Mārkaṇḍeyeśvara
Mārkaṇḍeyeśvara · mārkaṇḍeya-īśvara, “the lord of Mārkaṇḍeya”
Mārkaṇḍeyeśvara is Bhagavān Śiva in the liṅga that Mārkaṇḍeya Maharshi installed in the Purushottama-kshetra, in a temple built in Mārkaṇḍeya‘s own name, with the Mārkaṇḍeya-hrada to its north. The liṅga is in the form of Bhuvaneśvara, the cause of the world. Mārkaṇḍeya installed it at the command of Jagannātha so that the world might know that Hari and Hara are one. He is worshipped after the bath in the Mārkaṇḍeya-hrada, the first of the five tīrthas of the kshetra.
The installation of the liṅga
Brahmā tells the munis how Mārkaṇḍeya, after seeing the whole world within the belly of Bhagavān Vishṇu, who lay as a little infant on a banyan leaf in the one ocean of the pralaya, asked him who he was. Bhagavān Vishṇu told him that the waters are his abode and so he is Nārāyaṇa, that he is the cause of the world and without end, and that Vishṇu, Brahmā, Indra, Śiva, Kubera, Yama, Soma, Kaśyapa Prajāpati and the yajña are all himself. When a thousand yugas had passed thus, Bhagavān Vishṇu asked him what more he wished.
Mārkaṇḍeya, wishing the good of the world, said: “So that the sense of difference may perish and the disputes between the Śaiva and Vaishṇava schools may cease, I will build a Śiva temple here. In this your kshetra I will install Śaṅkara. May the world know that Hari and Hara are one.”
Jagannātha answered: “The liṅga in the form of Bhuvaneśvara is the cause of the world. Taking my command, install Īśvara here at once. There is no difference between the two of us; the world, not knowing this, disputes. Build this temple of mine in your own name. To the north of it a tīrtha named Mārkaṇḍeya-hrada will come into being, which removes every pāpa.” Having spoken thus, the all-pervading Janārdana withdrew from sight.
His pūjā
Brahmā tells the rule of the pañcatīrtha. At the Mārkaṇḍeya-hrada one turns to the north, pure, and bathes three times with a prayer to Tripurahara, then bathes in water up to the navel and offers tarpaṇa with sesame and water to the devas, ṛshis and pitṛs. Then:
- Go round the temple three times in pradakshiṇa.
- Worship Mārkaṇḍeyeśvara with the mūla-mantra and the Aghora-mantra.
- Make sāshṭāṅga namaskāra, the full prostration.
- Please him with this praise: “O Trinetra (three-eyed)! O Candrabhūshaṇa (adorned with the moon)! O Virūpāksha! Protect me. O Mahādeva, namaskāra to you.”
The phala
One who bathes thus in the Mārkaṇḍeya-hrada and sees Śaṅkara gains the fruit of ten aśvamedhas. He is freed from all pāpa and goes to Śiva-loka, where he enjoys great pleasures until the pralaya. Then he is born in this world, the karma-bhūmi, as a brāhmaṇa rich in the learning of the Vedas and Vedāṅgas, attains sālokya and sārūpya with Śaṅkara and yoga, and after that attains moksha.
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 56–57