Dharmavarṇa and the Pitṛs
Dharmavarṇa was a brāhmaṇa of the land of Anarta, in the thirtieth Kali Yuga of the Sāvarṇi Manvantara. Words of Nārada at Pushkara troubled him, and he wandered for most of his life without marrying and without a household. In Pitṛloka, the world of the ancestors, he saw his own pitṛs (ancestors) hanging by a thin blade of dūrvā grass over an abyss, while a mouse gnawed at the blade. They told him to go back to earth, marry, have sons, and above all to perform the Caitra Amāvāsyā śrāddha with a pot of sweet water. He did so, and that one śrāddha freed all his ancestors.
The sattra at Pushkara
The account opens in the thirtieth Kali Yuga, at Pushkara. Learned ṛshis were holding a great sattra (a long yajña, or session of fire ritual). They were talking about whether the Kali Yuga was really so bad, or whether it had good points of its own. Some of them argued for the good side:
“The merit of pleasing Mādhava took a full year in Kṛtayuga, a month in Tretāyuga, and a fortnight in Dvāparayuga. In Kaliyuga the same merit can be won with ten times less effort. Even the least good deed in Kaliyuga gives a crore-fold fruit.”
In the middle of this talk Nārada arrived. He came in his own wild way, holding his organ of generation in one hand and his tongue in the other, laughing and dancing. The ṛshis were startled and asked him what this meant. Nārada answered:
“I laugh from pure joy. You are right that Kali has great gains of its own. Even a little devotion to Keśava bears great fruit. But I must tell you this too. Two things can never be truly held in check: the organ of generation and the tongue. If a man could keep both under control for ever, he would become Janārdana. Because of this, you should not stay in Bhārata. Leave this land of heretics and go wherever your mind finds peace.”
Nārada then left. The ṛshis finished the sattra and went their ways. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vaiśākha Māsa Māhātmya, Chapter 22)
Dharmavarṇa’s wandering
Dharmavarṇa heard these words of Nārada. He took the advice as it was spoken and left Bhārata. He wandered over the seven dvīpas (continents) of the earth, and then through other worlds, looking at what the Kali Age had done. What he saw was grim throughout:
- brāhmaṇas behaving like śūdras
- śūdras becoming recluses
- the Vedas treated as ordinary stories
- children killing their fathers
- disciples killing their teachers
- the fine arts honoured by kings while the learned went hungry
- the name of Vishṇu absent from every tongue
- love and desire as the only loved arts
Three-quarters of the Kali Yuga passed while Dharmavarṇa wandered through the worlds and continents, unmarried and without a household. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vaiśākha Māsa Māhātmya, Chapter 22)
The sight in Pitṛloka
Out of curiosity, Dharmavarṇa went to Pitṛloka, the world of the Pitṛs. What he saw there shook him. His own ancestors were in terrible distress. Some had fallen into blinding darkness. Some were about to fall. Some hung from the tip of a blade of dūrvā grass over an abyss, while a mouse, who is Time (Kāla), gnawed steadily at the root of the grass.
Three-quarters of the root was already eaten through. One quarter was left. That quarter was Dharmavarṇa himself, the only living descendant of the line. The Pitṛs cried out to him:
“Look at us! We are of the Śrīvatsa Gotra. In this Kali Yuga our family has almost no children left. No one gives us piṇḍas (rice-balls offered to ancestors) or performs śrāddha. That is why we burn and suffer. Only you are left on earth, and you are unmarried. As your life runs out, the mouse gnaws the blade bit by bit. When you die at last, we shall all fall together into the abyss.” (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vaiśākha Māsa Māhātmya, Chapter 22)
The Pitṛs’ instructions
The Pitṛs begged Dharmavarṇa to go back to earth and take up the life of a gṛhastha (householder). They gave him their full instruction:
“Seek many sons, so that at least one of them will go to Gayā, perform a horse-yajña, or release a dark-coloured bull by the proper rite. Even if one of them does a holy bath, a śrāddha, or gifts for us in the month of Vaiśākha, Māgha or Kārttika, we shall be lifted up and freed from naraka (hell). One son who is a devotee of Vishṇu, who keeps the Ekādaśī fast, or who listens to the story of Vishṇu, frees a hundred generations before him and a hundred after him. Even if you never have many sons, one devoted Vaishṇava son is enough.”
They also told him what keeps Kali away in the Kali Yuga:
“Kali does not trouble the man in whose house there is a Śāligrāma stone, or a manuscript of the Mahābhārata. Kali does not trouble the man who keeps the rites of Vaiśākha, who is devoted to the bath in Māgha, who offers lamps in Kārttika, who listens each day to Vishṇu-kathā, in whose house the Vaiśvadeva yajña is done, and in whose courtyard there is a Tulasī plant and a good cow.”
The most urgent instruction was the Caitra Amāvāsyā śrāddha:
“The new-moon day of Caitra, when the Sun is in Mesha, is the best tithi (lunar day) for śrāddha. A śrāddha done on that day gives a crore times more merit than a śrāddha at Gayā. Even a śrāddha with only greens on that day is better than a crore of śrāddhas at Gayā. You must not fail to offer on that day a pot of sweet water, scented with camphor and agallochum. A man who fails to do this is a murderer of his Pitṛs.” (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vaiśākha Māsa Māhātmya, Chapter 22)
Dharmavarṇa’s act and the freeing of his line
Dharmavarṇa was deeply moved. The sight of his suffering ancestors drew him out of his wandering life of renunciation, and he came back to earth. On the Caitra Amāvāsyā, with the Sun in Mesha, he took his morning bath and performed the whole śrāddha. He offered the water pot with rice, the scented sweet water and the piṇḍas, calling on his ancestors by name and by Gotra. He gave the merit of the rite for the freedom of his whole line.
This single Caitra Amāvāsyā śrāddha freed all his ancestors for good, “without return”, as the text says. The Pitṛs were freed from their hanging place above the pit and rose to the higher realms. Dharmavarṇa then made that tithi, the Caitra Amāvāsyā, famous in the world as the best day for śrāddha. After this he married, had sons, and set up his family. In the end he went to Mount Gandhamādana for his last tapas (austerity). (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vaiśākha Māsa Māhātmya, Chapter 22)
Sources
- Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vaiśākha Māsa Māhātmya, Chapter 22