Mahendra Parvata
Mahendra Parvata · mahā-indra parvata
Mahendra Parvata, the Mahendra mountain, is the sacred mountain where Paraśurāma lives in unbroken tapas (austerity). Paraśurāma is a cirajīvin (one who lives for ages) of the Bhṛgu line. In the Kalki Purāṇa the mountain is where Paraśurāma became the guru of Bhagavān Kalki. In the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa it is the great mountain on the southern shore of Bhārata from which Hanumān leapt to Laṅkā. In the Vāmana Purāṇa it is the first of the seven kula-parvatas of Bhārata, a mountain Prahlāda visited on his tīrthayātrā, and the holy mountain in the south where Bhagavān Vāmana abides as Ardhanārīśvara. In the Agni Purāṇa, Agnideva tells Vasishṭha Maharshi that after Paraśurāma had freed the earth of kshatriyas twenty-one times and given the whole earth as dāna to Kaśyapa Maharshi, he went to live on Mahendra; the same Purāṇa names Mahendra first among the seven kula-parvatas of Bhāratavarsha, the mountain from which the river Trisāmā rises, and asks it, with the other great mountains, to give śānti (peace) to a king at his abhisheka.
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa names Mahendra first among the seven kula-parvatas that Nārada counts among the holiest places, names it among the mountains of Bhārata, and tells that Paraśurāma, after freeing the earth of kshatriyas twenty-one times and completing his yajña, is on Mount Mahendra even today, his violence given up and his mind serene, while the siddhas, gandharvas and cāraṇas sing his deeds.
Paraśurāma’s home
Paraśurāma made twenty-one campaigns that cleared the earth of kshatriyas. He performed the Aśvamedha at Syamantapañcaka and gave the earth to the brāhmaṇas. Then he retired to Mahendra Parvata to practise tapas for ever. The mountain is his home for the rest of the present cosmic cycle.
Paraśurāma is one of the seven cirajīvins, so he is still alive on this mountain. His tapas keeps renewing his powers and his awareness. He waits for the moment when his next task calls him.
That moment came with the descent of Bhagavān Kalki. From his place on Mahendra Parvata, Paraśurāma saw the avatāra setting out from Śambhala to find a gurukula.
The Kalki Purāṇa tells this in Prathamāṃśa, Chapter 3.
The gurukula of Bhagavān Kalki
Paraśurāma met Kalki on the way, while Kalki was looking for a teacher, and declared himself Kalki’s guru. He said of himself: “I am Jamadagni‘s son of the Bhṛgu line. I know all the Vedas with their aṅgas. I am a master of the Dhanurveda. I cleared the earth of kshatriyas twenty-one times. I retired here to Mahendra Parvata for tapas. Now come and learn from me.”
Kalki bowed before Paraśurāma and accepted him as his ācārya (teacher). The teaching at Mahendra Parvata included:
- The four Vedas with their six Vedāṅgas: śikshā, kalpa, vyākaraṇa, nirukta, chandas and jyotisha.
- The Dhanurveda, the whole science of archery and war.
- The sixty-four arts (catushshashṭi kalās).
When the teaching was complete, Kalki asked what he should give as guru-dakshiṇā, the offering due to a teacher. Paraśurāma showed that he knew who Kalki was. He said: “You are Vishṇu himself. My reward is to witness your divine mission.”
Kalki received all this training from Paraśurāma, the great living warrior and scholar of the age, on the mountain of the Bhārgava line. The Kalki Purāṇa tells this in Prathamāṃśa, Chapter 3.
Mahendra in the Sundara Kāṇḍa
Mahendra Parvata has an important place in the Sundara Kāṇḍa of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa. It is the great mountain on the southern shore of Bhārata. From it Hanumān made his leap over the ocean, a hundred yojanas wide, to Laṅkā.
The vānara search party gathered on the mountain under Aṅgada and Jāmbavanta. They waited there anxiously through the many days of Hanumān’s mission in Laṅkā.
When Hanumān gathered his divine energy for the leap, the mountain shook under his weight. Its rocks broke apart and its trees fell. When he came back, he roared from far away as he came down towards the mountain. Jāmbavanta knew at once that this roar was the sound of success.
The whole search party met again on Mahendra. From there they went on to the Madhu Vana and then to Kishkindhā, with the news that Sītā had been found.
Mahendra in the Vāmana Purāṇa
Among the kula-parvatas
When the rākshasa king Sukeśī asked the ṛshis about the world, they told him that Bhārata-varsha is divided into nine dvīpas, and that the one where they lived is Kumāra-dvīpa. They named Mahendra first among its seven kula-parvatas (chief mountain ranges): Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya, Śuktimān, Ṛksha, Vindhya and Pāriyātra. Besides these, they said, there are hundreds and thousands of other lovely mountains of great extent. (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 13)
At Himavān’s assembly
When Bhagavān Śiva sent the Saptarshis to Himavān to ask for his daughter Umā (Kālī), Himavān would not decide without his mountain kinsmen. He sent his doorkeeper Gandhamādana to call them, and Meru and the other chief mountains came and sat on golden seats in his assembly hall. Mahendra is named among them, together with Udayācala, Hemakūṭa, Mandara, Vindhya, Pāriyātra, Malaya, Kailāsa, Nishadha and many others. Meru and the chiefs told Himavān to give Kālī to Śiva at once, and Himavān, together with the great mountains, gave her to Śarva. (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 26)
Prahlāda at Mahendra
Pulastya Maharshi told Nārada Maharshi of the tīrthayātrā (journey to the holy places) of Prahlāda, the mahābhāgavata. At Purushottama, Prahlāda had darśana of Puṇḍarīkāksha, the imperishable, and stayed six nights. From there he went south to Mahendra. On Mahendra he had darśana of Ardhanārīśvara, the deveśvara (lord of the devas), and performed pitṛ-pūjā (worship of the ancestors). Then he went on to Uttara Mahendra, the northern Mahendra, which the Purāṇa names as a separate place. At the close of the account Pulastya said that one who sings, hears or passes on the tīrthayātrā of Prahlāda is freed from all pāpas (sins). (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 57)
Bhagavān Vāmana as Ardhanārīśvara
After his upanayana, Bhagavān Vāmana told his guru Bharadvāja Ṛshi that the daitya Bali could perform his aśvamedha yajña only by the power of his tejas-aṃśas, the portions of his divine radiance. The earth, the sky, pātāla, the oceans, divi (the realm of the devas), the directions, all the mountains and the clouds, he said, are filled with his forms. He then named his holy places one by one, and among them: on the holy Mahendra mountain in the south he is Ardhanārīśvara. (He named Northern Mahendra separately, with the forms Gopāla and Somapīthi.) In the stotra of Agastya Maharshi that comes just before, Ardhanārīśvara is praised by the same name.
Of all these places Bhagavān Vāmana said that they are sanātana (eternal), purātana (ancient) and pavitra (holy); they give dharma, they are full of tejas, they destroy pāpa, and they are always to be praised. Devas, humans and sādhyas who practise darśana (seeing), sparśana (touching), kīrtana (praising) and smaraṇa (remembering) of these forms attain all four purushārthas: dharma, artha, kāma and moksha. “This is certain,” said Bhagavān Vāmana. (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 61–63)
Mahendra in the Agni Purāṇa
Paraśurāma’s home
Agnideva, teaching Vasishṭha Maharshi the avatāras of Bhagavān Vishṇu, tells of the avatāra of Paraśurāma. Śrī Mahāvishṇu saw that the kshatriyas had grown arrogant. To remove the burden of the earth, to protect the devas, the vipras and the rest, and to establish peace, he descended as Bhārgava, born of Jamadagni in Reṇukā, a master of every śāstra and vidyā.
A king named Kārtavīrya, who by the grace of Dattātreya had a thousand arms and ruled the whole earth, went hunting. When he and his army were tired in the forest, Jamadagni Maharshi invited them and fed them all by the power of Kāmadhenu, the wish-granting cow. Kārtavīryārjuna asked for the Kāmadhenu; Jamadagni refused, and the king carried her off by force. Paraśurāma met him in battle, cut off his head with the paraśu (axe), and brought the cow back to the āśrama. While Paraśurāma was away in the forest, the sons of Kārtavīrya, from their old enmity, killed Jamadagni. Paraśurāma came back and saw his father slain, and he made the earth free of kshatriyas twenty-one times.
Then he made five kuṇḍas (sacred pools) in Kurukshetra and with them satisfied the pitṛ-devatās (the ancestors). He gave the whole earth as dāna (a gift) to Kaśyapa Maharshi, and he lived on Mahendra mountain.
The Purāṇa closes the chapter with its phalaśruti: the man who hears the accounts of the Kūrma, Varāha, Narasiṃha and Paraśurāma avatāras goes to svarga. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 4)
Among the kula-parvatas of Bhāratavarsha
Describing Bhāratavarsha, the land north of the ocean and south of the Himālaya, nine thousand yojanas in extent and the karma-bhūmi (land of action) for those who seek svarga and moksha, Agnideva names its seven kula-parvatas: Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya, Śuktimat, Himālaya, Vindhya and Pāriyātra. Each mountain is the source of rivers: from the Pāriyātra flow the Vedasmṛti and others; from the Vindhya, the Narmadā and others; from the Sahya, the Tāpī and Payoshṇī, the Godāvarī, the Bhīmarathī, the Kṛshṇaveṇī and others; from the Malaya, the Kṛtamālā and others; from the Mahendra, the Trisāmā and others; from the Śuktimat, the Kumārī and others; and from the Himālaya, the Candrabhāgā and others. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 118)
Invoked for śānti at a king’s abhisheka
Pushkara taught Paraśurāma the mantras for the abhisheka (consecration) of a king, which remove all pāpas. In them every power of creation is asked to bless the king, and the great mountains are asked to give him śānti: “May the mountains Himavat, Hemakūṭa, Nishadha, Nīla, Śveta, Śṛṅgavat, Meru, Mālyavat, Gandhamādana, Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya, Śuktimat, Ṛkshavat, Vindhya and Pāriyātra give you śānti.” (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 219)
Mahendra in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa
Among the mountains of Bhārata
Śuka, describing Bhārata khaṇḍa of Jambudvīpa to Parīkshit, names its mountains: Malaya, Maṅgalaprastha, Maināka, Trikūṭa, Ṛshabha, Kūṭaka, Kollaka, Sahya, Devagiri, Ṛshyamūka, Śrīśaila, Veṅkaṭa, Mahendra, Vāridhāra, Vindhya, Śuktimān, Ṛkshagiri, Pāriyātra, Droṇa, Citrakūṭa, Govardhana, Raivataka, Kakubha, Nīla, Gokāmukha, Indrakīla and Kāmagiri, with hundreds and thousands more, from whose middle parts rise countless nadas and nadīs that purify one by the mere remembrance of their names.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 19
Among the holiest places
Teaching Yudhishṭhira the dharma of the gṛhastha, Nārada names the holiest places: the lakes such as Pushkara, Kurukshetra, Gayā, Prayāga and the Sālagrāma kshetra, Naimishāraṇya, Setubandha, Prabhāsa, Dvārakā, Kāśī, Mathurā, Badarikāśrama, Citrakūṭa and the other āśramas of Sītā and Rāma, “and the kula-parvatas Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya, Śuktimat, Ṛkshavat, Vindhya and Pāriyātra: these are the holiest places.” One who seeks welfare should visit such places again and again, for dharma done in them gives a thousand times more fruit.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 14
Paraśurāma on Mahendra
Śuka tells Parīkshit that when the kshatriyas were committing outrages, the all-powerful Paraśurāma, taking his father’s slaying as the occasion, made the earth empty of kshatriyas twenty-one times, and at Samantapañcaka in Kurukshetra made five lakes. He joined his father’s head to the body on darbha grass and worshipped with yajñas Śrī Hari, who is himself and the form of all devatās; he gave the directions as dakshiṇā to the ṛtvijas, with the middle portion to Kaśyapa, took the avabhṛtha bath in the Sarasvatī and was freed from all pāpa, and Jamadagni, in a body made of saṅkalpa, became the seventh ṛshi of the Saptarshi-maṇḍala. Bhagavān Paraśurāma, son of Jamadagni, will be the maharshi who sets the Vedas going in the coming Sāvarṇi manvantara. And Paraśurāma is on Mount Mahendra even today. He has given up violence such as punishing others, his inner mind is serene, and the siddhas, gandharvas and cāraṇas sing his deeds.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 16
Sources
- Kalki Purāṇa, Prathamāṃśa, Chapter 3
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 13, 26, 57, 61–63
- Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 1 and 57
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 4, 118, 219
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 19; Skandha 7, Chapter 14; Skandha 9, Chapter 16