Śaṅkhacūḍa
Śaṅkhacūḍa was a great dānava king who ruled the three worlds for one whole manvantara (age of a Manu). No one could defeat him, because he wore the Kṛṣṇa-kavaca (armour of Kṛṣṇa) and because his wife Tulasī was perfectly faithful to him. In his past life he was Sudāma, a gopa (cowherd) of Goloka and a dear friend of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. Rādhādevī gave him a śāpa (a curse) to be born as a dānava. Bhagavān Viṣṇu took his form to break Tulasī’s faith, and then Bhagavān Śiva killed him with the divine śūla (spear). His bones, thrown into the salt ocean, became the śaṅkha (conch shell) used in the pūjā of every deva.
All of this is told in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapters 15 to 20.
His past life as Sudāma
Śaṅkhacūḍa was really Sudāma. Sudāma was one of the eight chief gopa companions (aṣṭa-gopas) of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in Goloka. He was a follower (anucara) of Kṛṣṇa, one of his dearest friends, and a firm bhakta (devotee) of Kṛṣṇa.
One day Rādhādevī went to the inner rooms (antaḥpura) of Kṛṣṇa and found him talking playfully with Sudāma. She began to scold Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa said nothing. But Sudāma could not bear to hear Rādhādevī speak harshly of his master, and he openly challenged her words. Her sakhīs (friends) at once drove him out. He did not repent and went on speaking in the same way. Then Rādhādevī cursed him: “Be born as a dānava on earth.”
Sudāma bowed to Kṛṣṇa, weeping, as he left. Even Rādhādevī was sorry for the śāpa. Kṛṣṇa comforted Rādhā, the gopas and the gopikās. He said: “One kṣaṇa (moment) in Goloka equals one manvantara on earth. Sudāma will return to Goloka within one manvantara.”
This is from Chapter 16.
Birth as a dānava
Śaṅkhacūḍa was born in the dānava family through Dambha. Dambha was a son of Vipracitti, of the line of Danu, the daughter of Dakṣa Prajāpati. Dambha was a righteous bhakta of Viṣṇu. He took Śukrācārya as his guru and chanted the Kṛṣṇa mantra for one lakh years at Puṣkara. By this he received the vara (boon) of a son. That son was Śaṅkhacūḍa.
By the power of the Kṛṣṇa mantra, Śaṅkhacūḍa was born remembering his past life (pūrva-janma-smṛti). He knew that he was Sudāma, and he knew the purpose of this birth.
This is from Chapter 18.
Meeting Tulasī and marriage
Brahmā guided the young Śaṅkhacūḍa to the āśrama (hermitage) of Tulasī at Badarikā. He was a great yogi, perfected in the Kṛṣṇa mantra, and he wore the sacred Kṛṣṇa-kavaca. He was in the first bloom of youth and as handsome as Manmatha. His body shone like a white campaka flower, his face was like the autumn moon, and his eyes were like autumn lotuses (śarat-padmas). He wore garlands of pārijāta flowers and was anointed with kastūrī and kuṅkuma.
Manmatha had already struck Tulasī with his five arrows (pañca-bāṇas), and she was full of longing. When she saw Śaṅkhacūḍa she was drawn to him at once. They spoke together with spirit, and Tulasī tested his wisdom and virtue. Then Brahmā himself came and blessed their union. They were married in the gāndharva rite. The worlds of the devas rejoiced with drums (dundubhi) and a rain of flowers (puṣpa-vṛṣṭi).
Their love had no equal. Śaṅkhacūḍa gave Tulasī garments won from Varuṇa, the ear-rings of Rohiṇī (won from the moon), and gifts made by Viśvakarmā.
This is from Chapter 16.
Rule of the three worlds
Śaṅkhacūḍa had the protection of the Kṛṣṇa-kavaca at his throat and the power of Tulasī’s faithfulness (pātivratya-śakti). With these he became the cakravartī (universal ruler) of the three worlds. He took from the devas their kingdom, their share in pūjā and homa, their weapons and their ornaments. The devas wandered poor and helpless. He ruled for a full manvantara.
This is from Chapter 16.
His great city
His capital was grander than Amarāvatī itself. The city was five yojanas wide and ten yojanas long. It had seven moats and hundreds of streets where merchants traded. His inner palace was round like the moon, with four more walls around it. Its buildings were built of jewels and touched the sky. It had twelve gates, always guarded by mighty warriors with divine weapons.
This is from Chapter 17.
The appeal of the devas and the plan of Bhagavān Viṣṇu
The devas went to Brahmā, and then went with Śiva to Vaikuṇṭha. Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa told them the only way to defeat Śaṅkhacūḍa. The Kṛṣṇa-kavaca made him unbeatable in battle, and his wife’s faithfulness kept death away from him. Both protections had to be taken away at the same moment.
The plan of Viṣṇu was this. He would come as an old brāhmaṇa (vṛddha-brāhmaṇa) and beg for the kavaca as a gift (dāna). At the same time he would take the form of Śaṅkhacūḍa himself and break the faith (satītva) of Tulasī. The moment her faith was broken, Śiva could strike. Nārāyaṇa gave Śiva his own divine śūla for this.
This is from Chapter 16.
Śaṅkhacūḍa’s last words to Tulasī
On the night before the war, Śaṅkhacūḍa spoke to Tulasī, who was grieving:
“Time (kāla) brings everything: happiness, sorrow, joy and fear. Even trees grow, bear fruit and fall by kāla alone. You did tapas for Nārāyaṇa. You will reach him in Goloka in your next birth. I too will go to Goloka when I leave this rākṣasa body. We will meet again there. Worship Kṛṣṇa, the parātpara (the highest of the high), who is the cause of all causes. Do not grieve. This parting is only for a moment in the measure of the cosmos.”
This is from Chapter 17.
Meeting with Śiva
Śaṅkhacūḍa met Śiva at the river Puṣpabhadrā. Before the battle they spoke together.
Śiva said: “You are a bhakta of Kṛṣṇa. To you even the place of Brahmā and the throne of Indra are small things. Give back the kingdom of the devas and live in peace. War between brothers is great pāpa (sin).”
Śaṅkhacūḍa answered with the same grace. He said that in earlier yugas the devas themselves had taken the rights of the dānavas. Fortune rises and falls with kāla, and neither side has a lasting claim. He would not give way because of words. He would give way only to the dharma of battle.
Śaṅkhacūḍa also gave this teaching: “All this, birth and death, happiness and fear, comes from kāla. Even Brahmā was made by kāla, and Śiva does his work because of kāla. The only eternal one is Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who rules kāla itself. Surrender to that parātpara.”
This is from Chapter 18.
The battle
The war between the forces of Śiva and the dānava armies of Śaṅkhacūḍa was of cosmic size. Kālikā fought first. She used every astra (divine weapon), among them the āgneya, vāruṇa, gāndhāra, māhendra and nārāyaṇa astras. Śaṅkhacūḍa met every one of them with perfect skill. When she used the nārāyaṇāstra, he climbed down from his chariot and bowed, and the astra went back up into the sky. A voice from the sky (ākāśavāṇī) said that even the pāśupatāstra would not work, because Śaṅkhacūḍa’s kavaca and Tulasī’s faithfulness were still whole.
All the devas fought the dānavas who matched them. The battle lasted a full year with no clear winner. Śaṅkhacūḍa never struck Kālikā with a weapon himself, because he looked on her with the feeling of a son for his mother (mātṛ-bhāva).
The full armies of Śiva were beaten. Then Śiva himself entered the battle, and Śaṅkhacūḍa came down from his chariot to bow before his eternal guru. The fight between Śiva and Śaṅkhacūḍa lasted a full saṃvatsara (year). Neither could overcome the other.
This is from Chapters 19 and 20.
His death and return to Goloka
The war had come to a standstill. Then Viṣṇu came as an old brāhmaṇa and begged for the kavaca. Śaṅkhacūḍa was always generous. He took the Kṛṣṇa-kavaca from his throat at once and gave it away.
At the same time, Viṣṇu in the form of Śaṅkhacūḍa went to Tulasī and broke her faith. At that moment Śiva hurled the divine śūla. It struck Śaṅkhacūḍa, and his body and his charioteer were turned to ash in an instant.
From the ash Sudāma rose in his own true form. He was the divine gopa, decked with jewels, a flute (murali) in his hand, and surrounded by divine cowherds. He went to Goloka. He reached the feet of Rādhā and Mādhava and bowed before them. Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa welcomed their beloved Sudāma back with great joy.
This is from Chapter 20.
The origin of the śaṅkha
After the death of Śaṅkhacūḍa, Śiva took the bones (asthi) from the śūla and threw them into the lavaṇa-samudra (the salt ocean). From his bones came all the many kinds of śaṅkha (conch shells). For this reason the śaṅkhas are the dearest of all in the arcana (worship) of the devas.
The sound of the śaṅkha is the sound of the essence of Śaṅkhacūḍa himself. Lakṣmī Devī is always present where the śaṅkha is heard. Bathing in water made holy by the śaṅkha (śaṅkha-tīrtha) gives the puṇya (merit) of bathing in all the sacred tīrthas together.
This is from Chapter 20.
Sources
- Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapters 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20