Prākārakarṇa the Owl

Prākārakarṇa was an owl who lived on Kailāsa, the home of Śiva. In an earlier birth he was a brahmin of Vārāṇasī named Ghaṇṭa, a devoted follower of Śiva. He worshipped Śiva with unbroken bilva leaves for one hundred years and received a vara (a boon) from Śiva himself. Later he fell through desire for another man’s bride. A brahmin laid a śāpa (a curse) on him, and he became an owl. This account is told in the Kaumārika Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa. It also teaches the glory of the bilva leaf as the best offering to Śiva.

The owl on Kailāsa

The crane Nāḍījaṅgha had no memory of King Indradyumna, whose kīrti (fame) had been lost over fourteen kalpas. The crane told Mārkaṇḍeya and Indradyumna to look for an owl named Prākārakarṇa, who lived on Kailāsa. This owl was even older than the crane.

The group went to Kailāsa and found the owl. The crane and the owl greeted each other with the respect due to long-lived forest dwellers. They asked about Indradyumna. The owl said that he had lived twenty-eight kalpas, but he had no memory of any king by that name. He sent them further, to the Garuḍa Kuśadhvaja, who was older still.

Indradyumna was amazed at such long lives. He asked how the owl had gained such a long life, and why it had such an ugly form. The owl then told its own history.

The earlier birth as the brahmin Ghaṇṭa

In an earlier birth the owl’s ātmā (soul) had been a brahmin of the Vasa gotra (family line) in Vārāṇasī. His name was Ghaṇṭa. He was a sincere follower of Śiva. He loved to hear about dharma and to attend the talks of sādhus (holy men).

He learned that no offering was dearer to Śiva than unbroken bilva leaves. One akhaṇḍa bilvadala (an unbroken leaf of three lobes) offered to Śiva was dearer to him than crores of other flowers. Ghaṇṭa took this to heart. Three times a day he worshipped the Śiva liṅga with unbroken bilva leaves, without a break.

He kept up this pūjā for one hundred years. At the end of that time Bhagavān Parameśvara, Candraśekhara, stood before him. His voice was like a thunder-cloud. He said: “O best of brāhmaṇas, your unbroken bilva worship for one hundred years has pleased me greatly. Ask for any vara, even one that is hard to give. One unbroken bilvadala gives me great joy, more than crores of other flowers.”

Ghaṇṭa said: “Make me free from jarā and mṛtyu, old age and death.” Śiva gave the vara at once and vanished.

The teaching of the bilva leaf

At this point the account stops to teach the Bilvadala Māhātmya (the glory of the bilva leaf). Śiva himself declares:

• One unbroken bilvadala offered to him equals worship with crores of other flowers.
• One who worships Śiva’s liṅga with bilva lives in svarga for one hundred thousand years.
• The flowers mālatī, mandāra, śatapatra and mallikā are not as dear to Śiva as the bilva, however sweet their scent.
• This teaching comes from the śāstras, and it was the ground of Ghaṇṭa’s practice.

The fall

Ghaṇṭa now had the vara of a long life, and he was full of joy at Śiva’s grace. But he made a deep mistake. As he walked through the city, he saw the daughter of a Bhārgava brahmin. She was an unmarried girl of great beauty. She was playing with her friends. Strong desire rose in Ghaṇṭa when he saw her.

He went to her father and said that he wished to marry her. Her father gave his word that he would give his daughter to Ghaṇṭa. But when the girl saw Ghaṇṭa, she wept bitterly before her mother. Ghaṇṭa was ugly, though he had great learning and tapas. She said she would rather drink poison or walk into fire than marry such a man. The mother took her daughter’s side. The father gave way to his wife and daughter and gave the girl to someone else.

Ghaṇṭa was shamed before his companions and burned with kāma (desire). He decided to act like a night-creature (niśācara). In the dark he carried off the sleeping girl to a hidden place and married her by the Gāndharva form. In the morning her father tracked them down. He saw what had been done and, in fury, laid a śāpa on Ghaṇṭa: “You acted like a niśācara in taking my daughter. You shall become a niśācara! Be an owl!”

Ghaṇṭa pleaded that the father had first given his word and then broken it by giving the girl to another, and that this is against dharma. The father agreed that there was some truth in this and changed the śāpa. Ghaṇṭa would be an owl on Kailāsa, and he would be freed when he helped to identify the kīrti of King Indradyumna. His bilva worship, which had won Śiva’s grace, was the reason for his long life. The brahmin’s śāpa was the reason for his owl’s form.

Liberation

The owl heard Indradyumna’s case. He could not speak for Indradyumna’s kīrti, because he had not lived long enough to remember him. So he sent the group on to the still older Garuḍa Kuśadhvaja. At last the turtle Jayadata remembered Indradyumna, and all four animals were set free at the same moment. The owl’s śāpa ended and his divine form came back.

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapter 8
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapter 10