Somakānta Upākhyāna

King Somakānta of Devapura suffered from a terrible leprosy that came from pāpa of an earlier birth. The ṛshi Bhṛgu told him the whole Gaṇeśa Purāṇa over one year, and the king was cured. Gaṇeśa then sent a divine vimāna (flying chariot), and the whole city of Devapura went up to Gaṇeśa’s dhāma (supreme abode) with its king. The Krīḍā Khaṇḍa tells this in Chapters 149 to 155.

The frame of the Krīḍā Khaṇḍa

The Krīḍā Khaṇḍa is told in layers, one inside another.

  • The innermost layer is Gajānana teaching Varṇya, which is the Gaṇeśa Gītā.
  • In the middle layer Brahmā tells the whole Dvāpara story to Vyāsa.
  • In the next layer Vyāsa tells it to Sūta.
  • In the outermost layer Bhṛgu tells it to King Somakānta. Sūta tells this whole frame story to Śaunaka and the ṛshis gathered at Naimishāraṇya.

So the story of Somakānta is the frame that holds all the rest. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 149–155)

Somakānta’s leprosy

Somakānta, king of Devapura, was struck with galat-kushṭha. This is the severe kind of leprosy in which parts of the body slowly fall away. His body gave off a bad smell and was badly marked. He left his city with his wife Sudharmā and his two ministers, Subala and Jñānagamya, to look for a cure. His son Hemakantha stayed behind to rule Devapura. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 151–152)

The ṛshi Cyavana had already shown Somakānta by yogic sight the pāpa (sin) of an earlier birth that caused the disease. He had also given the remedy: hearing the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa (śravaṇa) for one full year.

Meeting Bhṛgu

On the road, Somakānta’s party rested by a great lake. The ṛshi Bhṛgu came to the lake for water and met the king. By the sight that comes from tapas (austerity) he understood the king’s trouble. Bhṛgu took it on himself to tell the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa to Somakānta for one year.

The steps were these:

  1. Bhṛgu bathed Somakānta with the ashṭottaraśata nāma, the 108 names of Gaṇeśa.
  2. By the power of his tapas, he drew the pāpa-purusha out of Somakānta’s body. This is the king’s accumulated pāpa in the form of a person. It was a terrible figure with hair reaching the sky, a hanging tongue and a fierce hunger.
  3. The pāpa-purusha was fed with the dry mango tree near the āśrama. It turned the tree to ash at once.
  4. Each day’s hearing of the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa gave puṇya (merit). Somakānta poured this puṇya with water on the ash at the foot of the tree. In this way he fed the pāpa-purusha little by little until it was satisfied.
  5. When the pāpa-purusha was fully fed, the ash would grow into a new mango tree.

Bhṛgu told him: “Offer the puṇya of each day’s hearing to the ash until a new mango tree grows from it. When the tree is full and bearing fruit again, your leprosy will be cured.” (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 151–152)

The year of hearing and the cure

Somakānta followed the rule for one full year. He bathed each day, heard the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa and offered the puṇya to the ash. At the end of the year two things had happened.

  • The dry mango tree came back to life fully. It had new leaves, flowers and fruit, just as before.
  • Somakānta’s body was made whole. The leprosy was gone and his skin glowed. His form shone with the light of the sun and the moon together, and a divine fragrance spread in all ten directions.

The people who saw him were amazed that hearing the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa could change a man so sick into one so bright. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 151)

The divine vimāna

Somakānta and Bhṛgu were still talking after the cure when a great divine vimāna appeared. It blazed like a crore of suns. It was full of Gaṇeśa’s four-armed gaṇas (attendants) wearing crowns, armlets and necklaces. Kinnarīs sang and danced inside it to the sound of mṛdaṅga drums and tāla cymbals.

The gaṇas came down, bowed to Somakānta and said: “The parātpara (highest of the high) Gajānana has remembered you. By the power of your puṇya from hearing the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, he has sent this vimāna for you. Come to his supreme dhāma.” (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 150–151)

The meeting with Hemakantha and the rising of the whole city

As the vimāna rose, it passed over Devapura. Sudharmā saw her son Hemakantha below and wept, and Somakānta’s heart was torn. The kind gaṇas brought the vimāna down to the north of Devapura for a short meeting.

Hemakantha ran to the vimāna with the whole city: men, women, children, the old, all the citizens and all the heads of the guilds. They wept and begged Somakānta not to leave them behind.

Somakānta gave the puṇya of his full year of hearing to the crowd through water (jala). All who touched the water filled with his puṇya became nirāpa (free from sin) and puṇyadeha (having a body of merit).

The gaṇas were moved by this act of shared grace and said that all of them were worthy to go up. The whole city of Devapura, every person in it, boarded the vimāna together. Those who tried to run away were caught by the gaṇas and brought back. Somakānta thus won the great mahāphala (great fruit) of bringing his whole city to Gaṇeśa’s dhāma through the shared merit of hearing the Purāṇa. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 152–153)

The 56 Vināyakas of Kāśī

On the way, Somakānta asked the gaṇas about the Gaṇeśas of Kāśī. These are the ones around Viśveśvara, and their darśana (sight) and the remembering of their names (nāma-smaraṇa) are said to give every siddhi (power).

The gaṇas described the whole arrangement: 56 Vināyakas in 7 āvaraṇas (rings), with 8 in each ring in the 8 directions, set around Viśveśvara in Kāśī. Four more Vināyakas of Kāśī, beyond the 56, were also named: Bhagīratha, Hariścandra, Kapardī and Bindu. The gaṇas said that daily recitation of these names removes all obstacles. They said that pūjā to each one with dūrvā grass, rice grains (taṇḍula), sesame (tila) and śamī leaves gives freedom from defeat and a long life. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 154)

Arrival at Gaṇeśa’s dhāma

All of them reached Gaṇeśa’s eternal dhāma. The citizens of Devapura gained sāmīpya, which is nearness to Gaṇeśa, living in his divine realm. Somakānta himself gained sāyujya, which is union with Gaṇeśa. He gained it by his great devotion, his suffering, his year of hearing the Purāṇa and his sharing of puṇya with his whole city. As the vimāna rose through the sky, the cry from inside it was heard in all directions: “Jayatu Māyūreśa! Jayatu Māyūreśa!” (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 153)

The phalaśruti

The last chapter holds the phalaśruti (the statement of fruits) of the whole Gaṇeśa Purāṇa. The main points are these.

  • Hearing the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa once or many times gives the highest fruit.
  • The puṇya of hearing it equals the puṇya of giving 1,000 bhāras of gold at Kurukshetra during an eclipse.
  • If all yajñas are weighed against hearing it, they are lighter.
  • A crore of kanyādāna gifts (giving a daughter in marriage) and a thousand gifts of cows are less than hearing it.
  • The house where the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa is kept in written form is always guarded by Gaṇeśa himself.
  • The mūka muni, a mute muni, heard the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa by chance in Brahmaloka, when Brahmā told it to Lomeśa. He received speech equal to that of Bṛhaspati.
  • King Saṃvaraṇa of the Ikshvāku line had no child. He heard the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa from the mūka muni and received a son. His sister, who was barren and thirty years old, also heard it and received a brave son. A lame son of King Sagara heard it from Lomeśa muni for twelve years and received healthy feet.

(Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 155)

Sources

  • Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 149–155
  • Chapters 151–152: the leprosy, the meeting with Bhṛgu and the steps of the cure
  • Chapter 151: the year of hearing and the cure
  • Chapters 150–151: the divine vimāna
  • Chapters 152–153: Hemakantha, the city and the rising together; arrival at the dhāma
  • Chapter 154: the Vināyakas of Kāśī
  • Chapter 155: the phalaśruti