Māyūreśvara: Gaṇeśa's Tretāyuga Avatāra

Māyūreśvara, “the master whose vehicle is the peacock”, is the Tretāyuga avatāra (descent) of Gaṇeśa. He was born to Śiva and Pārvatī for one purpose, to defeat Sindhu. Sindhu was an asura born from the ocean who had conquered all three worlds and jailed the devas.

Māyūreśvara has six arms, rides a peacock and carries a paraśu (axe) as his chief weapon. After he killed Sindhu he married Siddhi and Buddhi and made his capital at the meeting of the Bhīmā and the Kṛṣṇā. He showed the gathered devas a pañcāyatana viśvarūpa (a vision of five forms) and began a four-day festival in the month of Bhādrapada. Before he left, he gave his peacock to Kārttikeya and named him Māyūradhvaja.

Birth and form

Māyūreśvara was born to Śiva and Pārvatī in the Tretā yuga, after the devas gave in to Sindhu. Indra and the devas had lost Amarāvatī. They came to Bhagavān Viṣṇu for refuge, and Bhagavān Viṣṇu sent them to Bhagavān Śiva. Bhagavān Śiva sent them to Gaṇeśa. The devas prayed to Gaṇeśa, and Gaṇeśa promised to be born as Māyūreśvara. He is the Tretāyuga avatāra among the four yuga avatāras of Gaṇeśa.

He has six arms (ṣaḍbhuja), sits on a peacock and carries the paraśu as his main weapon, along with other āyudhas (weapons). Even at birth his form shone with the power that frightens the three worlds. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 76)

The war with Sindhu

Māyūreśvara’s chief task is to defeat Sindhu. The war is long and has many stages, from Chapter 76 to Chapter 123.

The first stages

The devas’ leaders, Indra, Agni, Varuṇa, Yama and others, each fight one of Sindhu’s commanders. Sindhu’s army includes his chief commanders Gandāsura, Sena, Krodhana, Śataghna and others. At Māyūreśvara’s command Kārttikeya leads the divine forces against Sindhu’s generals. Each battle brings losses on both sides. From time to time Māyūreśvara brings fallen warriors back to life by the touch of his breath. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 76–114)

Māyūreśvara’s viśvarūpa in battle

When Sindhu himself enters the battle and faces Māyūreśvara, Māyūreśvara shows part of his viśvarūpa (universal form). It has a thousand arms and fills the sky, and Sindhu falls back for a time. Māyūreśvara’s śūla (spear) then cuts off Sindhu’s ears. Sindhu retreats and recovers. Even with his wounds he still refuses to free the jailed devas. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 115)

Sindhu’s advisers and his refusal

After each big setback Sindhu is given advice. His wife Durgā, the daughter of Ugra, kindly urges him to free the devas before worse comes. His father Cakrapāṇi, who had come back from the forest, begs him to make peace. Sindhu, set in his asura nature, shows no respect to his father and refuses.

His brothers-in-law Kala and Vikala fight Kārttikeya and Vīrabhadra and are killed. His sons Dharma and Adharma enter the battle. Kārttikeya seizes them by their śikhās (hair-tufts) and kills them. Both reach mokṣa (liberation) by dying at the hands of Gaṇeśa. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 117–120)

The final battle

In the last fight Sindhu sends out an agni-astra (fire weapon) that makes a fire-being (agni-puruṣa) able to burn up the army of the devas. Māyūreśvara sends out his paraśu against it, and the paraśu eats up the fire completely. Māyūreśvara then takes the full sāhasraśirā viśvarūpa, the form of endless heads and endless arms that fills all of space. Sindhu goes on fighting even against this.

At last Māyūreśvara’s paraśu pierces Sindhu’s nābhi (navel). It frees the amṛta vessel that had made him immortal. With the amṛta no longer inside him, Sindhu can die, and he dies at Māyūreśvara’s hands. He reaches mokṣa. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 123)

After the war

After Sindhu falls, his wife Durgā, the daughter of Ugra who had urged peace all through the war, becomes satī (a wife who gives her life on her husband’s funeral pyre). Sindhu’s father Cakrapāṇi comes forward and receives darśana (sight) of Māyūreśvara directly.

The devas are freed from their jail in Gandakī. They come out and stand before Māyūreśvara, full of thanks. Pārvatī herself weeps for joy. Śiva takes this chance to tell Pārvatī that Māyūreśvara is not only their son but Parabrahman itself, the reality from which Śiva himself arises. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 123–124)

Marriage to Siddhi and Buddhi

Siddhi and Buddhi, the two daughters of Brahmā, had long ago been set apart by Brahmā as the wives meant for Gaṇeśa. At the victory feast in the capital at Gandakī a svayaṃvara (a bride’s choice of husband) was arranged. Siddhi and Buddhi put garlands on Māyūreśvara. Brahmā himself performed the wedding with full Vedic rites. All the gathered worlds rejoiced. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 125)

The pañcāyatana darśana

After the wedding, as a great act of grace to the gathered devas and ṛṣis, Māyūreśvara showed a pañcāyatana viśvarūpa. In this vision all five forms of the supreme reality were seen at the same time.

Gajānana (Gaṇeśa himself) at the centre
Śiva at the south-east
Sūrya at the south-west
Pārvatī at the north-west
Viṣṇu at the north-east

The vision showed that these five are one.

Māyūreśvara also set up four devīs at four points of his capital Māyūreśvara-purī:

Mārjārī in the east
Virajā in the south
Āśrayā in the west
Muktā in the north

(Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 126)

The four-day festival

Māyūreśvara began a four-day yearly festival. It starts on Bhādrapada śukla pratipadā (the first day of the bright half of Bhādrapada) and ends on Bhādrapada śukla caturthī (the fourth day). That last day is the one now kept all over the world as Gaṇeśa Caturthī. He laid down the full pūjā vidhi (way of pūjā) for these four days, which set the form of pūjā that was handed down through the generations. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 126)

Prasthāna and the name Māyūradhvaja

Before he left (prasthāna), Māyūreśvara did one last act of grace. He gave his peacock, the very mount he had ridden through the Tretā yuga, to Kārttikeya. In doing so he renamed Kārttikeya Māyūradhvaja (“one whose banner is the peacock”). Kārttikeya has been linked with the peacock by that name ever since. This act showed all who were there why Kārttikeya’s well-known mount is the peacock: it was a gift from Gaṇeśa’s Tretāyuga avatāra himself. (Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 126)

Sources

Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 76–126