Kṛttivāsas and Gajāsura

This is the account of how the Kṛttivāseśvara Liṅga came to be in Kāśī. It is told in Chapter 68 of the Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Uttarārdha, of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa. Gajāsura, a huge daitya, was slain by Bhagavān Śiva. He asked two varas (boons) as he died, and Bhagavān Śiva granted both. One gave Bhagavān Śiva the name Kṛttivāsas, the one who wears the hide. The other made Gajāsura’s body a Liṅga in Kāśī.

Gajāsura’s conquest

Gajāsura was a daitya of enormous size, nine thousand yojanas (a yojana is a measure of distance) tall. He was the son of Mahisha, and he had terrible power. His conquest spread across all three worlds. The devas were driven back and the order of the world was broken. Neither the Sudarśana cakra of Bhagavān Vishṇu nor the divine weapons of Brahmā could overcome him. In their distress the devas went to Parameśvara for help.

Śiva’s battle and the trident

Bhagavān Śiva took up his battle form and faced Gajāsura. After a fierce fight, he drove his great trident through the daitya’s body and pinned him fast. Then he lifted the trident, with Gajāsura’s huge body hanging on it, high into the sky.

Even pierced and held up like this, Gajāsura stayed conscious. In his last moments he was filled with devotion to Bhagavān Śiva, who had defeated him.

The two varas of Gajāsura

Gajāsura knew it was a grace to die at the hands of Bhagavān Śiva himself. He asked for two varas:

  1. That Bhagavān Śiva should wear his elephant hide as a garment. This would keep the daitya’s body for ever in touch with Bhagavān Śiva’s own person. From then on Bhagavān Śiva had the name Kṛttivāsas, “he who wears the hide (kṛtti)”. It became one of his most famous names.
  2. That his body, after Bhagavān Śiva had taken the hide, should be set up as a Liṅga in Kāśī. Kāśī is the eternal city where nothing offered to Bhagavān Śiva is ever lost.

Bhagavān Śiva granted both with compassion.

The Kṛttivāseśvara Liṅga

So the body of Gajāsura was set up in Kāśī as the Kṛttivāseśvara Liṅga. It is the Liṅga that bears the name Bhagavān Śiva took from this event.

The Kāśī Khaṇḍa says this Liṅga is the mukhya (the chief) of all the Liṅgas in Kāśī. Its grace and authority are the highest among the three crore Liṅgas of the holy city. Around Kṛttivāseśvara stand 10,200 Liṅgas.

Haṃsa Tīrtha and the crows

Near Kṛttivāseśvara is the kuṇḍa (sacred pool) linked to the yearly Caitra festival. The Kāśī Khaṇḍa says that crows which fall into this kuṇḍa during the Caitra full-moon festival are changed into swans (haṃsas) by the power of the Liṅga. This is how the tīrtha (holy place) got its name, Haṃsa Tīrtha.

The Caitra full-moon festival of Kṛttivāseśvara, and the fourteenth day of the dark half of Māgha, are both named as especially full of puṇya (merit) for pūjā here.

Sources

  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 68