Sharada Peeth – 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 right hand of Goddess 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.
Sharada Peeth is one of the 18 Maha Shakti Peetha. The Shakti worshiped
here is the goddess of knowledge and education, Saraswathi otherwise
known as Sarada. 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.
Madhumati Stream:
Kashmiri Pandits believe that rishi Sandilya prayed to the goddess Sharada with great devotion
and was rewarded when she appeared to him and promised to show him her real,
divine form. She advised him to look for the Sarada forest. His journey was
filled with miraculous experiences. On his way, he had a vision of the
god Ganesha on
the eastern side of a hill. When he reached the Krishanganga,
he bathed in it and saw half his body turn golden. Eventually, goddess revealed
herself to him in her triple form of Sharada, Saraswathi and Vagdevi, and
invited him to her abode. As he was preparing for a ritual, he drew water from
the Mahasindhu. Half of this water transformed into honey, and became a
stream, now known as the Madhumati stream.
Sharada
Mahatmya:
A Sanskrit text Sharada Mahatmya, regarded to be a part
of the Bringhisha Samhita, gives a mythological account of how the Sage
Shandilya did tapas at the banks of the Madhumati river, and how goddess
Sharada established here presence there. It also gives an account of the nearby
sites and pilgrimage (to be undertaken on Bhadrapada Shukla Ashtami).
Sharada
Peeth:
A separate account holds that during a fight between
good and evil, the goddess Sharada saved a mythical container of knowledge and
hit it in a hole in the ground. She then transformed into a structure to
protect this container. This structure is now Sharada Peeth. Sharada Peeth
translates to "the seat of Sharada", the Kashmiri name for the Hindu
goddess Saraswathi.
Adi
Shankaracharya experience with Goddess Sharda:
There are many legends associated with Adi
Shankaracharya’s visit to Kashmir. One night, he suffered cold and hunger
pangs, as his host gave him food, wood and water, but no fire. The next day,
the lady of the house appeared before him, and simply sprinkled the water on
the wood and set it ablaze, thus revealing to the great scholar that he did not
know everything. Adi Shankaracharya understood it was play of goddess and it
led him to compose poems in praise of the goddess such as Soundarya Lahiri, and
Sharada Bhujana Stotram, where he refers to the earrings of the goddess,
probably referring to the characteristic dejhoor earrings of Kashmiri women, an
octagonal ‘yantra’ that dangles from the ear by a thread and rests on the
shoulders, passed on from mother to daughter at the time of marriage.
In another tale, Adi Shankaracharya argued that the icon
is mere representation and not the manifestation of the goddess, when suddenly
the head of the icon started bleeding. Bleeding stopped when Adi Shankaracharya
tore a piece of his garment and tied it around the icon’s head. This became the
traditional Taranga headscarf worn by Kashmiri women.
