Andhaka

Andhaka is a daitya king. In the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa he is the grandson of Prahlāda and the king of Pātāla, appointed by Prahlāda as ruler of the asuras when Prahlāda gave up his rule. His name means “the blind one”. The Harivaṃśa, the Matsya Mahā Purāṇa and the Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa each tell of him in their own way.

In the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa he is remembered for his strong desire for Gaurī (Pārvatī), the consort of Bhagavān Śiva. It began when he met her on Mount Mandara and her hundred forms defeated him. The other texts tell of his birth, of the blood that multiplied him in battle, and of his end.

Lineage and appointment (Vāmana Purāṇa)

Andhaka was the grandson of Prahlāda, the well-known daitya devotee of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Prahlāda met Nara (an aṃśa, a part, of Bhagavān Vishṇu) and received the direct blessing of Bhagavān Vishṇu. After this he decided to give up his rule over the three worlds. He appointed his able grandson Andhaka as king of the asuras. So Andhaka came to rule Pātāla with the approval of Prahlāda, the greatest of the Vaishṇava sants. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 7, 8)

On Mandara: the meeting with Gaurī

During his rule Andhaka climbed Mount Mandara. There he came upon Gaurī (Pārvatī, the consort of Bhagavān Śiva) with her sakhīs (women friends). Prahlāda, whose wisdom included direct knowledge of the divine, warned Andhaka plainly. This was no ordinary woman, he said, but the consort of Mahādeva, and going near her would bring disaster. Andhaka could not see the divine truth in front of him, as his name suggests. He ignored the warning. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 33)

The battle and the fall of Nandī

When Andhaka moved against Gaurī, the first to defend her was Nandīśvara, the great bull-lord of the gaṇas of Bhagavān Śiva. Nandī fought with his vajra (thunderbolt). Andhaka struck him so hard that the great lord of the gaṇas fell unconscious. With Nandī down, the way to Gaurī was open for a moment. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 33)

Defeated by the hundred forms of Gaurī

Gaurī answered Andhaka’s attack by making a hundred forms of herself, all alike. Andhaka, the blind one, now faced a hundred Gaurīs who could not be told apart. He could not tell which one was the real Gaurī. All hundred forms then turned on him together and struck him at the same time. The combined force of a hundred forms of Pārvatī’s power threw Andhaka to the ground, fully defeated. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 33)

Retreat and desire

Andhaka went back to Pātāla. His defeat on Mandara did not cure his desire. It made it stronger. From then on, day and night, he thought only of Gaurī. This desire marked the rest of his life and drove all his later acts. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa)

The great war on Mandara (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 41–44)

His desire at last drove him to act. He gathered his huge daitya army and marched straight on Mount Mandara, the home of Bhagavān Śiva, to take Gaurī by force. Gaṇeśa was passing through the sky and heard the noise of the army coming. He came down at once, greeted his father Bhagavān Śiva, and urged him: “Andhaka approaches! Rise and fight!”

Bhagavān Śiva told Ambikā to stay in the palace, guarded by her sakhīs Mālinī, Jayā, Vijayā, Jayantī and Aparājitā. He set out on his bull (vṛshabha), surrounded by the prathama-gaṇas (the first gaṇas) shouting their battle-cries. Good omens showed that he would win: a she-fox on the left, carrion-birds following, and a thrill in his right side. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 42)

The battle was among the fiercest in the Purāṇa. The gaṇa commanders Nandīśvara, Nandīsheṇa, Viśākha, Śākha and Naigameya each fought their daitya opponents. But whenever the gaṇas killed daitya warriors, Śukrācārya used the Sañjīvanī vidyā (the knowledge that brings the dead back to life) and raised them again. The dead rose again and again, and the gaṇas’ victories were undone at every stroke. Nandī reported to Bhagavān Śiva: “The Bhārgava revives our slain enemies; our great battle is being made useless.” (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 43)

Bhagavān Śiva told Nandī to capture Śukra. Nandī broke through the daitya lines and, despite fierce resistance, seized Śukrācārya from his chariot and dragged him before Bhagavān Śiva. Bhagavān Śiva at once swallowed Śukra whole.

Inside the udara (belly) of Bhagavān Śiva, Śukra wandered for a full divine year. He passed through all the worlds, the oceans, the hosts of devas and ṛshis, and the whole moving and unmoving cosmos held within. He found no way out. In complete śaraṇāgati (surrender), he composed a long stotra (hymn of praise) to Bhagavān Śiva. Bhagavān Śiva was pleased and said: “You are now my putra (son). Come out through my śiśna.” From then on Śukra got a new name (the account explains śukra as “radiant seed”). He came out, bowed to Bhagavān Śiva, and returned to the daitya army. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 43)

The war went on. Bhagavān Vishṇu and Indra came to help the devas. Indra had the boy Mātali as his charioteer. Mātali was the son of the ṛshi Śamīka, was born from the earth, and received the tejas (radiance) of the gandharvas as a gift. Bhagavān Vishṇu killed Kujambha with his Sudarśana cakra. Indra killed Jambha with his śakti weapon. With the deaths of these great daitya commanders, the enemy army broke. Only Andhaka refused to retreat. He kept fighting with great energy and ignored the advice of Śukrācārya to withdraw. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 43–44)

At last Bhagavān Śiva raised his trident against Andhaka. Andhaka was impaled on the śūla (trident) and held up high. His blood drained, and his body blazed in the divine fire of Bhagavān Śiva. In this terrible cleansing his strong desire slowly became complete devotion. The Purāṇa records that his old blindness was burned away. The one who had never been able to see the divine clearly was at last made to see Bhagavān Śiva fully. (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 44)

The Harivaṃśa: birth from Diti and Kaśyapa (Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 88)

The Harivaṃśa gives a different account of his birth. Bhagavān Vishṇu had killed many asuras. Diti, the wife of Kaśyapa and mother of the asuras, then did hard tapas (austerity) to please her husband Kaśyapa. She wanted a son strong enough to avenge her children. Kaśyapa was pleased with her devotion and offered her a vara (a boon). She said: “All my sons have been killed by the devas. Give me a son whom the devas cannot kill.”

Kaśyapa replied: “I can give you a son who cannot be killed except by Śiva. I have no power over Mahādeva.” Saying this, he touched her womb with his finger. In due time she gave birth to a son.

This son had a thousand arms, a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand legs. Yet he moved as if blind, led by pride. The world called him Andhaka.

Andhaka thought nobody could defeat him and began to trouble the three worlds. He took wealth and jewels from people by force. He carried off many apsarās. He stole from Svarga the offspring of Uccaiḥśravas (the horse of Indra) and the offspring of the diggajas (the elephants of the directions). His parents Diti and Kaśyapa themselves begged him to stop, but he ignored even them. He destroyed the trees in the gardens of Indra and rampaged without check.

The devas and ṛshis met to plan his end. They decided: “Only Rudra can kill him. Let us perform ārādhanā of Śiva and learn the means.” At that moment Nārada appeared. The devas asked him: “Go to Kailāsa and tell Śiva about the matter of Andhaka’s destruction.” Nārada agreed and went. (Harivaṃśa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 88)

Nārada leads Andhaka to Mandara and his end (Harivaṃśa, Chapter 89)

Nārada came back from Kailāsa wearing a garland of mandāra flowers with a wonderful scent. Andhaka was drawn by the scent and asked Nārada where such flowers could be found. Nārada smiled, took Andhaka by the right hand, and said: “There is a beautiful grove on Mount Mandara. Śiva himself made it. No one may enter without Śiva’s leave, because the pramathagaṇas guard it. There one can get whatever one wants: food, flowers, pleasures. There is no hunger, no thirst and no tiredness there. It is more blissful than Svarga itself.”

Andhaka went to Mandara with his army. He spoke to the mountain with pride and demanded entry to the Pārijāta grove. By the māyā of Bhagavān Śiva the mountain vanished. Andhaka was furious and began to smash its peaks, but each peak that fell crushed asuras. Then Bhagavān Śiva appeared on his bull, holding his blazing śūla and surrounded by the pramathagaṇas. The three worlds shook at his anger. Bhagavān Śiva hurled the śūla at Andhaka. It struck him in the chest and turned him to ash.

The devas and munis praised Bhagavān Śiva. Divine drums sounded, flowers rained down, the apsarās danced, and the three worlds rejoiced. Bhagavān Śiva then played in the Pārijāta grove on the mountain. (Harivaṃśa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 89)

The Matsya Purāṇa: Andhakāsura Vadha (Chapter 178)

The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa tells a complete episode of Andhaka in Chapter 178. It describes his attack on Pārvatī at Mahākālavana (the sacred forest of Mahākāla near Ujjayinī). It goes on to the making of the Saptamātṛkās and the appearance of Bhairava.

In this account Andhaka came to Mahākālavana to carry off Pārvatī by force. Bhagavān Śiva fought him. The great difficulty was that every drop of Andhaka’s blood that fell on the earth gave birth to a new Andhaka. Each blow of Bhagavān Śiva made his enemy more numerous. To stop this, Bhagavān Śiva made one hundred and eighty-nine Raudra-mātṛkās. These were fierce divine śaktis born from his own anger, and they drank every drop of Andhaka’s blood before it could reach the ground. Bhagavān Vishṇu also helped. From his own body he made Śushka-Revatī and thirty-six Nārasiṃha-mātṛkās.

When the spread of the blood was stopped, Bhagavān Śiva impaled Andhaka on his trident. Held on the trident and unable to die, Andhaka went through a long cleansing. His strong desire and his blindness were burned away by the nearness of Bhagavān Śiva and the fire of the trident. He came out of this trial a devotee. Bhagavān Śiva raised him to be a gaṇa, a member of his divine company. So Andhaka went from enemy to servant.

After the battle Bhagavān Śiva appeared as Bhairava. The Saptamātṛkās were set up at the Rudra-sthāna as lasting guardians. (Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 178)

The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa: blood and the Mātṛ-śaktis (Chapter 226)

The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa (Chapter 226) gives a short account of Andhaka’s defeat, which was the occasion for the making of the Mātṛkā gaṇas. Andhaka was dark in colour (śyāma), and his tapas had made him unbeatable by the devas. He met Pārvatī and tried to seize her, and a terrible battle began with Bhagavān Śiva.

The danger was that every drop of Andhaka’s blood that fell to the earth gave birth to hundreds more Andhakas. The wounds of Bhagavān Śiva only multiplied his enemy. To stop this, Bhagavān Śiva made the Mātṛ-devatās, among them Māheśvarī and Brāhmī, from his anger, to drink the blood before it touched the ground. They drank and were satisfied, and the first spread of Andhakas stopped.

But a second wave of Andhakas still pressed on. Bhagavān Śiva, hard pressed, called on Bhagavān Vāsudeva. Bhagavān Vishṇu made Śushkarevatī, a śakti of great power. She drank the rest of the Andhaka blood so fully that it all dried up (śushka means dried). With the spread of blood stopped, Andhaka grew weak. Bhagavān Śiva impaled Mūla-Andhaka (the original Andhaka) on his triśūla. Held on the spear, Andhaka composed a stotra of Śiva in complete śaraṇāgati. Bhagavān Śiva was satisfied and let him go. He gave him divine nearness (sānnidhya) and made him Gaṇādhipati, lord of the gaṇas.

But the Mātṛkā gaṇa, now full of blood and great force, turned on all creation. They said to Bhagavān Śiva: “We are able to eat all creation, deva, asura and human. Give us leave.” Bhagavān Śiva told them to stop, but they did not listen. A second crisis followed. Bhagavān Śiva meditated on Narasiṃha, who appeared in his full cosmic form. From his own body Narasiṃha made thirty-two new Mātṛ-śaktis to hold back the first Mātṛkā group, finish off the remaining Andhakas, and bring back order. Narasiṃha then gave both groups their set task of protecting devotees and serving Hari-Hara. (Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapter 226)

Sources

• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 7, 8, 33, 41–44
• Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 178
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapter 226
• Harivaṃśa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapters 88, 89