Sindūra

Sindūra is the daitya who stands against Gajānana, Gaṇeśa’s avatāra in the Dvāpara-yuga. He was born in a strange way, from a yawn of Brahmā. He was red from birth, and his name means “vermilion”. He was very strong, and Brahmā gave him a vara (boon) that no being could defeat him.

He conquered the three worlds, destroyed temples and Vedic rites across the earth, and tried to carry off Pārvatī from Kailāsa while Śiva was in samādhi. In the end the child Gajānana killed him. Gajānana smeared Sindūra’s red blood (sindūra) on his own body. This is how Gaṇeśa came to be linked with sindūra.

Birth

Sindūra’s birth is one of the most unusual in the Purāṇas. Brahmā was asleep when Śiva woke him. Brahmā yawned, and from the yawn came a huge, red-bodied being of fearful size. He came out fully formed. Brahmā named him Sindūra, “the red one”, for his deep red colour. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 127)

The vara of invincibility

Brahmā gave Sindūra a vara of fearlessness, so that no being could overcome him. Sindūra at once tried to embrace Brahmā himself, his own creator. Brahmā was alarmed and fled to Vaikuṇṭha. Bhagavān Vishṇu would not face Sindūra and sent him on to Śiva. Sindūra then went to Kailāsa, where Śiva was in deep samādhi. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 127–128)

The attempt to carry off Pārvatī

Sindūra could not reach Śiva in samādhi. He saw Pārvatī and tried to carry her away. Māyūreśvara, in his form from the earlier Tretā-yuga cycle, came as a brāhmaṇa to stand between the two. The brāhmaṇa persuaded Sindūra, who put Pārvatī in his care for a time.

Śiva woke from samādhi and fought Sindūra himself. Māyūreśvara’s unseen paraśu (battle-axe) weakened Sindūra in this fight, and Sindūra left Kailāsa. Māyūreśvara then showed himself to Pārvatī. He promised that he would be born again as Gajānana in the Dvāpara-yuga to kill Sindūra for good. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 128)

Conquest of the three worlds

Sindūra went on to conquer the whole earth and then the three worlds.

• He destroyed temples and holy mūrtis across the land.
• He stopped the flow of svāhā (offerings to the devas), svadhā (offerings to the pitṛs) and vashaṭkāra (the calls that end a yajña offering). This starved both the devas and the pitṛs.
• He set up his own rule over all three worlds and drove the devas out of their duties.

Bṛhaspati saw that the devas were helpless. He advised them to pray to Vināyaka for the coming of Gajānana. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 129)

The attempts to kill the infant Gajānana

Gajānana was born to Pārvatī at Paryalī vana. Sindūra searched for the infant, meaning to destroy him before he grew strong. He looked first in Kailāsa and then in Paryalī vana.

He found the infant in the sūtikā-gṛha (birthing room) in Māhishmatī, where Nandī had placed him with Pushpikā. Sindūra tried to throw the baby into the ocean, but the infant became too heavy to move. Sindūra then threw the infant into the Narmadā river. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 131–132)

The child’s touch on the river made the Gaṇeśakuṇḍa tīrtha. Pārāśara found the infant and raised him safely in his āśrama. So Sindūra’s attempt to destroy the avatāra led to the making of a holy tīrtha. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 131–132)

Death

When Gajānana was nine years old, he rode his mūshaka (mouse) to Sindūra’s capital, Siddhasindūravādaka, near Ghṛshṇeśvara. He sent ambassadors to offer Sindūra the chance to free the devas. Sindūra refused and came out to fight. In the battle:

• Gajānana showed his viśvarūpa (cosmic form).
• He seized Sindūra by the throat.
• He crushed him to death.

Gajānana then smeared Sindūra’s red blood (sindūra) over his own body. This gave him the names Sindūravadhana (slayer of Sindūra) and Sindūrapriya (lover of sindūra). Sindūra’s death at the hands of the divine avatāra is counted as a kind of moksha, called vadha-moksha. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 137)

Sindūra in the pūjā of Gaṇeśa

The red paste put on Gaṇeśa’s mūrti in daily pūjā recalls Gajānana’s smearing of Sindūra’s blood on his body, a sign of victory over adharma.

Sources

• Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 127–137