Abjaka (Vṛshākapi)
Abjaka, “born of water”
Abjaka, “born of water”, also called Vṛshākapi, is the divine being who rose from the waters of the Gautamī by the grace of Bhagavān Śiva, Bhagavān Vishṇu and the Gaṅgā, in answer to Indra‘s prayer for a slayer of his enemy. He had the form of both Śiva and Vishṇu and held a triśūla and a cakra in his hands. He went down to the nether worlds and slew the great daitya Mahāśani, who had again and again bound and humiliated Indra, and he became Indra’s friend. Indra declared that by his power his place as Indra had become firm again. The Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa tells his account, and the tīrtha on the southern bank of the Gautamī where he rose is named Abjaka and Vārshākapa after him.
Mahāśani and the humbling of Indra
Brahmā tells Nārada that Hiraṇya, a strong ancestor of the daityas, became invincible to the devas by tapas. His son Mahāśani, whose wife was Aparājitā, fought a long war with Indra and every time conquered him together with his elephant, bound him and handed him over to Hiraṇya, who kept him under guard in the nether worlds. Mahāśani then marched against Varuṇa, who gave him his daughter Vāruṇī and his own abode in the ocean. With the universe left without Indra, the devas went to Bhagavān Vishṇu, who said, “Mahāśani, the great daitya, cannot be killed by me,” and went to Varuṇa, the father-in-law of Mahāśani. At Varuṇa’s request Mahāśani released Indra, but he mocked him: he scorned the slayer of Vṛtra and Namuci who had to be freed by another, told him to serve Varuṇa as his disciple, and sent him away saying, “Go, go.”
Indra came home overwhelmed by shame. His wife Śacī, the daughter of Puloman, told him that Mahāśani, the son of her father’s brother, had grown arrogant through varas won from Brahmā, and that there is nothing that cannot be achieved by tapas, by yajña, and by devotion to Vishṇu and Śiva. She told him to go with her to the Gautamī in the Daṇḍaka forest and worship them there, for a rite done with one’s wife bears everlasting fruit.
The prayer of Indra
Indra went to the Gautamī with his wife and his guru, bathed and praised Bhagavān Śiva and the Devī. Bhagavān Śiva appeared and asked what he wished. Indra asked for the strength to conquer his enemy. Śiva answered: “Your enemy cannot be slain through me alone. Propitiate Vishṇu, the unchanging, too, Janārdana Nārāyaṇa, the sole refuge of the three worlds, together with your wife. Then you will gain what you wish through him and through me.” He told Indra of the great ṛshi Āpastamba on the southern bank, whose mind stayed fixed on the feet of Mukunda.
Indra bathed at the sacred confluence of the Phenā and the Gaṅgā and, together with Āpastamba, praised Bhagavān Vishṇu on the southern bank with many Vedic mantras and propitiated him by tapas. Bhagavān Vishṇu was pleased and asked, “What should be given?” Indra said, “Give me a slayer of my enemy.” Janārdana said, “Know that it is already granted.”
Born of the water
Then, by the grace of Śiva, Vishṇu and the Gaṅgā, a being rose up from the water. He had the form of both Śiva and Vishṇu, and he held the triśūla and the cakra in his hands. He went to the nether worlds and slew Mahāśani, the enemy of Indra. He is called Abjaka, the one born of water, and Vṛshākapi, and he became Indra’s friend.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 59
Indra’s friend
Though Indra dwelt in svarga, he always followed Vṛshākapi. Seeing him so attached to another, Śacī became angry out of love, and Indra, smiling, consoled her: “O Indrāṇī, I seek no refuge but my friend Vṛshākapi. Either the libation of water or the havis offered in the fire has always been my favourite. I go nowhere else; I swear it by your body.” He told her that by the grace of Vishṇu who bears the cakra, of Śiva Bhūtanātha, the master of the bhūtas, and of Vṛshākapi, his friend Abjaka, born of water and well known in the world, he had overcome his miseries and was Indra again, the unfallen one, and that all this had come about through her counsel. “My position as Indra has become firm again by the power of my friend Vṛshākapi, born of the waters,” he said.
Indra then asked the devas and ṛshis that the place be honoured: Bhagavān Śaṅkara as Indreśvara on the northern bank, and Bhagavān Janārdana in Abjaka on the southern bank. The devas and ṛshis said, “It will be so.” The great ṛshis call Abjaka the heart of the Godāvarī, the resting place of Īśa, Vishṇu and Brahmā.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 59
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 59