Bhadrāyu

Bhadrāyu was a prince of Kāśmīra. His story runs across more than one life and is the main part of the longest narrative of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa that tells of him. In his earlier life he was Maṃdara, a great pāpī (sinner). Maṃdara was killed by accident in the holy ground of Gokarṇa on Caturdaśī (the fourteenth day of the lunar fortnight). At the moment of death he cried out the name of Śiva, and so he was reborn in a royal family as Bhadrāyu.

In this new birth he came under the guidance of the yogī Ṛshabha. He received the Śiva Kavaca and divine weapons, won back his father’s throne from the usurper Hemaratha, and married the divine princess Kīrtimālī. He ruled for ten thousand years and then went up to Śivaloka.

Past life as Maṃdara

In his earlier life Bhadrāyu was Maṃdara. He was a man held by kāma (desire) and krodha (anger), and his life of pāpa had gathered heavy karma. The Gokarṇa Caturdaśī Māhātmya tells in detail how Maṃdara came to die at Gokarṇa on the Caturdaśī tithi (lunar day) and cried out the name of Śiva as he died.

The Gokarṇa Caturdaśī Māhātmya teaches that the tithi and the kshetra (holy place) together make a power that works whatever the person intends, however pure or unprepared he is. In this way one moment of unplanned contact with the holy place overcame a lifetime of pāpa (sin).

Birth and early life

Maṃdara was reborn as the son of a king of Kāśmīra. The account does not give the king’s name for this birth. In the Rudrāksha Māhātmya, the king of Kāśmīra is named Bhadrasena.

Because of the Śaiva puṇya (merit) of his past life, Bhadrāyu grew up inclined to devotion and away from worldly attachment. When the time of crisis came, he did not waver. Hemaratha, an enemy of the family, seized his father’s kingdom. Bhadrāyu did not give way to rage. He took refuge in the forest and met the yogī Ṛshabha, who became his guru.

Instruction and preparation

Under Ṛshabha’s guidance Bhadrāyu received these:

  • A full dharma-upadeśa (teaching of dharma) centred on devotion to Bhagavān Śiva and japa (repetition) of the Pañcākshara mantra
  • The Śiva Kavaca, a full protective text calling on the five-faced form of Bhagavān Śiva
  • A divine khaḍga (sword), whose sight kills enemies at once
  • A divine śaṅkha (conch), whose sound makes the enemy army faint
  • Bhasma (sacred ash) charged with mantras and rubbed on his body, which gave him the strength of twelve thousand elephants

With these gifts Bhadrāyu was ready to win back his kingdom.

The campaign and the vision of Bhagavān Śiva

Bhadrāyu met the forces of Hemaratha armed with the kavaca (armour), the sword, the conch and the strength from the bhasma. The Śiva Kavaca kept enemy arrows from touching him. The sword destroyed the enemy commanders, and the conch stunned their ranks. The campaign was decisive.

At the moment of victory Bhadrāyu had a darśana (sight) of Bhagavān Śiva. The form in which Bhagavān Śiva appeared was this:

  • Five faces (pañca-mukha)
  • Three eyes on each face (tri-netra)
  • In his arms the triśūla (trident), the khaṭvāṅga, the paraśu (axe) and a mṛga (deer)
  • Umā (Pārvatī) seated beside him
  • Mounted on Vṛshabha, the divine bull
  • Serpents as ornaments, and the crescent moon in his jaṭā (matted hair)
  • Gaṅgā flowing from the jaṭā
  • His whole form shining with supreme light

This darśana, which gave a vara (boon), came in answer to Bhadrāyu’s devotion, to the kavaca, and to the puṇya gathered by Maṃdara’s death at Gokarṇa.

Marriage to Kīrtimālī and ten thousand years of rule

After the victory Bhadrāyu married Kīrtimālī. In her past life she had been Piṃgalā, a gaṇikā (courtesan) who had been Maṃdara’s companion in his life of pāpa. She too had been freed through Gokarṇa Caturdaśī. Their marriage in this life carried to its end a long story of karma that began in a low state and reached kingship and the completion of dharma.

Bhadrāyu ruled his kingdom for ten thousand years and protected the earth according to dharma. At the end of that life he went up to Śivaloka. This came through the power of the Śiva Kavaca, the Pañcākshara japa, the merit of Gokarṇa Caturdaśī and the vara of Bhagavān Śiva. He reached the highest abode and did not return to the cycle of birth.

Sources

  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Uttarārdha, Chapters 10–14