The Birth of Vyāsa and the Child in the Liṅga

The sages' doubt

The sages turn to Sūta with a question that has clearly been troubling them. Tell us, they say, how Vyāsa was born. His mother is said to be the blessed Satyavatī, and she was married to King Śantanu. How then was the great yogī Vyāsa born to her from Parāśara? We are in real doubt about this; please remove it.

Sūta answers by telling the story from the beginning.

The ferry on the Yamunā

Once the yogī Parāśara, travelling on pilgrimage, came by chance to the beautiful bank of the Yamunā. The chief of the Niṣādas was sitting there at his meal, and the sage asked him to take him quickly across the river by boat.

The Niṣāda turned to his daughter, who was called Matsyagandhā. Daughter, he said, take him across at once. This ascetic, born of Dṛśyantī, knows all four Vedas and is an ocean of dharma, and he wishes to cross the Yamunā.

So Matsyagandhā seated the great sage, radiant as the sun, in her boat and began to row. And here the Purāṇa says something it will return to: Parāśara, who had never been moved even by the beauty of the apsarases, was drawn to this girl — by the power of time.

Her objections

He reached out and touched her right hand with his own. The wide-eyed girl smiled and spoke to him plainly. Great sage, why are you doing something so open to blame? You are born in the high line of Vasiṣṭha, and I am a Niṣāda's daughter; how can there be a union between us? Human birth is hard to get, birth as a brahmin harder, and to be an ascetic hardest of all. You have learning, bearing, speech, family and character — and still desire has overcome you. That is a great wonder.

She also thought to herself that no one on earth could stop a yogī like this, for fear of his curse. So she said only: Lord, be patient until I have taken you across. Parāśara at once let go of her hand, and they crossed the river.

On the far side he took her hand again. Trembling now, she spoke to him as to one who is an ocean of compassion: I am a Niṣāda girl, dark, and I smell of fish. You are the best of yogīs, noble in thought. We are as unlike as glass and gold; a bond is happy only between those who are alike. Hearing this, the sage in a moment made her lovely to look at and so fragrant that her scent carried for a yojana.

When he drew near again, she — the Purāṇa here calls her Vāsavī — raised another objection: the Veda permits such a meeting only at night, not by day; there is great fault in it, and painful talk afterwards. Wait until night falls. People can see us here, and my father is standing right there on the bank.

The mist and the boons

At that the sage, by the strength of his merit, quickly raised a mist. It grew dark as night around them.

The girl was astonished, and she had one last and most serious thing to say. Yogī, she said, your power does not fail. You will be with me and then go on your way. If I conceive, what will become of me? My maidenhood will be lost, everyone will laugh at me, and what shall I say to my father?

Parāśara told her to name whatever she wished and he would grant it. Because you make my word come true, he said, you will be called Satyavatī, and all yogīs and gods will honour you. She asked for this: that her mother and father and no one else on earth should know of it; that her maidenhood should not be lost; that her son should have wondrous power like his father's; and that her fragrance and her youth should stay with her always.

All of it shall be so, said Parāśara. Your son will be born with a portion of Viṣṇu and will be greatly renowned. And understand that there is a reason for what has come over me. The apsarases never unsettled my mind, yet seeing you I was overcome. What Brahmā has written on the forehead does not turn out otherwise. Your son will be the maker of the Purāṇas, the one who divides the branches of the Veda, famous in all three worlds. Having said this and been with her, the sage bathed in the Yamunā and went quickly on his way.

The child on the island

The girl conceived at once and gave birth on an island in the Yamunā to a son bright as the sun and beautiful as Kāma. The Purāṇa describes him as he was born: a water-pot in his left hand, a fine staff in his right, tawny matted hair, a great mass of radiance.

The moment he was born he spoke to his mother. Mother, go wherever you wish; I too am going now. Whenever there is something you need done, remember me, and I will come to fulfil your wish. Then the great ascetic bowed at his mother's feet and left for a sin-destroying tīrtha, to do tapas.

Satyavatī, aching with love for her son, went back to her father, thinking over what her child had done and counting herself fortunate. Because he was born on an island (dvīpa) the boy was named Dvaipāyana, and because he divided the branches of the Veda he came to be called Vedavyāsa.

The pilgrim

Then the son of Satyavatī went from tīrtha to tīrtha, bathing at each according to rule and doing tapas. The Purāṇa names them: Prayāga, king of tīrthas; Naimiṣāraṇya, Kurukṣetra, Gaṅgādvāra, Avantikā, Ayodhyā, Mathurā, Dvārakā, Amarāvatī; the Sarasvatī, the meeting of the Sindhu with the sea and of the Gaṅgā with the sea; Kāñcī, Tryambaka, the bank of the Sapta-Godāvarī, Kālañjara, Prabhāsa, Badarikāśrama, Mahālaya, Puruṣottama-kṣetra, Gokarṇa, Bhṛgukaccha, Bhṛgutuṅga, Puṣkara, Śrīparvata, Dhārātīrtha and others.

Wandering in this way through many lands, Vyāsa — here called the son of Kālī — came at last to Vārāṇasī, where Viśveśvara himself and the great goddess Annapūrṇā dwell to give their devotees immortality.

Kāśī and the Vyāseśvara liṅga

Reaching Vārāṇasī, the sage had the sight of Maṇikarṇikā and laid down there the sins gathered over crores of births.

Then he made the full round of the city. He saw Viśveśvara and all the other liṅgas. He bathed in all its pools, step-wells, wells and lakes. He bowed to all the Vināyakas and all the Gaurīs, worshipped Kālarāja Bhairava, the devourer of sins, praised Daṇḍanāyaka and the other gaṇas, pleased Ādikeśava and the other Keśavas, bowed again and again to Lolārka and the other Suns, and carefully offered piṇḍas at every tīrtha.

And he established a liṅga called Vyāseśvara. Whoever sees it, Sūta tells the brahmins, becomes as accomplished as Bṛhaspati in every branch of learning.

Which liṅga?

Having worshipped Viśveśvara and the rest with devotion, Vyāsa kept turning one question over. Which liṅga gives success quickly? Which one should I worship to gain all learning — by whose grace will I receive the power to compose the Purāṇas?

The Purāṇa lets him run through the liṅgas of Kāśī by name, a long roll of them: Oṃkāreśvara, Kṛttivāseśvara, Kedāreśvara, Kāmeśvara, Candreśvara, Trilocana, Kāleśa, Jyeṣṭheśa, Jaigīṣavyeśvara, Daśāśvamedheśvara, Dharmeśvara, Tārakeśvara, Nandikeśvara, Paśupatīśvara, Hāṭakeśvara, Tilabhāṇḍeśvara, Viśveśvara, Avimukteśvara, Vīreśvara, Siddheśvara, Hiraṇyagarbheśvara and many more, ending with Madhyameśvara. Among these crores of liṅgas, he asks himself, which shall I serve?

He stilled his mind for a moment in meditation, and then it came to him. Ah — I had forgotten, and now I know; my wish is as good as fulfilled. It is Madhyameśvara, worshipped by the siddhas, giver of dharma, wealth, pleasure and liberation. To see and touch it makes the mind clear, and there the door of heaven always stands open.

The glory of Madhyameśvara

In the great field called Avimukta, the field of the siddhas, stands this liṅga, and in Kāśī there is none greater; at every festival the gods themselves come down from heaven to see it. Śiva is called Madhyameśvara, the Purāṇa explains, because he stands as the chief presence in the middle of Kāśī, to give joy to the people of his own city.

Vyāsa recalls those who gained their ends here. The gandharva Tumburu and the divine sage Nārada became masters of song by worshipping it. By worshipping it Viṣṇu became the giver of liberation; Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Rudra became creator, preserver and destroyer; Kubera became lord of wealth; Vāmadeva became a great Śaiva; and King Khaṭvāṅga, who was childless, was given children.

The apsaras Candrabhāgā, sweet-voiced as a cuckoo, was dancing before this liṅga when, through her devotion, she merged into it with her body. Śrīkara, the son of a cowherd woman, won the rank of a gaṇa of Śiva here. Bhārgava, honoured by the daityas, and Bṛhaspati, honoured by the gods, became masters of the sciences by Madhyameśvara's grace. So I too, Vyāsa concluded, will worship Madhyameśvara here and will surely and soon gain the power to compose the Purāṇas.

The child in the liṅga

Steady and firm in his vows, the son of Satyavatī bathed in the Bhāgīrathī and took up his discipline. Sometimes he ate leaves, sometimes fruit and greens; sometimes he lived on air, sometimes on water, and sometimes he took nothing at all. Three times a day he worshipped Madhyameśvara with the fruits of many kinds of trees.

Many days passed like this. Then one morning, when Vyāsa had bathed in the Gaṅgā and come to Madhyameśvara for worship, he saw the Lord himself in the middle of the liṅga.

Umā was at his left side. He wore a tiger-skin as an upper cloth. The rippling waves of Gaṅgā moved in his matted hair, and the light of a young autumn moon lay on his locks. His whole body, white as camphor, was smeared with ash; his large eyes reached to his ears and his lips were red as coral. He had the form of a child of five, with a child's ornaments, unclothed, lovelier than crores of Kāmas — and with a smiling face he was playfully singing the Sāma Veda.

Vyāsa's hymn

Seeing the Lord of Umā looking at him with kindness — a bottomless ocean of compassion, quick to be pleased, friend of the helpless, unknowable even to yogīs — Vyāsa praised him in a voice choked with love.

God of gods, he said, refuge of those who come to you, hard to reach by speech, mind or action: even the Vedas do not know your greatness. You are the maker, keeper and withdrawer of this world. You are the first of the gods, being-consciousness-bliss. You have no name or lineage, no birth, country or family, and yet you fulfil the desires of the three worlds. You are the supreme Brahman that cuts the snare of māyā, untouched by the three guṇas as a lotus leaf is untouched by water.

How shall I worship you, he went on, whose truth even Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Indra do not know? Everything comes from you and you are everything. You are the Lord of Gaurī and the destroyer of the three cities; you are child, youth and old man. I hold you in my heart, and I bow to Śambhu, Śaṅkara, the ancient Person, the supreme Self on whom devotees meditate.

“I will dwell in your throat”

As soon as he had fallen flat on the ground in prostration, the child spoke, well pleased. Yogī, ask as a boon whatever is in your mind. There is nothing I will not give, for I belong to my devotees.

Vyāsa rose, glad at heart, and gave an answer of his own. Lord, you know everything; what is hidden from you? You are the inner self of all and the giver of all. Why then do you set me to asking, which only makes a man small?

The Lord in the form of a child smiled gently. Best of the knowers of Brahman, he said, the wish you have formed in your mind will certainly and quickly be fulfilled. I, the Lord who dwells within, will myself take my place in your throat and have the Itihāsa and the Purāṇas composed through you.

He also blessed the hymn Vyāsa had just spoken, calling it the Abhilāṣāṣṭaka, the “eight verses of the wish”. Whoever recites it three times a day for a year in a place of Śiva will have every wish fulfilled. It increases learning and understanding and gives prosperity, dharma and liberation. Even a dull person who rises early, bathes, worships the liṅga and recites it for a year will become like Bṛhaspati; and this holds for woman or man alike. Having said this, the child-Mahādeva vanished into that same liṅga, and Vyāsa, weeping, was lost in love of Śiva.

The eighteen Purāṇas

Having received this boon from Madhyameśvara, Vyāsa composed the eighteen Purāṇas as easily as play: Brahma, Padma, Viṣṇu, Śiva, Bhāgavata, Bhaviṣya, Nāradīya, Mārkaṇḍeya, Agni, Brahmavaivarta, Liṅga, Varāha, Vāmana, Kūrma, Matsya, Garuḍa, Skanda and Brahmāṇḍa. To those who listen to the glory of Śiva, the text says, they bring fame and merit.

Sūta once asked Vyāsa what these names mean, and Vyāsa gave him the answer Nandikeśvara had given the sage Taṇḍi. The Brahma Purāṇa is so called because four-faced Brahmā is its speaker; the Padma because it tells of the Padma kalpa; the Viṣṇu Purāṇa was spoken by Parāśara and gives knowledge of Viṣṇu — and since father and son are not different, it too is counted as Vyāsa's. The Śiva Purāṇa holds Śiva's story at length in its earlier and later parts. The Purāṇa of Bhagavatī Durgā's deeds is here called the Devī Bhāgavata.

The Nāradīya was spoken by Nārada, the Mārkaṇḍeya by the sage Mārkaṇḍeya, the Agni by Agni; the Bhaviṣya tells of what is to come; the Brahmavaivarta tells of the unfolding of Brahman, and the Liṅga of the liṅga. The Varāha, Vāmana and Kūrma tell of those forms; the Skanda has Maheśvara as speaker and Skanda as listener; the Matsya was spoken by the Fish, the Garuḍa by Garuḍa, and the Brahmāṇḍa tells of the cosmic egg.

“Take only the virtues”

So, Sūta concludes, Vyāsa — born of Satyavatī from Parāśara — composed the Purāṇa-saṃhitā and the great Mahābhārata. And he answers the sages' doubt directly: Satyavatī's union was first with Parāśara and afterwards with Śantanu; have no doubt about it.

This astonishing birth, he says, has been told together with its cause, and in the lives of the great the wise should take hold only of the virtues. Whoever hears or reads this deep secret is freed from all sins and gains an honoured place in the world of the ṛṣis.