Jalandhara

Jalandhara was a very powerful asura king. All the accounts say he was born from the fire of Bhagavān Śiva’s anger, which was carried to the ocean, and that Brahmā gave him his name. His wife was Vṛndā, a pativratā (a wife wholly faithful to her husband). While her faithfulness stayed unbroken, he could not be killed. He won the three worlds and drove out the devas. He was killed by Bhagavān Śiva with the Sudarśana Cakra after Bhagavān Vishṇu broke Vṛndā’s faithfulness by a trick.

The Padma Mahā Purāṇa, the Śiva Purāṇa and the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa each tell his life. Each account is given below under the name of its text.

The Padma Mahā Purāṇa account

Birth and name

The fierce wrath of Bhagavān Śiva moved through the universe and entered the river Gaṅgā. She could not hold it, and she sent it on to the ocean. The ocean carried this fire of Bhagavān Śiva’s anger within him, and in time it gave him a son. The child had blazing eyes, great strength and a terrible form. His cry at birth shook the worlds and troubled the devas and Brahmā.

Brahmā came down to the newborn and named him Jalandhara, “he who bears the waters”. The name marks his father the ocean and his birth from within the waters. The ocean became his father and guardian. The wrath of Bhagavān Śiva became his true nature. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 3–4)

The vara of invincibility

Brahmā saw the great power of this being born from Bhagavān Śiva’s own anger. He gave Jalandhara a vara (a boon) of invincibility, so that no simple means could defeat him. A second shield stood beside it. Jalandhara’s wife Vṛndā was a pativratā of perfect purity. While her devotion to her husband stayed unbroken, the protecting force of her dharma covered him as well. With both shields in place, no weapon, no army and no divine power could overcome him. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 3–5)

Guru, city and marriage

Śukrācārya, the preceptor of the asuras, became Jalandhara’s guru and chief counsellor. With his guidance in statecraft and strategy, Jalandhara carried out his conquest step by step. The asura builder Maya made for him a great city set with gems on the seashore, to be his capital. Śukrācārya also arranged his marriage to Vṛndā. She was the pativratā daughter of the apsarā Svarṇā, born through the grace of Krauñca. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 4–5)

Conquest and rule

Jalandhara conquered the three worlds. He attacked the devas in svarga (heaven) and drove out Indra and the whole assembly of devas. He took over the lands of the devas. The devas had no choice but to seek help from the greater powers. Jalandhara placed his own commanders. Śumbha was set in svarga as his representative, and Niśumbha was named his heir. Within his realm he kept firm order, and the Uttara Khaṇḍa describes his rule as bringing a kind of enforced peace across his lands. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 8–9)

The demand for Lakshmī and the meeting with Bhagavān Vishṇu

Jalandhara’s conquest led him to face Bhagavān Vishṇu. He sent a demand to Bhagavān Vishṇu at the Ocean of Milk. Lakshmī had risen from the churning of the cosmic ocean, so she was in a sense a daughter of the ocean, who was Jalandhara’s own father. He asked that she be given to him. Bhagavān Vishṇu refused. A battle followed in which Bhagavān Vishṇu and his divine weapons met Jalandhara’s forces. Jalandhara could not be defeated, and his invincibility held. This fight began the search by the devas for another way to overcome him. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 9)

The making of the Sudarśana Cakra

The Sudarśana disc was made in answer to Jalandhara’s challenge. All the devas poured their combined teja (radiance) into one mass. Bhagavān Śiva danced on this mass with his left foot, and the force of his dance shaped it into the supreme round weapon, the Sudarśana Cakra. He kept the disc under his armpit until the moment came when Jalandhara could be killed. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 9)

Rāhu as messenger and the demand for Pārvatī

Jalandhara sent Rāhu as his messenger to Bhagavān Śiva with a string of insolent demands, which were an open declaration of war on the lord of the universe. The worst of them was that Bhagavān Śiva should give Pārvatī to him. An asura king claiming the consort of Bhagavān Śiva himself was the farthest point of his pride. The reply of Bhagavān Śiva was terrible. A fearsome being of great power came forth from him, who is later known as Kīrtimukha. Rāhu fled in fear. After this there was no turning back. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 10–11)

The disguise as Bhagavān Śiva

After his failures in open battle, Jalandhara made a plan. He would take the form of Bhagavān Śiva and go to Pārvatī, and deceive her, as Bhagavān Vishṇu was at the same time deceiving Vṛndā. He took the form of Mahādeva and went to the place where Pārvatī stayed. But Jayā, one of Pārvatī’s attendants, saw through the disguise and warned Pārvatī, who took steps to protect herself. His attempt on Pārvatī’s faithfulness failed. The deception of Vṛndā, by contrast, succeeded. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 13–15)

The deceiving of Vṛndā

While Jalandhara tried his disguise, Bhagavān Vishṇu carried out the plan against him. Bhagavān Vishṇu went to the forest where Vṛndā was doing tapas (austerity) for her husband’s victory. He came in the form of the ṛshi Devaśarman, a son of Bhāradvāja, with Śesha as his companion. He showed Vṛndā a false, cut-off head of Jalandhara, and she was filled with grief. Then he made a false Jalandhara who seemed to come back to life and embrace her. Vṛndā believed her husband had been restored and received him. The trick was complete. Her purity was broken, and with it the shield that guarded Jalandhara fell away. His invincibility was gone. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 15–16)

His death by the Sudarśana

With Vṛndā’s pātivratya (faithfulness to her husband) broken, the second shield no longer covered Jalandhara. The battle with Bhagavān Śiva began again, and now its end was fixed. Bhagavān Śiva used the Sudarśana disc, made from the combined radiance of all the devas and kept under his armpit. It struck Jalandhara and killed him. His cut-off head flew a hundred yojanas (a unit of distance) before it came to rest. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 18)

After his death

The pieces of Jalandhara’s body fell on the earth and gave rise to new sacred places. His marrow (medas) entered the earth, and from then on the earth was called Medinī. The place where his blood fell became Śoṇitapura, which was later the city of Bāṇa, a great devotee of Bhagavān Śiva. The Yoginīs ate his flesh after the battle.

Other results of his death are the plant Tulasī, which arose from the grief of his widow Vṛndā, and the sacred grove of Vṛndāvana. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 3–18)

The Śiva Purāṇa account

Birth and name

Jalandhara was born from the wrath of Bhagavān Śiva, yet he was to be the enemy of Bhagavān Śiva. When the devas once angered Mahādeva, his fury blazed from his third eye as a pillar of fire. This fire travelled with the Gaṅgā and entered the great ocean. Samudra, the ocean, received this divine fire in his waters and became with child by it. From this joining of fire and water Jalandhara was born.

Brahmā came and named the child Jalandhara, “one who holds within water”. The name marks his birth from the ocean and the divine fire within him. The asura Maya built for Jalandhara a great city set with gems within the ocean. Śukrācārya became his guru. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapters 1–2)

Marriage and invincibility

Jalandhara married Vṛndā, the daughter of Dharmadhvaja. She was a supreme pativratā. Her faithfulness was so complete that it made a shield of tapas of cosmic size. As long as Vṛndā stayed faithful to her husband, no being in the three worlds could kill Jalandhara. This shield, together with the vara of Brahmā, made him almost impossible to destroy. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 2)

Conquest of the three worlds

Under this protection Jalandhara set out to conquer. He brought all the devas under him and drove Indra out of svarga. He took the wealth of the three worlds, and even took Lakshmī herself from the abode of Bhagavān Vishṇu. The devas, shamed, went first to Bhagavān Śiva and then to Bhagavān Vishṇu for help. Bhagavān Vishṇu agreed to fight, and the battle between Bhagavān Vishṇu and Jalandhara was fierce. In the end Jalandhara broke the Śārṅga bow of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Then he made a strange demand. Bhagavān Vishṇu must live in Jalandhara’s ocean-city, together with Lakshmī, as a subject of the asura king. With his bow broken, Bhagavān Vishṇu agreed. The devas were left without their protector. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapters 3–17)

The demand for Pārvatī and the birth of Kīrtimukha

Nārada came to Jalandhara’s court. With his usual skill he told Jalandhara that, for all his glory, he lacked the most beautiful woman in the three worlds. She was Pārvatī, the consort of Bhagavān Śiva on Kailāsa. Jalandhara decided to claim Pārvatī. He sent Rāhu as his dūta (messenger) to Bhagavān Śiva, with the demand that she be given up.

As soon as Bhagavān Śiva heard the demand, a great flame of anger blazed from his third eye. It became Kīrtimukha, a lion-faced being of endless hunger who consumes all things. Kīrtimukha seized Rāhu. Bhagavān Śiva stopped him, because a dūta is equal to a brāhmaṇa and may not be harmed. But Kīrtimukha still burned with hunger. Bhagavān Śiva told him to eat his own body. Kīrtimukha ate himself from the feet upward until only his face was left. Bhagavān Śiva declared that Kīrtimukha must always guard the doors of temples, and that no pūjā of Bhagavān Śiva is complete unless Kīrtimukha is honoured first. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 19)

The march on Kailāsa and the Gāndharvamāyā

Rāhu had failed, but Jalandhara marched on Kailāsa with his whole army. Nandī, Gaṇeśa and Kārttikeya came forward to defend it. Even Vīrabhadra was struck down by Jalandhara’s pariha weapon. Then Jalandhara used the Gāndharvamāyā, a great illusion from the arts of the Gandharvas, to draw away the attention of Bhagavān Śiva. While Bhagavān Śiva was distracted, Jalandhara took the exact form of Bhagavān Śiva and went to Pārvatī’s cave.

Pārvatī, who knows all things and is the supreme Devī, knew the false Śiva at once. She fled to Lake Mānasa and from there called Bhagavān Vishṇu. It was Pārvatī who gave Bhagavān Vishṇu his task. He was to break Vṛndā’s pativrata (vow of faithfulness), because as long as it held, Jalandhara could not be killed. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapters 20–22)

Death

When Vṛndā’s pativrata was broken by the trick of Bhagavān Vishṇu, Jalandhara’s protection fell away, and his Gāndharvamāyā ended too. Bhagavān Śiva was now fully present and free to act. He walked to the shore of the ocean and drew from the tip of his own toe a blazing Sudarśana Cakra. Jalandhara still boasted, but Bhagavān Śiva cut off his head with one stroke. Jalandhara’s blood fell into the ocean and became a sacred pool in Mahāraurava, a naraka (hell). His tejas (radiance), which had always been the wrath of Bhagavān Śiva, merged back into Bhagavān Śiva. Born from the fury of Bhagavān Śiva, Jalandhara returned to Bhagavān Śiva at his death. (Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 24)

The Skanda Mahā Purāṇa account

The Skanda Mahā Purāṇa tells the whole account of Jalandhara in Chapters 14–22 of the Kārtika Māsa Māhātmya. It is a talk between Nārada and King Pṛthu on the birth and greatness of Tulasī.

Birth and invincibility

Bhagavān Śiva’s fire was thrown from his third eye into the sea, where the Sindhu meets the ocean. The infant seized the beard of Brahmā. Brahmā declared: “He will be invincible to all living beings, except Rudra.” In this text Vṛndā is the daughter of Kālanemi. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Kārtika Māsa Māhātmya, Chapter 14)

The battle

This text tells in detail the single fights of the battle. Kārttikeya fought Niśumbha, Nandin fought Kālanemi, and Gajānana fought Śumbha. In the end Vīrabhadra fell. Bhagavān Śiva made the Sudarśana disc from the combined radiance of all the devas and Bhagavān Vishṇu.

The Gāndharvi Māyā of Jalandhara is told at length. It was a great show of Gandharvas and apsarās meant to charm Bhagavān Śiva. Jalandhara then tried to approach Pārvatī in the form of Bhagavān Śiva. The moment he saw Pārvatī, his seed was discharged against his will. Pārvatī at once vanished to the Northern Mānasa. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Kārtika Māsa Māhātmya, Chapters 18–20)

The deceiving of Vṛndā

Bhagavān Vishṇu took the form of a silent ascetic, with Śesha as his disciple. Vṛndā was shown two terrible rākshasas by the māyā (illusion) of Bhagavān Vishṇu. They were in truth the two gatekeepers of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Two monkeys brought Vṛndā a cut-off head, hands and body, and she knew them as Jalandhara’s. She fainted and was brought round. Then a false Jalandhara, made by Bhagavān Vishṇu, appeared and embraced her. She spent many days with him in the forest.

When she at last saw his true form as Bhagavān Vishṇu, she gave a śāpa: “These two gatekeepers you showed me as rākshasas will be born as rākshasas and carry off your wife. You will wander in the forest, wretched at the loss of your wife, with Śesha as your disciple.” The text presents this śāpa as the origin of the Rāmāyaṇa. Vṛndā then entered the fire. Her tejas merged into Pārvatī, and Jalandhara’s tejas merged into Bhagavān Śiva. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Kārtika Māsa Māhātmya, Chapters 21–22)

The merging of Jalandhara’s radiance

After the Sudarśana disc cut off Jalandhara’s head, the radiance that came out of his body merged into Rudra. The part of the energy of Bhagavān Śiva that had given him birth thus returned to its source. The devas then asked Bhagavān Śiva how to free Bhagavān Vishṇu from the spell of Vṛndā’s beauty. Bhagavān Śiva sent them to the Mūlaprakṛti, the three devīs Gaurī, Lakshmī and Svarā. They gave the seeds from which Tulasī, Mālatī and Dhātrī were born at the place where Bhagavān Vishṇu had stood. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Kārtika Māsa Māhātmya, Chapter 22)

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 3–18
• Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapters 1–26
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Kārtika Māsa Māhātmya, Chapters 14–22