Gadādhara
Gadādhara · gadā-dhara, “the bearer of the mace”
Gadādhara, “the bearer of the mace”, is Bhagavān Vishṇu manifest with the divine gadā (mace). The Vāmana Purāṇa, told by Pulastya Maharshi to Nārada, tells that Vishṇu, whose form is ākāśa, the crusher of Mura, whose form is unmanifest, manifested as Gadādhara in the holy kshetra where King Gaya performed his great yajñas (fire rituals). The place became an axe that fells the trees of pāpa (sin).
When Indra lost the three worlds to the daitya Bali, he came to this kshetra on the advice of Brahmā, Kaśyapa and Vasishṭha. For one year he performed tapas (austerity) on the bank of the Mahānadī in the worship of Gadādhara, and Gadādhara Deva, pleased, freed him of all his pāpas and promised that he would soon regain his kingdom. Bhagavān Vāmana himself names Gayā as the place of his forms Gadādhara and Gopatīśvara; Prahlāda worshipped Gadādhara there on his tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage to holy places); and he is saluted by this name in the stotras of the Purāṇa.
The kshetra of Gadādhara
Indra‘s lordship of the three worlds had gone to the daitya Bali. He went with the devas to Brahmā‘s abode, and there Brahmā and his father Kaśyapa Maharshi told him that his loss was the fruit of his own fault: the pāpa of cutting into pieces the embryo in Diti‘s womb. Indra asked for the prāyaścitta (atonement), and Brahmā, Kaśyapa and Vasishṭha counselled him: “Sahasrāksha, take refuge in Mādhava, the bearer of the śaṅkha, the cakra and the gadā, Purushottama. He can tell you the fitting means for your good.” The maharshis told him that great advancement in a short time can be gained only in the world of mortals, and Indra at once went down to the earth.
The holy kshetra to which he came lies north of the Kāliñjara kshetra, south of the holy Himavat mountain, east of Kuśasthalī and west of Vasupura. There the great king Gaya of old performed, with dakshiṇā (the gifts to the priests), a hundred aśvamedha yajñas, a hundred thousand naramedha yajñas and a thousand rājasūya yajñas, and also the yajña called Mahāmedha, hard to accomplish even for devas and asuras. In that place Vishṇu, whose form is ākāśa, the crusher of Mura, whose form is unmanifest, manifested as Gadādhara.
The Purāṇa tells the glory of the place:
- It became famous as an axe that fells the terrible trees of pāpa.
- Even twice-born men without the Veda and the śāstras, by resorting to that place, become equal to Brahmā.
- One who once performs pitṛ-pūjā (worship of the ancestors) there with piṇḍadāna (offering of rice balls) and with śraddhā (faith) gains the imperishable fruit of the Mahāmedha yajña.
- The Mahānadī, the daughter of a deva-ṛshi, flowing there towards the Himagiri, washes away all the pāpas of the world by darśana (sight) of her, by bathing in her and by drinking her water.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 50
Indra’s tapas and Gadādhara’s vara
Indra set up an āśrama (hermitage) on the wondrous bank of the Mahānadī to worship Gadādhara, and stayed there. Every day he bathed in the river early in the morning. He slept on the ground. He ate once a day whatever came to him unasked. He kept all his senses under control and gave up desire and anger. So for one year the thousand-eyed Indra performed tapas in the worship of Gadādhara.
Gadādhara Deva was pleased, and said to Vāsava: “Indra, I am pleased. All your pāpas are now removed. Go. Soon you will regain the kingdom you lost. I will make the effort so that good comes to you.” Having given this vara (boon), Gadādhara withdrew.
When Indra had bathed in that lovely river, men born of his pāpas, the Puḷindas, of cruel deeds, came to him and asked for counsel, and he gave them the land between the Himādri and Kāliñjara to live in. Freed from pāpa, Indra received the pūjā of the suras, siddhas and yakshas and went to the āśrama of his mother Aditi.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 50
Gadādhara at Gayā
On his tīrtha-yātrā, Prahlāda travelled to the Gayā kshetra to see Gopati Deva. He bathed in Brahmadhvaja, walked around it and offered piṇḍas to the pitṛ-devatās. Then he bathed in Udapāna, offered tarpaṇa (water offerings) to the pitṛs, and worshipped Gadādhara Svāmī and Gopatīśvara (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 57).
After his upanayana (sacred thread ceremony), Bhagavān Vāmana told Bharadvāja Maharshi the places on earth where his forms abide. Among them: “In the Gayā kshetra, Gadādhara and Gopatīśvara.” Of all these places he said that they are eternal, ancient and holy; they give dharma, are full of tejas (radiance) and destroy pāpa. Devas, humans and sādhyas who see, touch, praise and remember these forms surely attain all four aims of life: dharma, artha, kāma and moksha (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 63).
In the stotras
The second pāpa-śamana stotra (the stotra that quiets pāpa), told by Agastya Maharshi, which Pulastya Maharshi gave Nārada in full, salutes Bhagavān Vishṇu through his forms at the tīrthas. In it the devotee offers namovacana (words of salutation) to Gadādhara, Kuśeśaya, Pāpanāśaka (the destroyer of pāpa) and Ardhanārīśvara. Whoever studies this stotra well, all his pāpas are destroyed (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 61).
When Aditi gave birth to Vāsudeva in the form of Vāmana, Brahmā came with the brahmarshis and praised the new-born Bhagavān Vāmana: “Nārāyaṇa! Jaganmūrti! Jagatpati! Gadādhara! Pītāmbaradhara! Śriyaḥpati! Janārdana! Praṇati to you.” (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 62)
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 50, 57, 61–63