Dāruka and Dārukā

Two figures with similar names are described here. Dāruka was the personal charioteer of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa in the Mahābhārata. Dārukā was a rākshasī of the Dārukāvana, whom Bhagavān Śiva destroyed at the place that became Nāgeśvara Jyotirliṅga.

Dāruka, the charioteer of Kṛshṇa

Dāruka was Kṛshṇa’s own charioteer through the Dvāpara age. He drove the chariot of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa as Mātali drove the chariot of Indra. In the Mahābhārata his place is like Mātali’s for Indra and Sañjaya’s for Dhṛtarāshṭra: the skilled and loyal driver who lets the hero move and fight from the chariot.

In the Saubhavadha Upākhyāna of the Vana Parva (Chapters 14 to 16), Dāruka is mentioned in connection with Kṛshṇa’s return to Dvārakā and the battle in the sky against Śālva and his Saubha vimāna (flying city). In the later Mausala Parva he is the messenger who carried news of the destruction of the Yādava clan to Arjuna. This was the last sad service he gave to Kṛshṇa’s family.

Mausala Parva: witness to the omens and messenger to the Pāṇḍavas

At Prabhāsa, as the hour of the destruction of the Yādavas came near, it was Dāruka who saw the great omen. The sun-bright divine chariot of Kṛshṇa, with its four wind-swift horses, tore itself loose and ran off across the face of the sea. The Sudarśana cakra rose into the sky, and apsarases carried off the standards. The drunken quarrel then broke into the clan’s slaughter of itself, and Kṛshṇa struck down many with the eraka reed that had become a mushala (club) through the śāpa. Dāruka and Babhru came to Kṛshṇa and urged him, since so many were slain, to seek out Balarāma. Dāruka said, “Let us go where Rāma is.” (Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 3)

Dāruka went with Kṛshṇa to where Balarāma sat apart in yoga under a tree. There he received his last charge. Kṛshṇa told him to go quickly to the land of the Kurus and tell Arjuna and the Pāṇḍavas of the great destruction of the Yādavas. Arjuna would hear that the whole race had perished through the śāpa of the brāhmaṇas, and would come at once to Dvārakā. With a heavy and unwilling heart, Dāruka mounted the chariot and set out for the Kuru land. (Mausala Parva, Chapter 4)

Reaching the Kuru country, Dāruka found the Pāṇḍava mahārathas (great chariot warriors). He told them how the Vṛshṇis had struck each other down at the mushala festival and had died. Through his news the Pāṇḍavas learned of the disaster. Arjuna, the dearest friend of Kṛshṇa, took leave of his family. He set out with Dāruka for Dvārakā, to see the people of his mother’s brother in their sorrow. (Mausala Parva, Chapter 5)

Karṇa Parva: named in Chapter 71

In Chapter 71 of the Karṇa Parva, the chapter of the reconciliation after the Gāṇḍīva-tyāga crisis, Dāruka is named among those present as the Pāṇḍavas decided to go back to the battle after Arjuna and Yudhishṭhira were reconciled. This is the first time Dāruka is named in the Karṇa Parva account. (Karṇa Parva, Chapter 71)

Udyoga Parva: Kṛshṇa’s embassy

Dāruka’s chief part in the Udyoga Parva is in the Bhagavad-yāna Parva. Kṛshṇa left Upaplavya as the Pāṇḍava envoy to Hastināpura, and Dāruka drove his divine chariot (Chapter 83). It was drawn by four famous horses: Śaibya, Sugrīva, Meghapushpa and Valāhaka. The departure is described with attention to the splendour of the chariot and its horses, and Dāruka’s skill as the driver of this divine chariot is stressed.

When Kṛshṇa entered the Kaurava sabhā (assembly hall) after his morning rites (Chapter 94), the great chariot and its description are again central. Chapter 94 gives the fullest description of the horses. Śaibya shone with the colour of a parrot’s wings, Sugrīva with the colour of a palāśa flower, Meghapushpa with the deep colour of a cloud, and Valāhaka with a bright white glow. Śaibya was on the right and Sugrīva on the left. Meghapushpa and Valāhaka were behind, holding up the chariot from the rear. A golden Garuḍa banner crowned the chariot. Dāruka brought Kṛshṇa to the sabhā in all this splendour. Nārada Maharshi and the assembly then received him. (Udyoga Parva, Chapters 83 and 94)

Dārukā, the rākshasī of the Dārukāvana

Dārukā was a mighty rākshasī. She and her husband, the rākshasa Dāruka, had a rare power: they could carry the Dārukāvana (the forest of dāru trees) through the air and over the sea to any place they chose. This floating forest was a moving stronghold, a rākshasa land that could be moved at will. It held a whole rākshasa city. It made the pair almost safe from any ordinary attack. (Śiva Purāṇa, Koṭi Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 29)

After Dāruka’s death

Kārttikeya slew Dāruka, and Dārukā alone held the Dārukāvana and its power to move. Without Dāruka she grew more and more violent. She moved the forest to the sea near the coast of Saurāshṭra and began raiding in order. She attacked ships, sank vessels, and carried off travellers and devotees of the coast to fill her prison.

Her challenge to the devotees of Śiva

Among the captives was the Śiva devotee Supriya, a vaiśya. Dārukā learned that he was gathering the other prisoners into a community of devotion and doing pūjā to the pārthiva liṅga (a liṅga made of earth) inside her own prison. She faced him herself. Her challenge was plain and exact: in her domain Bhagavān Śiva had no power. She would show it by killing Supriya in front of his pārthiva liṅga.

She came forward to carry out her word. Bhagavān Śiva came out of the liṅga at that moment and destroyed her. (Śiva Purāṇa, Koṭi Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 30)

The place where she was destroyed became the Nāgeśvara Jyotirliṅga, near Dvārakā in Gujarat. The account shows that there is no place, however far or hostile, where a true pārthiva liṅga does not hold the living presence of Bhagavān Śiva.

Sources

• Śiva Purāṇa, Koṭi Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapters 29 and 30
• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 14 to 16 (the Saubhavadha Upākhyāna)
• Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapters 83 and 94
• Mahābhārata, Karṇa Parva, Chapter 71
• Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapters 3 to 5