Pippalāda, Son of Kauśika
Pippalāda · pippala-ada, “the eater of pippala fruit”
Pippalāda is the son of Kauśika Muni, left on the road as a boy in a famine of the Tretā Yuga. Alone, he lived on the fruit of a pīpala tree and did hard tapas. Devarshi Nārada gave him his saṃskāras and the Veda, and Bhagavān Vishṇu blessed him with bhakti and made him a Mahaṛshi of great jñāna. When he learned that Śanaiścara had caused his suffering, he brought that graha down from the sky by his gaze alone. Śrī Kṛshṇa tells this account to King Yudhishṭhira in connection with the Śanaiścara vrata.
The boy on the road
In the Tretā Yuga a terrible famine fell because of drought. Kauśika Muni left home with his wife and sons to live in another region. Unable to feed the family, he left one of his boys on the road with great pain.
The boy cried alone in hunger and thirst. Then he saw a pīpala tree with a stepwell beside it. He ate the fruit and drank the cool water, and he began hard tapas on that spot, living daily on pīpala fruits.
Nārada and Bhagavān Vishṇu
Devarshi Nārada came there suddenly. The boy bowed and seated him with respect, and Nārada was pleased at his humility and modesty. He performed the mauñjībandhana and all the other saṃskāras, and taught him the Veda with pada, krama and its rahasya. He also taught him the twelve-syllable Vaishṇava mantra:
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Om, salutation to Bhagavān Vāsudeva.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 114
The boy meditated on Bhagavān Vishṇu daily and did japa, and Nārada stayed there. In a short time Bhagavān Vishṇu, pleased with his tapas, came riding the divine vāhana Garuḍa. From Nārada’s words the boy recognised him and asked for firm bhakti. Bhagavān Vishṇu gave him the teaching of jñāna and yoga, blessed him with bhakti and withdrew. The boy became a Mahaṛshi of great jñāna.
The fall of Śanaiścara
One day the boy asked Nārada of what karma his suffering was the fruit, why the grahas afflicted him so young, and where his parents were. Nārada told him that the graha Śanaiścara had given him great pain, and that the whole country was afflicted by Śani’s slow motion. He showed him that proud graha blazing in the sky.
The boy blazed with anger like fire. With a fierce gaze he made Śanaiścara fall from the sky to the earth. Śanaiścara fell on a mountain and his foot was broken, and he became lame. Nārada danced with great delight and called the devas. Brahmā, Rudra, Indra, Agni and the others came.
The name and the vara of Brahmā
Brahmā said that because the boy had done hard tapas eating pīpala fruits, Nārada had rightly given him the name Pippalāda, and that he would be famous by it. Those who honour Pippalāda with bhakti on a Saturday, or remember his name, Brahmā said, will not suffer Śani‘s affliction for seven births, and will have sons and grandsons.
Brahmā told him to set Śanaiścara in the sky as before, for in truth Śanaiścara has no fault. He gave his teaching on the grahas and the Śani vrata and went with the devas to his supreme abode.
The ten names
By Brahmā‘s command Pippalāda set Śanaiścara back in his place. Then he prayed to the graha Śani with ten names:
कोणस्थः पिङ्गलो बभ्रुः कृष्णो रौद्रोऽन्तको यमः।
सौरिः शनैश्चरो मन्दः प्रीयतां मे ग्रहोत्तमः॥koṇasthaḥ piṅgalo babhruḥ kṛshṇo raudro’ntako yamaḥ |
sauriḥ śanaiścaro mandaḥ prīyatāṃ me grahottamaḥ ||Koṇastha, Piṅgala, Babhru, Kṛshṇa, Raudra, Antaka, Yama, Sauri, Śanaiścara, Manda: may the best of grahas be pleased with me.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 114
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 114