Maṇikarṇikā Origin

Maṇikarṇikā is the greatest tīrtha (holy place) in Kāśī. The Kāśī Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa tells how it began. Before the world was made, Bhagavān Śiva made the holy ground of Avimukta as his own place of delight. Later he brought forth Bhagavān Vishṇu from his left side. Vishṇu dug a pond with his discus and did tapas (austerity) for fifty thousand years. When Śiva came to give him a vara (boon), Śiva’s jewelled earring, the maṇikarṇikā, fell into the pond. So the tīrtha received its everlasting name, Maṇikarṇikā.

Agastya’s questions to Skanda

Agastya had been made to leave Kāśī in order to humble the Vindhya mountain. At the Lohita mountain he asked Skanda questions that he had long held in his heart:

  • Since when has Avimukta been so greatly famed?
  • How did it become the giver of moksha (liberation)?
  • Why do the three worlds praise Maṇikarṇikā?
  • How did the city get the names Vārāṇasī, Kāśī and Rudravāsa?
  • How did this beautiful Avimukta, the Ānandakānana, come to be called the Mahāśmaśāna?

Skanda answered that Pārvatī herself had once asked Bhagavān Śiva (Hara) these same questions. He would tell what Bhagavān Śiva taught the Mother of the Universe.

(Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 26)

The darkness before creation

At the time of the final dissolution, when all moving and unmoving beings had perished, there was deep darkness. There was no sun, no stars, no planets and no moon. There was no day and no night, no fire and no wind. There was no Pradhāna and no ākāśa (space). There was no sound, touch, smell, colour or taste. The directions did not exist.

In this complete emptiness the Supreme Absolute alone existed. The Śruti calls it Sat, Brahman and Ekam (the One). The mind could not reach it and no words could describe it. It had no name, no form and no colour. It was neither long nor short, neither heavy nor light. It was truth, endlessness and consciousness, the great radiance of ānanda (bliss). It was present everywhere, had no second, and was the one cause of all.

(Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 26)

Śiva makes Avimukta

This formless Being moved alone in the darkness and wished for a second. In play it brought forth a form from itself. The form had every quality and glory, was present everywhere and in every shape, and knew and could do all things. Having shown this pure divine form, the Supreme Absolute “vanished” into it. That is, the formless Brahman became the personal Śiva.

Śiva spoke to Pārvatī, whom he had made from himself as his own Śakti, whose nature is consciousness and who is the basis of all change:

“I am the form of that formless one which is called the Supreme Absolute. Both modern and ancient scholars call me Īśvara.”

At the same time that he made Śakti, Śiva made the holy spot of Avimukta. The first Purusha, Śiva, made this kshetra (sacred ground) together with his Śakti, before earth, sky or water existed. It spreads over five kośas (about fifteen kilometres). Śiva and Pārvatī named it Ānandavana, the Forest of Bliss, because it was the cause of ānanda. Later it was also called Avimukta, because Śiva never left it, not even at the great dissolution. Even in pralaya, the Avimukta-kshetra rests on the tip of Śiva’s trident. All the liṅgas in Ānandakānana are sprouts from the bulb of bliss.

(Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 26)

Śiva makes Vishṇu

Śiva and Pārvatī were playing in Ānandavana. They wished to make another being who would carry the work of creation, upkeep and dissolution. They themselves would stay happily in Ānandakānana and give moksha to those who lived there.

Śiva let his eye, which drops nectar, pass over his left side. From his left side came a being with the most handsome form in the three worlds:

  • Calm, with the quality of sattva
  • Deep as the great ocean
  • Full of patience
  • Shining like a sapphire
  • Eyes like lotuses
  • Dressed in bright silk
  • Strong arms
  • A sweet-smelling lotus rising from his deep navel

Seeing this being of the highest greatness, Śiva said: “O Acyuta, be Mahāvishṇu. The Vedas shall be your breath. Through them you will understand everything. Do all things as the Vedas lay down.” After giving Vishṇu this work, Śiva went into Ānandakānana with Pārvatī.

(Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 26)

Vishṇu digs the Cakrapushkariṇī

Vishṇu took Śiva’s command, meditated for a while, and decided to do tapas. With his discus (cakra) he dug a beautiful lotus pond and filled it with the drops of sweat that came from his own limbs. On the bank of this Cakrapushkariṇī (the lotus pond dug by the discus), Vishṇu stood still as a post and did hard tapas for fifty thousand years.

(Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 26)

Śiva gives the varas and the earring falls

Śiva (Mṛḍa) saw Vishṇu motionless, blazing with tapas, his eyes closed. Śiva came to him with Mṛḍānī (Pārvatī) and spoke, often shaking his head in praise:

“How wonderful is the greatness of this tapas! How wonderful is the steadiness of your mind! How wonderful is this fire that blazes on without fuel! O Mahāvishṇu, enough of your tapas. O best one, choose your vara (boon).”

Vishṇu opened his lotus eyes and stood up. He asked for two varas:

  1. The vara of always seeing Śiva. “O Bhagavān Śiva, I wish to see you always together with Bhavānī. Let me see you going ahead of me in all my work. Let my mind, like a black bee, stay fixed on the honey of your lotus feet.”
  2. The vara for all beings. “O mighty Bhagavān Śiva, let all beings, from Brahmā down to a blade of grass, reach moksha in Kāśī.”

Śiva gave both. Then, seeing how Vishṇu’s tapas kept growing, Śiva shook his head. As he did, his jewelled earring (maṇikarṇikā) fell from his ear. It was set with gems and was lovely to see. Śiva said:

“Let this sacred stretch of water be named Maṇikarṇikā. Before this it was known as the Cakrapushkariṇī Tīrtha, because you dug it with your discus. From the moment my jewelled earring fell into it from my ear, let it be famous in the world as Maṇikarṇikā.”

Vishṇu added his own words:

“O Bhagavān Śiva, because your pearl earring has fallen here, let this holy spot be the greatest of all tīrthas that give moksha.”

And:

“O Bhagavān Śiva, because a brilliance that cannot be told shines here, let another name, Kāśī, become well known for it.”

So Maṇikarṇikā received its name. The kshetra was named Kāśī for its great radiance. Vishṇu’s vara was granted: all beings who do any righteous act at this tīrtha will reach everlasting moksha. The acts are sandhyā, snāna (bathing), japa (silent repetition of a mantra), homa (offering into the fire), study of the Veda, tarpaṇa (offering of water), pūjā, yajña, dāna (giving), or even simply living there.

(Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 26)

What the Kāśī Khaṇḍa says of Maṇikarṇikā

The Kāśī Khaṇḍa names Maṇikarṇikā as the place where Śiva, called Dhūrjaṭi, is always present. A bath there equals the puṇya (merit) of the Daśāśvamedha yajña. Every act of dharma done there gives lasting moksha.

Sources

  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 26