Hālāhala
Hālāhala
Hālāhala, also written hālahala and called kālakūṭa, is the terrible poison that was born first of all when the devas and the asuras churned the ocean of milk. It was unbearable and spread with terrible speed in every direction, above and below, and the people fled in fear with no one to protect them. They took refuge in Bhagavān Śiva on Kailāsa. Moved by compassion for all beings, and with the assent of Devī Bhavānī, Mahādeva gathered the spreading hālāhala into the palm of his hand and swallowed it. It darkened his throat, and for him, the benefactor of the worlds, even that became an ornament. The few drops that fell from his hand were taken up by scorpions, cobras and other venomous beings and plants. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa tells this in Skandha 8, Chapter 7, as Śrī Śuka Maharshi narrates the churning to King Parīkshit.
Foretold to the devas
When the devas had lost their fortune, Śrī Hari appeared to Brahmā, Śambhu and the devas, and after they praised him he told them to make a pact with the asuras and churn the ocean of milk, with Mount Mandara as the churning rod and Vāsuki as the rope, to win amṛta. He told them also: “The kālakūṭa poison will arise from the ocean. Do not fear it.” Towards the things that rise from the ocean, he said, they must never feel craving or desire, nor anger when a desire is not fulfilled. Then Purushottama withdrew from sight in their midst.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 8, Chapter 6
The poison rises from the ocean
The devas and asuras churned hard, but the amṛta did not appear, and Bhagavān Ajita began to churn the ocean himself. Fish, makaras, snakes and tortoises were frightened and floated up, and the ocean was stirred up with great sea-creatures, the timi and the timiṅgala, and water-elephants. Then, first of all, a very terrible poison was born from the ocean. Its name was hālahala. That matchless poison could not be borne. It spread in all directions, above and below, and the people fled in fear. Together with their rulers they took refuge in Sadāśiva.
Bhagavān Śiva, best of the devas, was seated on Kailāsa with Devī Pārvatī for the welfare of the three worlds, engaged in the tapas, dear to the maharshis, that leads to moksha. The Prajāpatis bowed to him and praised him.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 8, Chapter 7
The Prajāpatis’ stotra
The Prajāpatis praised Mahādeva as Devadeva, the ātmā of the beings he created, and begged him to protect those who took refuge in him from the poison that was burning the three worlds. He alone is master of the bondage and release of the world, the father who removes the sorrow of those who take refuge. He is the self-luminous Parabrahma who, by his māyā-śakti of sattva, rajas and tamas, takes the names Brahmā, Vishṇu and Rudra for creation, sustenance and dissolution. The Vedas were born from him; he is Kāla, he appears as yajña, he is niyati and dharma in the world.
They praised his cosmic form: Agni is his mouth, the earth his feet, Kāla his movement, the directions his ears, Varuṇa his tongue; the sky his navel, Vāyu his breath, Sūrya his eyes, water his seed, Candra his mind and dyuloka his head; the oceans his belly, the mountains his bones, the plants and trees his hairs; the seven chandas (gāyatrī, trishṭubh, anushṭubh, bṛhatī, paṅkti, jagatī, ushṇik) his seven dhātus; and all dharmas his heart. His five faces are the five mantras: Sadyojāta (sadyojātaṃ prapadyāmi), Tatpurusha (tatpurushāya vidmahe), Vāmadeva (vāmadevāya namaḥ), Aghora (aghorebhyaḥ) and Īśāna (īśānas sarvavidyānām), which, divided into their words, give thirty-eight kalā-mantras. The supreme reality of the Upanishads is named Śiva; the three guṇas are his three eyes.
“You destroyed Kāma, Daksha‘s yajña, the Tripura asuras, the kālakūṭa poison and many others,” they said, meaning that he would surely destroy the kālakūṭa. “At pralaya, when this world becomes ash in the flame of a spark of the fire of your eye, you do not even notice it.” Neither Brahmā, nor the lokapālas, nor the dwellers of Vaikuṇṭha, nor Indra can know his form, which is beyond place and time; yet he takes a form with attributes for the protection of the worlds. The stotra gives no phalaśruti.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 8, Chapter 7
Bhagavān Śiva swallows the hālāhala
Seeing the calamity, Rudradeva, the well-wisher of all beings, was moved by compassion and said to his beloved Satī Devī: “O Bhavānī, see this sorrow that has fallen on living beings from the kālakūṭa poison born from the churning of the ocean of milk. They wish to save their lives, and I, their prabhu, must give them abhaya and protect them, for the one duty of a prabhu is to protect the helpless. The good know that life passes in a moment, and they stake their own lives to protect other beings. O Kalyāṇī, Bhagavān Śrī Hari is pleased with one who shows compassion to living beings, and when he is pleased, I too am pleased, with the whole world. So I will swallow this poison. May good come to my people through me.” Devī Pārvatī, who knew his greatness, gave her assent.
Then Mahādeva, protector of beings, gathered the spreading hālāhala into the palm of his hand and swallowed it. The poison showed its power even on him: his throat became dark. For him, the benefactor of the worlds, even that became an ornament. The Purāṇa draws the teaching: those who do good to others grieve to see the sorrow of people, for Purushottama dwells as the ātmā in all beings, and so doing good to others is the highest pūjā offered to him. The people, Satī Devī the daughter of Daksha, Brahmā and Śrī Hari all praised Śambhu for that deed.
As he drank the poison, a few drops slipped from his hand and fell. Scorpions, cobras, other venomous serpents, other poisonous creatures and poisonous plants took them up.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 8, Chapter 7
Kālakūṭa elsewhere in the Bhāgavata
Uddhava, telling Vidura of Śrī Kṛshṇa‘s compassion, says that the wicked Pūtanā smeared kālakūṭa poison on her breasts to kill Śrī Kṛshṇa as he drank her milk; even so he granted her the holy state fitting for Yaśodā, the mother who raised him.
When Śrī Kṛshṇa freed King Nṛga, he taught the kshatriyas about brahmasva, the property of a brāhmaṇa: “Hālāhala has an antidote, so I do not count it poison. But the property of a brāhmaṇa is surely poison, and for it there is no antidote.” Poison harms only the one who eats it, and fire is put out with water, but the fire of a brāhmaṇa’s property destroys a family to its root.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 2; Skandha 10, Chapter 64
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 2; Skandha 8, Chapters 6–7; Skandha 10, Chapter 64