Śiva in the Śmaśāna after Tripura

This account is told in chapter 136 of the Varāha Purāṇa. It tells what happened to Bhagavān Śiva after he destroyed Tripura, the three cities of the asuras. In that battle many who had no part in the war were killed. Śiva then lost his powers and had to do a long period of tapas (austerity) in the śmaśāna (cremation ground).

The destruction of Tripura

Bhagavān Śiva was called on to destroy Tripura. These were the three flying cities of the asura dynasty, and the devas could not overcome them. At the right moment Śiva took up this task. He destroyed Tripura with the Pāśupata weapon and burned the three cities to ash.

Innocent people are killed

In the fire of Tripura, not only the asuras died. Children, elderly people and women lived inside the cities. They had no part in the war, and they died in the fire of Śiva’s weapon. Their deaths by his hand brought on him a very heavy pāpa (sin), the pāpa called brahmahatyā.

Śiva loses his power

The weight of these killings was very great. Śiva lost three things:

  • His yoga, the mastery of his own mind and faculties.
  • His māyā, the divine power through which he makes his will happen.
  • His aiśvarya, his divine rule and his power to act in the world.

He was found completely still and unable to move. In this state he is called Sthāneśvara, which means the one who stands fixed, or the motionless one.

Bhagavān Vishṇu comes to Śiva

Bhagavān Vishṇu came to Sthāneśvara with compassion. He restored Śiva’s awareness. When Śiva was aware again, Bhagavān Vishṇu told him the way to put right what had been done.

The tapas Bhagavān Vishṇu prescribed

Bhagavān Vishṇu told Śiva to do the following:

  1. Go to Samala, a śmaśāna.
  2. Take up the skulls of the dead and carry them.
  3. Roam the śmaśāna for thousands of divine years, eating the flesh of the dead and wandering in the place of the departed.
  4. In the end, go to the āśrama (hermitage) of Gautama Ṛshi.
  5. At Gautama’s āśrama, the force of Gautama’s śāpa (a curse) would knock the skull from Śiva’s hand. When the skull fell to the earth, Śiva would be free from the pāpa of brahmahatyā.

Śiva and the śmaśāna

The Varāha Purāṇa gives this account for why Bhagavān Śiva is always linked with the cremation ground. He lived there for thousands of divine years as his tapas, and the śmaśāna became the place of his tapas (austerity).

Another account in the Varāha Purāṇa

Chapter 96, in Book 2 of the Varāha Purāṇa, tells a different account. Śiva struck off Brahmā’s fifth head. Śiva then wandered for twelve years as Kapālin. The skull fell from his hand at the Kapāla-mochana tīrtha in Kāśī.

Sources

  • Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 136
  • Varāha Purāṇa, Book 2, Chapter 96