Budha’s Stotra to Gaurī and Śaṅkara (Brahma Purāṇa)

Budhakṛta Gaurīśaṅkara Stotra · budha-kṛta gaurī-śaṅkara stotra, “the stotra to Gaurī and Śaṅkara sung by Budha”

Budha’s Stotra to Gaurī and Śaṅkara is a single verse of refuge that Budha, the son of Soma, sang to Devī Gaurī and Bhagavān Śaṅkara on the bank of the Gautamī. It is found in the Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 38 (verse 111), where Brahmā tells Nārada the glory of Ilātīrtha. It was the first of three stotras sung there, one after another, by Budha, by his wife Ilā and by their son Purūravas, so that King Ila, who had become the woman Ilā, might regain his manhood. Pleased with the three, the Devī and Bhagavān Śiva granted their prayer.

The setting

King Ila of the Ikshvāku line, hunting on Himavat, had entered the forest Umāvana unknowingly. Long before, Maheśvara had declared that any man who came within it would become a woman, and so Ila became Ilā. Directed by the Yakshiṇī Samā, Ilā met Budha, the son of Soma, became his wife, and bore him Purūravas, the founder of the Candravaṃśa. When Purūravas learned his mother’s grief and asked how she might become a man again, Budha said that the śāpa could be removed only by the grace of Śambhu and Umā, and that the glorious Śiva, who removes śāpas and grants varas, dwells always at the Gautamī together with Umā.

So Purūravas went to the Gautamī, and Ilā and Budha followed him from Himavat. They bathed there, performed tapas for a short while, and praised Bhagavān Śiva as Bhava, the master of the devas. “Listen to the order of their stotras,” Brahmā tells Nārada: “Budha praised first, then Ilā, and then their son Purūravas praised Devī Gaurī and Śaṅkara.”

The stotra

Budha said: “Let those two deities be my refuge,

  • who delight in the tinkling of the jewelled girdle,
  • who are the colour of pure gold,
  • who are beautiful in form,
  • who are worshipped by Skanda and Gaṇeśvara.

They are worthy to be taken refuge in.”

What followed

Ilā then took refuge in Śaṅkarī and Śaṅkara, and Purūravas in Gaurī and Hara, the indwelling self of the universe. The great Devī said: “What do you wish for? You have done what is hard even for the devas.” Purūravas asked her, as Ambikā, to forgive King Ila for entering her forest unknowingly and to grant him manhood. The Devī, who abides by the wish of Bhava, said “So be it,” and Bhagavān Śiva, ever devoted to the words of the Devī, said: “Let this king regain his manhood merely by bathing here.”

As Ilā bathed, the dance, song and grace she had learned from the Yakshiṇī flowed out of her body and became the rivers Nṛtyā, Gītā and Saubhāgyā, which join the Gaṅgā; bath and dāna at these three confluences give the kingdom of the devas. Sixteen thousand tīrthas arose on both banks, and Śambhu there is called Ileśvara. Bath, dāna and the like in them give the fruit of all yajñas.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 38

Sources

  • Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 38