Kumāra and the Brāhmaṇa’s Goat

In the Kumāra Khaṇḍa of the Śiva Purāṇa, Kumāra (Kārttikeya) helps a brāhmaṇa whose goat has run away. The goat was meant for a yajña (fire ritual). Kārttikeya sends his chief attendant to find it, rides the goat around the whole universe, and saves it from being killed. The brāhmaṇa’s yajña is still completed, by Kārttikeya’s grace.

The brāhmaṇa’s appeal

Kārttikeya had just been installed as Senāpati (commander of the armies). A brāhmaṇa came to him who had the same name as the great devarshi: Nārada. He was not the devarshi. He was an ordinary brāhmaṇa getting ready to perform a yajña.

His goat was to be the paśu (the animal for the offering). It had escaped from his āśrama and wandered away. The brāhmaṇa searched for it but could not find it. He came before Kārttikeya and asked for help.

Kārttikeya listened to the brāhmaṇa’s trouble. He did not treat it as too small a matter for the commander of the armies. He took it seriously.

Kārttikeya sent Vīrabāhu, his chief attendant and commander, to look for the goat. Vīrabāhu searched through all the realms. He found the goat at Vaikuṇṭha, the abode of Bhagavān Vishṇu. The goat had wandered to the highest of all realms.

Kārttikeya rides the goat

Kārttikeya went to where the goat was and mounted it. He rode the goat in a full circumambulation of the entire universe, through all the realms, the lokas and the regions of the cosmos. The goat had been an ordinary animal meant for the yajña. By this ride with Kārttikeya, it was made holy. The journey itself was an act of grace.

The goat spared and the yajña completed

When Kārttikeya came back and the goat was returned, he told the brāhmaṇa not to kill it. The goat had carried Kārttikeya around the universe, so it had already been consecrated. It was to be protected, not slaughtered.

Even so, by Kārttikeya’s grace the brāhmaṇa’s yajña was completed in full. The puṇya (merit) of the yajña came through his favour and not through the offering of the animal.

Sources

  • Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Kumāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 6