Liṅgodbhava and Brahma Kuṇḍa

The Liṅgodbhava is the rising up of the endless Śivaliṅga, a pillar of divine light. This account is told in the Brahma Kuṇḍa Māhātmya, within the Setu Māhātmya of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa. Brahmā and Vishṇu quarrelled over who was supreme. An endless pillar of light appeared between them. Vishṇu searched for its base and told the truth when he failed. Brahmā searched for its top and lied, using a ketakī flower as a false witness. Śiva then appeared, cursed Brahmā and the ketakī, and honoured Vishṇu for his honesty. Brahmā did yajñas for eighty thousand years at Gandhamādana to make amends, and was pardoned at Brahma Kuṇḍa.

The quarrel between Brahmā and Vishṇu

Brahmā and Vishṇu met each other in the cosmos, and a dispute arose between them about which was supreme. Each claimed the first place. Brahmā claimed it as the creator and Vishṇu as the one who sustains. This dispute was the occasion for the Liṅgodbhava, which shows Śiva as the endless reality beyond the cosmos.

The endless Liṅga appears

In the middle of their quarrel, an endless pillar of light appeared between Brahmā and Vishṇu. It went beyond sight both upward and downward. This was no ordinary form. It was the Liṅgodbhava, the self-arising form of Śiva, who has no beginning and no end. Its top could not be seen and its base could not be found. It was pure jyotis (divine light) in the form of the Śivaliṅga.

Vishṇu took the form of a varāha (boar) and dived into the depths of the cosmos to find the base of the Liṅga. He went deeper and deeper, to the roots of existence, but could not find the base. After searching with all his strength, Vishṇu came back and told Brahmā the truth: “I have searched with all my power and I cannot find the base.” This truthfulness was a mark of Vishṇu’s greatness.

Brahmā’s false claim

Brahmā took the form of a haṃsa (swan) and flew upward to find the top of the Liṅga. He also searched widely but could not find the top.

But Brahmā did not admit that he had failed, as Vishṇu had. Instead he made a plan with a ketakī flower (Pandanus). He said that the flower had first been resting on the top of the Liṅga and had fallen down. With the ketakī as his false witness, Brahmā declared that he had reached the top of the endless Liṅga and had seen the ketakī flower there as proof. This deliberate lie, told in the holy presence of the Liṅgodbhava, was Brahmā’s great wrong.

Śiva appears and gives curses

Bhagavān Śiva appeared out of the endless Liṅga. He faced both Brahmā and Vishṇu with the full truth of what had happened. He honoured Vishṇu deeply for his truthfulness.

But Brahmā had spoken an untruth in the presence of Bhagavān Śiva, and Śiva gave him a śāpa (a curse): Brahmā would not be worshipped in this world and would have no temples. Śiva also cursed the ketakī flower, which had been the false witness: it would never be used in his pūjā.

Brahmā’s prāyaścitta at Gandhamādana

Brahmā was full of regret. He accepted the curse as just and decided to do prāyaścitta (the act of making amends) to ask for pardon. He came to Gandhamādana mountain in the Setu-kshetra. There he performed yajñas without a break for eighty thousand years.

Pardon at Brahma Kuṇḍa

After eighty thousand years of unbroken yajñas at Gandhamādana, Brahmā’s tapas was complete. Bhagavān Śiva pardoned him at the tīrtha that came to be called Brahma Kuṇḍa, “the pool of Brahmā”. This is the spot where the Creator’s great tapas reached its end and where Śiva gave his pardon. It became one of the holy tīrthas of the Setu-kshetra.

Sources

  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Setu Māhātmya, Chapter 14