Jayadata the Turtle

This is the account of the turtle (kūrma) that king Indradyumna met at Mānasasarovara. The turtle was once king Jayadata of Pratishṭhānapura, a king of the solar dynasty. Over several lives he served Bhagavān Śiva and earned great puṇya (merit) and varas (boons). Bhagavān Śiva even gave him freedom from old age and death. Then he grew proud, gave up his devotion to Bhagavān Śiva, and troubled the wives of other men.

Even Yama could not control him. Yama complained to Bhagavān Śiva, and Bhagavān Śiva gave Jayadata a śāpa (a curse) to become a turtle for fifty-six kalpas. As a turtle, Jayadata had once served as the altar in Indradyumna’s great yajña (fire ritual). His scorched back and his memory of that yajña became the proof that restored Indradyumna’s fame. The account is told in the Kaumārika Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa.

The turtle at Mānasasarovara

The Garuḍa Kuśadhvaja had said that even his fifty-six kalpas of memory held no trace of king Indradyumna. The owl Prākārakarṇa then spoke of one more being. At Mānasasarovara lived a turtle named Mandara. It was so old and so huge that it had sunk deep into the mud at the bottom of that holy lake. It had lived far longer than any of them. (Chapter 9)

The whole company went to Mānasasarovara: Indradyumna, the ṛshi Mārkaṇḍeya, the crane Nāḍījaṅgha, the owl Prākārakarṇa and the Garuḍa Kuśadhvaja. The turtle was enormous. From far away it saw them coming. It knew the human form of Indradyumna among them, and in fear it fled at once into the water. (Chapter 10)

The owl called out: “Kūrma! Why have you hidden yourself? Why have you turned away from guests? Fire is the deva of brāhmaṇas. A brāhmaṇa is the deva of all the varṇas. A dear one is the deva of women. A father is the deva of sons. And a guest (abhyāgata) is the guru of all. Why have you turned away from the sacred duty of welcoming guests (atithi-dharma)? Come out and answer us.”

The turtle came up and told its fear. It had seen among the group a man of unusual form, Indradyumna, and had been frightened at once. It remembered that this king, in an earlier yajña, had used the turtle’s own back as the fire-altar (chayana). The burn marks from that fire had still not healed on its shell. Seeing the king again, it feared another yajña.

While the turtle was still speaking, flowers began to rain from the sky, showered by hosts of apsarās, and divine music sounded. Indradyumna’s fame (kīrti) had just been recognised and restored. A divine vimāna (heavenly chariot) sent by Brahmā came down to take the king. (Chapter 10)

The turtle had indeed remembered Indradyumna. Its words, though spoken in fear, were the testimony that established the king’s existence in living memory.

Indradyumna’s question to the turtle

Indradyumna turned down the vimāna, choosing to become one of Bhagavān Śiva’s gaṇas (śivagaṇatva) rather than go to svarga (heaven). Then he spoke warmly to the turtle: “My kīrti has been restored. You are my friend, my kinsman, my guru. Tell me, how did you come by such a long life? And why are you in the form of a turtle?”

The turtle answered: “O king! Let me tell you a story full of the greatness of Bhagavān Śiva (Śiva-māhātmya), which destroys all pāpa (sin) by being heard. I got this long life and this turtle form through the grace (prasāda) of Bhagavān Śiva.” Then it told the whole history of its life. (Chapter 10)

Past lives of Jayadata

First life: the brāhmaṇa boy Śāṇḍilya

In a very ancient life, the turtle’s ātmā (soul) was a brāhmaṇa boy named Śāṇḍilya. One rainy season in his childhood, he and his friends built a beautiful temple of Bhagavān Śiva out of mud and sand, as a game. It had high walls (prākāras) and a pañchāyatana layout of five shrines: Gaṇeśa, Śiva, Durgā, Sūrya and Vishṇu. It had golden kalaśas (pots on the roof), rows of flags (dhvajamālās), wooden gateways (toraṇas) and a swing (ūyala).

The children made a Liṅga and called it Jāgeśvara-liṅga. They cleansed it with rainwater and offered it flowers gathered from the fields: white flowers, āvuja flowers, pumpkin blossoms, datura, mandāra, bilva leaves, dūrvā grass and young leaves. In front of the Liṅga they sang softly, without trained voices, as children do in play. They did this worship once, on the spur of the moment, in childhood. (Chapter 11)

After he died, by the puṇya of this one innocent act of worship, he was born again as a brāhmaṇa in the city of Videśā, with jātishmara (memory of his past lives). He began sincere worship of Bhagavān Śiva, took the proper dīkshā (initiation) of Bhagavān Śiva, and received his prasāda.

Second life: a brāhmaṇa in Videśā

In this birth Śāṇḍilya remembered the Liṅga he had worshipped as a child. He set up a Liṅga and began regular pūjā. He remembered the teaching of the śāstra that a person who builds a temple of Bhagavān Śiva lives in Śivaloka for as many years as there are atoms (paramāṇus) in that temple. He also remembered that a temple of mud, of wood, of brick and of stone each give puṇya ten times greater than the one before. So he had a proper stone temple of Bhagavān Śiva built, following the rules of Viśvakarmā (Viśvakarma-vidhi).

He bathed three times a day (trikāla-snāna), lived on alms-food (bhikshā), wore matted hair (jaṭila), used sacred ash (bhasma), and gave himself fully to the ārādhanā of Bhagavān Śiva. After this life of hard tapas, he died and was born again. (Chapter 11)

Third life: king Jayadata of Pratishṭhānapura

In his next birth he was born, again with jātishmara, in the solar dynasty as king Jayadata of Pratishṭhānapura. He remembered all his past lives and kept up the pūjā of Bhagavān Śiva with a king’s wealth. He offered the most lavish pūjā: baka flowers, flowers made of gold and silver, and flowers set with gems. He also gave great gifts of food (annadāna). His offerings of golden, silver and jewelled flowers to the Liṅga were beyond compare.

Bhagavān Śiva was pleased and appeared before Jayadata and offered him a vara. Jayadata asked: “Free me from jarā and mṛtyu, old age and death.” Bhagavān Śiva gave it at once. (Chapter 11)

The fall of Jayadata

With the vara of deathlessness, Jayadata became drunk with pride. He gave up his devotion to Bhagavān Śiva and gave himself to kāma (desire).

The text gives a teaching here. Whoever lets his eyes fall on beautiful women loses his faculties in a single moment. His hearing goes deaf, his sight goes blind, his speech goes dumb, his awareness goes dull, and his learning turns to foolishness. Harming the wives of others has two results. For the dead, there is punishment in naraka (hell) after death. For the living, there is fear of stronger men in this life. Both worlds are lost by this act.

Jayadata thought, “I cannot grow old and I cannot die.” He threw off the fear of this world and the next and began to trouble the wives of others. He broke dharma. (Chapter 11)

Yama’s complaint and Śiva’s śāpa

Yama found that he could not control Jayadata. The king was out of his reach because of Bhagavān Śiva’s gift of deathlessness. Yama went before Bhagavān Śiva and complained:

“Deva! This Jayadata, guarded by your vara, torments the wives of others. He has overridden my rule. The pativratās (faithful wives), the cows, the brāhmaṇas who know the Vedas, those who give gifts (dāna-śīlas) and those who hold to truth (satya-nishṭhas) are the foundations of the world, as you yourself have said. Jayadata has tormented these very pativratās. My work is disrupted. Please appoint someone else to my post, or control this man. Jayadata of Pratishṭhāna, made mad by your vara, is breaking all the rules of dharma.”

When Bhagavān Rudra heard Yama’s complaint, he was filled with anger. He called Jayadata, who came trembling with folded hands. Bhagavān Śiva gave the śāpa:

“You of evil conduct! Because you, overcome by kāma, have tormented the pativratās, become a turtle (kūrma) at once!”

Jayadata begged Bhagavān Śiva to ease the śāpa, since Bhagavān Śiva himself had given the vara. Bhagavān Śiva eased it a little: “In the fifty-sixth kalpa from now your śāpa will end and you will join my gaṇas.” At that moment Jayadata became a turtle ten yojanas long and went down into the ocean. (Chapter 11)

In one of the many ages he spent as a turtle, Jayadata was in the sea while Indradyumna’s great yajña was being performed. That yajña was so fierce that it heated the earth to a depth of two aṅgulas. All the waters of the tīrthas came up out of the ground and formed the river Mahī.

In that yajña the turtle’s huge back served as the altar platform (yajña-vedi) for several chayana rituals, in which fire-altars are built. The heat of those fires scorched the turtle’s back. The burn marks had still not healed when the company reached Mānasasarovara. The turtle’s own wounds were the proof that Indradyumna had lived.

When the turtle said, “I saw this yajña. I remember this king. My back still bears the marks of his fire,” its words were the living testimony that restored Indradyumna’s kīrti across the three worlds. (Chapter 11)

Moksha

By the time of this meeting, Jayadata’s śāpa was near its end. Only four kalpas were left after the fifty-two already passed. He recognised Indradyumna and helped restore the king’s kīrti. He then went with the company to the Mahīsāgara Saṃgama, where Bhagavān Śiva himself appeared. These events together completed the term of the śāpa. At the Mahīsāgara Saṃgama the turtle’s form fell away and his own divine form returned. Jayadata attained moksha together with the crane, the owl and the Garuḍa. (Chapters 10 and 11)

Sources

  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapter 9
  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapter 10
  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapter 11