Mṛkaṇḍu Maharshi
Mṛkaṇḍu
Mṛkaṇḍu Maharshi is a great ṛshi of the Bhārgava (Bhṛgu) line and the father of Mārkaṇḍeya Maharshi. He did ten thousand years of fasting tapas at the tīrtha of Śālagrāma to please Śrī Mahāvishṇu. Bhagavān Vishṇu was so moved that he promised to be born as Mṛkaṇḍu’s son. That promise was kept in the birth of the deathless Mārkaṇḍeya, the ṛshi who would live through every pralaya and compose the Purāṇa-saṃhitā.
The Padma Purāṇa tells it in its own way: Mṛkaṇḍu, a ṛshi given to tapas and dharma, deeply wished for a son who would be a great ṛshi, and through hard tapas he pleased Brahmā and received the vara of such a son.
Who he is
Mṛkaṇḍu Maharshi belongs to the Bhārgava (Bhṛgu) vaṃśa (line). The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa places him in the line that comes down from Vidhātā. He is described as a ṛshi of the highest sattva (purity and calm). He was satyasandha (true to his word), jitendriya (master of his senses), dayālu (kind) to all creatures, wholly free from desire for the pleasures of saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death), and a devotee of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa with one-pointed mind (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapter 49).
The Agni Purāṇa gives the same line. Bhṛgu Maharshi married Khyāti, a daughter of Daksha, and she bore him the devas Dhātā and Vidhātā, and Lakshmī. Dhātā’s son was Prāṇa; Vidhātā’s son was Mṛkaṇḍu. Mṛkaṇḍu’s son was Mārkaṇḍeya, and Mārkaṇḍeya’s son was Vedaśiras (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 20).
Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Maitreya Maharshi tells Vidura the line of Bhṛgu: to Bhṛgu in his wife Khyāti were born two sons, Dhātā and Vidhātā, and a daughter, Śrī, an aṃśa of Lakshmī devoted to Bhagavān Vishṇu. Meru gave his daughters Āyati and Niyati in marriage to Dhātā and Vidhātā, and to these couples were born, in order, Mṛkaṇḍa (Mṛkaṇḍu) and Prāṇa. To Mṛkaṇḍa Maharshi was born the son Mārkaṇḍeya Maharshi, and to Prāṇa the son Vedaśiras (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 1).
In Sūta Maharshi‘s account to Śaunaka, Mārkaṇḍeya, the son of Mṛkaṇḍu Maharshi and the best of the Bhṛgu line, received from his father, in due order from the jātakarma onward, the saṃskāras up to the upanayana; then he studied the Vedas according to dharma, took the vow of lifelong brahmacarya and was steadfast in tapas and svādhyāya (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 12, Chapter 8).
Tapas at Śālagrāma
Mṛkaṇḍu did nirāhāra (foodless) tapas for ten thousand years at the mahātīrtha (great tīrtha) of Śālagrāma, the holiest place of Bhagavān Vishṇu. For all that time he stayed absorbed in meditation on Śrī Mahāvishṇu as Brahman with form (saguṇa). The Nārada Purāṇa stresses that his tapas was not driven by a wish for power or for revenge. It came from pure devotion and the wish to see Bhagavān Vishṇu.
The devas were alarmed by the force of the tapas. They prayed to Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa at the Kshīrasāgara (the Ocean of Milk). Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa calmed them. He said that Mṛkaṇḍu is a satpurusha (good man) who would never harm others, even when he himself is troubled. He said that sādhujanas (good people), even when pressed by the three kinds of suffering (tāpatraya), never harm any being, unlike the wicked, who do harm at every chance (Nārada Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 4).
The darśana and the promise
Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa appeared before Mṛkaṇḍu in his full four-armed form. He bore the śrīvatsa mark on his chest, wore yellow silk, and shone like a million suns. Filled with bhakti, the ṛshi opened his eyes from meditation, bowed to the ground and offered a moving stotra (song of praise). He called Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa the Parameśvara, the one beyond mūlaprakṛti (root nature) and mahat (the great principle), the one without form who yet appears with form, the one full of compassion who frees his devotees, and the one who loves those who take refuge in him.
Mṛkaṇḍu said that the darśana of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa is durlabham (hard to win) even for those who keep vratas, perform yajñas and do tapas, and that this darśana had fulfilled him completely. He asked for no other vara. This complete surrender pleased Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa, who embraced the ṛshi and said: “I shall be born as your son — endowed with all guṇas, immortal, of beautiful form. The very kula into which I am born shall attain moksha.” Here kula means family and moksha means release from the cycle of birth and death. With this blessing Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa vanished (Nārada Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 4).
Marriage and the birth of Mārkaṇḍeya
When his tapas was done, Mṛkaṇḍu entered gṛhasthāśrama (the householder stage). His wife was a devoted wife of great purity. She was grateful, clean in body and mind, and served her husband with purity of body, speech and mind. At the right time she conceived a child who carried the tejas of Śrī Hari. After ten months she gave birth to a bright son with auspicious marks.
Mṛkaṇḍu performed all the saṃskāras (rites of passage), including jātakarma (the birth rite) and nāmakaraṇa (the naming rite), with great joy. When the boy was five, he performed the upanayana (sacred-thread ceremony) and himself taught his son the dharma of brahmacarya (student discipline). It covered daily pūjā of the sun (sūrya-vandana), Vedic conduct, devotion to Bhagavān Vishṇu, keeping only the company of good people, non-violence (ahiṃsā) toward all, and good advice for all (hitopadeśa) (Nārada Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapter 5).
The liṅga at the Sthāṇu tīrtha
Per Vāmana Purāṇa, Mṛkaṇḍu also installed a Śivaliṅga at the Sthāṇu tīrtha of Kurukshetra, beside the lake of Sarasvatī. The Saro Māhātmya, listing the liṅgas around the sacred vaṭa (banyan) of Sthāṇu, places it south of the Siddheśvara liṅga that the siddhas installed, which stands west of the mahāliṅga Rudra set up in Asthipañjara. East of Mṛkaṇḍu’s liṅga is the liṅga of Āditya. The text calls him “the mahātmā Mṛkaṇḍu” and says that by the mere darśana of the Śivaliṅga he installed, one gains all siddhis.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 25
Per Padma Purāṇa
Mṛkaṇḍu longed for a son who would be more than a son: a great ṛshi in his own right, who would uphold dharma and reach the highest jñāna (knowledge). With this aim he performed hard tapas to Brahmā. The strength and honesty of his tapas pleased Brahmā, who appeared and gave him the vara (a boon) of a great son.
The son born to Mṛkaṇḍu was Mārkaṇḍeya. At his birth the Saptarshis and Brahmā himself blessed him with the vara of kalpāntaka āyuḥ (a life lasting to the end of the kalpa). The son turned out greater than anyone expected. Mārkaṇḍeya became one of the few ṛshis to witness the Mahāpralaya (the great dissolution), to wander inside the cosmic body of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and to receive the darśana (sight) of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa as the child on the banyan leaf (vaṭa-patra).
Source: Padma Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 33
Sources
- Nārada Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapters 4–5
- Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapter 49
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 1; Skandha 12, Chapters 8–10
- Padma Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 33
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 25
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 20