Bhasma and Tripuṇḍra Māhātmya

Bhasma, also called vibhūti, is sacred ash. The tripuṇḍra is the mark of three horizontal lines of this ash worn on the forehead and body by devotees of Śiva. The Bhasma Māhātmya (glory of the ash) and the Tripuṇḍra Māhātmya (glory of the three lines) are two teachings that belong together. They are told in the Brahmottara Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa through two accounts: the meeting of the yogī Vāmadeva with a brahmarākshasa, and the dialogue of Śiva and Sanatkumāra on Mount Mandara.

Bhasma made from burnt cow dung is Śiva’s own substance. Its chance contact with a dead body was enough to carry a man burdened with pāpa (wrongdoing) to Śivaloka, Śiva’s realm. When it is put on on purpose as the tripuṇḍra, with the proper mantras, it is said to be the highest of all dharmas. It frees one from all mahāpātakas (the gravest wrongs) and upapātakas (lesser wrongs), and its fruit equals that of all tīrthas (holy places) and all Śiva mantras together.

Bhasma: Śiva’s Own Substance

Bhasma is the special sign of Śiva. Śiva wears it on his own body, gives it to devotees as vibhūti, and it is used in pūjā. It is, in particular, the ash of burnt gomaya (cow dung), which is blessed with mantras before it is applied.

The Bhasma Māhātmya in Chapter 15 shows the complete power of bhasma through the most extreme example one could imagine.

A brāhmaṇa had died in a state of pāpa. His body was thrown outside the village with no funeral rites. A dog that had walked over a spot where a devotee of Śiva had applied bhasma then touched the body by chance. The bhasma was on the dog’s paws. It was not even on the living body of the brāhmaṇa, but on a dead body, and it was put there by a dog with no intention at all.

Even so, when Yama’s messengers came for this man’s soul, Śiva’s messengers arrived and won. They named the touch of the bhasma as the cause of his liberation, which could not be undone. Over Yama’s objection, the dead man was taken to Śiva’s realm.

“Even Mahādeva himself cannot fully measure the greatness of bhasma; how then could anyone else?”

Vāmadeva explains to the brahmarākshasa: “It is the bhasma on my body. Its contact with you, even though you touched me only to seize and eat me, has purified the pāpa of twenty-five births and brought back the memory of your past lives.”

The Tripuṇḍra: Its Form and Its Devatās

The tripuṇḍra is the formal wearing of bhasma as three horizontal lines on the forehead and other parts of the body. Śiva himself gave this teaching to Sanatkumāra on Mount Mandara, when Sanatkumāra asked: “What is the one highest dharma, which is easy to do, works at once, and is the deepest secret of all the Upanishads?”

Śiva answered: “Wearing the tripuṇḍra.”

Material

Bhasma made from burnt gomaya. This is called āgneya (fire-born) bhasma. Fire is an aspect of Śiva himself, and the bhasma that comes out of fire is Śiva’s gift to his devotees.

Mantras for Applying It

• The bhasma is blessed with the Sadyojāta and the other Brahma mantras (the mantras of Śiva’s five faces).
• The Mānastoka mantra is used while applying the bhasma.
• The Tryambaka mantra is used for the śiras (head).
• The Tryāyusha and related mantras are used for the two shoulders and other places.

The Three Lines

The three lines (rekhās) of the tripuṇḍra are drawn with the middle finger (madhyamā), ring finger (anāmikā) and index finger, all three together, moving downward in order. The lines run from between the eyebrows to their outer ends, making three parallel horizontal marks.

The Nine Devatās of the Three Lines

So the three lines hold within them, all at once, the three fires of yajña, the three Vedas, the three worlds, the three guṇas (qualities of nature), the three soma-pressings, the three śaktis (powers) and the threefold nature of the self.

Wearing the Tripuṇḍra Without a Mantra

Even one who puts on the three lines without knowing the mantra or the meaning is freed from pāpa:

“Without a mantra, even without knowing its greatness, whoever wears the lines on the forehead is freed from all pāpas.”

The mark itself carries the power. The mantras and understanding multiply the fruit, but they are not needed for the basic liberation.

The Fruits of Wearing the Tripuṇḍra

• Freedom from all mahāpātakas (the gravest wrongs): killing a brāhmaṇa, drinking liquor, killing a kshatriya woman, union with a caṇḍāla woman, touching another man’s wife, killing a cow, killing a horse, and countless others
• Liberation for the brahmacārī (student), gṛhastha (householder), vānaprastha (forest-dweller) and yati (renunciant) alike
• One who wears the tripuṇḍra with a rudrāksha-mālā (rosary of rudrāksha beads) at the throat, even if born a caṇḍāla, is worthy of honour from all varṇas and is to be respected as the highest among them
• Equal to the fruit of bathing in all tīrthas, including the Gaṅgā
• Equal to the fruit of japa (repetition) of all Śiva mantras, from the Pañcākshara to the seven crore mahāmantras, and all other Śiva mantras
• The wearer frees a thousand ancestors and a thousand descendants yet to come
• In this life: long life, freedom from disease, health and prosperity
• At death: a divine body, and a rise through the realms of all the lokapālas (guardians of the worlds), Brahmaloka and Vishṇuloka, and at last to Śivaloka in sāyujya (union with Śiva), with no return

The Accounts Behind the Teaching

The Bhasma and Tripuṇḍra Māhātmya is told through the meeting of Vāmadeva, a yogī devoted to Śiva, with the brahmarākshasa in the Krauñcāraṇya forest, which includes the story of the brahmarākshasa’s twenty-five past lives. A related account, the story of Caṇḍuka the Śabara (a forest-dweller), shows the power of śraddhā (faith) with ash from the cremation ground.

Sources

• Skanda Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 15
• Skanda Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 16