Vaḍavā, the Kṛtyā Born from Pippalāda's Eyes

Vaḍavā, “the mare”

Kṛtyā has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kṛtyā.

Vaḍavā is the Kṛtyā, the fierce śakti of destruction, that came forth from the eyes of the ṛshi Pippalāda at Cakreśvara on the Gautamī, when he looked into the third eye of Bhagavān Śiva to avenge his father Dadhīci on the devas. Because Pippalāda was meditating on his mother Vaḍavā, the Kṛtyā took her shape and features and carried within her a fire able to destroy all beings. At Bhagavān Śiva’s command she stood one yojana east of the Pippala tīrtha, and at the devas’ plea she agreed to devour all things in due order: she became a river and joined the Gaṅgā, and the primordial fire born of her was carried to the ocean at Prabhāsa. Later the devas and the ṛshis together crowned her with abhisheka (sacred bathing) as the wife of Mṛtyu, and the water of that abhisheka became the river Vaḍavā, which meets the Gautamī at Vaḍavā-saṅgama, where Mṛtyu installed the liṅga Mahānala. She bore the form of Vaḍavā, the wife of Dadhīci and mother of Pippalāda, but she is not that Vaḍavā, who entered the fire.

Brahmā tells this to Nārada in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa, in the account of Cakreśvara and the Pippala tīrtha (Chapter 40) and in the account of Vaḍavā-saṅgama (Chapter 46).

Whose form she bore

Dadhīci‘s wife was famous as Gabhastinī and glorified as Vaḍavā. When the devas had taken Dadhīci’s bones for their weapons, she placed her child under the pippala trees and entered the fire. The trees raised the boy, Pippalāda, with the amṛta of Soma. When he learned how his parents had died, he resolved to destroy the devas. At Soma’s word he went to Cakreśvara on the Gautamī, praised Bhagavān Śiva, and was told that if he could look at Śiva’s third eye he could strike his foes. After many years of tapas he looked at the third eye.

Her birth

At that moment a voice from the sky reminded him of his mother’s words, that those who harm others fall into naraka, but the fire of pride was burning within Pippalāda. Because he was thinking of Vaḍavā, his mother, the Kṛtyā that came out of his eyes had her shape and features. She held within herself abundant fire to destroy all beings, and she was one with that inner fire, for he was meditating on his mother with the child in her womb. Even as she came forth she was as terrible as the tongue of Mṛtyu.

“Give! Give!” she said. “What is my task? Tell me.” Pippalāda said, “Devour the devas, my enemies.” Saying “So be it,” she seized Pippalāda himself, who stood before her. “Kṛtyā, what is this?” he cried. She said: “I am doing what you said. This body was made by the devas.”

The frightened ṛshi went to Bhagavān Śiva and praised him, and Śiva said to the Kṛtyā: “By my command, do not seize living beings within one yojana of this place. Go far away from here and do your work.” So the Kṛtyā, in the form of Vaḍavā, stood one yojana to the east of the Pippala tīrtha.

Her fire and the devas

A great blaze of fire, able to destroy the world, came out of her. The devas, afraid, took refuge in Bhagavān Śiva: “Śambhu, protect us. The Kṛtyā and the fire born of her are attacking us. The Kṛtyā that came from the fire of your eye, sent by the ṛshi, wants to destroy the three worlds.” Bhagavān Śiva told them that she does not harm those who live within a yojana of the place, and bade them stay there; Sūrya stayed there in his visible form, and the devas took their places on the banks of the Gaṅgā around Cakreśvara.

When Bhagavān Śiva had calmed Pippalāda and granted him his varas, the devas asked him to calm the Kṛtyā and her great fire. Pippalāda said: “I cannot ward her off, and I will never utter a lie. Speak to her yourselves. On seeing me, that most terrible Kṛtyā will do just the opposite.” The devas went to her and to the fire and pleaded with them to be appeased. Both answered: “No. I was created by the brāhmaṇa to devour everything, and so was the fire born of me. The five great elements and everything moving and unmoving must enter our mouth.” The devas took counsel with Brahmā and said to them: “Then devour everything in due order, one thing after another.”

She becomes a river

Vaḍavā said to the devas: “Excellent devas, I will devour everything as you wish.” And that Vaḍavā became a river and joined the Gaṅgā.

The devas call the fire that came from her the primordial fire, most terrible, the first of the elements. They sent it to devour the waters of the ocean. Agni asked to be carried there by a virgin in a golden pot, and the devas asked Sarasvatī. With the Gaṅgā, the Yamunā, the Narmadā and the Tapatī helping her, Sarasvatī carried Agni in a golden pot, and they bore it on their heads and set him down at Prabhāsa, where Somanātha dwells with the devas. There the great fire presides, drinking the water slowly.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 40

Wife of Mṛtyu

Brahmā tells Nārada of the tīrtha that removes death, old age and other defects. The whole account is told in Mṛtyu, the Kṛtyā Vaḍavā and Vaḍavā-saṅgama. It is the fire Vaḍavā that is known as Mahānala; the liṅga there is called Mahānala, and the river is called Vaḍavā.

Long ago the ṛshis of great tapas performed a yajña in the Naimisha forest, and they made Mṛtyu the śamitṛ, the one who slays the sacrificial animal. While the yajña went on with Mṛtyu as śamitṛ, no being died, moving or unmoving; apart from the animals of the yajña, mortal beings became deathless. Because Mṛtyu was busy elsewhere, svarga became empty and the mortal world was overcrowded.

Then the devas said to the rākshasas: “All of you go to the yajña and destroy that great yajña of the ṛshis.” The rākshasas answered: “We shall destroy it. But what do we gain? No one does anything anywhere without a proper reason.” The devas promised them a share of the fruit of the yajña, and at their bidding the rākshasas hurried to the place of the yajña to destroy it.

Learning of it, the ṛshis said to Mṛtyu: “What shall we do? At the bidding of the devas the rākshasas have come to destroy the yajña.” The dwellers of the Naimisha forest took counsel with Mṛtyu and left their āśrama. They took with them only the sacred fire of the yajña, leaving the vessels behind, so that the yajña might be completed, and with Mṛtyu, the śamitṛ, they hurried to the Gautamī. There they bathed, and with joined palms they praised Bhagavān Śiva for protection. The ṛshis said: “We take refuge in that Someśvara who in play created this universe, who is the creator and the ordainer of the three worlds, whose form is the universe, and who is beyond both sat and asat.” Mṛtyu said: “I take refuge in that Śaṅkara, Devadeva, who creates, protects and destroys everything by his will alone; in Śaṅkara of great strength and vast form, who wears great serpents as his ornaments.”

Bhagavān Śiva asked, “What is it that you wish?” Mṛtyu said: “Devadeva, a terrible danger has come upon us from the rākshasas. Protect our yajña, so that it may be completed.” The three-eyed Bhagavān Śiva, whose banner bears the bull, did so, and the yajña was completed with Mṛtyu as śamitṛ.

When the devas came slowly for their shares of the havis, the ṛshis, furious, spoke to them together with Mṛtyu: “Since you sent the rākshasas to destroy our yajña, let the rākshasas be your enemies.” From then on the rākshasas became the enemies of the devas.

Then the devas and the ṛshis together crowned Vaḍavā, the kṛtyā, with abhisheka, saying: “Be the wife of Mṛtyu.” The holy water that flowed at that abhisheka became the river Vaḍavā. The liṅga installed by Mṛtyu is known as Mahānala, and from then on the tīrtha is known as Vaḍavā-saṅgama, the meeting of the Vaḍavā with the Gautamī. The tīrtha where Bhagavān Śiva is Mahānala gives bhukti (worldly enjoyment) and moksha. There are a thousand tīrthas on its two banks; they give all desired things, and by remembering them pāpas are washed away.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 46

The phalaśruti of Chapter 40

Brahmā says that this narrative is most sacred. One who reads it, listens to it or remembers it lives long, becomes dhārmika and wealthy, and, remembering Śambhu at the time of death, attains him.