Virabhadra's Origin

The rishis asked

Why did the evil-souled Daksha perform a sacrifice, supposedly for dharma? How did Mahesha obstruct it? We want to know.

Vayu answered

Devi is the mother of the universe. By the strength of his austerities Mount Himalaya became her father and was delighted. Deva married her and played with her for a very long time on the Himalayan summit. When the Vaivasvata manvantara arrived, Daksha, son of the Prachetas, wished to hold a horse sacrifice. He began it on the slope of the Himalayas, in the auspicious region of Gangadvara frequented by rishis and siddhas. All the devas, with Shakra in front, thought of going to that sacrifice. The Adityas, Vasus, Rudras, Sadhyas, hosts of Maruts, the Ushmapas, Somapas, Ajyapas and Dhumapas, the two Ashvins, the ancestors and other great sages, with Vishnu, all went there to receive their shares.

Dadhichi saw that the many devas had come but Ishvara was not there. Full of rage he spoke to Daksha. Dadhichi said: "If a man worships those who should not be worshipped and does not worship those who should, he doubtless commits a grave sin. When the wicked are honoured and the virtuous are not, a terrible rod of punishment, made by the divine, falls on him at once." Then the brahmana rishi spoke to Daksha again: "The lord of Pashus must be worshipped. Why have you not worshipped the lord?" Daksha answered: "There are many Rudras with tridents in hand. Eleven of them are here. I know no other Maheshvara." Dadhichi said: "If you worship others, what fruit will you get from this sacrifice? He is the king of a sacrifice, and you have not worshipped Rudra. He is the undecaying lord who made Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesha. From Brahma down to the pishachas, everyone asks him what to do. He is beyond all the Prakritis and beyond Purusha. Rishis who see the truth and those who know yoga think of him. He is Akshara, the supreme brahman, cause and effect, without beginning, middle or end, beyond understanding and eternal. Maheshvara is maker, preserver and destroyer. Shankara is the self of the universe, and I see nobody else." Daksha answered: "This golden vessel is filled with all the oblations and has been sanctified with mantras in the right way. I will give it now to Vishnu, lord of the sacrifice. He is the lord without equal, and I will give him his share of the oblations." Dadhichi said: "You have not worshipped Rudra, lord of all the devas. Daksha, your sacrifice will therefore not be completed." With these words Dadhichi, best of sages, left angrily for his own hermitage. Even when the sage had gone, the devas did not leave Daksha's sacrifice, because the disaster fated to happen was bound to come.

Brahmanas, at this point Devi heard everything from Ishvara and urged the divinity to burn down Daksha's sacrifice. Urged by Devi, Deva wished to destroy it, and he suddenly made the valiant Virabhadra, leader of the ganas. This god had a thousand faces and eyes like a thousand lotuses. He held a thousand clubs and a thousand arrows. In his hands were a trident, an axe and a club, and he carried a blazing bow. He wielded a chakra and a vajra and was terrible. A half-moon sat on his crest and his upraised hand held a thunderbolt. His hair blazed like lightning. His teeth flashed cruelly and he had a large mouth and belly. His tongue flickered like lightning and his lips hung low. His voice was like a cloud or the ocean. His garment was a tiger's hide streaming blood. His earrings made circles around his cheeks, and his head was adorned with a garland of the skulls of the best of the immortals. His anklets jangled and he wore broad golden armlets. The heaps of jewels on him dazzled. Garlands of stars hung on his chest. His courage was that of a great sharabha, a tiger or a lion, and his long stride was easy like an elephant's. His light was like a conch, a yak-tail whisk, a kunda flower, the moon or a lotus stalk. He was like a snow-capped king of mountains that had begun to move. Garlands of flames scattered from him. His pearl ornaments shone, and his blazing energy was like the fire at the end of a yuga. He sank to his knees on the ground, bowed, and joined his hands. Then the lord of the ganas stood by the lord of the gods.

From his rage Deva made Bhadra, Bhadrakali Maheshvari, who wished to go along as a witness to what he did. Shankara saw Virabhadra standing there like the fire of destruction beside Bhadra and said, "May you be fortunate." Virabhadra, with Devi, asked Maheshvara: "Mahadeva, command me. What task shall I carry out?" To please Himalaya's daughter, the destroyer of Tripura spoke to the mighty-armed Virabhadra in a voice like a roar. The lord of the gods said: "Destroy at once the sacrifice of Daksha, son of the Prachetas. Lord of the ganas, with Bhadrakali I will stay near Raibhya's hermitage. From there I will watch your valour and that of the ganeshas. At Kankhala there are trees near Gangadvara like the golden peaks of Meru and Mandara. Daksha's sacrifice is going on in that region. Without delay, cause violent obstruction to that sacrifice."

When the divinity said this, Devi, daughter of Himalaya, looked at Virabhadra and Bhadra as a mother cow looks at her calves. She embraced him and breathed in the scent of his head, as if he were Shanmukha, and said in a sweet voice: "Child Virabhadra, fortunate one, great in strength and valour, you were born to do what pleases me and to wipe away my rage. He is holding a sacrifice without inviting the lord of sacrifices, driven by hatred. Lord of the ganas, shatter that sacrifice. Virabhadra, obey my command and turn the Lakshmi of the sacrifice into Alakshmi. Child, with Bhadra cause violence, and kill the one performing it." The deeds of Shiva and Shivaa are wonderful. He bowed his head, accepted all their commands, and prepared to go.

The illustrious one lived in the haunts of the pretas and he was enraged. Wishing to wipe away the rage of Mahadeva and Devi, Virabhadra made countless Ganeshvaras from the hairs in the pores of his body. From the region around his right hand he made hundreds of crores of such lords. Others were made from his feet, thighs, back, sides, mouth, throat, private parts, heels, head, waist, neck, face and stomach. They matched Virabhadra in valour, and together they filled the world and every gap of space. They had thousands of hands holding thousands of weapons, were companions of Rudra and as radiant as Rudra, and held tridents, spears, clubs, rocks, skulls and boulders. Like Rudra they resembled the fire of destruction, with three eyes and matted hair, and they leapt violently into the sky. Hundreds rode lions. Born from Virabhadra, they roared like thunderclouds. The illustrious Virabhadra gathered them around himself, like Kalabhairava at the time of destruction with hundreds of fires of destruction beside him. In their midst he rode a large bull, with a bull on his banner. As he advanced it was as if Bhagavan Shambhu Bhava were riding Nandi.

When Virabhadra sat on the bull, Bhasitaprabha held a pearl umbrella and a white whisk over his head, and shone at his side like a king of elephants beside Bhagavan, guru of the universe. Virabhadra too, with the white whisk in his hand, glowed like the crescent moon; though gentle he carried a trident and fine weapons. Before Virabhadra the very energetic Bhanukampa blew a white auspicious conch ornamented with gold and jewels. Drums of the devas sounded divinely and hundreds of clouds rained flowers on his head. The winds carried the scent of blossoms heavy with nectar and blew pleasantly along the path. All the ganeshvaras were intoxicated and proud of their strength in battle, dancing, roaring, laughing and singing for joy. Virabhadra and Bhadra were among Virabhadra's ganas as Tryambaka with Ambika is among Rudra's ganas. In a short while the mighty-armed Virabhadra and his great followers entered Daksha's sacrificial pavilion. Like Rudra wishing to burn the world at the end, Virabhadra, foremost of the ganas, entered the arena of the great sacrifice Daksha had arranged.