Indradyumna and the Lost Kīrti

King Indradyumna had once been one of the great kings of his age. Long ages passed after his death, and in the end no living being remembered him. The Purāṇa holds that a king’s place in svarga (heaven) rests on his kīrti (fame) living on in memory. So Indradyumna came down to earth with his friend the muni Mārkaṇḍeya to find a witness who remembered him. They found one only after meeting four creatures who had lived for ages. They had been born in animal forms because of old curses. When his kīrti was restored, Indradyumna would not take svarga. He asked instead to become one of the gaṇas of Bhagavān Śiva (śivagaṇatva). He set up the Indradyumneśvara liṅga at Mahīsāgara Saṃgama and was freed.

The crisis of forgotten kīrti

Indradyumna was a great king of ancient times. He had done a yajña (fire ritual) of great reach. It was so powerful that it heated the earth itself and made the sacred waters of all the tīrthas (holy places) come out of the earth’s body. This yajña was the origin of the river Mahī. His kīrti spread over the three worlds.

But time in the cosmos moves in huge spans. Manvantaras and kalpas passed. The living beings who had seen Indradyumna’s greatness all died. Their descendants, and their descendants’ descendants, through many generations, forgot him. With no living witness to speak for his dharma and his deeds, the king’s place in the higher worlds was no longer safe. The Purāṇic tradition says that a king’s place in svarga is held up by the living memory of his righteous acts among mortals. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7)

Indradyumna came down to earth with his friend Mārkaṇḍeya Muni, who himself lived for many kalpas. Together they looked for any living being who lived long enough, and who remembered past births (jātismara), to speak for the king. Mārkaṇḍeya knew of such beings. They were ancient animals whose curses had given them lives of many kalpas.

The four long-lived witnesses

The crane Nāḍījaṅgha

The first they went to was Nāḍījaṅgha, a crane who lived on the peaks of the Himālaya. The crane had lived through fourteen kalpas. In an earlier life he had worshipped a liṅga with ghee on Makara-saṃkrānti, and the puṇya of that kept him alive. The muni Gālava had cursed him to the crane’s form for an act of lust and deceit. The crane was also a fallen gaṇādhipa (leader of gaṇas) of Śiva.

Mārkaṇḍeya asked: “Do you know King Indradyumna?” The crane answered: “I remember fourteen kalpas, and in none of them is there a king named Indradyumna on earth. I do not know him.” But the crane sent them to an older being, an owl named Prākārakarṇa on Kailāsa, and offered to go with them. (Chapter 7)

The owl Prākārakarṇa

On Kailāsa they found the owl Prākārakarṇa. He had been a brāhmaṇa named Ghaṇṭa. By a hundred years of unbroken worship with bilva leaves, he had won from Bhagavān Śiva the vara (boon) of long life. But a brāhmaṇa whose daughter he had carried off cursed him into the form of an owl. The owl had lived through twenty-eight kalpas. He too had no memory of King Indradyumna.

The owl knew of one older still, the Garuḍa Kuśadhvaja. The company grew: the crane, the owl, Mārkaṇḍeya and Indradyumna all went on together. (Chapter 8)

The Garuḍa Kuśadhvaja

Kuśadhvaja was a Garuḍa, a king of birds and the carrier of Bhagavān Vishṇu. In a past life he had swung in play on the dolā (swing) of Bhagavān Śiva and been beaten for it. Then he was cursed through later lives until at last he was bound to the form of a Garuḍa for carrying off a ṛshi’s daughter. Even this Garuḍa, with his huge span of life, did not remember Indradyumna.

But Kuśadhvaja knew of one more being: the turtle (kūrma) Mandara at Mānasasarovara. It was so old that it had sunk deep into the mud at the bottom of the holy lake. The company now held Indradyumna, Mārkaṇḍeya, the crane, the owl and the Garuḍa. They all went to Mānasasarovara. (Chapter 9)

The turtle, once King Jayadata

The turtle at Mānasasarovara had been King Jayadata of Pratishṭhāna. He had won great boons from Bhagavān Śiva by worshipping him with golden flowers on Makara-saṃkrānti. Later he was cursed to a turtle’s form for wrong conduct. Through his jātismara this turtle remembered ages beyond counting.

When they asked about Indradyumna, the turtle at last knew the name. It said: “Yes, there was a great king named Indradyumna. He did a yajña so powerful that it shook all three worlds. I saw what followed that yajña. The earth was heated, the waters of the tīrthas came out, and the river Mahī was born.” This witness was enough. (Chapters 10–11)

The divine vimāna comes

The moment the turtle spoke for Indradyumna’s kīrti, a divine vimāna (aerial chariot) came down from the sky. The devas had sent it to receive the king. It showed that his place in svarga was restored. All the devas were there. (Chapter 10)

Indradyumna’s choice

Indradyumna was free to go up to svarga in the vimāna, but he refused. He said to the company: “I will not go to svarga. Let me stay here. I shall worship the liṅga that grants all boons to all people. You, my companions, may go as you wish.”

His friend Mārkaṇḍeya then spoke of his own loyalty: “I will not leave you either. I will enter fire beside you if you do not gain what you seek.”

But the crane spoke up: “We have not yet fulfilled our own dharma. Let us first go to the muni Saṃvarta, who will send us to the tīrtha where liberation is sure.”

The crane led the company to Vārāṇasī to find the yogī Saṃvarta. In the end Saṃvarta sent them all to Mahīsāgara Saṃgama. (Chapters 10, 13)

The four animals are freed

At Mahīsāgara Saṃgama the crane, the owl, the Garuḍa and the turtle were freed. Their curses had run out through their witness to Indradyumna’s kīrti. Their animal forms fell away, their own divine forms returned, and all four reached moksha. (Chapter 13)

The Indradyumneśvara Liṅga

At Mahīsāgara Saṃgama, Indradyumna set up a Śiva-liṅga, the Indradyumneśvara, as a lasting offering to Bhagavān Śiva. He set it up at the very tīrtha whose holy waters had come from the heat of his own yajña. The liṅga stays at Mahīsāgara as a sacred presence. (Chapter 13)

Indradyumna reaches śivagaṇatva

Indradyumna’s last wish was not svarga. It was śivagaṇatva, the state of being one of the gaṇas, the divine retinue of Bhagavān Śiva. Life in svarga ends when the puṇya (merit) that earned it is used up. Indradyumna kept refusing the vimāna of svarga and stayed devoted to the worship of the Śiva-liṅga. In the end Bhagavān Śiva gave him this vara. (Chapter 13)

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapters 7–13
• Chapter 7: the crisis of forgotten kīrti; the crane Nāḍījaṅgha
• Chapter 8: the owl Prākārakarṇa
• Chapter 9: the Garuḍa Kuśadhvaja
• Chapters 10–11: the turtle; Chapter 10: the vimāna
• Chapters 10 and 13: Indradyumna’s choice and the journey to Mahīsāgara Saṃgama
• Chapter 13: the freeing of the four animals, the Indradyumneśvara liṅga and śivagaṇatva