Pippalāda Caritra
Pippalāda is an avatāra of Bhagavān Śiva as Rudra. The Śata Rudra Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa tells in Chapters 24 and 25 how he was born as the son of the maharshi Dadhīci and Suvarchas, how he married Padmā, and how he gave a vara (a boon) that frees every person under sixteen from the harm of Śani. Nandīśvara tells it.
Dadhīci’s bones for the vajra
Nandīśvara tells that the devas, led by Indra, were beaten by the rākshasas who had gathered round Vṛtrāsura. They fled with the maharshis to Brahmaloka and told Brahmā what had happened. Brahmā told them what Vṛtrāsura was. Tvashṭā had made him by tapas for one purpose, to kill the devas. There was only one way to overcome him. It was the bones of the maharshi Dadhīci. That great brahmarshi had received them as a vara from Maheśvara himself, and through the tejas of Bhagavān Śiva they were as hard as the vajra. Brahmā advised Indra to go to Dadhīci and ask for his bones. (Śiva Purāṇa, Śata Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 24)
So Indra went to the āśrama of Dadhīci with Bṛhaspati and the host of devas. When Indra came, Dadhīci understood why. He met the request with no thought of himself. He meditated on Prabhu Śiva and gave up his body of his own will. He went to Brahmaloka, where flowers rained on him.
Then Indra had the bones taken apart with the help of the cow Surabhī. He ordered Viśvakarmā to make weapons from them. Viśvakarmā worked with the bones, which were as hard as the vajra through the tejas of Bhagavān Śiva. He made the vajra from the spine and the Brahmaśiras weapon from the skull. From the other bones he made many more astras (weapons). With the vajra in his hand Indra charged Vṛtrāsura and cut off his head. The devas rejoiced. (Śiva Purāṇa, Śata Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 24)
Suvarchas pronounces a śāpa on the devas
When Indra came to the āśrama with the devas, Dadhīci knew the purpose. He wisely sent his wife Suvarchas, a pativratā (a wife wholly devoted to her husband), into the āśrama to do her household duties, so that she would not see what was done. She finished her work and came back. She found her husband gone. The scene was full of bad signs. She saw the devas gathered there, and the whole truth came to her at once.
Filled with fierce anger, Suvarchas pronounced a terrible śāpa (a curse): “How wicked these devas are. They are skilled only in getting what they want. They are foolish and greedy. From this day, by my śāpa, all these devas, beginning with Indra, will become paśus (bound animals).” (Śiva Purāṇa, Śata Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 24)
After this, Suvarchas decided to follow her husband to whatever loka he had reached. She gathered holy samidhas (sticks for the fire) and made a funeral pyre. At that moment, by the will of Bhagavān Śiva, an ākāśavāṇī (a voice from the sky) spoke and comforted the grieving wife of the muni: “O wise one, do not act in haste. Hear these highest words. Your womb carries the tejas of the maharshi. Give birth to it by your own effort. After that you may do as you wish. But the Veda forbids a pregnant woman to destroy her own body.” (Śiva Purāṇa, Śata Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 24)
The birth of Pippalāda
Suvarchas heard the voice from the sky and stopped for a moment. She was set on joining her husband once she had done her last duty. She struck her own womb hard with a stone, and the child was born. A son of Dadhīci came out of her womb with a bright divine form. His tejas lit all ten directions. Nandīśvara says: “Rudra himself was born as the highest son of Dadhīci, by his own free will. He is skilled in his līlās (divine play).” (Śiva Purāṇa, Śata Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 24)
When she saw her divine son, Suvarchas knew in her heart at once that he was Rudra’s own avatāra. She bowed down and praised him with deep devotion, and she fixed his image in her heart for ever. Then she spoke to him with joyful love: “O son. O Parameśvara. O Mahātmā. Stay near this Aśvattha tree and give happiness to all beings for a long time. Now, please give me your glad leave to go to my husband. There, together with your father, I will meditate on you, who are the very form of Rudra.”
Having spoken to her son, the noble Suvarchas entered deep samādhi (meditation). She went to join her husband in Śivaloka, where they serve Śaṅkara together in joy. (Śiva Purāṇa, Śata Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 24)
The naming and the celebration
Brahmā, Vishṇu, the devas and the maharshis heard of the birth of this avatāra. They came to the place full of joy, as if they had been specially invited. They saw the avatāra of Rudra who had been born as the son of Dadhīci. All of them bowed down and praised him with joined hands. The devas held a great celebration. The dundubhi drums sounded, the women of the devas danced for joy, the sons of the Gandharvas and Kinnaras sang, and flowers rained from above.
The Aśvattha tree under which he was born was honoured as his divine father in this world. The saṃskāras (rites of passage) were done as they should be. Brahmā, with Vishṇu and the devas, gave the child the name Pippalāda. The name comes from the pippala (Aśvattha) tree at whose root he was born. All the devas prayed: “O Deva-deva, be gracious.” Then they went back to their own abodes with great rejoicing. Pippalāda, the avatāra of Rudra, stayed there and did hard tapas under the Aśvattha tree for a long time, for the good of all the worlds. (Śiva Purāṇa, Śata Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 24)
The marriage of Padmā and Pippalāda
Nandīśvara goes on. In time Īśvara, living in the world and wishing to set up dharma, did a new and wonderful līlā. One day the maharshi Pippalāda went to bathe in the river Pushpabhadrā. There he saw a beautiful young woman named Padmā. She had been born from a part (aṃśa) of Pārvatī, and she was the daughter of the great king Anaraṇya. Following the way and custom of the world, the maharshi wished to have her, and he went to King Anaraṇya. (Śiva Purāṇa, Śata Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 25)
The king received the maharshi with great respect and much fear, and gave him every welcome. The maharshi took it all with love and then asked for the princess. The king was struck dumb. He could not refuse and he could not answer. Then the maharshi said firmly: “O king, give me the princess with bhakti. If you will not, I will turn you and everything here to ash.” The tejas of Pippalāda, the son of Dadhīci, then filled the whole royal assembly and overshadowed it. Anaraṇya was gripped by great fear. He wept many times, and then he gave his daughter Padmā, in all her ornaments, in marriage to the honoured maharshi. (Śiva Purāṇa, Śata Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 25)
Pippalāda took Padmā, who had been born from the aṃśa of Pārvatī as the daughter of a great king, to his āśrama in joy, and began to live there with her. He looked old and he held back from the pleasures of the senses. But now he used his divine power and took the form of a young man, and he enjoyed life with the young Padmā. Padmā served the maharshi with full devotion in mind, word and body, as Lakshmī serves Nārāyaṇa. In time ten great sons were born to Padmā and Pippalāda. All were great in tapas, equal in greatness to their father, and they brought joy to both parents. (Śiva Purāṇa, Śata Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 25)
The Śani vara: no harm for those under sixteen
The kind maharshi Pippalāda saw that the harm of Śani cannot be avoided by anyone in the world. Moved by love for all beings, he gave a well known vara: “From birth until a person is sixteen years old, they will have no harm from Śani. This is my true word. If Śani ignores these words of mine and harms any human anywhere in this time, that Śani will without doubt be turned to ash.” Śani is a graha (planet) that harms people, but he does not harm those under sixteen, because he fears Pippalāda, the avatāra of Bhagavān Śiva. (Śiva Purāṇa, Śata Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 25)
The Śata Rudra Saṃhitā declares that this pure and auspicious account of Bhagavān Śiva, who became a human as Pippalāda through his līlā, grants every wish and every fruit. Whoever remembers Gādhi, Kauśika and the maharshi Pippalāda is freed from the harm of Śani. Whoever reads or hears the Padmā and Pippalāda caritra on this earth with true bhakti will have all wishes fulfilled. This highest caritra takes away the harm of Śani completely and increases Śiva-bhakti. (Śiva Purāṇa, Śata Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 25)
Sources
- Śiva Purāṇa, Śata Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 24 (Dadhīci’s bones, Suvarchas’s śāpa, the birth and naming of Pippalāda)
- Śiva Purāṇa, Śata Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 25 (the marriage of Padmā and Pippalāda, the Śani vara)