Nāḍījaṅgha the Crane

Nāḍījaṅgha was a great gaṇādhipa (lord of the gaṇas, the attendants of Bhagavān Śiva). He fell from that high place through pride and desire. By the śāpa (a curse) of Gālava Muni and Gālava’s wife, he was born as a crane. This account is from the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7. It tells of his past life as a brahmin boy named Baka, his rebirth as a king, the boon of Bhagavān Śiva, his fall, and the way he was freed.

The meeting at Mānasasarovara

Mārkaṇḍeya Muni met the crane Nāḍījaṅgha. He had come to help his friend Indradyumna. Indradyumna was a great king whose famous yajña (fire ritual) and fame (kīrti) had been forgotten by all living beings, because an immense length of time had passed.

Mārkaṇḍeya knew that the crane lived a very long life. He went to it for Indradyumna and asked whether it knew of this king from long ago. The crane said that it had lived through fourteen kalpas (ages of the world). It could remember no king named Indradyumna. The world had no memory of him.

Mārkaṇḍeya then asked how the crane had come to such a long life, and why it had a bird’s body. The crane told its whole history.

A past life: the emerald liṅga

In an earlier birth the crane’s ātmā (soul) was born as a brahmin boy named Baka. This Baka was a different being from the Baka-yaksha of the Mahābhārata. He was the son of a great ṛshi named Viśvarūpa, of the Paraśara-gotra. His father loved Bhagavān Śiva and kept a holy emerald Śivaliṅga (maragata-liṅga) in the shrine of his home.

The boy was restless and playful (capala). One day, in childish mischief, he took the emerald liṅga from the altar while his father was away. He hid it in a vessel of ghee (neti-pātra). It was the day of Uttarāyaṇa, which is Makara-saṃkrānti.

The next morning his father came back and found the shrine empty. He called his son gently and promised him sweets if he would only say where the liṅga was. The boy was tempted by the sweets. He took the liṅga out of the ghee-vessel and gave it back.

In time the boy died. By the puṇya (merit) of placing the liṅga in ghee on Makara-saṃkrānti, even though he did it without knowing, he was born again in a royal house. In that birth he had jātismara, which is memory of his past lives. He remembered everything.

Rebirth as a king and the boon of Bhagavān Śiva

As king he remembered his past life clearly. He set up a liṅga. Every Makara-saṃkrānti he placed it in ghee, as he had done once before without knowing. He worshipped Bhagavān Śiva in this way throughout his kingdom.

Bhagavān Śiva was pleased and appeared before him. He said: “By your worship of me in your past life with the ghee-kambali offering, I am delighted. From today, whoever worships me with ghee on Makara-saṃkrānti will become one of my gaṇas.”

Bhagavān Śiva then made the king the lord of crores of gaṇas, a great gaṇādhipa. This is the vara (boon) of gaṇādhipatya.

The fall: desire for Gālava’s wife

The king was raised to this high place and became drunk with power. Bhagavān Śiva’s instruction is that those who receive gaṇādhipatya must act as his representatives, with self-control, dignity and freedom from desire. But Baka, now a gaṇādhipa, went badly wrong.

He wandered through the forests of the Himālaya. In a mountain cave he found Gālava Muni doing tapas (austerity) with his wife. Gālava’s wife was very beautiful. She had deep eyes and was tall, with the grace of a haṃsa (swan) and dark flowing hair. Her form seemed to have been made by Brahmā with special care. When the gaṇādhipa saw her, kāma (desire) overcame him.

He decided to win her. But he knew that Gālava’s power from tapas was great, and that taking her openly would bring a terrible śāpa. So he took the form of a student. He came to Gālava, spoke to him with much flattery, and asked to be accepted as a śishya (pupil). Gālava did not suspect him and received him warmly, as one receives a true student.

The false student served Gālava for a long time and won his full trust. All the while he waited for a chance to carry off the wife.

The chance came when Gālava’s wife was in her ṛtusnāna (the ritual bath after her monthly period). That night she rested apart from her husband, trusting the supposed student. In the dark the false student came to her in disguise and tried to carry her away. She screamed. She knew his voice. She called to Gālava: “This wicked man has come as a student, like a heron (baka) pretending to be good, and he is trying to carry me off!”

The śāpa

Gālava woke. By the power of his tapas he held the gaṇādhipa where he stood. His body became still, like a figure in a painting. In his anger Gālava spoke the śāpa: “You who deceived me like a heron (baka), you will be a heron, a crane, for a long age.” Gālava’s wife added her śāpa to the same effect.

The gaṇādhipa fell before them and begged with deep humility. He admitted his wrong. He also said that Gālava had first promised his daughter to him. Gālava’s anger grew softer, and he changed the śāpa. The gaṇādhipa would stay a crane on the peaks of the Himālaya. He would be freed when he helped to bring back the lost fame of King Indradyumna.

So the crane lived for fourteen kalpas. The long life came from his worship of the maragata-liṅga with ghee. He waited for the time when Indradyumna’s account would be told.

Liberation

The crane became one of four animal witnesses. The others were the owl Prākārakarṇa, the Garuḍa Kuśadhvaja, and the turtle Jayadata. Together they at last confirmed that Indradyumna’s fame was real. With that, the śāpa ended. The crane’s divine form came back, and all four were freed together. This is told in Chapters 9 and 10 of the Kaumārika Khaṇḍa.

Nāḍījaṅgha in the Mahābhārata

A crane named Nāḍījaṅgha also appears in the Mahābhārata, in the Vana Parva, Chapter 199. This is in the Indradyumna Upākhyāna, and the crane has a part like the one in the Kaumārika Khaṇḍa.

The ancient king Indradyumna had fallen from svarga (heaven). He came to Mārkaṇḍeya Maharshi and asked him to confirm who he was. Mārkaṇḍeya sent him to the owl Prāvārakarṇa. The owl sent the group to the crane Nāḍījaṅgha, who lived at a lake nearby. The crane thought carefully but could not recognise the king. He sent the group to the tortoise Akūpāra, who lived in the deep water of the same lake. In the Mahābhārata it is Akūpāra who gives the final confirmation. The Mahābhārata gives the crane no history of his own. The Kaumārika Khaṇḍa tells his full story: his fall from gaṇādhipatya and the śāpa of Gālava.

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7 (the crane’s history, the fall and the śāpa)
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapters 9–10 (the four witnesses and the liberation)
• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 199 (Indradyumna Upākhyāna)