Nāḍījaṅgha the Gaṇādhipa

Nāḍījaṅgha was first a great gaṇādhipa, a lord of crores of the gaṇas (attendants) of Bhagavān Śiva. He fell from that high place through pride and desire. Gālava Muni gave him a śāpa (a curse) that made him live as a crane on the peaks of the Himālaya.

His fourteen kalpas (ages) as a crane ended when he became the first of four ancient witnesses that Indradyumna sought, to win back his lost kīrti (fame). He then went with the group all the way to moksha (liberation) at the Mahīsāgara Saṃgama.

A past life: the emerald liṅga

In an earlier birth, Nāḍījaṅgha’s ātmā (soul) was born as a brāhmaṇa boy named Baka. He was a restless, playful (capala) child, a son of the ṛshi Viśvarūpa of the Parāśara-gotra. His father was a true devotee of Bhagavān Śiva and kept a holy emerald Śivaliṅga (maragata-liṅga) on the family altar.

One day, while his father was away, the boy played a childish prank. He took the emerald liṅga and hid it in a vessel of ghee (neti-pātra). It was the day of Uttarāyaṇa, Makara-saṃkrānti. His father came back and found the shrine empty. He called the boy gently and promised him sweets. Tempted, the boy took the liṅga out of the ghee and gave it back.

The boy did not mean to do anything holy. Yet putting the Śivaliṅga in ghee on Makara-saṃkrānti brought great puṇya (merit), and he did not know he had gained it. This is told in Chapter 7 of the Kaumārikā Khaṇḍa.

Born again as a king: the vara of Bhagavān Śiva

In time the boy died. By the puṇya of that one act he was born again in a royal house with jātishmara (memory of his past birth). He understood clearly what had happened. The king set up a liṅga and began, on purpose, to place it in ghee every Makara-saṃkrānti. He continued the act that had earned him his new birth.

Bhagavān Śiva was pleased and appeared before him. He said: “By your worship of me in your past life with the offering of a ghee blanket (ghṛta-kambalī), I am delighted. From today, whoever worships me with ghee on Makara-saṃkrānti shall become one of my gaṇas.”

Bhagavān Śiva then made the king the lord of crores of his gaṇas, a great gaṇādhipa. This is from Chapter 7.

The fall: disguise and attempted abduction

Raised to this high place, the gaṇādhipa became drunk with power and fell into desire. He wandered in the forests of the Himālaya and came to a mountain cave. There the ṛshi Gālava Muni was doing tapas (austerity) with his wife. She was very beautiful, with the grace of a haṃsa (swan), deep eyes and long dark hair. Overcome by kāma (desire), the gaṇādhipa decided to take her.

He knew that a direct approach would bring the fire of Gālava’s śāpa on him. So he dressed as a student, came to the ṛshi with much flattery and begged to be taken as a śishya (pupil). Gālava welcomed him with the warmth due to an honest student. The false student served Gālava for a long time and waited for his chance.

One night Gālava’s wife began her ṛtusnāna (the bath after her monthly period) and rested apart. The false student came to her in the dark and tried to carry her off. She screamed. She knew his voice and called to Gālava: “This wicked man, who is dressed as a student like a heron (baka) pretending to be good, is trying to carry me away!” This is from Chapter 7.

Gālava’s śāpa

Gālava held the gaṇādhipa still with the power of his tapas. He gave this śāpa: “You who deceived me like a heron (baka), be a heron for a long age!” His wife added her own śāpa to the same effect.

The gaṇādhipa fell before them and pleaded. He pointed out that Gālava had hinted at an earlier link concerning his daughter, which gave him a first claim in dharma. Gālava accepted that there was some truth in this and changed the śāpa. The gaṇādhipa would stay a crane on the peaks of the Himālaya. His freedom would come when he helped to bring back the forgotten kīrti of King Indradyumna. This is from Chapter 7.

So the crane Nāḍījaṅgha lived for fourteen kalpas on the Himālaya peaks. The long life he had earned by worshipping the liṅga with ghee on Makara-saṃkrānti kept him alive while he waited for the appointed time.

His part in the search for Indradyumna’s kīrti

Mārkaṇḍeya Muni came to the Himālaya looking for any ancient witness to the kīrti of Indradyumna. The crane answered that it had lived through fourteen kalpas and did not remember any king named Indradyumna. Still, it pointed the group onward to the owl Prākārakarṇa on Kailāsa and offered to go with them. So the crane became the first of the four animal witnesses and the first companion to join the growing pilgrimage. Its offer to go along, even though it could not give evidence, shows its instinct for dharma: the wish to help stayed even when its memory failed. This is from Chapter 7.

The crane travelled with the group through their meetings with the owl, with the Garuḍa Kuśadhvaja, and at last with the turtle Jayadata at Mānasasarovara. The turtle’s evidence finally restored the kīrti of Indradyumna. All four animal witnesses were freed at the same moment. The crane’s śāpa ended and its first divine form came back. It went on with the group to the Mahīsāgara Saṃgama, where Bhagavān Śiva declared moksha for all of them. This is from Chapters 9 to 13.

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārikā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārikā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 9–13