Vimala Temple, Puri – Legends
Sakthi Peethas:
In Hindu mythology, Daksha
Yajna or Daksha-Yaga is an important event, which is narrated in various
Hindu scriptures. It refers to a yajna (sacrifice)
organized by Daksha, where his daughter Sati immolated
herself. The wrath of god Shiva, Sati's
husband, thereafter destroyed the sacrifice. The tale is also
called Daksha-Yajna-Nasha (destruction of Daksha's sacrifice). The
story forms the basis of the establishment of the Shakti Peethas,
temples of the Hindu Divine Mother. It is also becoming a prelude to the story
of Parvati, Sati's reincarnation who later marries Shiva. The
mythology is mainly told in the Vayu Purana. It is
also mentioned in the Kasi Kanda of the Skanda Purana,
the Kurma Purana, Harivamsa
Purana and Padma Purana. Linga Purana, Shiva Purana,
and Matsya Purana also detail the incident.
Sati-Shiva
marriage:
Daksha was
one of the Prajapati, son of Brahma, and
among his foremost creations. The name Daksha means "skilled
one". Daksha had two wives: Prasoothi and Panchajani (Virini). Sati (also
known as ‘‘Uma’’) was his youngest daughter; born from Prasoothi (the daughter
of the Prajapati Manu), she
was the pet child of Daksha and he always carried her with him. Sati (meaning
truth) is also called Dakshayani as she followed Daksha’s path; this is derived
from the Sanskrit words Daksha and Ayana (walk or path).
Sati, the
youngest daughter of Daksha, was
deeply in love with the god Shiva and
wished to become his wife. Her worship and devotion of Shiva strengthened her
immense desire to become his wife. However, Daksha did not like his daughter’s
yearning for Shiva, mainly because he was a Prajapati and the son of the god Brahma; his
daughter Sati was a royal princess. They were wealthy nobility and their
imperial royal lifestyle was entirely different from that of Shiva.
As an
emperor, Daksha wanted to increase his influence and power by making marriage
alliances with powerful empires and influential sages and gods. Shiva on the
other hand led a very modest life. He lived among the downtrodden, wore a tiger
skin, smeared ashes on his body, had thick locks of matted hair, and begged
with a skull as bowl. His abode was Mount Kailash in
the Himalayas. He embraced all kinds of living beings and did not
make any distinction between good souls and bad souls.
The Bhutaganas, his
followers, consisted of all kinds of ghosts, demons, ghouls and goblins. He
wandered through garden and graveyard alike. As a consequence, Daksha had
aversion towards Shiva being his daughter’s companion. However, unlike Daksha,
Sati loved Shiva as she had the revelation that Shiva was the Supreme God. Sati
won Shiva as her husband by undergoing severe austerities (tapas).
Despite Daksha's disappointment, Sati married Shiva.
Brahma's
Yajna:
Once
Brahma conducted a huge yajna (sacrifice),
where all the Prajapatis, gods and kings of the world were invited. Shiva and
Sati were also called on to participate in the yajna. All of them came for the
yajna and sat in the ceremonial place. Daksha came last. When he arrived,
everyone in the yajna, with the exception of Brahma, Shiva and Sati, stood up showing
reverence for him. Brahma being Daksha's father and Shiva being Daksha's
son-in-law were considered superior in stature to Daksha. Daksha misunderstood
Shiva’s gesture and considered Shiva's gesture as an insult. Daksha vowed to
take revenge on the insult in the same manner.
Daksha
Yaga:
Daksha’s
grudge towards Shiva grew after Brahma's yajna. With the prime motive of
insulting Shiva, Daksha initiated a great yajna, similar to that of Brahma. The
yajna was to be presided over by the sage Bhrigu. He
invited all the gods, Prajapatis and kings to attend the yajna and
intentionally avoided inviting Shiva and Sati.
Dadhichi
– Daksha argument:
The
Kurma Purana discusses the dialogues between the sage Dadhichi and
Daksha. After the sacrifice and hymns where offered to the twelve Aditya gods; Dadhichi noticed that there was no
sacrificial portion (Havvis) allotted to Shiva and his wife, and no Vedic hymns
were used in the yajna addressing Shiva which were part of Vedic hymns. He
warned Daksha that he should not alter the Holy Vedas for personal reasons; the
priests and sages supported this. Daksha replied to Dadhichi that he would not
do so and insulted Shiva. Dadhichi left the yajna because of this argument.
Sati's
Death:
Sati
came to know about the grand yajna organized by her father and asked Shiva to
attend the yajna. Shiva refused her request, saying that it was inappropriate
to attend a function without being invited. He reminded her that she was now
his wife more than Daksha’s daughter and, after marriage, is a member of
Shiva’s family rather than Daksha’s. The feeling of her bond to her parents
overpowered the social etiquette she had to follow. She even had a notion that
there was no need to have received an invitation in order to attend as she was
Daksha’s favourite daughter and no formality existed between them.
She
constantly pleaded and urged Shiva to let her attend the ceremony and became
adamant in her demands without listening to the reasons Shiva provided for not
attending the function. He allowed Sati to go to her parents' home, along with
his followers including Nandi, and
attend the ceremony, but refused to accompany with her. Upon arriving, Sati
tried to meet her parents and sisters; Daksha was arrogant and avoided
interacting with Sati. He repeatedly snubbed her in front of all the
dignitaries, but Sati maintained her composure.
Because
of Sati’s persistence in trying to meet him, Daksha reacted vehemently,
insulting her in front of all the other guests at the ceremony to which she had
not been invited. He called Shiva an atheist and cremation ground dweller. As
planned, he took advantage of the situation and continued shouting repugnant
words against Shiva. Sati felt deep remorse for not listening to her beloved
husband. Daksha’s disdain towards her, and especially her husband Shiva, in
front of all the guests was growing each moment she stood there. The shameless
insult and humiliation of her and her beloved, eventually became too much to
bear.
She
cursed Daksha for acting so atrociously toward her and Shiva and reminded him
that his haughty behaviour had blinded his intellect. She cursed him and warned
that the wrath of Shiva would destroy him and his empire. Unable to bear
further humiliation, Sati committed suicide by jumping into the sacrificial
fire. The onlookers tried to save her, but it was too late. They were only
able to retrieve the half-burnt body of Sati.
Daksha's
pride in being a Prajapati and his prejudice against his son-in-law created a
mass hatred within himself, which resulted in the death of his daughter. The
Nandi and the accompanying Bhootaganas left the yajna place after the incident.
Nandi cursed the participants and Bhrigu reacted by cursing the Bhootaganas
back.
Destruction
of the Yajna by Lord Shiva:
Lord Shiva
was deeply pained upon hearing of his wife's death. His grief grew into a
terrible anger when he realized how Daksha had viciously plotted a treachery
against him; but it was his innocent wife who fell into the trap instead of
him. Shiva learned of Daksha’s callous behaviour towards Sati. Shiva's rage
became so intense that he plucked a lock of hair from his head and smashed it
on the ground, breaking it into two with his leg. Armed and frightening, two
fearsome beings Virabhadra and
Bhadrakali (Rudrakali) emerged. Lord Shiva ordered them to
kill Daksha and destroy the yajna.
The
ferocious Virabhadra and Bhadrakali, along with the Bhutaganas, reached the
yajna spot. The invitees renounced the yajna and started running away from the
turmoil. Sage Bhrigu created an army with his divine penance powers to resist
Shiva’s attack and protect the yajna. Bhrigu’s army was demolished and the
entire premises were ravaged. All those who participated, even the other
Prajapatis and the gods, were mercilessly beaten, wounded or even slaughtered.
The Vayu
Purana mentions the attack of Bhutaganas: the nose of some goddesses were
cut, Yama's staff bone was broken, Mitra's eyes
were pulled out, Indra was
trampled by Virabhadra and Bhutaganas, Pushan's teeth
were knocked out, Chandra was
beaten heavily, all of the Prajapatis' were beaten, the hands of Vahini were
cut off, and Bhrigu's beard was cut off. Daksha was caught and decapitated, the
attack culminated when the Bhutaganas started plucking out Bhrigu’s white beard
as a victory souvenir.
The Vayu
Purana do not mention the decapitation of Daksha, instead it says Yagna, the
personification of yajna took the form of an antelope and jumped towards the
sky. Virabhadra captured it and decapitated Yagna. Daksha begs mercy from
the Parabrahmam (the Supreme Almighty who is formless), who rose
from the yajna fire and forgives Daksha. The Parabrahmam informs Daksha that
Shiva is in fact a manifestation of Parabrahmam. Daksha then becomes a great
devotee of Shiva. The Linga Purana and Bhagavatha
Purana mention the decapitation of Daksha.
Certain
other puranas like Harivamsa, Kurma, and Skanda narrate the
story from the perspective of the Vaishnava-Shaiva community feud prevalent in
ancient times. In these puranas, there are fights between Vishnu and Shiva or
Virabhadra, with various victors throughout. The story of Daksha Yaga in Vaishnava and Shaiva puranas
end with the surrendering of Daksha to the Parabrahmam or with the destruction
of yajna and decapitation of Daksha.
Aftermath:
As the
obstruction of the yajna will create havoc and severe ill effects on the
nature, Brahma and the god Vishnu went
to the grief-stricken Lord Shiva. They comforted and showed their sympathy
towards Shiva. They requested him to come to the yajna location and pacify the
Bhutaganas and allow the Yaga to be completed; Shiva agreed. Shiva found the
burnt body of Sati. Shiva gave permission to continue yajna. Daksha was
absolved by Shiva and the head of a ram (Male goat) meant for yajna was fixed
on the decapitated body of Daksha and gave his life back. The yajna was
completed successfully.
The
later story is an epilogue to the story of Daksha yajna mentioned in Shakta
Puranas like Devi Bhagavata Purana, Kalika Purana and the
folklores of various regions. Shiva was so distressed and could not part from
his beloved wife. He took the corpse of Sati and wandered around the universe.
To reduce Shiva's grief, Vishnu cuts Sati's corpse as per Vaishnava Puranas;
whose parts fell on the places Shiva wandered. The Shaiva version says that her
body disintegrated on its own and the parts fell while Shiva was carrying
Sati's corpse in various places. The feet of Sati fell here.
These
places commemorating each body part came to be known as the Shakti Peethas. Shakti Peethas are
holy abode of the Mother Goddess. Each temple have shrines for Shakti and Kalabhairava. There
are 51 Shakti Peethas, representing the 51 letters of Sanskrit. Some
of the puranas which came in later ages gave more importance to their supreme
deity (depending on Vaishnava, Shaiva, and Shakta sects) in their literature. Shiva
went to isolation and solitude for ages and wandered all around until Sati
reincarnated as Parvati, the
daughter of the King Himavan. Like Sati, Parvati took severe austerities and
gave away all her royal privileges and went to forest. Shiva tested her
affection and devotion in disguise. He eventually realized Parvati is Sati
herself. Shiva later on married Parvati.
Lakshmi
anger with Jagannatha:
During the Anavasara period, as an ideal newly-wedded
wife, Lakshmi completely devotes herself to nursing her sick husband. For
fourteen days she gives up sleeping, after which she understandable becomes a
little tired and falls asleep. As soon as he sees that Lakshmi has fallen
asleep, her husband Jagannath unties his cloth from Lakshmi’s and immediately
leaves for the Gundicha temple to see his girlfriends, Radharani and the Vraja
Gopis.
This takes place on the second day of the bright half of
the month of Asadha and is known as Gundicha Yatra or Ratha Yatra. Lakshmi Devi
wakes up a few days later to find her husband gone. When she inquires where he
is, Jagannath’s servant explains that he went to see his girlfriends. Hearing
this, Lakshmi leaves the alter, and goes to stay in the storage room of the
Jagannath Temple – just like a depressed wife would.
She refuses to take opulent food and dines like poor
Orissan people on dalua rice and kalamba saga. The sixteenth chapter of the
Vamadev-samhita describes that Lakshmi went to Bimala Devi and said, “O dear
elderly lady, you already know about the misdeeds of Jagannath. I don’t know
where he and his sister went. Being his wife, do I now at least have the right
to know where he goes? What wrong did I do to deserve such a thing? what can I
say about his peomiscuous nature? in his absence, I’ve not even observed my
pati-vrata dharma of taking bath!
Bimala Replied: - “When a husband loses his
intelligence, it is well known that one has to make him leave his nonsense by
means of magic. Therefore, take this magic powder and go to where your husband
is, o queen of the demigods”. The following morning, on the fifth day after
Jagannath’s departure, Lakshmi wakes up in a sulky mood. She finally has a bath
and puts on ornaments. Then, collecting some of her associates, she is carried
on a palanquin to the Gundicha Mandir to see her newly-wedded husband.
This festival is known as Hera-Panchami and takes place
on the fifth day after Ratha Yatra. Hera means “to behold”, and Panchami means
“the fifth day”. The festival is also sometimes called. Lakshmi-vijayotsava, or
“the victory celebration of Lakshmi”. As described by Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj
Goswami in the fourteenth chapter of the Madhya-Lila of Caitanya-caritamrita,
the Hera-Panchami festival was greatly relished by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and
his associates.
Angry and jealous, Lakshmi Devi is in the mood of an
adhira nayika, a restless, aggrieved heroine. She takes the magical powder
given to her by Bimala Devi and goes to see Jagannatha via a different route
than the one her husband used. Jagannatha is not expecting Lakshmi to come by
that route, and seeing her, he feels embarrassed. Following a traditional
tantric process. She uses the magical powder on Jagannatha, then goes to
Jagannath’s cart, and unnoticed by anyone, breaks part of it.
Without saying a word to Jagannatha, Lakshmi goes to his
chariot driver and says to him, “Tell your master that Lakshmi is going back to
the palace.” She then returns to the temple via the neighborhood known as Hera
Gohiri Sahi, where the local people give her an enthusiastic heroine’s greeting
at their homes with offerings of fruits and other worship.
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