Dharma’s Tapas and Dharmāraṇya
Dharma, the deva who upholds righteousness in the three worlds and takes the form of the dharma-vṛshabha (the sacred bull of dharma), came to a holy forest in Bhārata-varsha, on the shore of the southern ocean. There he did thirty thousand years of tapas (austerity) to Bhagavān Śiva. The Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa tells how Indra tried to disturb him, how Bhagavān Śiva appeared, and how the forest got its name Dharmāraṇya, “the forest of Dharma”. It also tells how the Dharmeśvara Liṅga and the Dharma Vāpī, a holy tank, came to be there.
Dharma comes to the holy forest
In the ancient past, Dharma came to a beautiful forest on the shore of the southern ocean. The forest had every mark of a tīrtha-kshetra (holy ground). It had pure streams, flowering aśoka and bakula trees, the songs of birds, and the peace of tapas in the air. Dharma settled there. Under an aśoka tree he began thirty thousand years of unbroken austerity, offered to Bhagavān Śiva. (Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Chapter 3)
Indra’s fear and the apsaras
The power of Dharma’s tapas began to be felt in svarga (heaven). Indra, the king of the devas, saw the tejas (radiance) of Dharma’s austerities grow. He feared that Dharma wanted his place, or would gather so much puṇya (merit) that he would outshine Indra himself. Indra called Urvaśī and a company of apsaras. He told them to go to Dharma’s tapas-vana (forest of austerity) and draw him away from his tapas by every means of their divine art. Vardhanī was one of the apsaras who went. (Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Chapter 3)
Vardhanī and Dharma’s steadiness
Vardhanī came to the beautiful forest where Dharma sat in tapas. She came to him with all the graces of her divine form. Dharma, whose very nature is righteousness, was not moved. With his divine sight he saw that this was Indra’s plan, and that the apsarā had come only in obedience to the king of the devas. Dharma questioned Vardhanī, and she told him truthfully that Indra had sent her.
Dharma was not angry. He showed her only compassion. He said that her coming to this holy forest was itself good fortune for her. He gave her a vara (a boon): the water of a holy tank in this forest would from then on carry her name, as the Vardhanī Tīrtha. Vardhanī, so blessed, went away. (Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Chapters 3–4)
Dharma’s pañcāgni tapas
Dharma had not been disturbed, and he now made his tapas stronger. He sat in the pañcāgni posture (the five fires): four fires burned in the four directions, and the sun blazing overhead was the fifth. He kept up his austerities in this highest posture of tapas, surrounded by fire. His tapas blazed with the heat of all the fires, and the forest shone with his tejas. (Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Chapter 4)
Bhagavān Śiva appears
Bhagavān Śiva, Parameśvara, the ruler of all, was pleased with Dharma’s matchless tapas. He appeared before Dharma, and his blazing divine light lit all ten directions. He stood before Dharma, who sat in austerity, and showed the glory of his form. His hair was matted (jaṭā-maṇḍita), his body was marked with sacred ash (bhasma-vibhūshita), and he was seated on the bull (vṛshabhādhirūḍha). Dharma rose in joy and deep reverence and offered him a stotra (hymn of praise). (Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Chapter 4)
Dharma’s forty-name stotra to Śiva
Dharma was overcome with devotion at seeing Parameśvara before him. He offered a stotra of forty names, praising Bhagavān Śiva by forty of his divine names and qualities. This is the Dharma-Śiva-Stotra of the Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa. It is a different hymn from the earlier Dharma-Śiva-Stotra of the Setu Māhātmya. Bhagavān Śiva was very pleased with the stotra and with Dharma’s great tapas. (Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Chapter 4)
Śiva names the place Dharmāraṇya
Bhagavān Śiva was glad at Dharma’s devotion and spoke to him with love:
“O Dharma! You have made this forest pure by your matchless tapas. Let this place be known in the three worlds as Dharmāraṇya, the forest of Dharma, for ever.”
By Bhagavān Śiva’s own word, the holy forest received its eternal name. (Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Chapter 4)
The Dharmeśvara Liṅga and the Dharma Vāpī
Bhagavān Śiva then told Dharma to make a holy tank at that place, the Dharma Vāpī. It was to reach from Darbhaśayana to Devīpattana, for all who would come there for ritual bathing, piṇḍadāna (the gift of rice-balls to the ancestors) and śrāddha. Dharma did as he was told, and the Dharma Vāpī was made.
Bhagavān Śiva then set up his own lasting presence there as the Dharmeśvara Liṅga, the ruler of dharma. He said that he would live in Dharmāraṇya for ever. Then Bhagavān Śiva, riding on the dharma-vṛshabha, who is Dharma himself, went back to Kailāsa. (Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Chapter 4)
The fruit of the Dharma Vāpī
Before he left, Bhagavān Śiva told the phala (fruit) of the Dharma Vāpī. Whatever japa (chanting of mantras), homa (fire offering), dāna (giving), svādhyāya (study of scripture) and other acts of dharma are done on its banks give ananta-phala, endless and never-failing puṇya. Those who bathe in the Dharma Vāpī and give piṇḍadāna for their ancestors send those ancestors to svarga (heaven), and the ancestors reach tṛpti (full contentment). The Dharma Vāpī takes away all pāpa (sin) without anything left over. (Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Chapter 4)
Sources
- Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Pūrvārdha, Chapters 3–4