Dārukāvana Bhikshāṭana

Chapters 21 to 23 of the Saro Māhātmya in the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa tell of Śiva’s visit to Devadāruvana (also called Dārukāvana), the forest of divine deodar trees. He came as a naked young man carrying a skull-bowl. The wives of the ṛshis were drawn to him, and the angry ṛshis cut off his liṅga. The worlds fell into disorder. In the end Śiva carried the liṅga to Sannihita Sarovara, where it was set up as the Sthāṇu liṅga, the first liṅga of the whole Saro Māhātmya.

The origin of the Sthāṇuvaṭa (Chapter 21)

Chapter 21 begins with Mārkaṇḍeya asking Sanatkumāra about the origin of the Sthāṇuvaṭa, the sacred vaṭa (banyan) tree at Sannihita Sarovara. Sanatkumāra goes back to the very beginning. At the mahāpralaya, when all creation had dissolved, only Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa remained, resting on the first waters. In the stillness a cosmic egg (brahmāṇḍa) formed. The place where this brahmāṇḍa rested as it floated on the waters became the root of the first vaṭa tree. So the Sthāṇuvaṭa is the vaṭa that grew from the very point where the present creation began.

The chapter then turns to the long tapas of the Vālakhilya ṛshis in Devadāruvana, and to Śiva’s strange arrival among them.

Śiva’s bhikshāṭana in Devadāruvana (Chapter 22)

The Vālakhilya munis were doing tapas in Devadāruvana. Śiva came among them as a young ascetic. He was naked (digambara), very beautiful, and carried a skull-bowl (kapāla). His form shone, and his behaviour was unusual. The wives of the munis were in the āśrama. They saw this shining visitor and were filled with wonder and desire. They gathered round him, and some left their household duties altogether.

When the ṛshis came back and saw their wives in this state, they were seized by anger. They did not know that the visitor was divine. They faced the young man and, in their rage, cut off his liṅga.

At the moment the liṅga was cut off, the three worlds fell into disorder. The sun and moon grew dim. The earth shook. The sacred fires went out. The seasons lost their order. The crops failed. All acts of dharma stopped.

The ṛshis go to Brahmā, and Pārvatī’s amṛta (Chapter 23)

The frightened ṛshis saw that something had gone terribly wrong. They went to Brahmā and told him what had happened. Brahmā understood how serious it was. He gently scolded the ṛshis for failing to see clearly: the visitor was Mahādeva Śiva himself, who had come in his bhikshāṭana form (the form of a wandering beggar) to test their spiritual growth. Brahmā then taught them ātma-jñāna, the knowledge of the nature of the self and of the divine, to cure the attachment that had made them open to anger.

Brahmā then led the ṛshis and devas to Kailāsa to find Śiva. On Kailāsa they found Devī Pārvatī, but Śiva was not there in his usual form. Pārvatī saw how grave the disorder was. She gave the gathered ṛshis and devas amṛta (the nectar of life) from her own vessel, the nectar that sustained life and dharma.

After this, Śiva was found in a remarkable form: living as a great elephant in the waters of Sannihita Sarovara. Brahmā went to the elephant, who was Śiva, and offered a great stotra (hymn of praise), knowing the divine presence in this form.

The liṅga is carried and the Sthāṇu liṅga is set up

In his elephant form, Śiva then did a wonderful deed. With his trunk he carried the cut-off liṅga all the way from Devadāruvana to Sannihita Sarovara. As the liṅga was brought to the lake, the ṛshis sang a great stotra to Śiva.

When the liṅga reached Sannihita, Śiva merged into the liṅga itself. The liṅga stood upright in the waters of the lake. From that moment it was known as the Sthāṇu liṅga, the liṅga of Sthāṇu (the Immovable One, a chief name of Śiva). The Sthāṇuvaṭa stood nearby and marked the holy place.

From this event on, the Sthāṇu liṅga and the Sthāṇuvaṭa became the centre of worship and of the whole Kurukshetra pilgrimage.

Another Dārukāvana episode in the same Purāṇa

In the first part of the Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 6 tells of a Dārukāvana episode in connection with the tapas of Nara and Nārāyaṇa. In that chapter the origin of four Śaiva traditions is traced: Pāśupata, Lakulīśa, Māhāvrata and Kāpālika. The telling in Chapters 21 to 23 of the Saro Māhātmya is about the setting up of the Sthāṇu liṅga at Kurukshetra.

Another account of how the Sthāṇu liṅga began, with Brahmā at its centre, is in Chapter 28 of the Saro Māhātmya.

Sources

• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 21 (Mārkaṇḍeya and Sanatkumāra; the origin of the Sthāṇuvaṭa)
• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 22 (Śiva’s bhikshāṭana in Devadāruvana)
• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 23 (the ṛshis and Brahmā, Pārvatī’s amṛta, the liṅga carried to Sannihita)
• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 6 (the Dārukāvana episode and the four Śaiva traditions)
• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 28 (Brahmā’s account of the Sthāṇu liṅga)