Kālabhairava and Kapālamocana
Kālabhairava is the fierce form that Bhagavān Śiva sent out from himself to cut off Brahmā’s fifth head. The Kūrma Purāṇa tells how the skull of that head stuck to Kālabhairava’s hand. It tells how he wandered through all the worlds, met Bhagavān Vishṇu, and at last reached Vārāṇasī. There, at Kapālamocana tīrtha, the skull fell from his hand.
Brahmahatyā (the killing of a brāhmaṇa) is counted as the gravest pātaka (great wrong). Prāyaśchitta means a rite of putting right a wrong. This narrative is told in the Kūrma Purāṇa, Uttarardha, Chapter 31.
Brahmā’s fifth head and its proud claim
Brahmā has five heads. The uppermost head spoke with pride. It said it was the supreme master over all creation. It set aside the rule of Bhagavān Vishṇu and denied that Parameśvara is supreme.
Then the four Vedas spoke before the gathered worlds. They said that Mahādeva Śaṅkara alone is Parameśvara, and that the fifth head had spoken what is not true. Even after the Vedas spoke, Brahmā stayed unmoved. He was held by mada (pride) that came from his work as creator, and he did not take back the words.
Kālabhairava is sent out
Parameśvara saw that Brahmā’s pride did not change. From himself he sent out his fierce form, Kālabhairava, also called Nīlalohita, the one who ends time.
Kālabhairava appeared in the sky of the devas. He had three eyes and carried a trident. His colour was reddish-tawny in his blazing tejas (radiance). Serpents were his sacred thread, and he bore all the marks of Mahādeva’s own gaṇas (attendants). He came down on the gathering and with one stroke of his śūla (trident) cut off the fifth head of Brahmā, the head that had spoken what is not true.
The skull sticks to his hand
At the moment the skull left Brahmā’s body, it stuck to Kālabhairava’s hand. This was the sure result of the karma of brahmahatyā. Brahmahatyā herself also appeared beside him, as a terrifying woman. She wore a garland of flames, she had fangs, and she blazed with ill omen.
Parameśvara then spoke to Kālabhairava. He told him to carry the kapāla (skull) and wander through all the worlds, begging for alms in the way of prāyaścitta, and so show people the rites of putting right a wrong. He told him not to rest until freedom came from the city of Vārāṇasī. Brahmahatyā was told to follow Kālabhairava through all the worlds until he reached Kāśī alone. With this command Kālabhairava set out.
The wandering through the worlds
Carrying Brahmā’s skull, Kālabhairava went through the homes of the devas and the asuras, through all three worlds. He danced among his pramatha-gaṇas (the host of attendants of Śiva). All who saw him were drawn to him and afraid of him. No tīrtha (holy place), no yajña (fire ritual) and no offering in any world could free the skull from his hand.
At the home of Bhagavān Mahāvishṇu
Kālabhairava came to the divine palace of Bhagavān Śrī Mahāvishṇu. The doorkeeper Vishvaksena stood there. He carried the śaṅkha (conch), the cakra (discus) and the gadā (mace), and he wore yellow cloth. He would not let Kālabhairava in, and he sent the blazing Sudarśana Cakra against him.
Kālabhairava was not stopped. He struck Vishvaksena in the chest with his trident and killed him. Then he went into the inner palace with his gaṇas, carrying Vishvaksena’s body on the trident.
He stood before Bhagavān Śrī Mahāvishṇu with the skull in one hand and Vishvaksena’s body on the trident, and Bhagavān Vishṇu received him with deep devotion. Bhagavān Vishṇu held Parameśvara’s gracious form in the highest honour. He took a blade and cut his own head from the forehead. A great stream of blood flowed from him as his bhikshā (alms) into the skull. Even this great offering, the offering of himself by the master of Vaikuṇṭha, could not fill the skull.
Bhagavān Vishṇu then praised Kālabhairava with Vedic mantras and asked why he was wandering. Kālabhairava told him where the skull came from and what his task was. Bhagavān Vishṇu called Brahmahatyā and begged her to let Kālabhairava go. She refused. Her power had been given by Parameśvara himself, and nothing could undo it except Parameśvara’s own city.
Bhagavān Vishṇu then told Kālabhairava to go to Vārāṇasī, the eternal city of Mahādeva. That city alone can undo what nothing else in the three worlds can undo. Bhagavān Vishṇu also brought Vishvaksena back to life and set him again in his place.
Freedom at Kapālamocana tīrtha
Kālabhairava went to Vārāṇasī. It is the eternal city of Mahādeva, the Avimukta-kshetra (the field that Śiva never leaves). Brahmahatyā had followed him through all the worlds without rest. The moment he crossed the holy boundary of Kāśī, she gave a terrible cry of grief and sank into Pātāla, never to trouble him again.
Kālabhairava then chose a most auspicious spot in Kāśī. In the presence of his pramatha-gaṇas he set the skull of Brahmā down at that place. This place became Kapālamocana tīrtha, the tīrtha of the freeing of the skull. The Purāṇa names it as one of the eight most secret tīrthas in the whole Avimukta-kshetra.
After this, Kālabhairava gave Vishvaksena’s body back to Bhagavān Śrī Mahāvishṇu and embraced him. In a moment Kālabhairava went out of sight with his pramatha-gaṇas.
The fruit of this narrative and of the tīrtha
At the end of this event Kālabhairava himself declared that those who remember his form as the bearer of the skull will find all their pāpa (sin) destroyed, in this world and the next.
The chapter on the prāyaścitta for brahmahatyā (Chapter 30 of the Uttarardha) says the same. It says that going to the Kapālamocana kshetra, bathing there, offering piṇḍa (rice balls) to the pitṛs (ancestors), and worshipping Kālabhairava in his form as Śiva destroys brahmahatyā and every other great wrong. Those who live at this tīrtha with true knowledge, knowing that the world does not last, gain the highest knowledge. At the end of life they reach the highest state, the parama-pada, by Kālabhairava’s grace.
Sources
- Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarardha, Chapter 30 (the prāyaścitta for brahmahatyā)
- Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarardha, Chapter 31 (Kālabhairava, the skull, and Kapālamocana)