Baḍabāgni

The Baḍabāgni is the fire that burns in the depths of the ocean. It is also called Baḍavāgni or Vāḍavāgni. The name means “the fire of the mare” (baḍabā), or the submarine fire. The Śiva Purāṇa tells that it is the fire left over after Bhagavān Śiva burned Kāmadeva with his third eye. Brahmā placed it in the ocean, where it stays until pralaya (the dissolution of the world).

Origin

Bhagavān Śiva’s third eye opened and burned Kāmadeva to ash. This is told in the Kāma Dahana of the Pārvatī Khaṇḍa. The fire used was not an ordinary fire. It was the fire of Śiva’s yogic power, and it came out through his third eye (ūrdhva-netra). It was strong enough to destroy in one moment the deva of all desire.

A fire like this does not simply go out. When the burning was finished, the fire went on blazing in all directions. It was huge, nothing held it back, and it grew stronger. It threatened to burn up the worlds.

Brahmā steps in

Brahmā saw the danger and stepped in. With his power of creation he changed the fire into the Baḍabāgni, the “fire of the mare” or “submarine fire”.

Brahmā placed the Baḍabāgni in the ocean. It burns there all the time, in the deepest waters, held in by the ocean’s great depth. The ocean holds this fire, but the fire does not burn it up.

The Baḍabāgni and pralaya

The Baḍabāgni stays in the ocean until the time of pralaya. At the end of the cosmic cycle it will come out and join the fire that burns up everything and dissolves the shown world back into the unshown.

Sources

• Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Pārvatī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 20