Ḍhuṇḍāgiri

Ḍhuṇḍāgiri · ḍhuṇḍā-giri, “the mountain of Ḍhuṇḍā”

Ḍhuṇḍāgiri is the name the brāhmaṇas gave to the place of a līlā of Bhagavān Śiva and Devī Umā, told in the Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa tells it to Yudhishṭhira as the origin of the Govatsa Dvādaśī vrata. Humans who have its darśana become Rudra-svarūpa themselves; of this there is no doubt.

The account

In Satya Yuga, in holy Jambūmārga, on the peak Ṭaṇṭāvi of the mountain Nāmavratadharā, crores of munis were performing tapas, longing for the darśana of Bhagavān Śaṅkara at the āśrama of Bhṛgu Maharshi. To grant them darśana, Bhagavān Śaṅkara came in the guise of an old brāhmaṇa, and Jagan-mātā Pārvatī took the form of a beautiful cow with her calf. The old brāhmaṇa left the cow with Bhṛgu to guard for two days, withdrew from sight, and soon appeared in the form of a tiger before the cow and her calf.

As the cow and calf leapt and ran in their līlā, the marks of her four hooves fell on a rock, a tīrtha of the Narmadā to this day. The munis rang a terrible-sounding bell they had received from Brahmā, and at that sound the tiger left the cow and calf and went away. The brāhmaṇas gave it the name Ḍhuṇḍāgiri. At once Bhagavān Śaṅkara gave up the tiger form and granted darśana in his own form, on the vṛshabha, with Bhagavatī Umā at his left. On Kārtika śukla dvādaśī the ṛshis worshipped Umā Devī in the form of the cow with calf under the name Nandinī, and from then on the Govatsa Dvādaśī spread over the earth.

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 69