Śiva’s Brahmahatyā at Badarī

This account is from the Badarī Kshetra Māhātmya in the Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa. It tells how Bhagavān Śiva took on brahmahatyā (the pāpa of killing a brāhmaṇa) when he cut off Brahmā’s fifth head. It tells how he was freed from it only at Badarīkāśrama, where the Kapālamocana Tīrtha and the Kedāra liṅga came to be.

Brahmā’s wrong and Śiva’s act

In the first age, Brahmā had five heads. He looked with desire at his own daughter. This broke dharma, and it was a grave fault for a Prajāpati, a keeper of dharma. It brought Śiva’s anger. Śiva, who upholds the order of the world, cut off Brahmā’s fifth head with his thumb-nail. This is the thumb called the Brahmāṇḍa-māpaka (the measurer of the universe).

By the law of karma, to strike off the head of a brāhmaṇa, even Brahmā himself, is brahmahatyā. This is the worst of the mahāpātakas (great pāpas). The skull (kapāla) of Brahmā stuck to Śiva’s hand and could not be taken off.

Śiva wanders as Kapāladhārī

Śiva became a kapāladhārī, one who carries a skull. To pay for the brahmahatyā he took up a long tīrtha-yātrā (journey to holy places). He went to every holy tīrtha in the three worlds, to Kāśī, Prayāga, Pushkara, Kāñcī, Kurukshetra and all the others. But at no tīrtha did the skull fall from his hand. The brahmahatyā was too strong for any ordinary tīrtha to wash away, because he had not killed an ordinary brāhmaṇa but Brahmā himself.

Vishṇu sends Śiva to Badarī

On his way, Śiva went to Bhagavān Vishṇu and told him of his trouble. Bhagavān Vishṇu is the antaryāmin (inner ruler) of all beings and the master of the fruit of all actions. He sent Śiva to Badarīkāśrama in the northern Himālaya. This is the kshetra of the endless tapas of Nara and Nārāyaṇa, and it is filled everywhere with the presence of Bhagavān Vishṇu himself. Bhagavān Vishṇu said that this kshetra, full of the power of his own tapas, could dissolve even brahmahatyā.

Freedom at Kapālamocana

Śiva followed Bhagavān Vishṇu’s word and came to Badarīkāśrama. The moment he set foot in the kshetra, the skull fell from his hand by itself. The brahmahatyā was dissolved at once and fully. It was not partly gone, and there was no more tapas needed. It was gone the very instant he entered the tīrtha.

The place where the skull fell became known as the Kapālamocana Tīrtha, the tīrtha of the freeing of the skull. The tīrtha has five ghāṭas (bathing steps). Tarpaṇa (an offering of water) made there leads to svarga (heaven).

Śiva lives at Badarī

After he was freed, Śiva chose to stay at Badarīkāśrama. With Pārvatī he made his home there for ever. He lives there with more joy than at Kailāsa, Vārāṇasī or Śrīśaila, which are his three dearest homes. The Purāṇa says that Śiva’s joy at Badarī is greater than his joy at any of his other holy homes.

Agni also set up the Kedāra liṅga at Badarī in honour of Śiva’s freedom.

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Badarī Kshetra Māhātmya, Chapter 2
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Badarī Kshetra Māhātmya, Chapter 6 (the five ghāṭas and tarpaṇa at Kapālamocana)