Dadhīci and King Kṣuva

Why did Viṣṇu go to Dakṣa's sacrifice?

When Brahmā had told how Dakṣa's sacrifice was destroyed, Nārada was puzzled. Why did Viṣṇu go to that sacrifice with the other gods, leaving Śiva out, only to be humiliated there? Did he not know Śiva's power? Why did he fight Śiva's gaṇas like someone who did not understand?

Brahmā answered with an old story. Long ago, he said, the sage Dadhīci cursed Viṣṇu for helping King Kṣuva. That curse clouded Viṣṇu's understanding, and so he went with the gods to Dakṣa's sacrifice.

Two friends quarrel

Kṣuva was a king of great splendour, and he and the mighty sage Dadhīci were friends. But a quarrel arose between them that went on for a long time and became famous in all three worlds.

Dadhīci, learned in the Veda and devoted to Śiva, said that of the three varṇas the brahmin is without doubt the highest. Kṣuva, dazed by the pride of wealth, disagreed. A king, he said, carries in himself the forms of the eight guardians of the world, Indra and the rest. He is lord and master of every varṇa and every stage of life. Scripture itself says the king is made of all the gods — so I am the greatest god of all. A king is greater than a brahmin, son of Cyavana. Think it over, and do not slight me; you owe me worship.

Dadhīci was enraged by this view, which he held to be against both śruti and smṛti. In the heat of his pride he struck Kṣuva on the head with his left fist. Kṣuva, lord of the earth, roared with anger and cut Dadhīci down with his thunderbolt.

Śukra and the mantra that conquers death

As he fell, Dadhīci — a descendant of Bhṛgu — called Śukra to mind. The yogī Śukrācārya came at once and joined the sage's severed body together again, making it whole as before. Then Śukra, foremost of Śiva's devotees and the teacher of the lore that conquers death, spoke to him.

My child, he said, after worshipping Śiva, lord of all, I will teach you the great Vedic mantra, the Mahāmṛtyuñjaya:

त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम् । उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान्मृत्योर्मुक्षीय माऽमृतात् ॥

Śukra then opened it phrase by phrase. We worship the three-eyed one — father of the three worlds and of the three luminaries, sun, moon and fire; lord of the three guṇas, of the three fires, of the three gods Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva. He is sugandhi, “fragrant”, because as fragrance lives in a flower, he lives as the essential Self in every being, every guṇa, every sense and every god. He is puṣṭivardhana, “increaser of nourishment”, because he nourishes nature and all its evolutes, and Viṣṇu, Brahmā, the sages and the gods. He is amṛta, deathless, and is reached by good deeds, tapas, study, yoga or meditation.

And the cucumber: as the cucumber plant holds its own fruit bound to the vine, and when it ripens lets it go by itself, so Sadāśiva, who both binds and frees, releases every creature by his truth from the fine noose of death. This is the Mṛtasañjīvanī, the mantra that restores the dead to life, Śukra said — in my view the highest of all.

Repeat it with discipline, he told Dadhīci, fixed in meditation on Śiva. Do japa and homa with it; charge your drinking water with it, day and night; stay near an image of Śiva and meditate on him. Then there is no fear of death. And he taught him how to see Śiva as he recited: the three-eyed Lord of the conquest of death, seated on a lotus with Pārvatī, drawing water from the pitchers in two of his hands and pouring it over his head with two more, holding another pair of pitchers in his lap, a rosary and the deer-gesture in the other two, his body wet with nectar dripping from the moon on his head.

Three boons

Śukra went home remembering Śiva, and Dadhīci went into the forest to do tapas. For a long time he repeated the Mahāmṛtyuñjaya, as he had been taught, with love for Śiva, until Śiva, pleased, appeared before him. Dadhīci bowed and praised him, and Śiva told him to choose a boon.

Dadhīci asked for three. Let my bones become adamant, like the thunderbolt. Let no one be able to kill me. And let me never be brought low. Śiva said tathāstu — so be it.

Full of joy, Dadhīci went straight to King Kṣuva — and kicked him on the head. Kṣuva, proud in the strength Viṣṇu had given him, struck Dadhīci on the chest with his thunderbolt. By Śiva's power it did the sage no harm at all. Kṣuva was astonished: this man could not be killed, could not be humbled, and was stronger than the thunderbolt itself.

The king turns to Viṣṇu

Beaten by a servant of Mṛtyuñjaya, Kṣuva went into the forest and worshipped Viṣṇu. Pleased, Viṣṇu, whose banner bears Garuḍa, gave him divine sight, and with it Kṣuva saw him, bowed, praised him and told his story. There is a brahmin named Dadhīci, once my friend, he said. By worshipping Mṛtyuñjaya he has become unkillable. In a full assembly he kicked me on the head with his left foot, contemptuously, and told me he fears no one. The boon has filled him with pride beyond measure.

Viṣṇu, knowing Dadhīci could not be killed, thought of Śiva's matchless power. Brahmins, O king, have no fear anywhere, he said, and devotees of Rudra least of all. If I act for you against Dadhīci, he will be grieved, and it will bring a curse even upon a god like me. Because of his curse I will be ruined at Dakṣa's sacrifice by Śiva, lord of the gods — and then restored. Because of his curse that sacrifice will fail, though I and Brahmā and all the gods are present. Still, great king, I will try to defeat Dadhīci for you. So be it, said Kṣuva, and waited eagerly.

The brahmin at the door

To serve Kṣuva, Viṣṇu disguised himself as a brahmin and went to Dadhīci's hermitage. He bowed to the sage and said: I have come to ask a boon of you; please grant it.

Dadhīci answered at once. I know what you want. You are Hari himself, come in a brahmin's shape for Kṣuva's sake — you are a master of illusion. By Śiva's grace I know past, present and future. Put off this disguise, take your own form, and remember Śiva. The wicked-minded Kṣuva has worshipped you, and I know how you love your devotees. But if anyone has reason to fear me, a worshipper of Śiva, tell me truly, on your oath. My mind is fixed on Śiva, and I do not lie: I fear no god and no demon in this world.

Your fear is gone indeed, said Viṣṇu, for you worship Śiva and know all things. I bow to you. Just once, at my request, say to your rival King Kṣuva: O king, I am afraid of you. Dadhīci laughed without a trace of fear. By the power of Śambhu, who bears the bow Pināka, he said, I am not afraid of anyone, anywhere, in the least.

One sage against the gods

Then Viṣṇu grew angry. Before Kṣuva's eyes he raised his discus to burn the sage — and by Śiva's power it was blunted where it stood. Dadhīci laughed. That terrible discus, Sudarśana, you won long ago from Śiva by your tapas, he said. Śiva's auspicious discus does not want to kill me. Try the Brahmāstra, then, and all your other weapons.

Taking him for a mere man, Viṣṇu hurled weapon after weapon, and the gods — foolishly, says the Purāṇa — came to his aid against a single brahmin. Indra and the rest loosed their weapons on Dadhīci. Then Dadhīci, whose bones were now adamant, remembering Śiva, took up a handful of kuśa grass and flung it at the gods. By Śiva's power the handful of grass became a divine trident, blazing like the fire at the end of time, ready to burn the gods and all their weapons.

Every weapon the gods had loosed bowed down before that trident. The gods, their strength gone, fled in all directions. Only Viṣṇu, master of illusion, stayed, though he was afraid. From his own body he brought forth thousands upon thousands of divine warriors like himself, and they fought the lone sage who was Śiva's very form. Dadhīci fought them and burned them all.

To astonish the sage, Viṣṇu then became the Cosmic Form. In his body Dadhīci saw thousands of gods and other beings — millions of creatures, millions of gaṇas, millions of universes. Put away your māyā, mighty one, said Dadhīci. On reflection it is all mere appearance. I too have come to know a thousand things hard to know. Now look, without weariness, into me: I give you divine sight — see in me yourself, Brahmā, Rudra and the whole world. And Dadhīci, his body full of Śiva's radiance, showed the entire universe within himself.

What can your māyā or the power of your mantras do? he said, fearless, remembering Śiva. Fight me in earnest, if you wish. Viṣṇu, angrier than ever, turned on him again, and the gods who had fled came back to fight at Nārāyaṇa's side.

The curse

Just then Kṣuva arrived, bringing Brahmā with him. Brahmā stopped Viṣṇu and the gods: this brahmin cannot be conquered, he told them. Hearing this, Viṣṇu went up to the sage and bowed to him. Kṣuva too, humbled and shaken, bowed to Dadhīci and begged: be gracious, best of sages; be gracious, crown of Śiva's devotees; you are beyond the reach of the wicked.

Dadhīci showed grace to the king. But when he looked at Viṣṇu and the gods, anger rose in him again. Remembering Śiva in his mind, he cursed them: may all the gods with Indra, the great sages, and Viṣṇu with his hosts be destroyed by the fire of Rudra's wrath.

Then he turned to Kṣuva. O king, he said plainly, a worthy brahmin deserves more honour than gods or kings; it is the brahmins who are strong and mighty. With that he went back into his hermitage. Kṣuva bowed to him and went home, and Viṣṇu returned with the gods to Vaikuṇṭha, the way he had come.

The place became a tīrtha called Sthāneśvara, and the Purāṇa says that one who reaches Sthāneśvara attains union with Śiva. So, Brahmā tells Nārada, Viṣṇu and the gods came under the curse that made them take Dakṣa's side, apart from Śiva. And the phala: whoever reads this story of Kṣuva and Dadhīci every day conquers untimely death and goes to Brahmā's world after this life; whoever reads it before going into battle need never fear death, and will win.