5th head of Brahma!

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

 

I heard a story wherein Lord Shiva seemed to have plucked the 5th head

of Brahma and the kapala (skull) stuck to his hand. He was roaming

around with the Kapala which later disappeared after Lakshmi poured

some grain into the Brahma-Kapala. Can anyone

shed more light into this story ? . When and where did Brahma get his

fifth head ?

 

This, I believe may be linked with the sthala puranam of the famous

kapaleeshwarar temple of Mylapore, wherein after the episode described

above , Lord Shiva decided to grace the place as "Kapaleeshwarar".

 

Mylapore Vaasis ...?

 

dasan,

 

-Sriram,Balaraman

 

____

Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

[Guest guest]

At 08:19 AM 9/14/98 PDT, you wrote:

Dear Sri Sriram :

>

>I heard a story wherein Lord Shiva seemed to have plucked the 5th head

>of Brahma and the kapala (skull) stuck to his hand. He was roaming

>around with the Kapala which later disappeared after Lakshmi poured

>some grain into the Brahma-Kapala. Can anyone

>shed more light into this story ? . When and where did Brahma get his

>fifth head ?

 

According to one of the PurANams , Lord ShivA acquired

Brahma Hatthi DhOsham by plucking one of the five heads

of BrahmA . He punished BrahmA for lying that he saw the

face of Lord ShivA , when he presented Himself as

LingOthbhavar . According to this Siva PurANam , which

Saiva NaayanmArs repeatedly refer to , BrahmA flew up

as a Hamsam to determine the height to which Lord ShivA's

head projected into the sky and beyond . He failed to

see the face of Lord ShivA and got tired .He flew down

and declrred to the assembled DevAs that he had seen

the top of the head of the LingOthbhavar , who grew out of

the Lingam . Lord ShivA got mad and as a punishment

plucked the fifth head of BrhamA , who in our sampradhAyam is

the father of Lord ShivA . That fifth head (skull ) got

stuck in the hand of Lord ShivA and He had to go from place

to place begging for food with that kapaalam . In the same

Siva PurANam , Lord VishNu is said to have taken the form of

a wild Boar and dug himself deeper and deeper to find the

feet of Lord ShivA .Lord VishNu failed and came up and

reported His failure in contrast to BrahmA , who said a lie.

Incidentally , in the Saiva Aagamam defining the appropriate

places for particular Gods in a consecrated temple , LingOthbhavar

will be seen in the Western PrAkAram behind the Garbhagraham .

 

Now returning to our story , Lord ShivA wandered

with stuck skull in hand and ultimately reached

KandiyUr divya Desam ( Kantana Puram in Sanskrit).

Here Rudran did penance and offered His worship

to Sriman NaarayaNan and took a dip in the PushkariNi

and with the Lord's blessing , the stuck kapAlam

eased itself from his hand . As a result , the

BhagavAn here is known today as Hara Saapa VimOchana

PerumAL and the PushkariNi is recognized as Kapaala

ThIrtham .There are two versions on how the kapAlam

got unstuck. One in which , Bhagavan makes a cut

in His chest and directs the blood pouirng out into

the Kapaalam until it is full and that did it.

In another version, MahA Lakshmi poured some grains

as you described .

 

Thrumangai Mannan refers to this in ThirukkurunthAnDakam

paasuram (19):

 

pinDiyAr ManDai yEnthip piRar manai thiritanthuNNum

uNDiyAn saapam thIrtha oruvanUr , ulahamEtthum

KanDiyUr ----( This section refers to Lord ShivA

going from home to home of strangers beging for

food because of the curse of BrahmA and this curse being

removed by the grace of the KandiyUr perumAL ).

 

At this sthalam ( TrimUrthy Sthalam ) , there

are temples for VishNu, BrahmA and Rudran side by side .

These temples are 6 miles from ThanjAvUr on the way to

ThiruvayyAru . The sannidhi for Sri Sudarsana-

LakshmI Narasimhan ( Back to Back ) is very famous

at KandiyUr . The ancient name for Hara Saapa VimOchana

PerumAL is Kamala Naathan . ThayAr's name is kamala Valli .

The KapAla Pushkarani was known before as Kamala PushkaraNi .

The VimAnam is Kamala VimAnam ( Kamlaakruhti VimAnam ).

The KshEthram is also known as Kamala KshEthram .Hence ,

there are FIVE Kamalams here and remind one of MahA LakshmI.

The other Thri mUrthy Sthalam among the 108 divya desams

is KarambanUr or Utthamar Koil near Trichy .

> This, I believe may be linked with the sthala puranam of the famous

>kapaleeshwarar temple of Mylapore, wherein after the episode described

>above , Lord Shiva decided to grace the place as "Kapaleeshwarar".

>

>Mylapore Vaasis ...?

 

Here , the presiding deity KapaalIswarar got His name

from the Kapaala Maalai that He is fond of wearing ,

when He dances on the smasAnams . The Mohana Raaga Krithi

by late PapanAsam Sivan on the beauty of KaapAlIswaran

and on His devi , KaRpagAmbhAL in madhyamAvathi ( KaRpakamE

KadaikkaNN paarAi ) are wonderful to listen to .As a student

of VivEkAnandhA College , Mylapore , I relate to this question .

>

>dasan,

>

>-Sriram,Balaraman

>

>____

>Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

>

>