Daksha Yajña and Daksheśvara in Kāśī
This is the account of Daksha’s yajña (fire ritual) held without Śiva, as the Kāśī Khaṇḍa tells it. It covers Satī’s self-immolation, the coming of Vīrabhadra, and Daksha’s final freedom. The telling is set in Kāśī. Brahmā sends the goat-faced Daksha to Vārāṇasī, the only place where his pāpa (sin) of speaking against Śiva can be removed. Daksha does tapas before a Liṅga in Kāśī for twelve thousand years. When he at last has Śiva’s darśana, Satī has already been reborn as Umā, the daughter of Himavān, and is united with Śiva again. The Liṅga Daksha set up in Kāśī became the famous Daksheśvara. Śiva promised that those who honor this Liṅga are forgiven a thousand offences.
Daksha’s grievance at Kailāsa
Vishṇu and Brahmā went to Kailāsa. All the devas were gathered there: Indra, the Ādityas, the Maruts, the Vasus, the ṛshis, the gandharvas and the celestial women. Śiva received them all.
Daksha, the father of Satī, saw that he was given the same honor as the other devas, with no special mark of respect. Filled with pride and anger, he began to find fault with Śiva in his mind. He disliked Śiva’s matted hair, his home in the cremation grounds, his serpents and his company of ghosts. He saw only the outer form and missed the reality that is beyond form. He decided to take revenge by holding a great yajña without inviting Śiva. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 87)
Dādhīci’s warning
Daksha arranged a grand yajña. He made Vishṇu the Yajñapurusha and invited all the devas. The ṛshi Dādhīci saw how grand the yajña was and saw that Śiva was missing. He warned Daksha strongly: “A yajña without Śiva is like a body without a soul, a kingdom without a minister, a brāhmaṇa without study of the Veda.”
Daksha was enraged by this advice and ordered Dādhīci to be removed. Dādhīci walked out. He was followed by Durvāsa, Cyavana, Agastya, Uttaṅka, Upamanyu, Rucika, Uddālaka, Māṇḍavya, Vāmadeva, Gālava, Garga, Gautama, and all the others who knew the true nature of Śiva. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 87)
Nārada’s report and Satī’s decision
Nārada hurried to Kailāsa. He told Satī, who was playing dice with Śiva, about the insults being heaped on Śiva at her father’s yajña. Satī at once decided to go to her father’s house.
Śiva warned her, gently but firmly: “If you go, you will never see me again.” He pointed to the unlucky meeting of the day, the nakshatra and the yoga. But Satī, who held her father’s honor dear even while lost in Śiva’s love, still insisted on going.
Śiva sent her in his own chariot of the sky, drawn by ten thousand lions. Its parts were cosmic: Gāyatrī was the yoke and Praṇava was the charioteer. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 88)
Daksha’s insults and Satī’s self-immolation
When Satī reached her father’s yajña she was not welcomed as an honored guest, for she had come without being invited. To defend what he had done, Daksha poured out a bitter and scornful description of Śiva. He said that Śiva had no jāti (birth) and no gotra (family line), that he wandered in cremation grounds, that his ornaments were bones and that his vehicle was a bull. These words seemed to be insults. Yet commentators have noted that every name in them also carries a hidden second meaning, so that each insult is at once a deep praise of Śiva’s greatness beyond all things.
Satī heard only two pādas (half a verse) of her father’s attack before she could bear no more. She said: “You gave birth to this body. Through this body the abuse of my husband has been heard. The only atonement is to cast it off.” She held back her prāṇas (life breaths) through yoga and gave up her body in the fire of her own anger.
Signs of a cosmic disaster followed at once: fierce winds, omens in the sky, and a complete breakdown of the yajña. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 88)
Vīrabhadra and the destruction of the yajña
Nārada hurried to Kailāsa and gave Śiva the news. From the fire of Śiva’s anger a huge being was born, Vīrabhadra. He bowed before Śiva and offered to carry out any order. Śiva sent him to destroy the yajña.
Vīrabhadra led hundreds of crores of Pramathas in a fierce attack on Daksha’s yajña ground. The devas were driven back. Bhaga lost his eyes, Pūshan his teeth and Vāyu his testicles. The Yajña himself fled in the form of a deer and was beheaded.
The account describes Vīrabhadra’s meeting with Vishṇu, who had agreed to be the Yajñapurusha, in detail. The Sudarśana Cakra, aimed at Vīrabhadra, became an ornament around his neck. Vishṇu’s Nandaka sword was held still by a HŪṂkāra, the sound “hūṃ”. A divine voice stopped Vīrabhadra from killing Vishṇu. He then went to Daksha and smashed his face with his open palm. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 89)
Brahmā’s plea and Daksha’s goat face
Brahmā led Śiva to the ruined yajña ground. At Brahmā’s request Śiva told Vīrabhadra to put everything right. Vīrabhadra put back all the limbs and forms, but he could not give Daksha his original face back. Daksha had spoken like a “dumb animal” when he spoke against Śiva, so Vīrabhadra gave him the face of a goat (chāga), and he kept it for good.
Śiva declared this a lesson for all later ages: anyone who performs a sacred rite without Śiva will meet the same disaster. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 89)
Daksha’s tapas and Daksheśvara in Kāśī
Brahmā then sent the goat-faced Daksha to Vārāṇasī. He said: “Go to Vārāṇasī. Nowhere else will your pāpa (sin) of speaking against Hara be removed. Not even the atonements laid down for brahmahatyā (the killing of a brāhmaṇa) can remove the pāpa of speaking against Śiva. In this case, Kāśī alone is the way out.”
Daksha hurried to Kāśī, did great tapas (austerity) and set up a Liṅga. Through this Liṅga he honored Śiva, meditated on him, bowed to him and sang his praise for twelve thousand years, with complete focus.
In the meantime Satī had been reborn as Umā, the daughter of Mena and Himavān. By her own hard tapas she had won Śiva as her husband again. Umā went to Kāśī with Śiva and saw Daksha at his tapas. Moved by pity, she asked Śiva to give him a vara (boon).
Śiva appeared before Daksha and said: “This Liṅga you have set up shall be called Daksheśvara. Those who honor it, I shall forgive them a thousand offences. You will reach moksha (liberation) after two parārdhas (cosmic ages).” Then Śiva merged into the Liṅga, and Daksha went away fulfilled. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 89)
Sources
- Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa (Uttarārdha), Chapters 87 to 89