson Aniruddha, in Chapters 51 to 56. It is the fourth great war in the Yuddha Khaṇḍa. It tells of Śiva living in Bāṇāsura’s city Śoṇitapura, of Ushā and Aniruddha meeting at midnight, of Aniruddha’s capture and of Kālī setting him free. It then tells of the great war between Kṛshṇa and Śiva, of Kṛshṇa’s mahāstotra (great hymn of praise) to Śiva, and of Bāṇāsura’s arms being cut off. It ends with Śiva saving Bāṇāsura and making him a gaṇādhyaksha, a chief of Śiva’s gaṇas (attendants).

Bāṇāsura’s line and Śiva at Śoṇitapura

Bāṇāsura comes from the most famous line of asuras: Hiraṇyakaśipu, then Prahlāda, then Virocana, then Bali, then Bāṇāsura. So he was the great-grandson of Prahlāda, the great devotee of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Bali was the most generous of the daitya kings.

Bāṇāsura was a devotee of Śiva and had a thousand arms (sahasrabāhu). He showed his devotion through the tāṇḍava nṛtya, the dance of Śiva that brings destruction and creation. He danced with great skill and energy, and he used his thousand arms to make the drumbeat of the world. Śiva was very pleased with this tāṇḍava. He came and made his home in Bāṇāsura’s city Śoṇitapura, which is said to be Tezpur in modern Assam. Śiva gave Bāṇāsura a vara (a boon) of protection: Śiva would himself guard the city.

Bāṇāsura was overjoyed. He asked for one more vara: a great battle, because his thousand arms longed for fighting. Śiva smiled and said, “You will have your battle. When your banner falls, know that the time has come.”

Ushā’s dream and Pārvatī’s śāpa

Bāṇāsura had a daughter named Ushā, who was beautiful and had a fine character. One day she appeared before Pārvatī after taking on exactly Pārvatī’s divine form. She did it in play, but it went too far. Pārvatī was displeased and gave her a śāpa (a curse): “You will meet your destined husband in secret at midnight on Vaiśākha Śukla Dvādaśī.”

From that night Ushā dreamed again and again of a young man of rare beauty. He came to her in her sleep and vanished at dawn, and she was left in love and confused.

The apsarases around Ushā helped her find out who the dream visitor was. They were Citralekhā (the daughter of Kumbhāṇḍa, Bāṇāsura’s minister), Urvaśī, Ghṛtācī, Viśvācī, Rambhā, Menakā, Sahajanyā and Puñjikasthalī. Citralekhā had a great skill in painting portraits. She drew all the great beings of the three worlds: devas, gandharvas, dānavas, nāgas and humans. Then Ushā knew the face of her dream visitor. He was Aniruddha, the grandson of Śrī Kṛshṇa and the son of Pradyumna, who was Kāmadeva born again.

Citralekhā carries Aniruddha away

On the night of Jyeshṭha Kṛshṇa Chaturdaśī, just before sunrise, Citralekhā flew through the sky to Dvārakā by her power of tāmasayoga, a yogic power of moving unseen. She found Aniruddha asleep in the palace. Without waking him she lifted him up through the air and took him to Śoṇitapura. Aniruddha woke in an unknown city and then found himself in Ushā’s presence. They knew each other from the dream meetings, and they were joyfully united.

Aniruddha is made a prisoner

Bāṇāsura learned that a young man of great power and radiance was living secretly in his inner rooms with his daughter. He was furious. He sent ten thousand soldiers to seize the stranger. Aniruddha took up a parigha (iron club) that was at hand and fought all ten thousand and beat them. Bāṇāsura sent a hundred thousand more, and Aniruddha still fought. At last Bāṇāsura came himself and bound Aniruddha with nāgapāśas, serpent-ropes of divine origin. Aniruddha was held prisoner, bound.

Bāṇāsura’s minister Kumbhāṇḍa wisely advised him to hold back: killing Aniruddha would bring terrible results.

Kālī sets Aniruddha free

Aniruddha was put in a pañjara (cage) and bound with the nāgapāśas. In this state he called on Durgā. At midnight on Jyeshṭha Kṛshṇa Chaturdaśī, the same tithi (lunar day) as his abduction, Kālī appeared. She struck the cage with her fist and broke it. She burned the nāgapāśa serpents in divine fire. Aniruddha was free, and he was reunited with Ushā. An ākāśavāṇī (voice from the sky) spoke to Bāṇāsura. It warned him not to use any more violence against the young man, because the results would be severe.

Nārada tells Kṛshṇa and the war begins

After four months Nārada came to Śrī Kṛshṇa at Dvārakā. He told him that his grandson Aniruddha was held prisoner at Śoṇitapura by Bāṇāsura. Kṛshṇa acted at once. He gathered his whole force: twelve akshauhiṇīs of soldiers, together with Balarāma, Pradyumna, Sāmba, Sātyaki and all the great Yādava warriors. He marched to Śoṇitapura and besieged the city.

Śiva had promised Bāṇāsura that he would defend the city himself. He kept his word. Śiva mounted his bull Nandī and came out to fight for Bāṇāsura. The pairs who fought in this war were:

Kṛshṇa against Śiva
Pradyumna against Kārttikeya
Balarāma against Kūshmāṇḍa and Kūpakarṇa, the asura generals
Sāmba against Bāṇāsura’s son
Sātyaki against Bāṇāsura himself
Garuḍa against Nandī. Nandī struck Garuḍa with his horns, and Garuḍa was defeated.

The jvara-yuddha, the battle of fevers

In this war Śiva sent his own jvara (divine fever-weapon), the Maheśvara-jvara, against Kṛshṇa’s forces. Kṛshṇa answered by sending his own divine jvara, the Śītalajvara, the cooling fever-weapon of Bhagavān Vishṇu. The two fevers met head on. Śiva’s jvara had three heads and three feet, standing for the three guṇas, and it won in the end. Vishṇu’s jvara was beaten and had to give way. It then went to Śiva itself to surrender and offered a stotra, and Śiva accepted its surrender kindly.

Kṛshṇa’s mahāstotra and the Jṛmbhaṇāstra

The battle reached its height. Śiva was fighting Kṛshṇa’s forces directly and the Yādava army was suffering. Kṛshṇa drove his chariot straight toward Śiva. He stopped in front of him and, instead of fighting on, offered a great mahāstotra.

In it Kṛshṇa said that Śiva is the Parabrahman. Kāla (time), karma (action), jīva (the individual being) and māyā (cosmic illusion) are all Śiva’s own forms. Śiva is the tṛtīya (the third), the witness beyond the first two, purusha and prakṛti. All creation is Śiva’s play. Kṛshṇa fully accepted that he himself works under Śiva’s rule, as he had accepted it in person at Śivaloka, and now he said it on the battlefield itself.

Kṛshṇa offered this stotra as a true act of devotion in the middle of the battle. Then he used the Jṛmbhaṇāstra, the weapon of yawning and stupor. It put Śiva into a divine sleep. While Śiva was for a time unable to act, Kṛshṇa turned on Bāṇāsura’s army and destroyed it completely.

Bāṇāsura’s arms are cut off and Śiva steps in

With his army gone, Bāṇāsura met Kṛshṇa himself in single combat. The fight was fierce. Kṛshṇa used his Sudarśana Cakra, the spinning discus of cosmic fire. With it he cut off Bāṇāsura’s arms one after another: a hundred, then another hundred, until only four were left of the thousand. Kṛshṇa raised the Cakra to strike the killing blow.

At that moment Śiva woke and stepped in. He stood between Kṛshṇa and Bāṇāsura and said, “Do not kill him. This asura is my bhakta (devotee), and I have given him my word of protection.” Kṛshṇa lowered his weapon at once, because he would not disobey or dishonour Śiva.

Then Śiva told them that he himself had arranged all that had just happened. He had earlier given Bāṇāsura a kind of śāpa: Bāṇāsura’s pride and arrogance would be broken, his army destroyed and his power made small. Kṛshṇa’s coming and the cutting of Bāṇāsura’s arms were the fulfilment of that śāpa. Śiva also said that the Sudarśana Cakra Kṛshṇa was using had first been Śiva’s own gift to Kṛshṇa, given at an earlier time. So even the weapon used against Bāṇāsura came from Śiva. The whole course of events was Śiva’s will from beginning to end. Aniruddha and Ushā left for Dvārakā with great honour.

Bāṇāsura’s elevation and his Virāṭsvarūpa Stotra

After Kṛshṇa had gone, Nandī advised Bāṇāsura how to win back Śiva’s full grace. Bāṇāsura danced a second tāṇḍava before Śiva. This time he shed his own blood as he danced, the highest offering of himself through the art of divine dance. Śiva was deeply moved.

Śiva gave Bāṇāsura these varas:

All his wounds were healed. His remaining four arms would stay as signs of his bhakti, not of weakness.
He became a gaṇādhyaksha, one of the chiefs of Śiva’s gaṇas, second only to the highest gaṇa lords.
He would not be born again as a rākshasa.
He would have pure devotion to Śiva always.
All enmity between him and the devas and Bhagavān Vishṇu was ended completely.
He would have friendship with all devotees of Śiva.
Compassion would be his natural way.

Bāṇāsura then offered the Virāṭsvarūpa Stotra, a great hymn to Śiva as the Virāṭpurusha, the cosmic form of all being. In it Bāṇāsura named every part of the universe as Śiva’s body:

the sky is his head
the directions are his ears
the sun and moon are his eyes
the winds are his breath
the rivers are his veins
Śesha the serpent is his waist-band
the mountains are his bones
the sea is his belly
fire is his tongue
the four Vedas are his four faces
the yajña (fire ritual) is his mouth
the creatures of the earth are the hair of his body

This vision of Śiva’s cosmic form ended the Bāṇāsura episode.

Sources

Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 51 (Bāṇāsura’s line, Śiva at Śoṇitapura, Ushā’s dream and Pārvatī’s śāpa)
Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 52 (Citralekhā carries Aniruddha away, his imprisonment)
Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 53 (Kālī sets Aniruddha free)
Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 54 (Nārada, the war, the jvara-yuddha, Kṛshṇa’s mahāstotra and the Jṛmbhaṇāstra)
Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 55 (Bāṇāsura’s arms, Śiva’s intervention)
Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 56 (Bāṇāsura’s elevation, the Virāṭsvarūpa Stotra)

Bāṇāsura, Ushā and Aniruddha (Śiva Purāṇa)