Pippalāda and Śani

The Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa tells how a small son of the ṛshi Kauśika was lost in a famine and grew up alone under a pīpala tree. Nārada taught him and Bhagavān Vishṇu gave him darśana (sight of Bhagavān Vishṇu). When the boy learned that Śani had caused his early suffering, his yogic gaze brought Śani down from the sky. Brahmā then settled the matter and gave the boy the name Pippalāda. He became the founder of the Pippalāda-saṃhitā of the Atharvaveda.

The famine and the lost child

In the Tretāyuga a terrible drought struck the land and brought a great famine. Kauśika could not feed his family, so he set out with his wife and children to find a way to live. In the confusion of the journey one of his infant sons was separated from the group and lost. The parents did not notice. The child wandered alone, weeping.

By the grace of fate he came upon a pīpala tree (the sacred fig, Ficus religiosa) beside a clear spring. He ate the ripe pīpala fruits and drank from the spring, and slowly his weeping stopped. Over days, months and years he settled into a life of tapas (austerity) under that tree. He lived only on pīpala fruits and spring water, and he grew from an infant into a youth in the quiet of that holy forest.

Nārada arrives and teaches

One day Devarshi Nārada, wandering through the three worlds, came to this forest. He found the youth sitting in deep tapas under the pīpala tree. The boy rose at once and bowed full length before Devarshi Nārada. Nārada was very pleased with the youth’s tapas, humility and pure devotion. He carried out the whole upanayana (the sacred-thread ceremony) and all the other saṃskāras (rites of life) for the boy, and took him as his own spiritual ward.

Nārada then taught him the Veda, with the pada and krama ways of recitation and all the other methods. He also gave him the twelve-syllable great mantra of Nārāyaṇa:

Oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

The mantra bows to Bhagavān Vāsudeva.

The boy sank into deep and steady meditation on Vishṇu (Vishṇu-dhyāna) and chanted the Vāsudeva mantra without a break. Nārada stayed in the forest as a witness. Moved by the youth’s one-pointed devotion, Bhagavān Vishṇu himself came down, riding on Garuḍa, and gave him darśana. Guided by Nārada, the youth knew Bhagavān Vishṇu and bowed full length before him.

Bhagavān Vishṇu offered him a vara (a boon). The boy asked for only one thing: firm devotion (bhakti) to Bhagavān Vishṇu. Bhagavān Vishṇu, very pleased, gave him knowledge (jñāna) and teaching on yoga (yoga-upadeśa) and went away. From that moment the youth was a Maharshi.

The meeting with Śani

One day the youth asked Nārada: “Svāmī! Why did I suffer so many hardships in my early childhood? What karma made me lose my parents? Surely some graha (planet) troubled me. Where are my parents now?”

Nārada answered: “The deva who caused your early suffering is Śanaiścara, the planet Śani. Right now Śani’s influence covers the whole earth, and he moves across the sky above, glowing with his dark brilliance.”

As soon as the boy heard this, something fierce rose in his heart: power born of tapas joined with just anger. Fire blazed in his eyes. He turned his gaze up toward Śani in the sky. The force of that yogic gaze was so great that Śani fell at once from the sky and crashed on the peak of a mountain below. One of his legs was broken.

Nārada was full of joy at this great sight. By thought alone he called Brahmā, Indra, Agni, Rudra and all the other devas. They came in an instant. Nārada showed them the fallen Śani and said, “This is the power of tapas and the just anger of my adopted son.”

Brahmā settles the matter and gives the name

Brahmā spoke to the youth who stood before him: “You were raised wholly on pīpala fruits (pippalāni, so this name fits you well). From today you will be known in all the worlds as Pippalāda Maharshi.”

He added: “From today, whoever does pūjā to any deva on a Saturday (Śanivāra) and then says the name ‘Pippalāda’ will be free from Śani’s trouble for seven births. They will live happily, surrounded by sons and grandsons.”

Then Brahmā spoke to Pippalāda about putting Śani back: “The grahas do not cause suffering out of any ill will of their own. They act according to what Brahmā has written. Śani’s work is fixed by fate. He also gives grace when he is honoured in the right way. Now you must use the power of your tapas to put Śani back in his place in the sky.” Pippalāda understood that Śani was a deva doing the work given to him. With his tapas-śakti (power of tapas) he put Śani back in the sky.

Brahmā then taught the usual Śani vrata to all who were gathered. He said that Śani should be honoured with oil, dark flowers, black sesame and iron, and that the prayer which Nārada taught to King Nala, who had also been troubled by Śani, should be recited:

Koṇasthaḥ piṅgalo babhruḥ kṛshṇo raudro’ntako yamaḥ |
saūriḥ śanaiścaro mandaḥ prīyatāṃ me grahottamaḥ ||

The verse gives ten names of Śani: Koṇastha, Piṅgala, Babhru, Kṛshṇa, Raudra, Antaka, Yama, Saūri, Śanaiścara and Manda. It asks that the best of the grahas be pleased with the one who says it.

The place of Pippalāda

Pippalāda Maharshi was born in hardship, raised by the grace of Bhagavān Vishṇu, taught by Nārada, blessed by Bhagavān Vishṇu, and honoured even by Brahmā. He became one of the great ṛshis of the Vedic tradition. He is honoured as the author of the Pippalāda-saṃhitā, the main branch of the Atharvaveda that carries his name.

The Skanda Purāṇa and related texts give Dadhīci as his father.

This account of Pippalāda and Śani is the main teaching for the Śani vrata. Whoever reads or hears it is freed from Śani’s trouble.

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, chapter 114
• Skanda Purāṇa and related texts (named for Dadhīci as father of Pippalāda)