Mahōtkaṭa: Gaṇeśa's Kṛta-yuga Avatāra

Mahōtkaṭa is the avatāra (descent) of Bhagavān Gaṇeśa in the Kṛta yuga. He is the first of the four descents of Bhagavān Gaṇeśa, one in each of the four yugas. He was born as the son of Kāśyapa and Aditi. He came to defeat the asura brothers Devāntaka and Narāntaka, who had conquered all three worlds.

His years in Kāśī (the sacred city of Bhagavān Śiva) are the longest part of the Krīḍā Khaṇḍa of the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa. There he killed many asuras, set up the 56 Vināyakas, installed Ḍhuṇḍhirāja, and allowed King Kāśirāja to travel to Svānandabhuvana. The Gaṇeśa Purāṇa also tells how Devāntaka broke one of his tusks, and how Mahōtkaṭa then used that tusk to kill Devāntaka.

The avatāra and its cause

The Krīḍā Khaṇḍa of the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa opens by saying that Bhagavān Gaṇeśa comes down in each of the four yugas as a different avatāra, to restore order in the worlds. In the Kṛta yuga he came as Mahōtkaṭa, who is also called Vināyaka.

The cause was the conquest of the three worlds by the asura brothers Devāntaka and Narāntaka, sons of Raudraketu. Bhagavān Śiva had given them a vara (a boon) that made them safe from every kind of being. Only Bhagavān Gaṇeśa was not covered by it. The Gaṇeśa Purāṇa calls him the Parabrahman, who stands before all vara.

Birth

The devas had been driven out of their realms. They prayed to Bhagavān Gaṇeśa, and he promised to be born as the son of Kāśyapa and Aditi. Aditi performed strong tapas (austerity). Bhagavān Gaṇeśa appeared and told her again that he would keep his promise.

In the Kṛta yuga Mahōtkaṭa was born in the āśrama of Kāśyapa and Aditi, shining with divine power from birth. The devas and ṛshis knew at once who he was.

His father Kāśyapa is the prajāpati ṛshi, father of the ādityas, the daityas and all divine and half-divine beings. His mother Aditi is the mother of the ādityas. So Mahōtkaṭa was born as a brother of Indra and the other devas, into the family he had come to rescue.

Names

Several of his names come from his deeds in the Kṛta yuga.

Mahōtkaṭa: “the supremely exalted one”.
Vināyaka: “the one who leads without being led”. Indra gave this name after he surrendered (Chapter 11).
Āśāpūraka: “the fulfiller of hopes”. It came from the meeting with Bhrūśuṇḍī muni in Daṇḍakāraṇya (Chapter 17).
Gajānana: “the elephant-faced one”. It also came from the meeting with Bhrūśuṇḍī (Chapter 17).
Upendra: given after Devāntaka was defeated (Chapter 70).
Dharaṇīdhara: “the bearer of the earth”, given after Devāntaka was defeated (Chapter 70).
Hṛshīkeśa: “master of the senses”, given after Devāntaka was defeated (Chapter 70).

Early deeds

Before he went to Kāśī, Mahōtkaṭa did these things (Chapters 7–11).

He freed the gandharva Citra from a rākshasī who tormented him, and from the śāpa (curse) that had made him a crocodile.
He killed the asuras Dhundhura and Uddhata.
He taught Pañcāyatana pūjā to the gandharvas Hāhā, Hūhū and Tumburu.
He received the upanayana (sacred-thread ceremony) from Kāśyapa. He killed five asuras who disturbed the ceremony.
He passed the tests of Indra. The surrendered Indra gave him the name Vināyaka, the aṅkuśa (elephant goad) and the kalpavṛksha (wish-fulfilling tree).

The years in Kāśī

At the age of seven, Mahōtkaṭa went to Kāśī with King Kāśirāja. He stayed there for years and did the work of the avatāra in the eternal city of Bhagavān Śiva. His deeds in Kāśī are the centre of the Kṛta-yuga account (Chapters 12–55).

He killed Dhūmrāksha and drove off 1,000 asuras sent by Narāntaka.
He gave Siddhi and Buddhi to the poor brahmin Dharmadhatta (Śukla).
He killed Jṛmbhā, the wife of Dhūmrāksha, with a coconut.
Three asuras attacked at night with fire. He drank the fire, and then brought the city back to life with amṛta.
He killed Hemajyotirvid the asura astrologer, Kūpa, Kandara and many others.
He went to Daṇḍakāraṇya and met Bhrūśuṇḍī. There the names Āśāpūraka and Gajānana were established.
He installed the Varada Vināyaka mūrti and made the Gaṇeśatīrtha at Kāśī.
He took endless forms at the same moment, to feed every devotee at once.
He allowed Kāśirāja to travel to Svānandabhuvana for koṭi (ten million) kalpas.

The 56 Vināyakas

Dairāsada, the son of Bhasmāsura, attacked Kāśī. In answer, Mahōtkaṭa showed 56 Vināyakas. These are fifty-six forms of himself, set in seven rings of eight around the holy city.

He also installed Ḍhuṇḍhirāja as the chief guardian of Kāśī. The name comes from the root dhuṇḍh, “to search”. It speaks of his search through the three worlds for the most auspicious place, which he found to be Kāśī (Chapters 39–43).

The two great wars

The Kṛta-yuga account reaches its height in two great wars.

Against Narāntaka (Chapters 56–61). Narāntaka’s army burned Kāśī and captured Kāśirāja. Mahōtkaṭa created the Kālapurusha, who swallowed the whole army and caught Narāntaka. In the last fight Mahōtkaṭa showed his Virāṭ rūpa (cosmic form) and crushed Narāntaka with his toenail.

Against Devāntaka (Chapters 62–70). This war had many stages. It included the army of the Ashṭasiddhis, Śukrācārya’s raising of the dead asuras, and Raudraketu’s tāntric revival of Devāntaka. It also had the astras Nidrāstra and Gāndharvāstra, the ruse of a false Aditi made by māyā, and a voice from the sky (ākāśavāṇī) that told of Devāntaka’s weakness at dawn. In the last duel Devāntaka broke Mahōtkaṭa’s tusk. Mahōtkaṭa used the broken tusk to kill Devāntaka at dawn.

The broken tusk

The Krīḍā Khaṇḍa of the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa gives this event as the reason for the broken tusk of Bhagavān Gaṇeśa. Devāntaka broke one tusk, and Mahōtkaṭa used it as the weapon that killed Devāntaka.

Return to Svānandabhuvana

After the wars, Mahōtkaṭa went back to the āśrama of Kāśyapa. Aditi and Kāśyapa received him with joy. Before he left for Svānandabhuvana, he told Aditi that she would see him again at the temple of Bhavānī.

Kāśirāja installed a grand four-armed, three-eyed metal mūrti of Ḍhuṇḍhirāja in Kāśī. Kāśyapa and Aditi also installed a mūrti. In this way the presence of the Kṛta-yuga avatāra stayed in a visible form for all later ages (Chapter 72).

Sources

Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 1–72