Śakti
Śakti, “divine power”
Śakti has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śakti.
Śakti was the eldest son of the great brahmarshi Vasishṭha and the father of Parāśara. He met his death on a narrow forest path, in a clash with King Kalmāshapāda. After harsh words he cursed the king to become a man-eating rākshasa. Viśvāmitra then turned that curse against him. He told a kinkara rākshasa (a servant rākshasa) to enter the king. The possessed Kalmāshapāda devoured Śakti, and then the sons of Vasishṭha. Śakti’s wife Adṛśyantī was carrying Parāśara at the time. Śakti’s death and Vasishṭha’s grief afterwards are among the most moving passages of the Ādi Parva. The Vāmana Purāṇa names him as a Śaiva, the first teacher of the Śaiva śāstra of Śiva-pūjā, whose disciple was Gopāyana.
Son of Vasishṭha
Śakti was the eldest of the one hundred sons of Vasishṭha. As eldest son of the foremost of brahmarshis, he carried the family line and was the natural heir of his father’s spiritual and social place. He had married Adṛśyantī, who was pregnant with their child when he died.
Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Maitreya Maharshi tells Vidura that seven brahmarshis of great puṇya were born to Vasishṭha Maharshi in Arundhatī, whose other name is Ūrjā: Citraketu, Suroci, Virajas, Mitra, Ulbaṇa, Vasubhṛdyāna and Dyumān. Besides these, Śakti and other sons were born to Vasishṭha in another wife. (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 1)
The meeting with Kalmāshapāda
Śakti met King Kalmāshapāda on a narrow forest path, each coming from the opposite side. The path was too narrow for both. Custom gave a brāhmaṇa the right of way on a forest path. Kalmāshapāda told Śakti to step aside. Śakti refused and spoke of his right as a brāhmaṇa. Kalmāshapāda struck him with his whip.
Śakti at once pronounced a śāpa (curse) on the king: “Since you have acted like a rākshasa, may you become a rākshasa who eats human flesh.”
The curse turned against him
Viśvāmitra was the old rival of Vasishṭha‘s family. He saw his chance in this śāpa. He told a kinkara rākshasa to enter Kalmāshapāda‘s body and bring the śāpa to life. The possessed king, now a man-eating rākshasa, turned on Śakti himself and devoured him.
Then the king went on to devour all one hundred sons of Vasishṭha.
Parāśara, his son
When Śakti died, his wife Adṛśyantī was already pregnant with his child. For twelve years she went with Vasishṭha as he wandered in grief, carrying Śakti’s son in her womb. The child in the womb recited Vedic verses, and Vasishṭha could hear them as they walked through the forest. It was the father’s voice carried on in the unborn child.
When the child was born, Vasishṭha named him Parāśara, “one who destroys”. Parāśara became a great ṛshi and the father of Vyāsa.
First teacher of the Śaiva śāstra
The Vāmana Purāṇa tells how the pūjā of Bhagavān Śiva‘s liṅga came to the four varṇas. In the Dārukāvana, Brahmā and Śrī Hari praised Bhagavān Śiva and prayed him to take back his liṅga, which had come down to the earth there. Bhagavān Śiva said he would take it back if all the devas worshipped it, and Keśava agreed. Then Brahmā made the people of the four varṇas devoted to Hara-arcana (the pūjā of Hara), and set in motion four chief śāstras for it: first the Śaiva, second the Pāśupata, third the Kālavadana, and fourth the Kāpālika.
Their first teachers, in the text’s order, were these:
- Śakti, the dear son of Vasishṭha, was a Śaiva; his disciple was Gopāyana.
- Bharadvāja was a Mahāpāśupata; the disciple of that tapasvī was a king, Ṛshabha Somakeśvara.
- Āpastamba, rich in tapas, was a devotee of the Kālāmukha; his disciple was Krātheśvara, a vaiśya.
- Kubera was initiated in the Mahāvrata; his disciple was the great tapasvī Karṇodara, a śūdra.
So Brahmā appointed the four varṇas to Śiva-pūjā and went back to his own loka. Bhagavān Śiva withdrew the liṅga and installed it in subtle form at Citravana.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 6
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 6
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 1