Vīreśvara and the Nine Mothers

This is the account of how the Vīreśvara Liṅga came to be in Kāśī. It begins with a queen’s son who was thought to bring bad luck and was left outside the city. The Nine Mothers blessed him. When he grew up, he did tapas (austerity), and Bhagavān Śiva gave him the Vīreśvara Liṅga. The Skanda Mahā Purāṇa tells it in Chapter 83 of the Uttarārdha of the Kāśī Khaṇḍa.

The queen’s vrata and the unlucky birth

A king’s queen kept the Gaurī vrata (vow). This is the rite for the bright third day of the month of Mārgaśīrsha, given for the grace of Gaurī. The vrata gave its fruit. She conceived and gave birth to a son.

The royal astrologers and ministers looked at the birth chart. They said the child was born under the Mūla nakshatra (lunar star) in a combination thought to be very dangerous for the father’s life. They told the king to leave the child outside the city. The king loved his son but feared the omen. In the end he agreed. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 83)

The child before the Nine Mothers

The infant was placed before Vikaṭā Mātṛkā at the Pañcamudrā Mahāpīṭha, a great Śakti pīṭha (seat of the Devī) in Kāśī. There the Nine Mothers gathered to guard and bless the left child:

  • Brāhmaṇī, the Śakti of Brahmā
  • Vaishṇavī, the Śakti of Vishṇu
  • Raudrī, the Śakti of Rudra
  • Vārāhī, the Śakti of Varāha
  • Narasiṃhikā, the Śakti of Narasiṃha
  • Kaumārī, the Śakti of Skanda
  • Māhendrī, the Śakti of Indra
  • Cāmuṇḍā
  • Caṇḍikā

Each of the Nine Mothers gave the child a special quality of character, strength and divine protection. In this way the child whom human astrologers had called unlucky became greatly blessed by the grace of the Devī. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 83)

The son’s tapas and the Vīreśvara Liṅga

The boy grew to manhood under the care of the Nine Mothers, inside the holy ground of Kāśī. He did hard tapas. Bhagavān Śiva was pleased and came before him. When Bhagavān Śiva gave him a vara (a boon), a liṅga of great power was set up. It is the Vīreśvara Liṅga.

Bhagavān Śiva said that this liṅga is greater than all the three crore liṅgas of Kāśī in its power to give moksha (liberation). The young man, from then on called Vīra, worshipped Vīreśvara and gained everything he wished for. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 83)

The Pañcatīrthī: the tīrthas from Asī to Maṇikarṇikā

The same chapter also lists the holy tīrthas (sacred bathing places) along the Gaṅgā, going north from the place where the Asī meets the Gaṅgā. They include the Asī confluence, Daśāśvamedha, Pādodaka (near Ādikeśava), Pañchanada and Maṇikarṇikā. These five are the tīrthas of the Pañcatīrthī.

The text says: “By the holy ablution in Pañcatīrthī a man ceases to take up the body consisting of five elements — or he becomes Pañcāsya, the five-countenanced Viśveśvara himself.”

So the account of Vīreśvara ends with the teaching of Bhagavān Śiva on the five greatest tīrthas of his city and on moksha gained through them. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 83)

Sources

  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 83