Ādikeśa
Ādikeśa · Ādi + keśa, “the first lord”
Ādikeśa is Mahādeva, always present in the form of a liṅga on the south bank of the Gaṅgā, the Gautamī, in the northern region of Śrīgiri. He gives all cherished desires and is worshipped with devotion by the ṛshis. The Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa, told by Brahmā to Nārada, tells how two worshipped him every day: the ṛshi Veda, with mantras and forest flowers, and a hunter, with water carried in his mouth, leaves and meat. Ādikeśa spoke to the hunter and not to Veda, and when Veda threatened to drop a boulder on the liṅga, Ādikeśa showed him a bleeding wound on it. Seeing the wound, the hunter cut himself to pieces with his arrows, and Ādikeśa told Veda that bhakti is where there is such absorption. At the hunter’s wish the tīrtha is called Bhillatīrtha.
The two worshippers
There was a most virtuous ṛshi named Sindhudvīpa, and his younger brother Veda was also a great muni. Every day Veda worshipped Ādikeśa, the three-eyed enemy of the three cities, with great devotion, and at midday he went to the village for bhikshā.
Whenever Veda had gone to the village, a hunter, a Bhilla, came to hunt on that holy mountain. He killed animals as he pleased and carried the meat on the tip of his bow. Tired, he came to the liṅga of Ādikeśa and worshipped him in his own way:
- He kept the meat outside.
- He went to the Gaṅgā, took water in his mouth and leaves in his hand, and came back to the deity with great devotion, holding the meat in his other hand as naivedya.
- With his foot he moved aside the flowers Veda had left after his pūjā.
- He bathed Śiva with the water from his mouth and offered the leaves.
- He placed the meat there as naivedya, saying, “May Śiva be pleased with me.”
- He went home the way he had come, taking the rest of the meat with him.
He knew nothing but bhakti to Śiva. Every day he came and did this, and Īśa was pleased with him. As long as the Bhilla had not come, Śiva waited for him. “Who knows the measure of Śiva’s compassion towards his devotees?” Brahmā says. For a long time both Veda and the Bhilla worshipped Ādikeśa Śiva with Umā every day.
Veda’s anger
Veda said in anger: “Who is the pāpī who spoils my pūjā, done with devotion to Śiva and with mantras? He shall die at my hands. One who betrays gurus, devas, brāhmaṇas or his master deserves to be killed even by a muni, and one who is treacherous to Śiva deserves to be killed by everyone. He has spoiled my pūjā of divine forest flowers, roots, fruits and bulbs, and worshipped with flesh and leaves. I shall hide and see him.”
The hunter came as before, and when he had worshipped as usual, Ādikeśa spoke to him: “Hunter of great intelligence, you are tired. You have come after a long time. Why is it so? I am miserable without you; I find no happiness. Be at peace, dear son.” Veda, hearing this, was astonished and angry, but said nothing. When the hunter had gone home, Veda went up to the deity and said:
“This hunter does pāpa, without rites and without knowledge; he injures living beings without pity. He is of low birth, knows nothing, does not know the order of the gurus, and has not conquered his senses. You have shown yourself to him, but you say nothing to me. I have controlled my senses; I perform holy rites and worship with the proper mantras. You are my only refuge; I have no wife and no sons. He worships you with defiled flesh, yet you are pleased with him. I shall punish this Bhilla. Some are pleased with the soft-hearted, some with the evil-minded; so I shall let fall a boulder on your head.”
The deity laughed and said: “Wait till tomorrow. Then you can drop the boulder on my head.” Veda threw aside the boulder in his hand, held back his anger, and said, “I shall do it tomorrow.”
The wound on the liṅga
Next morning Veda bathed, performed his pūjā as usual, and looked at the head of the liṅga. On it was a terrible wound, covered with blood. “What is this on the head of the liṅga? What does it foretell?” he said. He covered it with clay and cow-dung, scrubbed it with kuśa grass, washed it with the waters of the Gaṅgā, and performed his pūjā.
Then the hunter, free of all pāpas, came, and entering the shrine he saw the bleeding wound on the head of the liṅga of Śaṅkara Ādikeśa. “What is this? It is a mystery,” he said, and at once he cut himself into a hundred and a thousand pieces with sharp arrows. No man of noble mind can bear to see his master wounded, Brahmā says. The hunter reproached himself again and again: “This has happened even while I am alive. What a painful thing has befallen us through the perversity of fate!”
Ādikeśa’s words to Veda
Mahādeva beheld the devotee’s act in wonder and spoke to Veda, the best of the knowers of the Vedas: “Highly intelligent one, see this hunter, a devotee full of noble feeling. You touched my head with clay, kuśa grass and water, but this hunter, brāhmaṇa, has given his life to me at once. Bhakti, love and power are where there is intense absorption. So, excellent brāhmaṇa, I shall grant varas to him first, and then to you.”
The varas and Bhillatīrtha
Maheśvara told the hunter to choose a vara. The hunter asked:
- “Deva, let your nirmālya be given to us.”
- “Let this tīrtha be called after my name.”
- “Let this tīrtha give the fruit of all yajñas merely by being remembered.”
The Deva of devas said, “So be it.” Śiva also gave Veda many varas. From then on the tīrtha is called Bhillatīrtha.
- Bhillatīrtha destroys pāpas and ailments and grants bhakti to the lotus feet of Mahādeva.
- By snāna and dāna there it grants bhukti and moksha.
- Remembered alone, it gives the fruit of all yajñas.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 99
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 99